And Then Jesus Came (57-1213)
And Then Jesus Came
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Let us remain standing, and bow our heads just a moment for prayer.
Blessed and eternal God, we come into Thy Presence by the way of prayer
just now to offer ourself as servants to Thee. We ask that You would
bless us in a special way tonight, and these dear children of Thine
that's waiting in this cold room.
And we're mindful of someday when death is going to chill our bodies.
And may we tonight, if we're not prepared, may we prepare to meet that
hour, that when death comes into our room to take us from this life to
the one that is beyond, may we come to it with joy, in faith knowing
that we know Him Who said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."
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And, Father, if there be such a one here tonight who could not meet
this event in that great victorious cry of Saint Paul, "I have fought a
good fight and finished the course," may this be their night of
preparation. Heal the sick and the needy, Lord. Bless us in these few
words and get glory to Thyself; for we ask it in the Name of Thy Son,
the Lord Jesus. Amen. May be seated.
It is a much disappointment to all of us tonight that our furnace has
broken down, and without any fire. Therefore I would be cruel to hold
you very long. And you're so nice to come out anyhow, and I thank you
for this. And I understand from my son who just told me at the door,
that tomorrow the meetings are to be held (I guess you have announced
it) in Brooklyn.
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But if the good Lord of heaven being willing, in the month of May we
have the entire month for the New England states here for a great
services. Thank you. And–and they're making ready now. And there is a
business man that's on the committee, that's going from church to
church, and from place to place, and we want full cooperation from all
churches.
No matter what your religious view is, if you believe Jesus Christ to
be God's Son and have accepted Him as your Saviour, you're my brother
and sister. And if God accepted you with your peculiarities and I, with
my peculiarities, we should be thankful enough to recognize each other
as brothers and sisters. See? And we're all working for one great
purpose; that's for His Kingdom. And anything different from that would
be the wrong motive anyhow.
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Now, I feel so sorry about this, and I'm sure that Brother Hutchinson
is embarrassed to–to shame. But it's something we could not help. It's
a matter that has been done here. The–the building is perhaps very old
and the furnace likewise. But I will just speak to you a few moments by
reading a text out of the Scripture and just being quickly. Then we'll
pray for the sick, and worship the Lord, and just get ourselves right
into the service now, and–and worship Him.
Tomorrow afternoon, if the Lord willing, I want to speak on the subject
that I had planned for tonight over at the other place, a subject that
I think is timely, more or less for the church in this day. The topic
was to be, "Hear Ye Him." And tomorrow night, I wish to speak on: "A
Notable Way To Recognize A Divine Gift." Now, the Lord bless.
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The reason I wish to read His Word and speak on it, my words is the
word of a man. It'll fail because I'm just a man. But His blessed Word
is the Word of God which cannot fail. So I wish to read from Saint
John, the 17th, or the… Pardon me, Saint John the 11th chapter, and
the first four words of the 17th verse.
You say, "Brother Branham, you have a very short text." It doesn't make
any difference just how long or big the text is. It's what it is.
The… It's the value. And sometimes we place value on long prayers,
and on much drawed out time. But sometimes that is not right.
I was thinking of a little friend of mine not long ago, that I knew he
wasn't a friend of mine, but I knew of the lad. He was searching up in
an old garret, upstairs in a building. And he found in an old trunk
stored away, a little postage stamp, just about one half inch square.
And on this little postage stamp, he looked at it, and he thought,
"That's an old stamp." So the little lad with ice cream sucker in his
mind, rushed down the street to a stamp collector, and said, "Say, how
much will you give me for this stamp?"
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And he looked it over, the stamp collector, knowing it was a valuable
stamp, he said, "I will give you one dollar for that stamp." Oh, it was
a quick sale. That would get him much ice cream. So he sold the stamp.
The stamp collector sold it for fifty dollars. After that it was sold
for five hundred dollars. Later it was sold for a quarter of a million
dollars. And it's still on the move.
See, it isn't how big it is, it's the value of it. The little stamp,
the little piece of paper was insignificant, but it was the value of
what was wrote on that little stamp, was what made it so valuable. And
that's the way it is with the Word of God. It is so valuable that every
little text, or every little word we can anchor our soul on it, because
it's God's immortal Word. And all other things will fail, but God's
Word will never fail.
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It reminds me of a little girl not long ago in Canada. Some years ago
when I was over at Vancouver, the great late King George was a visiting
Vancouver. And I was noticing the emotion upon my manager, Mr. Baxter,
while he was watching the king and the queen as they rode by. And how
she in her beautiful garment, and the king though suffering with
multiple sclerosis, and also a stomach trouble, he set correct in his
carriage and was speaking and bowing to his subjects, or the people, as
he passed by.
And Mr. Baxter, he said he stood and wept because the king was passing
by. It was the first time he'd ever seen him, and it brought emotion to
him just that moment, in the little view of the king passing by. I
thought, "Oh, what will it be when our King of kings passes by…?…
Just one glimpse of Him in glory when our journey is completed, these
little cold nights in the theaters, and disappointments will just
vanish like nothing then.
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The schools turned out to see the king. And the–the teachers wanted to
be patriotic, so they give each child a little flag, a little Canadian
or British flag to wave as the king went by. And I like Jesus because
that He notices every little thing that we do. You say, "Brother
Branham…"
Maybe I seen the man counting the collection. You might not have had
but just a few pennies to put in the collection, but Jesus saw it. You
might not… You say, "Well, I haven't done very much for Him." But
whatever you've done, He saw it.
The woman that put in a, just a few pennies in the collection, Jesus
said she put in more than the rich did because of her tithing, she put
all her living. No matter how little it is, how small and short our
service will have to be, because of the weather and the condition,
Jesus will see our sincerity. And I'm sure He will answer.
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As I was speaking of the little girl, that all waved their little
flags… There was an incident happen there that has always stuck with
my heart. That was, one little fellow, just a little tiny tot, packing
her little flag on her shoulder, she went down to wave at the king when
he passed by. And when all of the crowd had cleared up, the little
fellow failed to show up with the rest of the little girls. So the
teacher was alarmed, and out on the streets she went to find the little
girl.
And the little girl was found with her little head leaning against a
telegraph pole, weeping. So the teacher said to her, "Why are you
weeping? And did you not see the king? Did you not wave your flag?"
She said, "Yes, teacher, I waved my flag just like the rest of them waved."
Said, "Did you not see the king?"
Said, "Yes, teacher, I saw the king."
Well said, "Then why do you weep?"
She… The little girl replied, and said, "I saw the king, but I was so little, the king didn't see me."
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But it's so different with Jesus. He sees every little move that you
make, and every little kind word that you speak, and every little kind
deed that you do. All of them mean much to Him.
These little words here tonight of these four letters that's been read
for a text, they could seal your eternal destination, your attitude
towards them. So that's what makes them so important. Them little words
could set you free from sin tonight. Those little words could condemn
you tonight. Those little words could set you free from sickness and
suffering tonight, if you will receive them. But they've got to be
received.
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Some years ago during the time of Abraham Lincoln, I believe it was
during his time when he was President of the United States. There was a
soldier that had done something wrong. And he was tried in the courts,
and was found guilty of the crime, and the judgment was death, the
penalty of the–of his crime. There he must stand before a firing squad
and be shot.
Someone went to the President and interceded for him. And when he…
The President had compassion and just picked up a piece of paper, and
said, "Pardoned. President Lincoln."
And he rushed quickly to the man and handed it to him, and said, "You are pardoned by the President of the United States."
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Well, he picked up the little piece of paper and said, "Oh, such a
little thing as that pardon me? Why, I won't receive it." And he threw
it down.
And the man picked it up again, and came to the soldier, and said,
"Sir, though it's a piece of scrap paper off of the President's desk,
but his name is on it, and you are pardoned." And he refused to receive
it. And the next morning he was shot at sunrise according to the
penalty of the deed that he had done, the law on it.
And then here was the President's name signed that this man was
pardoned. And the man was killed after the President had signed him
free. Then it was tried in–in the Supreme Courts of our lovely nation.
