As I Was With Moses, So Will I Be With Thee (60-0911M)

 

 

¹ Out again this morning… [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]… night's sleep. I hope that we all had it, and are feeling relaxed today.
I was just thinking as I was standing in the room, and Billy Paul put
in twenty-five cents this morning. I remember standing on this same
pulpit when Frankie Weber, a neighbor here… He and I went to school
together. And I was about twenty-one, about twenty-two, I believe, and
he was already twenty-five. And when he put in the twenty-five cents, I
thought, "Oh, my, Frankie's about ready to die; he's so old. And–and
now," I thought, "what will I do when I get that age, twenty-five?" And
now my son's putting in twenty-five.
Just goes to show that time is fleeting and it waits on no one. We must
work while it is day, for the time will come when we cannot work no
longer. And I always liked Longfellow's "The Psalm of Life," "With
partings, leave behind us the footprints on the sands of time." We must
make footprints while we can make them, each of us. Let's not waste one
day, but make every day count the best that we can for His glory.

³
Now, a couple nights ago, or two weeks ago, it has been… The Lord
gives visions, as we're all sure of that here. And I had a strange
vision to happen to me while I was down in Kentucky. I said to the
party I was with, "something's surely fixing to happen."
I saw standing before me, about three o'clock in the morning in the
room, a man, hideously dark; not like our beloved colored brethren and
sisters. This man was different. His body was wrinkled iron, and he was
coming with great clutching hands to get me. And in my protection was a
small blade; but it was no good; it couldn't protect myself with it. So
somehow, the Lord come in and helped me to get away from this hideous
man. He was wrinkled iron. I could see him as he raised his hands, the
great wrinkles in his skin, just like iron moving back and forth. I
suppose, maybe, a hard pressing bullet would not pierce that hideous
shell, like a–some animal, a tortoise or something, over him. And he
was after me. I have a good idea what that was and what it means.

⁵
But then last Tuesday morning, about three o'clock, something else
happened. I was at home. And standing before me in a room, was a Divine
One that spoke words that I did not understand. And the time that He
appointed is near at hand. And I did not hear Him too good, but He was
a Divine One. And He said, "Seven more days, and you'll stand as Moses
stood," or "will be as Moses was," or something concerning Moses. That
leaves me one more day after today; that was the sixth. I don't know
what that means. I know that He will work it out, whatever it is, "You
will stand," or "have to stand," or "be as," or it was something
pertaining to Moses. And I never thought too much about it. I told my
family and told some of my loved ones, that I had saw this Divine One.
Yet He spoke as a Man.
And then I noticed that my message of last evening, the Lord let me
choose Moses. And this morning it's Moses and his successor. And the
Scripture that I'm about to approach this morning for, is concerning
Moses and Joshua. And this Scripture, Joshua the 1st chapter, has
always been a very outstanding Scripture: never preached on it in my
life; I'm going to try it this morning.

⁷
But about two years ago, I saw the Bible, in the room, come down and
stand where I was at and a hand from above came down and parted the
pages, turned them out, and come down Joshua 1 to the 9th verse and
stopped, going slowly. I've waited for this hour to approach to when I
would feel that it was God's will for me to speak concerning it.
Now, don't forget the evening services, if you are–can come and you
don't have a post of duty. If you have churches that needs you, why, we
certainly recommend you to your church.
This morning we're going to pray for the sick immediately after the
message. And I think there following that is a baptismal service.
And tonight, the Lord willing, I want to preach on "Five Infallible
Scriptural Identifications Of The Church," and our relationship with
it, with the New Testament church, and our relationship with this
church. And services will begin, the song service, at seven-thirty; try
to be in the pulpit at eight o'clock. And we'll be through by
nine-thirty, the Lord willing.

¹¹
And then I trust that today that it will not be that none of these
words that… When I come down to the commission, that no one will fail
to see it, because it's very important that you lay aside everything
now and think as we wait on the Holy Spirit.
Before approaching this marvelous and gracious Word, I'm going to ask
that my good friend and coworker, Doctor Lee Vayle, if he'll stand up
and lead us in a word of prayer, as we open the Word. Brother Vayle. [Brother Vayle begins to pray, then blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.] Thank you, Brother Vayle, for that inspiring prayer to God.

¹³
And now, let us turn in the Scriptures. There's just so much to talk
about; but yet seeing many standing around the walls and in the halls,
and so forth… I believe we are facing the dawn of a new day. Now, in
the Scripture reading this morning, let's turn to the 1st chapter of
Joshua. And we will read from the first book of Joshua the 1st chapter,
the first nine verses. And while we're making ready…
This message is being taped and will be sent to many parts of the
world. I'd want the peoples of the world, to whom the Lord has given me
favor, and I've found grace in your sight; I'm saying this this morning
because that in the future, hoping to come into your congregations and
meetings, that you might know ahead of time, what the Lord God has
done, that you might know truth. And as Jesus said, "The truth shall
make you free."

¹⁵ Reading from Joshua 1.

¹⁶
In the 5th verse and about the middle of the verse it is written: "As I
Was With Moses, So I Will Be With Thee." That is what, if I should call
it a text, I would like to–to wait on a few moments, and call your
attention to that. "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee."
Now, last evening we were journeying with the children of Israel, all
the way from Egypt, till we got them into Kadesh. Oh, what a great
lesson, what a great thing, as we typed the natural church to the
spiritual church. God dealing with Israel in the natural, with the
church in these days, as He's calling out of the Gentiles a people for
His Name, He's dealing with them in the spiritual, as He dealt with
them in the natural: just parallel one to the other. All that God did
with them, and all that God did for them, and all they did in response,
falls to us as an example. And we see, so far, the Word has been
carried out exactly the same. How that in the natural, when they got
their victory, or two, they settled down to rejoicing, and shouting,
and dancing, and praising God, just the way the church did, and now has
waited forty years for the opening of something else.

¹⁸
And as we think of Moses, this great servant of the Lord, how that at
his birth, the place of his birth, God chose him for his work at his
birth. And his life was very much difficult to be lived. Because he's a
man, and he wants to live it one way, and the Spirit of God leads him
another way. What foolish decisions, seemingly, that he would make.
When with a foot on the throne to be heir of the world, and then take
the other side to become an outcast or a wanderer, seemingly, mentally,
it would be a foolish thing.
But we find a great lesson in here, that men who follow the Spirit is
foolish to the world, because they're of another Kingdom, led in
another way, led by the Spirit. God, let that be me and all of you,
that we will follow the leading of the Spirit, regardless, watching
God's promise, waiting for it to be fulfilled.

²⁰
And that's just what Moses done. Pharaoh read the same Scriptures that
Moses did. Only Pharaoh looked at it in another way. Moses looked at
the same people Pharaoh did. Pharaoh saw them as slaves and as
mud-daubers. Moses seen them as the called and chosen.
That's the way I want to see the church of the living God, not a bunch
of fanatics or outcasts, but as the chosen of God; that I might be able
to give my life, as Moses did, for this great church and for the cause.
Now, we find Moses being called, and after being commissioned, he
failed his commission by trying to do it in the way that he thought was
best. Therefore, it teaches us again that we can't take what we think
is best, or what man thinks is best; we've got to take the way that God
has said is best. Therefore, to follow the Word of the Lord is always
the best: take the way God said.

²⁴
And in his failure, we find out that he fled from the face of Pharaoh
into the wilderness, where he married Jethro's daughter, Zipporah. And
there after marrying her, she bore him a son, Gershom. Then he settled
down, quietly and peacefully, as in sheep business.
But one day, God heard the cry of His people; God remembered that He
had a covenant with those people. Not only that, but He also remembered
He had a servant who He had called and had chosen, and He had a
covenant with that servant. And God will never change His covenant, or
change His desires, or change anything. God will always keep His
promises. Although Moses had failed Him and had done that which was
wrong, yet God kept His covenant. When God calls a man to do something,
he must do it, just got to do it.

²⁶
Someone asked me sometime ago, "Shall we seek our gifts now for our
ministries?" some Methodist brethren who'd just received the Holy Ghost.
I said, "No, don't do that. When you do, then God can't use you." I
said, "The only thing to do, is just go ahead being a Christian. If
God's called you, He'll place you just exactly where you belong."
Usually, those who seek and try to get things, if God would give them
something, they'd, more or less, be a stuffed shirt. Usually the man
that God calls is the man that's trying to run from Him, if anything;
Moses and Paul, and different ones tried to get away from the call.

²⁹
But we find here that God in spite of all the failure that Moses had
done, He still had His hand on him. And He called him to go, do His
service, calling him to his commission. And what a consolation that
must've been to Joshua, when he heard God say, "As I was with Moses, so
will I be with you."
Although if I'm trying and I fail, God won't leave me. I don't have
much confidence in anybody that's too afraid to do anything. I'd rather
be found a failure than too lazy to try.

³¹
One time it was said that the Ballard and Ballard Flour Company hired a
man, and he was going to sign his name, and the man had no eraser on
the end of his pencil. And Mr. Ballard said to him, said, "Why haven't
you got an eraser?"
He said, "I don't make mistakes."
He said, "Then I can't use you. Because if you make mistakes–you–you don't make mistakes, you won't do nothing." That's true.
God don't hold you responsible for your mistakes. He holds you
responsible for your will–willful sin. "He that sins willfully, after
he has received the knowledge of the truth…" But a man that's going
to do something is going to blunder; he's going to fall. He's going to
make mistakes. But if he's really Divinely called, and God in his
heart, he'll rise again.

³⁴
Used to be, coming to the church here years ago, and they may be here
this morning, a little man and his wife. They used to sing a song that
thrilled me, goes something like this:

I like that, for any good soldier's apt to get wounded or hurt. But if
he's still a soldier, and got a purpose, and something to fight for,
he'll rise and try again. Any good soldier of the Cross will do the
same thing.

³⁶
And to Joshua, the new commander of the army after Moses had passed on,
seeing that God stayed with him in his mistakes, he held his commission
up… No matter what Moses done, it was Moses' office that God
respected. He was a prophet; he was above all the prophets; he was
really more than any prophet they had. When his own sister laughed at
him for marrying an Ethiopian girl, He called them together, and He
said, "Don't you fear God?" Said, "If there be one among you who's
spiritual or a prophet, I will speak to him in visions and make Myself
known to him in dreams. But it's not so with Moses; I speak lip to ear
with him. Don't you fear God?"
See, that's not a good thing to tramp upon God's people. You hurt Him
when you do so. God had commissioned Moses; his failures meant nothing.
God knowed his heart.

³⁹
And he, one time Moses complained about having too much to do. And so
God took His Spirit and divided It amongst seventy. They had no more
Spirit than they had at the beginning. But only had–thing, they just
had more machinery, same amount of Spirit.
God can put His entire Spirit upon a Man if He wants to, or He can
scatter It amongst thousands if He wants to. One day He put His whole
Spirit upon a Man called Jesus; now He's scattered It through His
churches everywhere. God keeps His commission.

⁴¹
Now, Joshua, the new warrior… Only two left now, that ever left the
promised land; and that was Joshua and Caleb. Now, Joshua, the new
commander, to lead an army, the second to the place where a great man
like Moses stood… It was no little task.
I think of a minister today that's called of God to step into the
tracks where Jesus stood, what a command, what a commission. But each
that's called of God is commissioned to stand in that same place. "I'll
be with you, even in you, to the end of the way." Each minister's
called to stand where He would. "The works that I do, shall you do
also." Each minister's ordained of God, is commanded to stand in the
tracks of Jesus Christ and perform the duties that Jesus performed.
That's quite a command.

⁴³
And how it must've felt, when Joshua, standing there that morning,
talking to God. He said, "I'll not fail thee; and as I was with Moses,
so will I be with you; no man shall stand before you all the days of
your life. I will destroy and divide. I'll make the way clear. Only be
strong and very courageous. Be not dismayed (That's 'wearied.'). Don't
be afraid. I'm with you, and I'll see you through." What a commission
to be given to this new man called Joshua.
Now, there's a great lot of types here that we could go into, but we'll
bypass some of them. For instance, like Moses was the church age that
brought them to Sinai to their theology of last night. Moses was not
permitted to take the children of Israel over into the promised land,
because he had failed.

⁴⁵
And the church organizations, denominations has failed. They'll not
take the church over. God will raise up a new system, a
interdenominational system by the power of God, that'll take the church
into the promised land. Organizations and denominations has messed it
up; each one after their own theology, each one after their own way of
thinking. But God will take His Holy Spirit, and will raise His Joshuas
that'll take the church to the promise, with no denominational strings
tied anywhere, but will take over His church.
Moses had failed; he was a law-giver. Joshua was called of grace, and he took the church on.

⁴⁷
We find also that Joshua, knowing this commission, knowing that it laid
in his hand, that God had called him for a duty that he must not fail,
he walked softly before God. And when he called the people together and
told them that God had commissioned him, watch the request of the
people. They said, "We'll follow you as we did Moses; if we can see the
same thing that followed Moses, following you. Only be strong and
courageous."
That ought to be the requirement of every borned again person today. If
we're requested to–to follow; then let's see the signs follow the
believer, as Jesus said, "The things that I do, shall you do also."
And I've asked you before to be sure to let your spiritual heart be
open this morning, 'cause I'm trusting that you'll catch what I'm
saying. Setting with denominational people, all kinds of organizations
gathered here this morning from Catholic and Protestant, and many
different types, so it will be revealed to the Spirit-filled, of
course.

⁵⁰
Now, Joshua had to take this command. The people said, "Let God be with
you as He was Moses, and we'll know that the same Spirit that led us
this far can take us on."
Oh, how the church ought to look this morning to find the Spirit
working amongst people, if you want a church home where the Spirit that
raised Christ from the dead, the Holy Spirit, that'll move amongst the
people. That's the Spirit that God's raising up in the last days to
take the people over into the other land, into the full promise of all
the blessings of God, and to the full commission that He gave, or the
promise. "The promise is unto you and to your children."
As Israel sought for that promised land, knowing that it was somewhere,
because there had been somebody there before, so is the church. We know
that there's a land somewhere. There is a power somewhere, because
there's been others over there. We know that land lays beyond the
river, where we are headed towards, this morning, trying to go into
that promised land.
Joshua knew that that land was there. He went first and found out, there he could come back as a witness.
God-called ministers ought not to be so stuffed out with theology; but
have visit the land to where we're going, bringing back evidence of the
Divine love and power of Jesus Christ to make known to their
congregations that there is a land beyond the river.

⁵⁴
Now, last night, preaching, going up to Jordan… Now, when we get to
that river, it divides us. It separates us. Once on the other side,
something's happened to you.
Now, Joshua, in all his knowing that the command was great, but having
the assurance, he could be fearless. He could be, and we'd call it
reckless, as long as he was pointed the right way. He might break up
against a hill that would knock him backwards, but he was headed the
right way.
So can the church of the living God be reckless and fearless, in faith
if we're pointed the right way. For He said, "As I was with Moses, I'll
be with you. I'll not fail you nor forsake you." He never forsaken
Moses. He never failed Moses. He will not fail Joshua. He will not fail
us. He'll be with us.

⁵⁷
And as we find Joshua to take this commission, knowing the
responsibilities was leading them through lands now, that he'd have to
go over into the other land. He's have to set up the kingdom. He'd have
to divide the inheritances among them. He knowed the commission was
tremendous, far more than what Moses had done. Joshua had more to do
than Moses had to do.
Another thing, he was to lead them along the border, amongst their
brethren. And they'd already tasted blood. He had to conquer them. He
had to keep them quiet as they marched down.
So is it today with this new Pentecostal group that's rising now,
they've tasted denominationalism. It's so hard to keep them down.

⁶⁰
Some years ago they said, "Come, Brother Branham," when the ministry
first started, "we'll start a organization, build you a memorial
somewhere." I'm not looking for memorials. I'm looking for the coming
of the Lord.
They formed a little cult called the Latter Rain, moved up into Canada
and out into California, but it fell through. 'Course it can't go. Why
was it? The only thing they know; they come out of those things, and
they got a little touch of it. They've got to have something they got
to do.
But brother, the real church of the living God has no forms, has no
creeds. It's led by the power of God that's in every individual's
heart. Pass by your brethren. Don't fuss at them. We're greater than
they. Don't fuss at them; just go by.

⁶³
I want you to notice; a great thing taken place here. There was Esau,
Moab, and those that we referred to last night. Many of those people,
many of those were actually borderline believers. They were right on
the border.
Oh, I got to stop here on something just a moment, won't take me but a
minute. Many people refer the promised land to the millennium. It is
not. The promised land had wars and killings. The millennium won't have
any wars or killings. It referred to the Holy Spirit, the battlegrounds.
Justification: they left Egypt. There's three stages of their journey.
They left Egypt under justification, believing the Word; they separated
themselves from the Egyptians and come out. They crossed the Red Sea
and killed the things behind them; which was sanctification through the
Blood that kills all human desires of evil, second stage of the
journey. But the third stage was when they crossed Jordan into the
promised land where their inheritance laid. Their inheritance never
laid in Egypt, though God blessed them in Egypt.