And the Supreme Court's decision was this (And listen to it tonight): A
pardon is not a pardon, if it isn't received as a pardon. And these
words is your pardon if you will receive them as your pardon for your
sins, for your sicknesses, or your indifference towards God. It is your
written pardon.
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As It says, "Then Jesus came." That was perhaps, as anyone knows the
context of this, that we will not have time to unfold tonight to you in
the cold room. But it was during the time of the death of Lazarus, His
friend. Martha and Mary had been His bosom friend. And He was
associated with them. And one time Jesus received a vision from the
Father, and He… God had told Him to leave the place and go to another
place for Lazarus was going to die.
Now, you say, "Brother Branham, that's not written in the Scripture."
But in Saint John 5:19, Jesus said, "I do nothing, except My Father
shows Me first. I do nothing in Myself. The Son can do nothing, but
what He sees the Father doing: that doeth the Son." And if you notice
Him, how the great vision, He went away for four days. And they sent
for Him to come, that Lazarus was sick.
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Now, we don't know just what his sickness was, but some historian has
said that he died with hemorrhages in his lungs. However, he grew
sicker, and the physician, perhaps, could do nothing for him. And then
after a bit, he got so sick until he died. And when he died, Jesus
said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth."
And they said, "Well, if he's asleep, he doeth–doeth well." Now, see
they don't get, and we don't today many times, what the word of death
means. "Death" means "separation," doesn't mean that that you die
forever. You're just separated from your friends. You're alive
somewhere else.
And notice, the disciples said, "Well, now, if he sleepeth, he doeth well."
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Jesus told them in their own understanding, "Lazarus is dead. And for
your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there, but I go wake him." Oh, what a
marvelous thing. Not, "I'll go and see if I can wake him. I'll go and
wake him."
Could you imagine the disappointment in that little family? They had
been excommunicated from their church of worship where their fathers
had worshipped, because they had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. And
here I can hear the mocking scoffs of the unbelievers, saying, "Where
is your evangelist, your healer? Oh, when it comes time to His own
buddy, He lets him die."
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But we're taught that all things work together for good to them that
love the Lord. God is making everything move just according to His
great timepiece as it's ticking around.
Then when the darkest hour that little family had ever seen,
excommunicated from their church, degraded in the societies of their
church, their Friend that they had put so much confidence in had failed
them, seemingly, and all hopes was gone… Lazarus was dead and buried
four days.
Corruption sets in in seventy-two hours, three days. Perhaps his nose
had already fallen in on his face. That's the first thing takes place;
the nose turns, and falls in. And the skin worms had set in into his
body. And then it's just at that great strategic moment, when the
darkest hour they had ever seen, then Jesus came by. Oh, that's just
like Him to do that. He comes in that darkest moment. Jesus came by.
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But then again I'll take just a moment longer to say this, that when
Jesus comes by, if He's not accepted, then it doesn't do Him any good
to pass by your way. But when He is so good to come by and show
Himself, then you should be so thankful that you would receive Him,
that you would believe Him.
Now, little Martha had been very much dilatory about spiritual things.
Mary was the one who set and listened at the feet of Jesus. But I think
in this passage, Martha showed just exactly what she was made out of.
She heard that Jesus come, and she started through the streets to meet
Him. Now, seemingly she had a right to upbraid Him, and say, "Why
didn't You come when we called You?" But to Martha it wasn't a question
of whether He come, or whether He did not come. The thing was that
finally He was there.
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And it doesn't make any difference tonight how we've had prayer
meetings, and what we've done, and so forth. He's here. That's the main
thing. How many failures we have had and so forth, He's here now. He
has come. And it is at our darkest of hour… In the world's history we
now live in, we know that for both politics, for religion, and
everything seems to be at a chaos at this time. Then Jesus came.
Notice it. Now, when she went to meet Jesus, instead of giving Him a
sharp rebuke, she said, when she saw Him… Oh, I just love this. She
fell down before Him, and her beautiful face looking up into the face
of the Master, she recognized Him quick as her Lord.
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You remember last night when I preached on the door in the heart, after
the Lord has come into other doors that we must open to Him? And He
cannot come in until every door is open, and then He is your Lord.
That's what's the matter here in Newark. That's what's the matter in
the United States. That's what's the matter with the church the world
over.
You will accept Him as Saviour, but never as Lord, seldom. Lord is the
ownership, controls. He controls your emotions. He controls your faith.
He controls your love. He controls your life. He's in full control of
you, and you walk in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible
said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The
Lordship of Christ has controlled you.
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When a man smites you on the face, the Lordship controls you. When
someone says something evil about you, the Lordship of Christ controls
you. When the doctor says, "I am sorry, but my medical skill says to me
that you must die; there's nothing more can be done," but the Lordship
of Christ controls you by His Word: "By His stripes we were healed."
The Lordship…
He opens the door and said, "Here I stand at the door. I give you faith over these things." Then you ignore anything else.
You say, "I would be a Christian, but my neighbors would laugh at me."
Then Christ takes Lordship of your emotions. "I would testify to my
boss, but I am afraid to." Then Christ takes Lordship.
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And He'd took Lordship in the heart of Martha. And when He did, she
fell at His feet and said, "Lord, if Thou would have been here, my
brother would not have died." Oh, that's bound to stir His emotion.
Remember he had been dead four days. And everything, darkness and all
come; all hopes was gone.
Maybe that same thing exists for people in here tonight. Maybe your
beloved physician, the doctor that's been doctoring you for years says,
"There's nothing else I can do. You must die." And now, what about the
Lordship of Christ. He has come, and He's here to help you.
"If Thou would have been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus,
a vision by the Father to go raise Lazarus, yet questioned the woman.
"If Thou would have been here, my brother would not have died." Listen
at her next quotation. "But even now, whatever You ask God, God will
give it to You." Oh, I like that. "Whatever You ask God, God will give
it to You." Oh, I'd like to preach awhile on that. Martha had been
reading the Bible.
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That's where people fail to have faith. They don't read the Bible.
Martha had read, where that the Shunammite woman when her baby died,
everything was well as long as she could get to the prophet. And she
stayed with that prophet till she got her heart's desire, because the
Shunammite woman recognized that God was in that prophet.
And the prophet tried to give her a handkerchief to lay on, as it
was… I think that's where Paul got his idea of laying handkerchiefs
on the sick. But he had a staff in his hand, told Gehazi, "Go, lay it
on the child."
But the woman's faith wasn't in the stick, it was in the prophet. She said, "I'm not leaving you."
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And then Martha seen the same thing. She said, "If God is in His
prophet, surely He's in His Son." Elijah was God's representative in
the day of the Shunammite. Jesus was God's representative in the day of
Martha. And His Church is His representative in this day. His Church,
the Body of believers, is His representative. "He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Church." Oh, the power of the
Christian Church that lays dormant tonight because of unbelief.
Notice, as they went on, "If Thou would've been here, my brother would
not have died. But even now, Lord, what You ask God, God will give it
to You."
The doctor might've said, "This is just a few more days for you."
"But even now, Lord, whatever You ask God."
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Is He alive? Could you speak to Him? He ever liveth to make
intercession at the right hand of His Majesty. He's never asleep. He's
not dead, but He has risen again. And He is the same in principle,
power, action, moving, yesterday, today, and forever: Hebrews 13:8. He
ever liveth to make intercession. He is the High Priest that can be
touched by the feeling of our infirmities. "Whatever You ask God, God
will give it to you."
Sometimes I think of that story of Jonah. And I compare it with people
today who look at their symptoms in the stead of the Word of God. You
know, Jonah was backslid. That's a big thing for a Baptist to say, but
he was backslid; and he was in the belly of the whale down in the
bottom of the ocean, and his hands and feet were tied behind him.
And laying in the belly of the whale in the bottom of the ocean, he
refused to see the symptoms. Ever which way he looked, it was the
whale's belly. But he would not look at it. He said, "I refuse, because
they are lying vanities. Once more will I look to Your holy temple."