⁶⁶
You Lutheran that believe in justification, your inheritance don't lay
there if you're called. If you're just a Lutheran, that's all the
farther you'll ever get.
You Methodists, and Nazarenes, and Pilgrim Holiness, and Church of God,
who believe in sanctification, the killing of the evil that's in you,
taking out the roots of evil, you belong across the river.
But to you men and women that there's something in you, calling out,
the deep to the Deep; there's a Jordan yet to cross, and a land beyond
the river.
He said, "You're going to pass by your brethren. You're going to pass
by your brethren, and they're near the borderline. And if you pass by
them, don't say nothing to them. I have given Esau this mountain. I
have given Moab this country. And I don't want you fussing at them,
proselyting. Just move through gently. You know where you're going.
Don't take up their habits."

⁷⁰
Moab had a false prophet, a bishop by the name of Balaam, who come down
and got amongst the congregation, and tried to get them to organize and
all come together, 'cause they were brethren. But they were not. They
were half-brothers, not real brothers. If in your heart…
"Don't disagree with him; just go ahead, leave him alone. Pay him for
what you get, if you have to pass through his country." He was
predestinated to be that. If God would expected or predestinated Moab
to join up with Israel, they'd have joined up. If He'd predestinated
Esau to go with Israel, Esau would've jumped in and went. But He give
him his inheritance on the other side of the river.

⁷²
Or how can you try to make all the Lutherans see it, all the Baptists
see it, all the Presbyterians, and Nazarenes, and Pilgrim Holiness?
Don't condemn them. That's all they know. That's all that's in them.
But to you who believe (O God.), to you who know, to you that's got
something in you that's calling to the Deep… If all the deep you've
got's been satisfied, then stay where you are. But for me and my house,
for me there's something more than what he sees. There's a land beyond
the river somewhere; there's still a deep calling to the Deep. I cannot
be satisfied with theology. I cannot be satisfied with a good church. I
cannot be satisfied with a good campaign. I cannot be satisfied with a
little healing service. There's something beyond that that's calling.

⁷⁴
So just let them alone. Go on through. Don't argue with them. But we're
passing to another land. They wasn't ordained to go with you. They
won't walk with you. How can two walk unless they be agreed? But to
those who love God, to those who go–called of God…
Well, they say, "God give us this church. God did this."
That's right. God said, "I give Esau this mountain; don't touch him.
But I've got something different for you. Cross over." Amen.
That's my desire, brethren, to see my church cross over into another
land, a desire to move over to the other side. If there is something in
you here first calling, there'll be Something to respond to that call.
Just settling down to sheep raising ain't enough for you. Go into some
sort of a business is not enough for you. Just to join the church and
put your name on the book, is not enough for you. Because, there's
something calling, all across the ridge yonder, across the next ridge,
and all across Jordan, until you fall into the arms of God yonder. A
deep calling unto a Deep…

⁷⁷
Joshua knowed this commission was tremendous. Did you notice there, all
when Joshua started to cross Jordan, how Joshua remembered his
commission? "Let not this book of the law, My Word, depart out of your
mouth." In other words, "Joshua, I don't care what the tribe says, what
other clergy says. Stay with this Word, for then thou shall make thy
ways prosperous. No matter how many big things they do, and how many
little things they do, and how many organizations they made; stay with
the Word, Joshua." Oh, my. "Stay with the Word. This Word, this Word
shall not depart out of your mouth." Let me read It again.

⁷⁸
If the Word says do a certain thing, do it. I don't care what the
organization says; do it anyhow. That's the Joshua that God's waiting
for. Turn not one inch, one iota. Stay right with the Word.

Oh, you think you are prospering when you're building big churches,
getting ten thousand added to your denomination. That's not prosperity.
That don't take you one step closer to the promise. What we need is
more of God, more of the Holy Ghost.

When you're thinking on doing something, are you taking God's Word for
it? Are you finding your desire in the Word? Are you preaching that
which is Bible? Are you just like many today, and too many, preaching
for doctrine the commandments of men?

⁸¹

See
what a Joshua of this day is going to be? See what a Joshua of the
church spiritual's going to be? It's the same kind of a Joshua they had
in church natural. Church spiritual has got to be the same thing.
If the Bible said, "Except a man be borned again, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God," the spiritual Joshua will say amen. If the Bible said,
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever," the spiritual
Joshua will say the same thing. He is the same. If the Bible says, the
Book, the Word says that, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till
you're endued with power from on high. After this the Holy Ghost is
come on you, then you'll be witnesses of Me," the spiritual Joshua says
the same thing.

⁸⁶
If Peter on the day of Pentecost said, "Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins,
you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," the spiritual Joshua
will never vary one iota, but he'll make just exactly what the Word
said.
If Mark 16 said, "Go into all the world, preach the Gospel. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall
be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in My Name
they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents,
drink deadly things, it'll not harm them; if they lay their hands on
the sick, they shall recover," the spiritual Joshua will say the same
thing. He'll meditate therein day and night to make the way prosperous.

⁸⁸
I want you to notice what taken place. Joshua, when he come to his
first campaign, his first time to prove that he was the real Joshua…
Israel ought to have knowed that.
No doubt, the clergy had a different idea. They said, "Now, we'll just
camp here until springtime, or till summertime, the Jordan will go
down."
And look like God throws some of the most foolish things in front of
the spiritual Joshua. Brought him there in the month of April, when the
Jordan was three or four times its size. He was trying him to see if he
really was the Joshua. Let everything go wrong. Let everybody else
prosper. Let the others prosper. Let the men who have a form of
godliness, deny the power thereof, prosper, and shove you back. But if
you know where you'll stand, you'll stand. Regardless, if the whole
world turns you down, you'll stand just the same. You won't vary from
that Word.

⁹³
The Jordan was three or four times its size: spooky, horrible-looking,
muddy. But Joshua said, "God said within three days we're going over.
And we're going over."
Now, the clergy'd say, "Now, just a minute, Joshua. We are educated
men. We are smart. Many of us here are engineers from Egypt. We know
how to do these things, so we'll just wait a little while until the
stream clears up, then we can walk across it. Isn't that much easier?"
"I don't care what you think. God said three days we're going over. And we're going over. We're going over in three days."
Watch what Joshua did. What did he put first, the clergy? No, sir. He
put the Word first. Said, "Take that ark. And all you priests stay away
from it; get behind it. Don't try to lead it; let it lead you."

⁹⁷
That's the trouble today. We try to get ahead of the Word, and bypass,
and make the Word to fit this, and the Word to fit that. Bless your
hearts. What we need today is, follow the Word.
The Word led the way. When it got to the Jordan, she opened up and they
went over. His first campaign, he put first things first. He had a
reason for that. He had a reason, because God had commissioned him,
"Stay with the Word. Let the Word do it." Every campaign, they went
forth in the battle, because God had charged him to put the ark first.
After the ark went forth, what went forth then? Singing, players of
instruments, before the fight took place. Hallelujah.
That's what we need today; it's what we had this morning: singers,
instruments, playing music, rejoicing. Then put the Word first, read
the Word. Then the battle sets in. We're bound to win, just got to win.
Stay right with It, keep Its directions, and It'll keep you in the hour
of trouble.

¹⁰¹
He had a good reason for it. Now remember, when he crossed over…
Before he crossed over, he sent a spy over, two of them, to search out
the land. Now, Moses had sent a whole group of them over, but they all
come back confused. Watch the new ministry. He never did that. He knows
where you got fifteen hundred different ideas, you got fifteen hundred
confusions. But he sent two, said, "Go over there; spy out the land."
Now, we want to get down to something that I don't want you to miss. He
said, "Now, when you go over…" They passed over to look the land
over, to see if the promises was right, see if it was what kind of a
land, and how they must go in. They crossed over. The names of the
spies isn't given. But when they went into the land, they came to
Jericho itself. And when they got to Jericho, what happened? They run
into a prostitute, a woman of ill-fame.

¹⁰³
I want to draw a picture. Maybe it isn't right, but I want to make a
point by it. We have no history of Rahab. We know that she was a
prostitute. Let's think she was raised in a home that was real poor,
and she became ill-famed. And she's a beautiful young woman. She went
into the streets to make her crippled mother and father a living; no
way for her to work, only sell the morals of her body. But I can
imagine, all the time, she knew that was wrong. There was something in
her, told her, "Now, that's not right to do that." She knew it wasn't.
One day she heard that there was a God that was moving. Her heart begin
to tremble. She found a messenger from that great move, that told her
what was going to take place. What did she say? Now, Joshua had signs;
Joshua had the same signs that Moses had, exactly. So when he… Rahab
didn't ask to see Joshua's sign; she just heard: A type of the church,
a type of the true church that's been pulled the way of prostitution.
"I'm a Methodist today, a Baptist tomorrow, a Presbyterian the next
day," pulled away in prostitution.

¹⁰⁶
But all of a sudden, a little preacher enters the city and said,
"There's a God that lives, that lived yesterday, and is the same today.
His power is just the same. He does the same works that He did when He
was here on earth." His agents are on the road.
Now, Rahab the harlot, known as a harlot, she was a type of the
believer today, the real believer. She didn't say, "Now, I hear
that–that Joshua can do signs, because he's the successor of Moses.
I'd like to see those signs. And if I could see those signs, then I'll
believe it." Well, he didn't absolutely have to show those signs,
because she believed it anyhow. She wasn't a Thomas. She believed it.

¹⁰⁸
Now, Moses, when he had signs, he went down and performed those signs,
but the sign isn't the thing that took them to the promised land. It
wasn't. The signs was the vindication of the commission. And Rahab
believed it without seeing anything. She said, "We're all trembling."
No wonder Nicodemus said, "Rabbi, we know Thou art a Teacher come from
God; no man could do these things 'less God was with Him. We all know
it."
The world knows it today. Billy Graham calls out, "We got to get back
to Pentecost." The Council of Churches calls out, "We've got to get
back to prophets, to speakers with tongues, to interpreters of tongues,
to Divine healing, healers in our churches, letting the Spirit of God
have Its right of way." God's making His call. The people fear real
godliness, and say, "Everything, our hearts are failed within us."

¹¹²
Now, she didn't have to see a sign that Joshua could do with his hand
or with a stick. She believed. She said, "I heard, and I believe, and
now I'm asking for mercy." Oh, how we could put a lesson right here.
"I'm asking for mercy for me and my house."
Look at the Roman that night, that pulled his sword and was going to
kill himself, the Philippian jailer. Paul said, "Do yourself no harm.
We're all here.
Said, "What can I do to be saved?"
Said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou and thy house shall be saved.
"Why? 'Thou and thy house'?" Certainly. Thy house shall be saved with
thee. Why? If you got faith enough to have yourself saved, you can have
faith enough for your family to be saved. Yes, "thou and thy house."

¹¹⁶
Look at Rahab. Rahab said, "Have mercy upon me. Spare me. I don't want
to die with these unbelievers. I don't want to die as an animal. I want
to die in the arms of Jehovah. I believe your God, because He's both
God of heaven and earth. He does visible things; He makes things real.
I've never seen Him do it, but I believe it anyhow." See, she'd never
seen Joshua; she just heard of Joshua. She'd never seen God; she'd
never seen any of the works of God; she just heard. Others had seen it,
and she believed by hearing it. Now, said, "I want favor for me and my
father, my mother. They're both old and crippled up. I've got some
brethren. I want to have faith for them."
And the spies, the preachers, said, "Yes, he's coming this a way, and
we're going to take the land. Now, if you want to get them saved, get
them in the house." Hallelujah. "If you believe it, go get them and get
them in here, for we'll not be responsible if they're in the streets.
But if you'll just get them in the house, we'll be responsible,"
(Hallelujah.), where that little red cord was to hang down the window.
"We'll be responsible if you put them in the house."

¹¹⁸
Oh, brethren, if there ever was a time we ought to get our loved ones
in the house, it's today, the household of faith. Get them in, for the
time's coming when there's coming a shaking. Only, our fathers and
mothers, and brothers and sisters, are only safe in the house, 'cause
God's power's going to shake the country again. It is. And only the
household of faith will be saved.
Now, said, "I'm not responsible unless you get them in the house." And
she made them swear that they would not destroy her or her family. He
said, "If you'll get them in, they'll be safe." She let them down out
of the place, and they went.

¹²⁰
This great harlot Rahab become a believer. I took her history here not
long ago. After she was considered and brought into the faith, because
of her belief in God, she was brought into Israelite faith, a
proselyte. She courted a general in the army, of the Israelite army.
Watch what God did for that woman. And they had a… They moved up in
Bethlehem, and they had a son; and this son, they called him Boaz. Out
of Boaz, he married Ruth, from Ruth and Boaz come Jesse; out of Jesse
come David; out of David come Jesus. Hallelujah.
Why? "Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of a God that's God of heaven
and earth, and believing on Him." Believing what? The commission that
God had given to a man named Joshua, believing that commission.

¹²²
Joshua had faith in his own commission, as Moses had faith. Things went
wrong for Moses, looked like he failed many times, but he rode through
triumphantly and died on the Rock. The Angels packed him away.
God, let me go like that. Let me hold my commission, till someday when
I get ready to die, I'll see the Rock laying there by me. Joshua's
keeping his commission. Although he had… God hold it sacredly,
because he stayed right with the Word.
Now, Rahab knowed that Joshua had this commission. Now, don't miss it.
Hold those things in your heart. Joshua had the commission; Rahab
recognized it before she seen anything. She knowed Joshua had the power
of God that was going to take the land. She asked for mercy. God
granted her mercy. Now, when Joshua came into the land, of course, we
know she was spared.

¹²⁵
But then another great commission Joshua had, was to divide the land
with the people. Now, remember, "This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth." They had God's Word, "As I was with Moses, move
right on out. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I'll not fail
you. You may fail Me, but I won't fail you. But if you fail Me, My
grace is sufficient; I'll bear you right back up. Just keep moving on.
As long as you're staying with My Word, I'll take care of you."

¹²⁷
Now, he had to divide the lands, and there were twelve tribes to divide
it by. Now, what if he has to picks and pets; what if he liked the
tribe of Gad better than he did the tribe of–the tribe of Ephraim, the
tribe of Joseph better than he did Judah? But he didn't do it that way.
He divided it according to the Word revealed by the Spirit. He divided
it according to tribe. And notice, he done it by the revelation, by
discernment. By the discernment of God's Spirit, he did it.
Each one of those Hebrew mothers, giving birth to those babies, called their name. And each one of their name has a meaning.
Jacob, when he was born, being a twin, she called him "supplanter,"
Jacob. But when he got his overcoming power and wrestled with the
Angel, God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, "a prince."
The name has something to do with your life. When Peter, a fisherman,
had overcome by his faith in Jesus, He said, "Your name is Simon; but
I'm going to call you Peter, which is 'little rock.'" It changes you.
Your name has something to do with it, and your placement in life.

¹³¹
And when this great thing taken place, when each one of these Hebrew
mothers in their travailing in the childbirth, called out, like
"Reuben," that placed him positionally in the Palestine exactly the way
that mother said and called his name. Said… I don't have it all wrote
down here, but say "Reuben" meant "sheepherder," "Gad" means "cattle
raiser," and "Ephraim" meant "corn raiser."
Now, by spiritual discernment, Joshua, the new leader by spiritual
discernment placed each one where he belonged, divided the land just
exactly.

¹³³
A very beautiful type today of what we need a Joshua for today. The
trouble today, when we are come into our promised land, Gad wants to
raise sheep like Ephraim; one wants to raise something like the other.
Every man wants to be the same. Let God give one man a gift of healing,
every man wants a gift of healing. Ephraim and Gad, and all of them,
wants to mix all up and come as one. But we are divided in our
positions. All don't have the gift of wisdom; all don't prophesy; all
don't speak with tongues; all are not prophets. But God has set in the
church (Whew.) some that prophesy, some that speak with tongues.
We want to make them all speaking in tongues. See how the confusion is?
Then you can't get nowhere. Why, the Philistines would take them over
in a little bit. Sure. But when each man, by a leader, separated them
by spiritual discernment and placed them into the body, there they
remained and become the cream of the earth. God, give us a Joshua. God,
give us back a Joshua that'll hold the commission with the Word.
That's the way God told him. "This book of the law shall not depart out
of thy mouth, for thou shall meditate therein day and night," for he
had a commission before him.

¹³⁵
Now, what a great leader Joshua became, never losing a battle 'less
something went wrong in the church. When Achan took a wedge, it wasn't
Joshua's shape or faith that did it. It was he took a Babylonian
garment and a wedge of gold out of the camp. And when he did, it–it
hindered the whole battle.
When one member suffers, all members suffers. What God's coming to one
of these days, brother, is a church without spot or wrinkle, coming to
a Spirit-filled church that's Divinely love of God, so welded their
heart together, that they'll walk as one.

¹³⁷
The battle, of all this confusion, has got to be won. Is the Methodist
right, Baptist right, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Pilgrim
Holiness? Nine hundred and sixty-nine different denominations, besides
the Buddha and–and all the other kinds, where are we? Something's
wrong. There's a wedge in the camp somewhere. Joshua cast lots.
Let me say this this morning, like Elijah on Mount Carmel, "If God be
God, let Him answer as God." If the Baptist denomination be right,
let's see them produce the signs of Jesus Christ. If the Nazarenes is
right, let's see them produce the signs, do the things that He did. If
the Pentecostal be right, let's see them do the thing that He did. Then
we'll know.