You can't hide a believer from his prayer.
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And when Jonah turned over in the belly of the whale, and looked
towards the temple in the best of his knowledge, where that when
Solomon dedicated and prayed and said, "If Thy people be in trouble and
look towards this holy place, then hear from heaven." And God honored
Jonah's prayer, and kept him alive three days and nights, and provided
him oxygen. And he was delivered at the place where God wanted him to
go.
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And if God would do that for a man who looked at a earthly temple,
built by an earthly man who later backslid and turned to idols, if God
would honor that man because he believed in the prayer of Solomon, how
much more will He honor your prayer tonight, who don't have to look to
your symptom or anything around you, but look at heaven where He sets
in the Presence of God with His own Blood as an intercession for your
sins, as He intercedes.
"He was wounded for your transgression, bruised for your iniquity: the
chastisement of your… was upon Him; and with his stripe you were
healed." In the Presence of the Father, ever alive to make
intercessions, think of it.
Then what happened? When this taken place, she said, "If Thou would've
been here, my brother had not died. But even now whatever You ask God,
God will give it to You."
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Listen at Him. Watch His emotions. Oh, how He wants to get the hearts
tonight like that. "Thy brother shall rise again," He said.
Listen at this beautiful young Hebrew girl. "Yea, Lord, He will rise again in the resurrection in the last day."
Now, there never was a man able to say this before, or since, or never
will be, outside of Him. The Bible said, "There was no beauty we should
desire Him," probably a little Fellow in statue. He pulled his little
shoulders up, and said, "I am the Resurrection and Life. He that
believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me, shall never die." That was His eternal
promise. And He Himself said, "The Scriptures cannot be broken. What
consolation do we have then tonight, when God said something? "Where
have you buried Him?"
A lady speaking to me sometime ago; she said, "Reverend Branham, one thing about your preaching, you brag too much on Jesus."
I said, "Lady, I couldn't brag enough on Him."
Well, she said, "You make Him Divine, when He was just a prophet."
"Oh," I said, "I beg your pardon. He was Divine."
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He was God. God manifested in flesh. If He was just a prophet we're all
lost. He was neither Jew, nor Gentile. He was God. His Blood came from
God's own creative power, and the created the Blood cells. Mary was
just a incubator. That was all. The woman produces the egg. The man
produces the germ of life. He had no man, male as sexual, but His
heavenly Father created the Blood cells, so the Blood was God's own
Blood, not…?…
That's where our blessed hope rests tonight, right there. "My hope is
built on nothing less, but Jesus Blood and righteousness; when all
around my soul gives way, then He's all my hope and stay." Eddie
Perronett said, "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other grounds
is sinking sand." What a beautiful thing.
"I am." Not, "I will be." "I am now, forevermore the Resurrection and Life." I'm so glad to know Him as my Saviour.
E-29 "Where have you buried Him?"
This woman said, "Mr. Branham, if I'll proved to you by the Bible that He was just a man, will you accept it?"
I said, "If the Bible said so."
She said, "I can prove it." And she used Saint John the 11th chapter."
She said, "When Jesus went down to the grave of Lazarus, the Bible said
He wept."
I said, "That's right."
She said, "Then that proves if He could weep, He was man."
I said, "He was man, but He was the God man."
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That's right. I said, "When He went to the grave weeping, He was a man.
But when He stood and pulled His little shoulders back and said,
'Lazarus, come forth,' and a man that had been dead four days stood on
his feet and lived again, that was more than a man. That was God
speaking through a Man's lips.
It was true. He was a man when He come down from the city and looked on
a tree to find something to eat. He was a man. But when He took two
fishes and five little barley loaves and fed five thousand, it was more
than a man.
He was a man when virtue gone from Him from healing and so forth
through the day. When He was on that little ship that night, ten
thousand devils of the sea swore they'd drowned Him. And that little
ship tossed about like a bottle stopper out there like that…
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He was a man when He was asleep. But when He put His foot upon the
brail of the boat, looked up and said, "Peace, be still," and the waves
and the winds obeyed Him, He was more than a man when He did that. He
was God.
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He was a man at the cross when He cried for mercy. He was a man when He
died. But on Easter morning when the tomb opened, and the seals broke,
and death and hell could not hold Him any longer, He come out triumph.
He was more than a man. No wonder He has thrilled the hearts of
believers and poets and so forth.
One wrote:
He's been the theme of the Church, and of the poets, and prophets through the ages.
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Sometimes in the dark hours, then Jesus come. It was the darkest hour
that the Hebrew children had ever seen. One morning when the king had
heated the furnace seven times hotter than it ever was het the darkest
hour those fellows had ever seen; and then Jesus come riding in on the
waves of heaven, and cooled the breeze from them.
It was the darkest hour, perhaps, the woman with the blood issue had
ever seen. She had spent all her living, maybe the mortgage was gone on
the farm and so forth. The… And none of the physicians could heal
her. And it was the darkest hour she ever seen, but then Jesus come
along (That's right.), just in time.
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The man who had been carried and laid by the pool of Bethesda, by the
waters, and he had been sick for thirty-eight years, no one could help
him. And he laid on a pallet, helpless. It was probably his darkest
hour. Then Jesus came along and helped him.
It was old blind Bartimaeus who set outside the walls of Jericho and
shivered in the winds, when the cold November winds was a blowing. He
was blind. He was poor. What would he do? It was his darkest hour. Then
Jesus came along. That's the way Jesus does.
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The disciples after the death of the Lord Jesus, and they'd walked all
day with Somebody, not knowing who He was; that was Cleopas and his
friend. They got to Emmaus, and they said, "Are You just a stranger,
and You don't know that Jesus Who we expect to be the King of Israel
has died, and–and He's crucified, and–and been buried, and this is
the third day? Are You just a Stranger around here? Don't You know
what's happened?"
Then when He got them all in one little building, a little restaurant,
and the waitress had taken their order, and gone away, and brought back
a loaf of bread, then Jesus did something, just did it in a way that no
one else could do it but like that. Even as He revealed Himself, and
did it just the way that He did before His crucifixion, their eyes were
opened. Their hearts were made light. It was their darkest hour. Then
Jesus come along.
In this hour that we're living, this great chaos that we're in now,
it's the darkest hour that the world has ever seen. Where is the hope?
Sputnik's in the skies, atomic bombs, controlled missiles, war. Any
little nation can destroy the world…?… one hour what would…
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If we had a President like we got now, Dwight Eisenhower, the President
of the United States, a wonderful man. Oh, if we had one in every
county, we could not be secured. If we had bomb shelters all under
these places and everything, we're still not secured. There's only one
safe place; that's in Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the bomb
Shelter. Under His wings we will abide. We will rest safely.
Maybe some of you here has met your darkest hour. Maybe today the
doctors told you there was no hope. But there is a hope. Jesus is come
in this dark hour. He's come to His Church. He's revealing Himself and
doing things just like He done on earth when He was here before His
crucifixion to fulfill His Word.
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When He was here on earth, He didn't claim to be a healer. He said,
"It's not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me."
The same Father that was in Him, is in you. "I will give unto them
Eternal Life." And anyone knows that that word "Eternal" come from the
Greek word "Zoe," and Zoe is part of God's Own Life that's in you.
Everything that has a beginning, has an end. Your mortal life had a
beginning; it has an end. The earth had a beginning; it has an end. But
it's the things that had no beginning, has no end. And there's only one
thing that had no beginning or end, and that's God. And you become a
son and a daughter of Him, a partaker of His Majesty, has Eternal Life,
and can no more perish than God can perish.
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Oh, there I rest my faith, right there. Let the bombs, or whatever, we
go to dust; I will go to heaven. That's all. Sure, there's our hope and
faith. What did He do? Did He go around healing the people? Yes. How?
As the Father showed Him. When Philip found Nathanael and brought him
to Him, He said, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there's no guile."
He said, "How did You know me, Rabbi?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you."
E-39 The unbelieving Pharisee said, "He's Beelzebub. That's a spirit of fortunetelling in Him."