¹³⁹ The disciples of–of Joshua said, "We will follow you as long as we see God working with you like He did Moses."
And
the disciples of Jesus Christ ought to say the same thing. "We'll work
with you when we see the signs of Jesus Christ working with you. We'll
do that." That's what we should do. That's what the church should say.
That should be the attitude of the church, Christian church. Then you
could set in order: gifts, signs, workers. If one man's a Divine
healer, that has nothing to do with the one that speaks with tongues.
The one that speaks with tongues has nothing to do with the gift of
prophecy. See, we have different phases of this ministry.

¹⁴¹
Now, when God gave me my commission… I've based all this back for
this one purpose. "Gifts and callings are without repentance." No man
can make himself anything. God makes you what you are by His grace. We
have no way of making ourself. Jesus said, "Who taking thought can add
one cubit to his statue?" Who can make hisself bigger or littler by
taking thought? You can't do it.
When God gave the commission, I questioned it. I said, "I'm
unsufficient–or insufficient. I have no education. I cannot do these
things."
Many of you people here this morning are still living here today, when
He appeared down here on the river in that form of a Pillar of Fire,
and stood there, and spoke back, and said, "As John the Baptist was
sent forth for a forerunner of the first coming of Christ, so will your
message be the forerunning of the second coming."

¹⁴⁴
Look what it's done. That Light hanging over there, it entered the
paper; it went all the way across the United States and into other
nations. Doctor Lee Vayle there, was in Canada at the time. He
remembers when it appeared in the Canadian paper; I believe it was,
wasn't it, Lee? In the Canadian paper, "Mystic Light appears over local
minister's head while baptizing."
Many people said, "It's psychology."
But one day God decided to stop the mouth of the unbelievers, 'cause it
stayed with the Word. That same Pillar of Fire that led the children of
Israel is just the same today, leading church spiritual just the same
as it led it natural. He appeared again, and they took the pictures
before the critics and before the examiners. Here It hangs now
infallibly the truth, doing the same works, leading the people
spiritually, as It led them naturally back there, staying with the
Word. Now, He said what was the commission. Now, remember, God will
never depart from His commission. If…

¹⁴⁷
I'd like to draw it for you, or in a way. We'll take it like this here.
Here's a little sign; that is the commission; now here's a little cross
in one corner and a Bible in the other corner, but the writing is in
between here. That's the commission.
I charge you before God, and the elect Angels, and Jesus Christ; the
commission was, "Pray for the sick." The question was insufficient to
do it.
"For this cause you were born; this is the means of your peculiar birth
and life, that you are to pray for the sick. If you'll get them to
believe you, and be sincere when you pray, nothing shall stand before
your prayer, not even to cancer." How many has read that through the
years? It's all over the world.

¹⁵⁰
Now, now I said, "I cannot do it, because I am insufficient to do it.
They won't believe me; I'm poor. I have no education." That was me
questioning.
He said, "As Moses was given two signs to a-vindicate his commission,
so are (not you will), you are given two signs. One of them will be by
your hand. The other one will be you'll know the very secret of their
heart, the thoughts of their mind. And by this they'll believe, by
these two signs." Now, remember the… Listen, don't you fail to get
this. The sign is not the commission. The sign only points to the
commission.
You get out here on the road and see a sign and it says, "Five miles to
Jeffersonville." That isn't Jeffersonville. That's a sign to show you
you're on the right road.

¹⁵³
What if Moses, when he went down there, he had a sign, with a stick and
with his hand. The sign here is no more the commission than it was with
Moses. Well, if all the Israelites say, "Say, all you Egyptians, all
the rest of you Israelites, come over here, we got a man can do a trick
with his hand. You ought to see it. We got a man can take a stick and
make a snake out of it. Come, see it." That was just a signpost. That
wasn't the commission. They wasn't waiting for a signpost. God help us.
They were waiting for a deliverance.
And this poor, sick, crippled-up world is waiting for a deliverance,
and looking at a signpost. Have mercy. The signpost is nothing but a
sign to prove the commission. There's the new ministry. It's just been
revealed to me. "Pray for the sick. Get the people to believe you." God
can never leave that. That's His commission; no matter what goes on,
how much I fail. I fail miserably. I should've never went ahead with
them signs; that wasn't the will of God, but God's blessed it anyhow.
But I'm ready to leave this mountain. I want to go across Jordan. I
want to carry the commission. "Get the people to believe you."
I said, "They won't believe me."
"There'll be added two signs."

¹⁵⁵
Now, the trouble of it is, we've been looking at the sign. "Oh, Brother
Branham (See?) you put your hand on him. Oh, you ought to see what
takes place. Stand before him when the anointing is on him, and he'll
tell you everything that's in your heart." That's true.
I walked into the hospital here the other day. There was the doctors,
couldn't find what was wrong with the woman. When the doctors left the
room, the lady walked back and she was standing on her bed. "They said
they can't find me with nothing, nothing what's wrong." Said, "Brother
Branham, you can tell me."
I said, "If you'll believe me, I can."
She said, "I believe."
And the Holy Spirit said, "Such-and-such a thing. That's what it is
exactly. See if that ain't it." She's a member of Junie Cash's
congregation.

¹⁵⁸ Another woman there said, "My back." She said, "They can't find what done it."
I said, "Do you believe me to be His prophet?"
She said, "I do."
I
said, "What happened, back yonder in the early month of June, you…
They're–they're trying to work on you, and trying to operate for a
slipped vertebra. It's not so. It's a pinched nerve. You got it by
lifting the load, when you worked for McSpaddin's Market,
She said, "I remember when it was done. I remember it now."
That doesn't heal her. That only points to the commission. Quit leaning
on the signpost; let's go on to the city. Let's get away from this
mountain; let's get to the city. Let's cross Jordan.

¹⁶¹
I've wronged. I've done wrong. That's why I've based these sermons the
way I have. 'Cause He said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with
you," and when that hand come down and pointed that very same
Scripture… For a long time I've wondered, because I didn't know what
the commission was. I've looked for something supernatural beyond that.
God cannot get away from His commission. God give the commission;
that's what it must remain.
But all the Pentecostal people like signs. They like to see it. The
Bible said, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after signs." But
the commission was, "Pray for the sick." And tens of thousands times
thousands, that I have failed to pray for, because they all desired the
sign… They all desire it.

¹⁶³
The other day, I was trying to work the ministry, got it into the room.
And a man come on the platform and said, "Now, Brother Branham, wait a
minute. My case is different. I've just got to know something."
I said, "Well, the doctor can examine you."
"Oh, I don't want that. I–I want to know right now. My case is so different."
I said, "Well, I hate to do this, brother." Went on into it, and the first thing you know, the Holy Spirit…?… it.
He said, "Praise the Lord. That's right."
I said, "The rest of you come on now, let me pray for you."
When I did that, you know what the next one said? "My case is just as
important as his. Then I got about six or eight, and closed the
meeting; like to killed me.
I've always wondered why would that do that to me? Is because I was
doing it wrong. That's just the signpost pointing to the commission.
It's not the commission. That signpost has been nailed down around the
world. And languages, Africa, India, Asia, Europe, around the world,
through tens of thousands and millions of people, they know about that
signpost. I'm ready to leave this mountain. I want to go on across
Jordan; I want to get into something yonder, where my faith will rise
to a spot, when I pray for people, they'll be healed.

¹⁶⁸ Watch, God puts it right back in the people's lap. "You were born to pray for sick people. If you can get them to believe…"
I said, "They won't believe."
He
said, "I'll give you two signs, and by this they will believe." Notice,
then these signs, they've rallied for them, the signposts, instead of
the commission. "Believing that you were sent to pray."
Now, when the people comes into the line to be prayed for, as soon as
one absolutely hits the spot… There's nothing I can do about it till
they hit that spot. And when they do, then I say, "I give you…"

¹⁷¹
Hattie Wright, she–I guess she's here this morning, setting right
there. She was the first one, when we seen those squirrels; and she
knowed the commission about that, and when them seven straight times
that God created something, I said, "That's the same God that could
create a ram for Abraham to convince him of his commission, is the same
God that can create a squirrel, because that's what I had need of."
And little old Hattie Wright there, setting in the back of the
building, with her heart off the things of the world, she was
believing; she said, "Brother Branham, that's nothing but the truth."
She didn't just say it from here; God spoke out of her heart.
I said, "Hattie, ask what you will; I'll give it to you."
She said, "What must I ask?"
I said, "You got an old father and mother setting here. You got a
crippled sister." She's still setting in that chair. "You could ask for
her. You could ask for your mother, father. You're poor, you don't have
any money. Ask what you want to."
She said, "Well, I don't know what to ask." Said, "I just don't know."
She said, "My greatest desire is the salvation of my two boys."
I said, "I give you your boys, in the Name of Jesus Christ. And they
both converted, loves the Lord Jesus, both been baptized in His Name,
and serving God daily with all their heart.

¹⁷⁶ Ed Daulton, setting here somewhere, right down here: about his children, the same thing.
I
seen, at least, in a campaign, eight or nine hundred, maybe a thousand
people cross the platform in a meeting, one by one. First thing you
know, I go up and pray for them. Sure, they get well. And here come a
little girl dying with leukemia. Sure, I knowed what was wrong with the
child, never said a word to any of them; but when that child got there,
I said, "Honey, I give you the desire of your heart. You got leukemia,
and I give you your healing in the Name of the Lord Jesus." I turned to
the audience, and I said, "I challenge any of you here, take that girl
to a doctor, have her examined, and see if she's got one spot of
leukemia." Why? That child had heard like Rahab the harlot; she
believed it with all of her heart. Then God, through His Spirit, moved
back and said, "That's her." Hundreds had passed over the platform
without (as far as I know) receiving anything. I just prayed for them.

¹⁷⁸
It's right back to the people, "If you will believe." The commission
was given. That's the original. The signpost has been produced. Now, if
you can believe that, if you will believe that God sent me into the
world to pray for the sick people, I'll be able to pray the prayer of
faith for you. That's the only way it can be done.
God can never get away from His commission. I've failed Him. I've had
here about fourteen years with nothing but straight discernment, around
and around the world, till tens of thousands of times, a million cases,
I guess. I ask you one thing. Did it ever fail? No, sir. And if the
signpost won't fail, how much more will the commission never fail. If
the sign, that's the minor part; if the sign pointing to the city, if
it doesn't fail to tell you the city's there, how much more will the
city be there when you come. There's the commission.

¹⁸⁰
Now, my ministry's changing. It's already changed. There will still be
the discernment; they will still carry on just as I feel that God wants
me to say them. But until then, I'll pray and lay hands on the sick as
He told me to do and carry out my commission. I've waited a long time
for this, but I believe now that we're ready to take the promised land.
And just as sure as there will be, there'll be some Rahab's waiting;
there'll be someone waiting that'll believe it with all their heart.
Can you understand? Everybody understands that well, raise your hand.
How many believes that that's absolutely Scriptural? That's exactly
what He said. This is the commission; these are signposts pointing to
the commission.

¹⁸²
Now, I challenge anybody to tell me, anywhere in the world, to these
tapes, wherever they may go, show me one time that He ever failed to
tell on the platform, or out in any vision or anything, but what was
exactly the right thing, come to pass just as He said. Told every
person just exactly what their troubles was, and all about it, and
where they come, and all about what they should do. And every time it
said THUS SAITH THE LORD to anything of healing, it happened that way.
If you know one, let me know about it; I'll go to the tape and find
out. It's never failed in these twelve long years, or fourteen years.
It's never failed, because it can't fail. The sign was given by God. It
can't fail.
And before God give the sign, He give the commission. Before there
could be a sign to point to a commission… Before there could be a
sign to point to a city, there has to be a city, first to point to. If
you've believed it with all your heart, you will receive it, "The
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and God shall raise them up."

¹⁸⁴
Now, I've leaned heavy on the signpost myself. "Lord, You show me about
this 'fore I pray for them, 'cause I don't know what I might do." How
cruel that was. I ask the congregation to forgive me. The congregations
of the world, that's listening in on this tape, forgive me. I was
wrong. I should've never carried it out like that. That wasn't His
commission at the first place. That was a sign pointing to the
commission. I should've prayed for the sick, everywhere.
Now, see, it's right back again into the laps of the people, if you
will believe that God commissioned this to be done. Here it is in the
Word; it's just exactly with the Word, the commission that I say…

¹⁸⁶
I draw here with my finger a arch, a rainbow. That's a covenant God
made with people. He made a covenant with the human race: He'd destroy
the world no more with water. He made a covenant with each one of His
apostles. He made a covenant with the prophet.
And yonder, some fifteen, fourteen, fifteen years ago (in 1937, May the
7th, 1937, I think it was), that God made a covenant with me saying,
"You were born in this world to pray for sick people. If you can get
them to believe you…" My heart was always been for the people. "If
you'll get those people to believe you, and then be sincere when you
pray, nothing will stand before your prayer."
I say this with sincerity and with a shame face. If there's anybody
ought to have faith, would be me; to see what He done, where He brought
me from, the ditch where I was hewed from; to see down through life,
what He's done; see when I stand and say something, God will come right
around and back it up, truth.

¹⁸⁹
Years ago, when I told you there was an Angel come to me in a bush…
When I was only three years old, a Light, whirlwind whirling in a bush,
and told me never to smoke, drink, or anything else, there'd be a work
for me to do when I got older. You had a right to doubt that; you had
no right, but you could've doubted it.
Down here on the river, when He come down and proved Hisself to be
that… Up where we were standing, many of you setting here this
morning was standing there, present. Many of you know that to be the
truth.
Many of you remember then when the commission was given, and He said,
"Go, and this ministry will go into all the world; a revival will
start." And there's been a revival since there's never been. The
revival's still going on around the world now, great healing campaigns
all over the world.

¹⁹²
And me, from a person, a little rat… I don't say this no dishonor to
my mother setting there, or my dead father that's gone on, whose
funeral was preached at this pulpit. I was raised in a terrible family.
You know it. Was none of us Christians. My father drank. And God taken
a drunkard's son, would wash me in His Blood. When I'd go downtown to
talk to somebody and be talking to some man, he'd only talk to me
because there was nobody else to talk to; somebody would come up, say
anybody, no matter who it was that come up, they'd turn away from me
because I was a drunkard's son. And many of you people here in my own
church knows that's the truth. Had a name like I never–or like an
animal or something. Even one time it was said of the city, to a person
that come to our house, said, "Would you associate with such trash as
that?" Oh, but, God, what did I have to go on but the Blood of Jesus
Christ. I had no education. I had no personality. I have nothing.

¹⁹³
I told my wife, not long ago, "Think of what it was when nobody would
talk to me. And I love people. They wouldn't listen to me." I remember
reading a book, going to school…
I sent my children to school the other day; I could get them books and
things; how thankful I was. I'd go to school with no shoes on, hair
hanging down my neck, no clothes, a little old coat on with no shirt
under it. Didn't even have a lead pencil, or a piece of paper to write
on. I had to bum a lead pencil, a penny lead pencil and a piece of
paper to write some problems that was on the board, or something.
Nothing. It was wrong.

¹⁹⁵
When I remember reading in a book, one day, where Abraham Lincoln got
off of a–a boat down in, I believe, New Orleans. There he seen,
standing in the pasture, some little Negro children with their little
feet, where an old cow had laid all night, got the frost off the
ground. And he was… They were standing there singing, "You got shoes,
and I got shoes, and all God's children's got shoes."
When he got off the boat, he looked. Standing in the bull pen, and
there stood a great big, healthy colored man standing there. His little
wife with a baby on her arm, crying. They was auctioning him off to
breed him with bigger women to make bigger slaves. Lincoln clutched his
hands like that and hit his fists together; he said, "That's wrong."
Said, "Someday I'll hit that, if it takes my life." It took his life.
But he hit it and he killed it.

¹⁹⁸
I said, "This drinking, this wrong living is wrong. Someday I'll hit
it." How was I going to hit it with a name like I had? Nobody'd talk to
me. That's the reason I questioned my commission. Nobody cared for me.
I wasn't known nowhere, but just amongst my people here.
By the grace of God, I have to leave my home; I can't even stay there
for the people around the world, calling it. Men of all kinds,
potentates, monarchs, kings, great people, business men, ministers,
from all over the world, calling; call, call, call, day after day,
night after night. What did it? The Blood of Jesus Christ that cleansed
my soul. As the blood of Abraham Lincoln took the slave belt off of a
colored man, the Blood of Jesus Christ took sin's shackles from me; and
took me from a name that was lower than an animal name, and put me a
name as a son of His–of His grace.

²⁰⁰
And I'm ready to go to Jordan this morning. I'm ready to stand to my
commission. I've loved people. I've catered to them. He's met me,
vision after vision, which I don't have time to tell; and you know,
it's wrote right here in the backs of these books. Saying, "You're
catering too much to people. To walk with Me, you'll walk alone. You're
putting too much emphasis on those signs."
I didn't know what the rest of it was, but the hour has come. The hour
has come, when I seen the hand come down to Joshua, said, "I was with
Moses. I'll be with you." I believe it this morning. From henceforth
and this day on, I serve God in my commission. He wants to show me
signs or wants to show me visions, He can show them to me. If He does
not; never will I stand before people, trying to let their faith pull
something out of me anymore. I'll pray for the sick, and commit them
unto God, and let them go. If they believe the commission, God is just
as true. He's brought me to this far, just as He did Moses. Just as He
did Joshua, so has it did the same.