Jesus said, "Speak that against Me, I'll forgive you. But when the Holy
Ghost is come to do the same thing, a word against It will never be
forgiven." Then look at the blasphemy in the nations tonight. What do
they call it? A polished up soothsayer, some Beelzebub fortuneteller.
There's nothing left but Divine judgment.
If you spurn mercy, there's nothing but judgments left for you. That is
true. Do not be deceived. Watch your day that you're living in. See
what Christ has said. He promised these things to His Church.
E-40
When the woman at the well, when He looked at her, the Father give Him
a vision to go up to Jeri… from Jericho, and on His road He had to go
by Samaria. He sent His disciples away. No one knew what for.
A lady come out, or woman, we might say, because in this nation we
believe that she was a woman of ill fame. And she was drawing the
water, and He said, "Bring Me a drink, woman."
She said, "It's not customary for you Samaritans to ask, or you Jews to ask Samaritans such."
He said, "But if you knew Who you were talking to…" Oh, brother, sister, if you only knew Who I'm talking about. See?
E-41
"If you only knew who you were talking to, you would ask Me for a
drink. And I'll give you waters that you don't come here to draw."
"Why," she said, "the well is deep." The conversation went on about worshipping in a mountain.
Then Jesus found where her trouble was, and He said, "Go, get your husband and come here."
She said, "I don't have any husband."
"Why," He said, "that's right. You don't have any husband because you
have five, and the one that you're living with now is not your
husband."
E-42
There was the secret of her heart revealed. Now, listen to what the
Samaritan woman said. She said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a
prophet." How much different she was from the scholarly Jew, the
Pharisee who should of knowed better.
The Pharisee said, "Well, He's Beelzebub. He's a fortuneteller. Some demon spirit is on Him. That's how He…"
But they couldn't figure out. It always happened just the way He said
it. So man try to figure out anything. You can't do it. You don't know
God by mathematics. Neither do you know Him by science. You know God by
faith, and faith alone do you know Him. By His foreknowledge He has
elected you to Eternal Life. "No man can come to Me, except My Father
draws him." That's right. And if you can see it and know that God is
with you, how happy you should be, each of you.
E-43
Now, let us notice as the conversation went on for a few moments. She
said, "I perceive that You are a prophet. We know, we Samaritans, we
know that when the Messiah cometh that's called Christ, He will do
those things. He will tell us them kind of things."
Now, that's the sign of the Messiah. The Jew recognized it. Philip went
and got Nathanael, and Nathanael didn't want to believe it at first. He
said, "Now, could there be any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
He said, "Come and see." That's the best way to be convinced, is come,
see for yourself. Come and find out. Search it with the Scriptures.
E-44
Jesus said, "Search the Scripture, for They are They that testify of
Me." Search the Scriptures. And when Nathanael came and brought him,
and He performed the miracle by telling him where he was before he came
to the meeting, why he recognized. He said, "Rabbi, You're the Son of
God, the King of Israel."
The Samaritan woman said, "We know… I know that You're a prophet. You
must be a prophet, otherwise, but we know that when the Messiah cometh
that's called Christ, He will tell us these things. But I don't know
Who You are."
Listen at Him. "I am He that speaks with you." And she dropped that old
water pot, and in the city she went to testify. "Come see a man who
told me the secrets of my heart. Isn't this the very Messiah?"
E-45
And at His leaving He said this: "The works that I do shall you do
also. Greater works than this shall you do." And the word "greater,"
anyone knows means "more." You couldn't do any greater in quality, just
in quantity, 'cause He was there in one Person. God was rep–was
represented in one Person. Now He's represented in the universal Church
everywhere. "More than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father. Yet
a little while and the world will see Me no more." The world "kosmos"
there means that it's the world's order. "The world will see Me no
more, yet you shall see Me, for I (A personal pronoun) I'll be with
you, even in you to the end of the world."
E-46 The last days we're living in, the great teachers and things… Someone asked me not long ago, "Has the teachers been wrong?"
I
said, "As an illiterate person, I wouldn't want to say that scholars
are wrong. What they taught was well, but they just didn't go far
enough." It's yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit, not to create a
bunch of fanaticism, but to create a solid Gospel that's rests right
here on God's eternal Word. And God is obligated to back up His Word.
Sorry to keep you this long. Let us bow our heads just a moment. And
with your heads bowed, I wonder if there'd be a person here tonight
that may be facing your darkest hour, and you'd say, "O Lord Jesus, be
merciful to me, a sinner. I do not wish to die and go into torment. And
I know if I die in the state I'm in tonight, torment is my doom. I have
no assurance."
E-47
Before daylight they may send for the doctor, and he walk out of the
room, say, "It's a heart attack. There's nothing can be done." And
you'll be gone. You may go on the street before you leave here. You may
go in the building here before the service is closed. And you'd want to
be remembered in prayer, would you just raise your hands to Christ and
say, "Brother Branham, pray for me"? God bless you, lady. God bless
you, and you, just the hands around. That's wonderful.
Now, heavenly Father, to be obedient as a servant of Yours, I commend
these to You. And someone would say, "Why did you just ask them to
raise their hand?"
E-48
O Father, we realize that they defy the laws of gravitation. When
according to the laws of gravitation You were supposed to lay in the
grave. But the Word of God said, "I'll not leave My holy One; see
corruption, and I won't let His soul be in hell." And the laws of
gravitation was broken, and He was lifted up into glory.
Inside of these people their mortal arms should hang down according to
the laws and statistics of science, but there's a spirit in them that
realizes that they're wrong. Oh, some twenty or thirty in this building
tonight has raised up their hand to their Creator, because inside them
is something that says, "You're wrong. Accept Me." And it defied the
laws of gravitation, put their hands towards the Creator.
E-49
Father, receive them. If from their hearts they meant that, they are
Your children from this hour on. Grant, Lord, that they'll be baptized
with water, and find a good Christian church somewhere, and serve You
till death shall set them free.
And now, Father, I commit them to Thee. They are love gifts that You
give to the Son, for they're tokens of the grace of Christ. And I pray
that You'll be with them.
Now, as the sick and the afflicted are here, I pray, God, that You'll
help tonight as we pray for them. In this great dark hour may every eye
be anointed with eye salve. May their eyes come open and they realize
like those from Emmaus. And as this little group goes from this cold
little church tonight, like those who went from the cold tomb, over on
their road to Emmaus, may they return home like they did, rejoicing,
saying, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the
road?"
Now, Lord, the only way that can be done tonight is not by this poor
message, I'm sure, but Lord, if You'll just manifest Yourself, and do
the things here tonight that You did before Your crucifixion, they'll
know that the Scriptures are true: Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
E-50
Now, as Your servants we commit ourselves to Thee as a little group of
sheep that's strayed in this little pen tonight. And now Lord, manifest
Your love and Presence, for Thou has promised that wherever two or more
would gather, "I'll be in their midst." Grant it, Father, we ask in
Jesus' Name, Thy beloved Son. Amen. I'm…?… Yes, sir.
[A brother says, "We have very good news, and that is that we will be in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A., tomorrow afternoon."–Ed.] Thank the Lord…?… ["We
have by God's wonderful grace secured the community center with a brand
new heating plant, and twelve hundred comfortable seats, and we will be
there. It's just four blocks from here at 652 High Street. And we will
be there tomorrow afternoon at three o'clock. And… Okay that's all
right." Congregation laughs.]
E-51 [I
noticed when we said we should be in Brooklyn tomorrow afternoon that
many of you were not too happy. But now, God has opened up a way and
Reverend Branham will be here and minister. We'll have plenty of time.
We'll have it warm and nice and comfortable, and it's only four blocks
from here. You can announce it; let your friends know. We'll have
people here so those that come here for the meeting, they will be shown
over there, and everything will work out just wonderful. Remember that
now, that's High Street 652, the community center with twelve hundred
comfortable seats. I think by the way, it's a lovely gathering tonight,
wonderful gathering, and we are just sorry that you may not have been
one hundred percent comfortable. I feel fine. I must confess that.