²⁰²
My humble prayer is, "God, forgive me. Let me rise and try again. Help
me, Lord. Let me lead this people and stand in the Word, so we can go
up to Jordan, go into the promised land, where the great ransomed
Church of God will be saved to sin no more." That's my desire this
morning. Believe it and live. Believe it and be healed. I speak to you
in the Name of the Lord. Let us pray.

²⁰³
Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Everlasting Life, and
Giver of every good gift, let Thy mercy and grace be upon Thy servant
first, Lord. I have done wrong in Thy sight by misusing something
that's been Divine, because the people has pulled it from me, Lord. I
pray Thee, O Lord God, from this hour on, charge me, Lord, with Your
Spirit. I believe with all my heart. Help Thou my unbelief.
And when men and women are coming to be prayed for, then I'll do as
long as You give me breath and life. Let them now believe, as they be
prayed for, Father. May this commission that Thou has given me, may I
be able to pack it in all the world. And when I get to the certain
places where the signpost has been nailed down, may they know that that
only points to the commission. May they have faith.

²⁰⁵
Lord, no longer will I wait for some kind of a sign or something to
tell me certain things, or whether this person's going to be well. I'll
go to meet the enemy with faith in my own heart. I'll go to challenge
him, against the Blood of Jesus Christ. By the Blood of Christ he
cannot stand.
Now, if all these things has been right, which has been proven to be
right, so will You heal the sick when I pray for them, Lord. It's Your
Word. It's Your promise. This I desire to do. Help Thou my unbelief.
Forgive my sins, Lord, of disobeying You; I did not know what else to
do; I–if I did, Lord, it hadn't been revealed and made clear to me.
Now it is. I know where I stand. I know my commission. I'll never let
this Word depart from my mouth day or night. I've always stood by It,
Lord, stood by It, telling the people that if it's not the Word of God,
I have doubts of it. But I wouldn't preach or do nothing except it be
the Word of God.

²⁰⁸
But, Lord, I'm getting tired, tramping around over this same ground.
Like I said last night, "Forty years in the wilderness, back and forth,
back and forth." God blessing, yes, raising sheep and children, and
whatevermore, and flocks, and herds, and all more. God, You've blessed
them. But one day You said, "You've been on this mountain long enough.
Oh, go on up north towards Jordan."
God, I'm starting this morning. I'm leaving these signposts, 'cause
it's pointing towards a better land. I may stumble. And I may go
through the Amalekites. I may go through the Hittites and the
Canaanites. I may have to pass through my own criticizing. Lord; I'll
just keep moving on. And I know there's a land yonder somewhere;
there's somewhere, some condition, some place we can get to where
You'll answer prayer. And whatever we ask will be granted, not ever
cancer will stand before the prayer. I know that to be the truth. That
I believe and wait for, Lord. And I commit myself to Thee this morning
for Your service, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

²¹⁰

[Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.] Now, the
tape was turned off, 'cause this will go across the world. That's from
my heart. Can you understand, church? God can never say anything and go
back on it. His Words are infallible. His promises are true. All this
time He's been waiting for this hour. See, it's the prayer of faith
that saves the sick, not a sign. "If thou canst believe," Jesus said,
"I can. I can, if you believe." Now, if God's give me power to pray the
prayer of faith over you, and has promised it, and vindicated that it's
the truth, now do you believe? What I ask, I receive, if you believe
it. "If you can get the people to believe, and be sincere when you
pray, nothing shall stand before your prayer."

²¹²
Brother, sister, if I ever wanted to be sincere, it's now. After all my
mistakes in showing… What I want, reason I brought these messages
previously, that God shows there that He's merciful. Moses made his
mistakes, a great man like him. Then when Joshua come up, he's going to
make his too. But God said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with
you."
Now, look at God, two years ago, pointing that Scripture right to me,
"As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I'll not look at your
mistakes." He knew that this hour was coming. Now, it's here. See?
Right back again, 'cause God can never get away from it.
"By faith you're saved." How many knows that? Though many, how many
good men prays over you, how many good preachers preaches to you,
you've got to have your own personal faith for salvation. Is that
right? It's your own. I don't care how many good sermons you hear, how
many good churches you belong to; it's your own personal faith that
saves you. How loud you cry, how much you beg, how much you scream, how
much you dance in the Spirit; you're only saved by your faith. Is that
right? That's the only way you're healed.

²¹⁵
If God gives a man a message, a preacher, a preacher preaches salvation
and gives a message, you see that message is the truth, God vindicates
it by His Word that's the truth; then how much more ought you to
believe a gift of healing, when it's been a-vindicated by the Word and
by an Angel, with two signs that's pointed the infallibly of them both.
How much you–should you believe. See, and as long…
To show that it wasn't exactly God's perfect will to do that, the sign
always weakened me. How many knows that? Ask my wife back there. She
can tell you the one; she gets it worse than everybody, has to put up
with me. Not knowing hardly where you're at, and walking about, and
this, that, and you're just almost… Walk, and go down the road a
little piece, and stop…

²¹⁷
Now, coming from these last meetings. I took those people in the line;
first we'd have a couple nights, three, without giving out prayer
cards. Then it got such a rally, we'd have to give out prayer cards. I
would stand sometime and run fifty or seventy-five, maybe, forty or
fifty discernments at one time; and each and every night. Is that
right, Gene, Leo, and you that's around here, that's in the meetings?
Sure, was the truth. And what did it do? When it left me, and started
home, I'd forget where I was at; want to know where I had come from on
the highway.
And you mean to tell me God does that to a man? No, sir. It was a man
doing it to himself by taking a signpost instead of a commission. I
stopped under a little old tree there on the side of the road,
somewhere in Washington, or somewhere up in there. I said, "Lord, if
You'll just let me shake back to myself, good again, help me to know
what's true, so I can get straight once with the people, and get the
commission straight."

²¹⁹
I got it now. Setting down here on the mountain side of Kentucky the
other day, about daylight one morning, He revealed it to me. And this
is it. This is it. Now, I go in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Yes,
sir….?…
Believe it and live. Believe it and get well. I can't make no one
believe it. You have to believe it yourself. But I have told you the
truth. God's testified that it was the truth by His Word, by His Angel,
by His signs and wonders for twelve long years. If they're not going to
believe it now, they will never believe it. Is that right? But the hour
has come, when I'm tired of staying on this mountain. I want to go up
to Jordan. I want to enter into the full promises. I want to get faith
within myself, not looking to a sign, not looking to something that God
has revealed, or some kind of a signpost. I want to look towards
Calvary and say, "By faith I come, Lord God. I'm coming in the Name of
the Lord Jesus."

²²¹
Now, there's some here to be prayed for this morning. I'm coming to
meet the disease and affliction of your body, in the Name of Jesus
Christ. I'll do that until God takes my life away from me. That's
right. As long as He gives me sense and understanding, I'll come to
pray. Don't you fail to, what you believe; that when I pray for you,
you're going to get well. Settle that. If you don't believe it, then
don't come at all, 'cause you'll only hurt yourself.
Now, it's on tape, and it's here. From henceforth, no more discernment
until God gives me the–tells me to do a certain thing, to "Go tell
this person a certain thing," then I'll go tell them. He say, "Do a
certain thing"; I'll go do it.
But as far as standing there, saying, "Now, look on me, and you believe
with all your heart. Yes, this So-and-so. You're John Doe, came from
so-and-so. You had cancer so long. Doctor So-and-so told you you wasn't
going to get well. You went and done a certain thing. Now, you have to
take that back and make this right, and get this 'fore you get well.
All right, Brother Doe, go ahead now, believe it. Now, you're Sister
So-and-so; you come from so-and-so. You come from so-and-so." And then
I go into a whirl, not knowing what to do, hardly. And first thing you
know, then here's another one; I'm looking to see who I'm looking at.
Then I get out of the meeting, and, "Where am I at." No more of that.

²²⁴
I'm coming in the Name of the Lord Jesus as His servant. If God hasn't
proved it to you by this time, that I've told you the truth, then
you'll never believe I've told you the truth. Amen. That's right. It's
true. How many wants to be prayed for, raise up your hands. All right.
Now, I want Teddy… Is Teddy still in the building? He had to leave.
Who is a pianist here that could play the song, "Only Believe," for me,
if you will? If somebody's here that can play. Have you got it… Or,
you got it taped, have you, somewhere? If anybody is here that wants to
play for us, "Only Believe," some pianist, come right ahead. Male or
female, doesn't matter, we'd be glad to have you. All right, now while
you play it softly, if you will, sister dear.

²²⁶
Now, we're not going to give out prayer cards. When we're in little
meetings like this, we don't need it. When we're in big meetings, we'll
still have to give out prayer cards, if I pray for five hundred. You'd
still have to, because you get too many in the–swung up into the
crowd. You see?
How many believes that this is the will of God? Oh, Something just
makes me feel I done right. Something makes… It's off my chest. It's
been on there for twelve years, knowing there's been something wrong,
Brother Lee. Now, I know it's off of there. I've said it; it's taped,
and it's off of my chest now.