Praise the Lord. Amen.]
E-52
I do think that that is a blessing from God. Let us just bow our heads
just a moment. Now, the Almighty God Who can rule circumstances, that
could stop the waves on a mighty sea, it must be that You're intending
for another service to be here, for Thou has overruled the enemy, our
enemy, and has given us this place. We thank Thee for this, and for
putting on the hearts of the men, or whoever has done this. We thank
Thee, Father, for it. And may we worship Thee tomorrow afternoon in
great joy, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
If I could tonight, I would wish that everyone would be sure to
understand this: I–I am not a Divine healer, and neither do I believe
that there's anyone a Divine healer. I believe that the Divine Healer
is Almighty God. I believe that the purchase of your healing was did by
Jesus Christ when He died at Calvary. He was…
E-53
The–the Blood from His wounds and from His stripes flowed parallel
with each other. "He was wounded for our transgressions; with His
stripes you were healed." The… It is a finished work that God has
did. I know, lovely friend, that it is been much said that should not
have been said. That's right. And many things has been claimed which
should not have been done.
'Course that's… We just expect that. You see? But there has to be
the… If there isn't a bogus dollar, then there isn't a true one. So
we have to have it. And we know that lots have been said about, just
like touching a totem pole or something like that. That's isn't that.
There's no healing power in any man. The healing power is in your faith
in the Son of God's finished work at Calvary. That's just as plain as I
know the Gospel.
E-54
Now, first it comes, faith cometh by hearing, hearing the Word of God.
Now, that would settle it if it would be you or I, but not with the
Lord. He's so good till He sends gifts in the Church: first apostles,
which mean "missionary." Missionary and apostle is the same word, "one
sent." Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors, they're all
for the perfecting of the Church. Is that right? All these things are
for that purpose. Now, God has given this.
And then in every local group, He's put nine different spiritual gifts
to keep that Church in order while we're waiting for His coming. Now,
tonight I… My claims are this that Jesus is not dead. He is alive.
E-55
In Bombay, India, South Africa, where our blessed Lord, I seen thirty
thousand raw heathens come to Christ at one time, at–at Durban, South
Africa, where I'm to return again right away. It would be… I would no
way try to estimate at Bombay, India, when they seen our blessed Lord
do the same things that He did when He was here on earth.
The Hindu's, the Mohammedans by the thousands accepted Christ as
personal Saviour when we challenged it to a showdown. And the mayor of
Durban said… Or the–the mayor of Bombay setting on the–the platform
when a total blind man received his sight, and run grabbed him, and
hugged him like that. Thousands times thousands that you could see just
as far as floodlights would let you see, accepting the Lord Jesus.
E-56
You know, friends, Jesus never said, "Go into all the world and build
churches." They're all right. He never said, "Go build schools."
They're all right. But where we failed, He said, "Preach the Gospel."
The Gospel isn't building churches or schools, though they're fine, but
the Gospel come not in word only but through power and demonstrations
of the Holy Spirit, is the Gospel. It's a living Gospel, not enchanting
words, but a living faith in the–the Lord God, Who is alive
forevermore among us.
Now, if He is alive as the Bible says He is, and He made a promise that
He was the same yesterday, today, and forever, the things that He did,
we would do also, now, to me that's the truth, or it isn't the truth.
Now, if it is the truth, my life lays with it. If it isn't the truth,
then I want nothing to do with it. That way we should think about those
things. And tonight solemnly think that.
E-57
The way we do, we give out prayer cards just a few minutes before the
services start, bring a bunch of prayer cards and mix them all up
together and give anybody a prayer card that wants them. From there we
start somewhere along in the hundred, or whatever they give out, call a
few people to the platform until the Church gets anointed with the Holy
Spirit, that makes you know that Christ is present. Then they begin to
look, and as they look, they draw from Him.
Now, look. Are you cold, real cold? Could you wait just a minute
longer? All right. Let me try… There's no way to explain it. It's
inexplainable. You can't explain God. But let's just imagine like this
just a moment.
Say we're all little boys and girls standing around a great big circus,
where a circus is, and we haven't got the money to go in. And it… The
Lord just made me a little taller than these men here, and made them a
little stronger than I. God makes some of us the Body of Christ, some
are preachers, and pastors, and teachers, and seers, and so forth. That
all goes into the Church.
E-58
Well now, maybe I'm tall enough I can look up on with my hands, and
pull up, and look through the knothole and see something on the inside,
and you say, "What did you see?"
I'd say, "A giraffe."
"What else did you see?" I'd have to raise up again.
Now, if the ring master wanted me to know what was on the inside, he'd
just pick me up and raise me up and say, "See what it's all about?"
sets me down. Now, when I'm pulling myself up as it was, it makes me
weak, but if the ring master raises me up, I'm in his strength. Then it
doesn't bother me.
Now, I said that so that you could follow it real close. When our Lord
was here… Now, we know that He's here tonight, but the Spirit that we
have tonight is just a little portion of His Spirit. See? Now, in Him
dwelled the Fullness of the Godhead bodily, and… He had the Spirit
without measure. We have It by measure.
E-59
Now, say if I took a spoonful of water out of the Atlantic out here,
well, you'd never miss it. But the same chemicals that's in that
spoonful, the whole Atlantic has the same kind of chemicals. And if the
Spirit of God is in His Church, It'll do the very same thing that He
did. It's got to.
Now, when He went, on our subject tonight, to Lazarus, He never heard
Him say anything. He was just rejoicing with them because God had
performed a miracle. God picked Him up, and showed Him what was going
to happen, sent Him over there. He stayed the four days, come back,
raised Lazarus, and done it…
Look at Him. "You say He raised Lazarus?" Sure, at the grave.
Look at Him at the grave. He said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou has
already heard Me, but for these that stand by I said it." See? Father
had already showed Him what to do. He said so.
E-60
Now, notice again. When the woman with the blood issue, He had no
vision of her; and she come by with her own faith, and touched Him, for
she knew He was the Son of God. And she touched Him, and He said, "Who
touched Me?"
"Well," they said… Peter rebuked Him and said, "Lord, why everyone's touching You."
He said, "But I perceive that virtue has gone from Me, strength. I got weak."
E-61
And He looked around till He found the little woman, and He said, "Your
blood issue is finished now. Your faith done it. Your faith did it, not
My faith, your faith did it. Thy faith has saved thee." And watch the
word "save" there, just the same as it is if you're saved physically or
spiritually. "Thy faith has saved thee."
Now, tonight the Lord Jesus comes, and He shows visions as my brethren
know that foretells things. Oh, my. There could be an encyclopedia
wrote of it, of what He done. And not one time has it ever failed
anywhere. Ask anyone. Not one time…
His great Being come down and permitted His picture to be taken with us
here, which is here in Washington, D.C. by the FBI, George J. Lacy,
head of the fingerprint and document in Houston, Texas, where it was
taken… You've seen in the meetings the Pillar of Fire that led the
children of Israel, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-62
"I come from leading the children of Israel in the Pillar of Fire, I…
from God, I go back the same way. "Met Paul on the road down to
Damascus, a Pillar of Fire. None of them seen It but Paul, but It put
his eyes out. See? He was blind for a season. Here He is tonight, just
the same Lord Jesus, doing the very same things.
Now, you say, "But Brother Branham, if I had an infirmity, if Jesus was
here I'd go touch Him. Well, Brother Branham, can I touch you?" That
wouldn't do a bit of good, not a bit of good. Touch your husband or
your brother, or somebody setting there, it'd do just as well. Touch
the seat. As our good friend Brother Roberts used to say, "Touch your
seat, or your radio, or something,": point of contact.
E-63
But take Jesus as your Point of contact, brother. See? Bring Him to
you. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, if He was just here I'd touch
Him." The New Testament in the Book of Hebrews said that, He is now a
High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. You
can touch Him right where you are. "How will I know it?" Just like it
was then. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Look up and
touch Him. Watch Him turn back around and tell you just what you had
need of.
Now, if He doesn't do that, then the Word's still right. I'm a false
prophet. I'm a false teacher. But I am teaching the Word. And the Word
is right. The Word is right. I make all kinds of mistakes, but the Word
is never wrong. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-64
Now, I just want to pray, and you pray with me for every sick person. I
wished I had the power to come, make each of you well. I don't have it.
Your doctors, they do what they can do. That's very fine. But they
can't heal. There never was a medicine ever healed, never an operation.
No thing ever healed but God. Never was a hospital ever healed a
patient. Ask any doctor.
They can set a bone, take out an obstruction, pull a tooth; but Who
heals? They set the bone, but Who heals? Certainly. Psalms 103:3 said,
"I'm the Lord Who heals all of thy diseases." Medicine will not create
cells. If it can create cells, then it could make a man. But God's the
only Creator. Satan can't create. He just perverts what God has
created. One Healer, God. Let us talk to Him now for your…?…
E-65
Most holy Father, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Everlasting
Life, and Giver of every good gift, we humbly bow in Your Presence, and
turn our face to the dust from which You've taken us. And someday if
Thy beloved Son tarries, we shall return to the dust from where we
come. But the soul that is within us comes from the great Spirit of God
Who is eternal.
And we thank Thee for this glorious hope that we have. We have been
promised by His great blessed Word… He said when He was here on
earth, "Ask My Father anything in My Name, I'll do it." Lord God
Jehovah, we come in the Name of Thy Son Jesus. And we ask Thee to
confirm Thy own Word tonight, that make it known that Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.
Forgive us of our stupid ways, our sins. Take all of our transgressions
away, Lord. Hide them under Thy Blood. We plead for each other. And we
know that in this little building tonight, it's not a very good place,
we would say, to come, but You'll come to the humblest home there is.
You'd go right into the midst of prisons, and into the barnyards, or
pigpens to save a man. You're so good. We love You so much.
E-66
Lord, be near us now. Reveal Yourself to us, and do those things that
You did when You were here on earth. Honor the faith of this people who
is set through this long drawed out message tonight in this cold room.
Reward them by healing their bodies taking away their sickness. You
forgave their sins that raised their hands a few moments ago. And now,
get glory to Thyself. For humbly we ask this for the glory of God.
And now, Lord, from here out is Yours. I've done the best that I know
how. Anoint us now, Lord. Anoint them to believe. Anoint me to believe.
And speak through us, and by us, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]
How grateful we are for the Spirit of God. How wonderful He works in
our midst, and to that, we give praise and glory for all of His
marvelous works. [Someone prophesies–Ed.]
E-67
Thanks be to the Lord. Father, we're so much grateful and thankful to
Thee. Grant that this will be a time of rejoicing like never before.
Give to the people that which is desired in their heart. Amen.
Now, if I understand the Scriptures right, I believe that there is
gifts that comes into the Church, that the Holy Spirit speaks and
pronounces to His people the things that He wants to do. And therefore,
the–the people who spoke was just in order after I'd got through
speaking. And now, the message is to the people that He has already did
the blessing for you. It's for you to receive it.
Now, may you do it reverently while we call the prayer line. And let's
see where did it. How many? Well, L? L's 1 to a 100. 1 to 50. Let's
just start, being it's the meetings just now. And who has L-number-1,
prayer card 1, L-number-1? Would you just raise your hand so we can see
if we got them right. All right. Number 1? Would you come right here,
lady?
E-68
Number 2. Now, look at your neighbor's card, 'cause it might be that
they can't… Number 2, would you raise your hand if you can? All
right. Number 2, lady, would you come here? Number 3, would you raise
your hand? L-number-3. The lady back there.
Number 4, Number 4, would you raise your hand please? Number 4, this
lady here. Would you come right here in line? Number 5, would you raise
your hand please right away? If I could see number 5, the gentleman
here, would you come? Number 6, would you…
[Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]… the time,
and it's getting late. Now, we want to get away. Now, first thing, I
want to say, thank you for your loyalty of waiting. God rewarded us now
and give us a nice warm place for tomorrow afternoon. God be with you.
In the morning go to your church somewhere, wherever they're having
service. Greet your pastors and invite them out for tomorrow afternoon
too. We'd be glad to have them.
E-69
Now, here's the showdown time. Here's a lady. I suppose we're strangers
to each other, are we? We are strangers. I've never seen the lady in my
life, and she's never seen me as I know of, 'less it was in a meeting
somewhere. Have you ever seen? Never seen me no way. This is the first
time we've ever–she's ever–we've ever seen each other any time in
life. And that is true.
Then the lady standing here, there's… She's up here for some cause. I
do not know. God knows that. She may be sick. I don't know. She looks
like a healthy woman. I couldn't say. I don't know. She may be in
financial troubles. It may be domestic troubles. I don't know. She's
wanting something from God surely, or she wouldn't be standing here. If
she isn't, God knows all about it anyhow.
E-70
If… She might be here as a critic. If she is, watch what happens.
See? Now, we–we don't know. She's just a woman. Some of the boys,
Billy, or Gene, or Leo, or ever who give out the prayer cards awhile
ago, just give her a card and that's… She just–she's just called up
here. That's all we know. Is that right, lady? That's all we know, this
here.
Now, if I had power to heal the woman if she's sick, I'd do it. But I
haven't the power. But if Jesus was standing here, wearing this suit of
clothes that I have on, neither could He heal her. Did you know that?
How many knows that? Kind of hard for you to raise your hands, but it's
the truth. Why? He's already done it. He did it when He died at
Calvary. How many knows that? Sure. Sure.
Then what would He do? He would do something to make her know that it
was Him. He'd say something maybe like this, "Child of Mine… If she
is a Christian. That I don't know. But if she is, He'd say, "Child of
Mine, don't you believe what–that I–I died for this purpose?"
"Yes, Lord, I'll believe. Well, why would ask me that?"
E-71
But He might say, "Well, now, there's something in your life that
oughtn't to be, or there's something that you have done, or haven't
done," or something that way, that would cause her to know that Jesus
was present. Is that right? If… Is that what He done in the days gone
by? He told…
Here–here's to the newcomer. Here's a picture tonight, just like it
was in the Bible time. Here's a man and a woman: Saint John 4.
Everything that I try to do, the best of my knowledge, I place it in
the Bible. If it's not in the Bible… Well, it might be God anyhow,
but I just like to do what just He says to do (You see?), and then
I'm–I'm sure. God can do things that's not wrote in the Bible, but I
like to stay just with the Bible. Then I–I know it's right.
In the old Bible they had a… How many knowed how they tested a
prophet, or a message, or a dream? It was said and told before the Urim
Thummim. How many ever heard that? Let's see your hand. The Urim
Thummim was Aaron's… The ministers raising their hands, of course. It
was Aaron's breastplate. And always God has worked in supernatural.
E-72
And when the prophet went to speaking or the dreamer telling his dream,
if it was of the Lord, a conglomeration of lights went to work, a
supernatural Light worked on that Urim Thummim. Then it was God. It was
true. But if it didn't work, no matter how well it seemed to be, it
wasn't true. God refused it.
Now, that Aaronic priesthood ceased, but we have a new priesthood
today. That Urim Thummim ceased, but we have a new Urim Thummim. And
that's God's Word. What we do, or say, if it doesn't flash in the Word,
I'd leave it alone. But it must come from the Word.
Now, this scene like Saint John 4, a man and a woman, which here we are
before God, this pulpit, the Bible, that neither have ever seen each
other in life. We're totally strangers. Now, if Jesus is the same
yesterday, today, and forever, and will do the things that He did…
Said, "I do nothing till the Father shows Me first." We all aware of
that, Saint John 5:19.
E-73
Now, if Jesus will come and just take this body, my voice… Now
remember, Jesus is in every way like He was, only a corporal body. Do
you understand that? What are we? He is the Vine, and we are the
branches now. The vine doesn't bear fruit. The branches bears fruit,
but the energy has to come from the vine. The vine has to send forth
the power to bear the fruit.
Now, if He is risen from the dead, which we know He is, and then if God
sent me to do this… I'm not a preacher, as–as a preacher. I don't
have the education to be a preacher. But if by a gift, if He lets me
see visions, and say to this woman just like at the woman at the well,
and will reveal to me something that's in your heart that you're
wanting, would you believe it was Him? You know it'd have to come from
some supernatural resource. How many knows it would be a supernatural
resource?
E-74
Now, if you believe that, then it depends on what you think it is. If
you'd say, "Oh, well, he's a mind reader." Well that's your reward
you'd receive. But if… But 'course, there you'd… I wouldn't say it
in that way. You'd… It might be terrible, because that would be the
same as they did, blasphemy of the Holy Ghost (See?) which is
unpardonable.
Now, that's what, they blaspheme when they call the works that He was
doing, Beelzebub. How many knows that? And Jesus said it would never be
forgiven (See?) to call the working of God by the Holy Ghost, Beelzebub
or some evil spirit. See?
Now, if the Lord Jesus will reveal it… I don't say that He will. But
if He will, you'll believe? Will the audience believe if… Does anyone
know the woman out there? I suppose you do, yes, plenty of you. All
right. Now, if I said, "Lady, you're sick, and you're going to be
well," you'd have a right to doubt that. If–if… Unless you–just
depend on how much you believe my word.
E-75
But if the Holy Spirit will go back like He did to Philip, or like He
did to the woman at the well, and tell her something that she's done,
you know whether that's true or not. You'll know that. Then if He knows
what has been, He surely will know what will be. You understand?
You say, "Brother Branham, are you stalling for something?" Yes, I am.
I'm waiting for the Angel of the Lord, the–the anointing. It hasn't
struck me yet exactly. That's right. That's the reason I keep talking
to her. Our Lord kept talking to the woman…?…
But now, the woman is aware now, that there's something taking place.
If my audience can still hear my voice, right over the woman is a
Light. Lady, you're aware that a real sweet humble feeling has just
come over you. If that's right raise up your hands for…?… See?
Between you and I, I see that Light.
E-76
And the lady is very, very sick and shadowed with death. She's
suffering with a tremendous nervous condition, a cancer of the nerve.
And she has tumor on the brain. That is true. That is true, isn't it,
lady? Wave your hand so the people will know.
Now, you see… I never seen her. And right now, I don't know what I
said to her. Now, you heard a voice. That wasn't me. That was Him. See?
That was Him. 'Cause I don't know what to say to her. Now, that the
audience might know, see, more you would talk to her, more would be…
We just got a few standing here. Let's talk to the woman a little more.
Just to speak to you, because that more I would say to you, of course,
more, and of course weaker you would get. Visions make weakness. Do you
remember the great prophet Daniel saw one vision, was troubled at his
head for many days? See? Jesus was touched by a woman's infirmity and
said virtue went from Him.
E-77
But why then could, would He let me stand and have even more in one
night than we have record of Him doing in the Bible? Because He made a
promise. "More than this shall you do," the same thing, but more of it.
See? Me, a sinner saved by grace, and Him, the Son of Jehovah, but He
made a promise. His words are true. "More than this shall you do, for I
go to My Father."
E-78
Yes, lady, I wanted–just wanted to see. Yeah, I see the woman, if the
audience can still hear my voice, I don't know how loud I'm speaking
now because the lady goes away from me, and she's overshadowed with
death (That's true.), by a hideous black shadow which is cancer.
And also, she is concerned about someone else that she's praying for.
And that is her husband that's here in this building. I feel his spirit
moving. And her husband has tremendous pains in his back, and he's
having some kind of a heart condition, a condition around his heart.
And I see you both somewhere. You're in some sort of a meeting, or
doing something. There's a… You're raising your hand to… You are in
a–some kind of a great meeting, hasn't been too long ago. And you
raised your hand to be converted. And that was in a city called Triton,
Trenton. Trenton, it is Trenton, New Jersey, and it was Oral Roberts
meetings. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ is present? It may be your darkest hour, but Jesus has come
along. Let us pray.
Most gracious Lord, I lay my hands upon this woman, because Thou has
said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. These signs
shall follow them that believe; if they lay their hands on the sick,
they shall recover." Lord, You keep all Your promises, and I pray that
our sister be made well, and the spirit of evil sickness be cast from
her, and the desires of her heart given unto her; for I humbly ask it
in Jesus' Name, which cannot fail. Amen. God bless you, my sister.
God's peace rest upon you now. Go, don't doubting nothing. You'll be
well. God bless you.
E-79
How do you do, lady? You're a stranger to me in a way that I don't know
you, but yet you seem familiar. Just a minute. Oh, you have been in the
meeting, and you were healed of a bowel condition. And you're here for
someone else now. And that is a woman that's been burned with a… And
you're a nurse. I see you in a hospital, nurse. And the woman is burned
severely, and you're standing in her behalf. And I hear you call her
name "Bethie." That is right. Now, the God that healed you will heal
her too.
Father, in the Name of Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, show mercy to
this woman's request and may it come to pass that the things that she
desires shall be given to her. This we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, Who said, "Ask in My Name, it shall be given." Amen. The
Lord grant your request, my beloved sister. God be with you, sister,
and grant to you…
E-80
You have a prayer card? You don't? You… All right, sir. You give it
to someone else. All right. If you'll keep believing… You want God to
heal you of that nervous condition you have. That's right. If you'll
keep believing, you can have it. You touched Him.
I'm a stranger to you, lady. And here's a beautiful setting of the
Scriptures. Here's a–a woman, a colored woman, me, a white man. Then I
come from the Anglo-Saxon; she came from Ethiopia. It was the same
picture of Saint John 4, a Samaritan and a Jew.
E-81
And the question was, there was a segregation in those days like there
has been in the south for years, but Jesus let them know that there was
no difference in the color of a person's skin. That's right. They're
all children of God. Just the country we was raised in, has nothing to
do with our relationship with God. But it's the same picture.
Now, lady, we've never met in life before. This is our first time of
ever meeting. If that's right, would you just raise your hands with me?
It's our first time meeting. Now, if our Lord Jesus… When a Jew, He
met a Jew and told him where he was under a tree, said He saw him. That
was thirty miles around the mountain: Some eyes. But He said, "I saw
you when you were under the tree." And he recognized that miracle to be
only of God. And he said, "You are the Son of God, the King of Israel."
E-82
The Samaritan woman, when He told her, a woman of a different race from
He was, He told her where her trouble was, she quickly recognized that
it was the sign of the Messiah. And if He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, between the races then that He went to deal with, isn't He
the same today? If He manifested Hisself in that way to prove He was
Messiah to them, isn't He obligated to us in this day to manifest
Hisself in the same way? If He's the same, He will manifest Hisself the
same. Does the audience believe that? [Congregation says, "Amen."–Ed.] May He grant it.
The lady is not here for herself. She's here for someone else. That's a
brother. I see you coming up together. And that brother is in a
horrible condition right now. He's an alcoholic. He's laying drunk, and
he was so drunk you couldn't sober him up enough to bring him to the
meeting. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. Do you believe? Let us pray.
O Jehovah God, grant the request of this sincere woman who stands here.
Let Thy Spirit come to her and give unto her the assurance in her
heart, that she has what she asked for. Grant it, Lord. We bless her as
laying hands upon her. In the Name of Thy Son the Lord Jesus, may she
go, and what she's asked, may she receive through Jesus Christ. Amen.
Don't doubt one bit. You shall have what you asked for.
E-83
We are strangers to each other. The Lord knows the both of us. But if
our blessed Saviour will reveal to me what you're here for, will you
believe on Him, and accept Him, knowing that He will give you what
you're asking? Let's say what you want in your heart, you pray, and ask
God. And now, just be in your heart praying to God, and He will–I'm
sure He will grant it to you.
Now, if the lady, and the people in the church can still hear my voice,
the lady is suffering from a female disorder, a lady's trouble. That is
right. This was caused by a birth of a child. The little fellow is at
home, and he's got something wrong. The baby has got something wrong
with it. It's all swelled up. It's got… Its jaws are all swelled out,
and it's got something in the head, trouble in its head. That is THUS
SAITH THE LORD.
You be the judge. Those words are true. God still lives Who made the
promise by His Bible, "Ask and you shall receive." And O great Jehovah,
Who cannot fail, I bless this Thy child in Jesus' Name, Thy Son. And
may she receive that what she has come for. May she find it even so,
for we send her to her home in Jesus Christ's Name for to be healed.
Amen. The prayer of faith shall save the sick, God shall raise them up.
E-84
Be just as reverent. I know it's getting cold. It's cold here. But
let's just try to get another one or two. How about in the audience,
are you believing? [The congregation says, "Amen."–Ed.]
Just believe; touch His garment; say, "Lord Jesus, I believe You. I
believe that the Bible is right. And I believe that You've raised from
the dead."
You say, "Brother Branham, these things ought to be before the whole
world." I know it. But they'll not know it until we're gone. They never
did know it through the ages. Even the disciples didn't know it. They
said, "Must Elias come first?"
Said, "He's already come, and you didn't know him." Believe.
E-85
You believe she'd get well if I'd ask the Lord for you, you're friend
that's got diabetes? You believe it? You got a handkerchief you want me
to pray over, haven't you? The woman has one leg amputated. That's
right. THUS SAITH THE LORD. Bring me your handkerchief. You brought it
for that purpose. Take it from your purse and bring it to me. Have
faith. Bring it right here, just right here. I knew it, lady, by the
revelation of Jesus Christ. You touched Something, didn't you, lady?
You seen you wasn't going to get into the prayer line, but you were
praying. I seen your prayer. Now, not me… It's–it's Something; it's
the Holy Spirit. (See?) I'm only talking to you as He would talk to me.
Now, let us pray.
Now, heavenly Father, in the Bible we are taught that they taken from
the body of saint Paul, handkerchiefs and aprons, because the people
seen the Spirit of God working in this man, and they had faith to
believe their apostle. And they sent these handkerchiefs to the sick
and afflicted, and the Bible says that evil spirits went out of them,
and diseases were healed.
E-86
Now, we realize that we're not saint Paul, but we know that You're
still Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we're taught
that when the Red Sea had the children of Israel cut off from the
promised land, that God looked down through the Pillar of Fire, and the
sea got scared, and moved back, and made a dry path for Israel to cross
on towards the promise.
Tonight, Lord, when this handkerchief is placed upon the sick body of
this one so desiring to be healed, I pray that God will look through
the Blood of His Son; and may the woman pass from sickness into the
promise of good health and be made well, for we send it for this
purpose; in the Name of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, let no
one handle it.
Now, do you believe with all your heart? Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus is here to make well, to heal the sick and the needy? All right.
I believe if we would pray right here now to each one, so you get out
of the chill that… Do you believe that God would heal you? Do you
believe He would do it?
E-87
Are you aware that Jesus is come along? Is that according… How many
Bible readers know that God promised that, that Jesus promised that?
That's the things that He did. Now, remember your brother has nothing
to do with it. It's your faith in the resurrection of Jesus.
Is this a patient?… Is this… Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't to pass
you, no. But being that you're standing here, we're strangers to each
other, as far as I know, we are. Now, you're a man, and our friend by
the name of Philip went and found Nathanael and brought him over where
a man met our blessed Lord. Now, you and I, being strangers, would just
be the same, that we don't know each other. But you and I both are
meeting Jesus now.
And now, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He could let
me know where your trouble is. And if He does, will you be reverent
enough to believe that you're in His Presence? You know that there's
Something. Standing before me, a man, wouldn't make you feel like
you're feeling now. You know that there's Something that's on…
E-88
Why did I call you out of the sick to pray for the sick? The Light was
already on you. And I know the Holy Spirit wants me to talk to you.
That's the reason I did it, for I was fixing to pray for the entire
audience. But when I turned and felt the Spirit of God this way, and I
looked and the Light's all around you… Now, tears are running down
your cheek, because you know you're in His Presence. I'd never make you
feel that way. I couldn't, I'm a man.
I wish the audience could only know what this is, what I speak of. I
know… You don't have to feel anything; you believe something. But
it's because his faith is so anchored. Some way he realizes that he's
in the Presence of Something besides a man. See? Watch the expression
on their faces as they come forward and just get into the Presence of
Him. Now, His Presence is there, of course, too. But…
If our heavenly Father, this being a man and us standing together that
we have never met before in life, if God will tell the man what he
wants, then surely God is interested in his desires. Is that right?
Now, will the rest of you believe then with all with one accord?
E-89
Now, sir, the Lord Jesus grant it. I don't… It isn't necessarily that
I would look at you or anything, but just to talk to you. I don't look
at those people in the audience, and so forth. But… May the Lord
grant the request. Now, if you're sick, you know I can't heal you. But
it takes the Spirit of God to do that, and your faith in Him. Surely
with the faith that you have, you would receive it.
My brother, you're not here for sickness. You're here with a desire in
your heart to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's what you're
here for. That's right. Also, your wife, she has some spiritual
problems, and she has pain though; she's nervous and got pains through
her body. That's right. You believe you will receive it?
E-90
I see you somewhere else. You have been at a meeting of mine before,
but you didn't get in. That wasn't in this city either. It was a city
where a large lake, and I see Joseph Boze standing near. It was in
Chicago. You was in Chicago seeking the Lord for the baptism of the
Holy Ghost. THUS SAITH THE LORD. That is true. Let us pray.
Blessed Redeemer, Thou has give the promise which can never fail. Let
Thy Holy Spirit come just now, deeply, richly, and set the faith of the
Lord Jesus in the heart of this man, and may everything that he has
desired tonight be manifested to him, and given to him.
And may he go from this building down the street, rejoicing, saying,
"Did not our hearts burn within us, for Jesus made Hisself real to us
tonight." Grant it, Lord. I bless this my brother, in the Name of Jesus
Christ, that he will receive that what he asked for. Amen. The Lord
bless you, sir. You shall receive that what you have asked for. God be
with you.
E-91
Do you believe? All right. Will you come? Someone thought back there it
was mind reading, just a few moments ago, or telepathy rather. To prove
it to you, lady, don't look at me, but lay your hand on mine. If the
Lord God will reveal to me what's your trouble, will you believe me as
God's servant? You have heart trouble. That's right. You believe that
God will make you well of it? Then go and be healed in the Name of the
Lord Jesus.
Do you believe, sir, with all your heart? You believe that God will
heal you? All right. Then the diabetes would leave you, and you can go
be made well. You believe it? All right. See, it is not. See?
A lady's trouble, and also a nervous heart, that is right. Go and be
healed in the Name of the Lord Jesus. It is not telepathy. It's the
Spirit of the living God in these great days of this…?… Do you
believe it? Then let us raise our hands to God, and I want you to pray
with me this prayer:
E-92 O God, [Congregation prays after Brother Branham–Ed.]
Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Everlasting Life, Giver of
every good gift, send Thy blessings upon us, and heal us. I now accept
Jesus Christ as my Healer.
Now, stay shut in with Him. That's your prayer. That's your confession.
Just believe that that same great Light that's here at the pulpit is
circling It's way through the building. Oh, how wonderful. Receive your
healing. The Lord Jesus make you well.
O Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, I pray for this people, that
the blackness and shadows of unbelief might be…?… just now,
Satan… rebuked.
E-93
Satan, you have lost the battle. Come out. In the Name of the Lord
Jesus we adjure thee to leave this people that they be made sound and
well; through the Name of Christ we ask it.
I believe as a servant of Christ, that every one of you is healed right
now. I believe it. I believe all the of those that would like a close
walk with Christ should come right down here tonight and stand. You
penitent sinner, come down here to the altar just now. And if He can
save you and… Come down here and ask a little word of prayer, and
give thanks for His goodness. Will you do it? You that believe that
you're healed, stand up to your feet; give Him glory.
Give us a chord, "I Will Praise Him." All the people with their hands up…
Let's lift Him up and sing it now.