²²⁸
Remember, you can only be saved by your personal faith. You can only be
healed by your personal faith. You believe this to be the Bible? God's
Word. You believe your pastor to be a man of God, whatever church you
go to? If you don't, you should leave it. Get to a man that is a man of
God. Then if you believe him, believe he's telling you the truth, then
accept it. Your own personal faith in Christ saves you. No matter how
good your pastor is, how godly, saintly your mother is, how–how real
the Word of God is, how much you cry, how much you pray; it's your
faith that saves you. By faith are you saved.
Now, the same thing applies. No matter how… God's Word said that He
would send this in the last days. Two straight sermons now, I brought
natural Israel and spiritual Israel together. We're looking for the
Joshua of this day, which is the Holy Spirit, to lead us to the land.
He has to speak through somebody, because He's a Spirit. I've told you
what He's told me. Now, you believe and be healed.

²³⁰
Now, let these on this side of the line… Doc, go down there. Billy
Paul, where's Billy? Come up here to help Doc, if you will.
And now each one of you coming through this prayer line, remember, it's
going to fall right back on you if you don't believe with all your
heart. It's the Truth. You must believe it. Now, remember, it's you the
one that's sick. God said it in His Bible; God sent it by His
messenger; God proved it by His Angel; now you must believe it.
Now, you that wants to be prayed for, here's what the Bible said. "If
they lay hands on the sick, they shall recover." And that's the truth.
And we want to believe that with all of our heart now, and God will
grant your healing.

²³³
Now, come around this a-way, right through here, and right back; let
this side, then this other side come right back the same way. Let that
side stand up on the right-hand side over here. All right. What say? [Someone talks to Brother Branham–Ed.] I'm going to step right down here (Yes, sir.), right down here to pray for them.
Now, these letters and handkerchiefs, I have prayed over. Many of you,
some of you, maybe have to go. Don't forget tonight now, the service is
on the a-vindication, the Divine a-vindication of the true church. See?

²³⁵
Now, to you that's being–going to be prayed for, do you absolutely
believe that you're going to be healed? If you don't, don't come. If
you do, it's your duty to come.
Now, I am not a healer, but I have a gift of healing. That was
witnessed. It's been proved that that's the truth (See?), way back, a
long time ago. I remember I used to go out at the hospital here when I
was just a local Baptist preacher here locally, I'd go out at the
hospital. There used to be an old nurse out there; she lived down in
Howard Park. I don't know whether she's still there or not, at the
hospital. She used to say to the patient, "Now, you're going to get
well. Now, you're going to get well." Say, "That little Baptist
preacher's coming to pray for you." See, it was just–it was beginning.
It was–that was the way it was. And now it was going to scatter from
local here, around the world.

²³⁷
And now, He give me these signs to make up for my education. Now, if I
had the education of some of these other ministers, for instance, one I
know of, maybe as Brother Neville or Doctor Vayle, some of those, I–I
wouldn't have to have this. But I had to have it to make up this, to
take up for what I didn't have in the way of education. I had to have
signs. And just as… The signs has proved just as effective as an
education would've done. But, you see, if you haven't got the
qualification, God's able to give you the qualification another way.
Now, you have faith and believe. Now, I want each one of you to promise
God, where you're standing. Because, if you don't, it won't help you. I
want each one of you to lay aside every shadow of doubt. And when you
come through the line, and I pray for you, I want you to walk out of
here… You might not see one speck of results. But that… Jesus never
said, "Did you see it? Did you feel it?" He said, "Did you believe it?
Did you believe it? If thou believest…"

²³⁹
Now, I've noticed this along the way. I pray for the people; some of
them He wouldn't–He'd worked that discernment on; they'd go away,
saying, "Huh. I didn't get anything. He never told me nothing." That
person usually didn't get nothing either.
But some of them come across the line, saying, "Thank You, Lord. I
believe it." They was the ones I heard from, "You know, Brother
Branham, I never felt any different for several days," maybe two or
three weeks, or whatmore, "but all at once, I begin to feel that thing
leaving me (See?), and there it went." See. See, see?
You might say you believe. There's three classes of people that attend
the meeting: that's unbelievers, make-believers, and believers. Some of
them make out like they believe, "Oh, yes, I believe," but they don't.
If you believe it… I want to ask you this question now. If you
believe it, it's an impossibility for you not to be healed. Listen. Let
me repeat that. It is totally impossible for you not to be healed, if
you believe it.

²⁴²
First the Word of God came, give the commission. You believe that? The
Word of God said so first. That's above everything. The second thing,
the Angel of the Lord has proved it; the signs has vindicated it. Is
that right? Now, not one failure, nowhere. Not one failure in the Word
of God, that said, "I–I once give them healing, but now I take it away
from them." I want somebody to show me that. I'll show you where Jesus
commissioned His church to pray for the sick, and the prayer of faith
shall save the sick. Now, you tell me where He said it wouldn't happen
anymore. You show me in the Bible. See?
He said, in the last days He'd do these certain things, rise up these
things. Look what's come to pass. He's kept His Word. I've told you
that He commissioned me; now the world knows it. Science knows it. The
Angel of the Lord proves it. And results has proved that it's the
truth.

²⁴⁵ We're living in a sick world. There's lots to be prayed for. I thought, "Surely there's some other way besides…"
Brother
Moore said to me one time… There was a poor little girl crawling up
to the building, crippled, poor little thing, trying to get up to where
I was. I looked down at the child and started crying. Well, they
couldn't bring her in the line; she didn't have a prayer card. Not
knowing that was the child's last night. And Brother Moore and them
helped her get out of the line.
The next day we set and talked it over. He said, "Brother Branham, that hurt me."
I said, "Hurt you? What do you think it done to me?"
See, a little crippled girl. That stuck with me. And that's been about
ten years ago, a little crippled girl over in Illinois, little black
head, brown eyes, crawling, a little polio trying to get up to where I
was at. And the ushers down there had to help her and set her back in
her seat; crawled out of her seat to get up there. Why? You can only
take so many. And if I'd cut some of them out, put her in there without
a prayer card, others would have hurt their feelings. See? That's
right, couldn't do it. I said, "Surely there's some other way." Wish
I'd have knowed then what I know now; things would been different. It
sure would've been different.

²⁵⁰ Now, each one of you, the only thing that'll keep you from being healed, is you not believing it. Now, let's bow our heads.
Our
heavenly Father, here stands blind, crippled, afflicted, sick, dying
with cancer, ulcers, tumors. They're all standing here in the line,
Lord. I've preached the Word, and for twelve years You've confirmed
That around the world. I've asked forgiveness, and I know that I did
not do it willfully; I did it because I thought that I was doing right.
Now, I come, Lord, come to You humbly, asking You to bless my prayer,
that when I pray for these people, every one of them will be healed.
Bless their faith. Help our unbelief, Lord.
And may every one this morning really catch the vision. May they not
lose none of it. But may they see it Scripturally, and think of the
Angel of the Lord back there at the beginning, He said, "As Moses was
given two gifts…" And then two years ago, bringing the Bible with a
hand coming down, that like wrote on the walls at Babylon, a human
hand, looked like, that pointed down through the Bible to this same
chapter, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee."… And Father,
here it is this morning, brought to the light. We thank Thee for this,
Lord. You forgive me for my wrong.
And now, as we go into this prayer meeting, may the power of God heal
every sick person that comes through the line. I go just as Your
servant, not asking for any special anointing, any special anything,
but knowing this, that in my life is that commission; I go to carry it
out, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

²⁵⁴
Now, Brother Neville, if you will stand here. Now, with this gift, I'm
not going to anoint with oil. See? I'm just going to do what He told me
to do. And the commission said, "Get the people to believe you and be
sincere." Do you believe? Then I'm sincere. Something has to happen.
Brother Neville is going to lead in songs. You all pray quietly while I pray for the sick. [Brother Neville begins singing "Only Believe." Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]

²⁵⁶
Lord Jesus, I lay hands upon the woman with these kidney stones. And I
rebuke them in the Name of Jesus Christ. May she go and be healed.
Amen. Something happened.
What is your trouble? Lord, I lay my hands upon brother, this prostate
gland trouble, and I rebuke this power of the Devil, in the Name of
Jesus Christ. Amen. You must have it. Believe.
Lord, I lay my hands upon my sister with these bad legs that's swollen
up. I rebuke that swelling, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Go, believe
it, sister, and you'll see it.
Lord, with heart trouble and other ailments; I lay my hands upon my sister and rebuke this, in Jesus' Name, by my commission.
Lord, with failing sight and heart trouble; I rebuke it in this woman
by my commission from God, in Jesus' Name. Amen. It's just got to be.
It's going to be all right. Amen. I believe it with all my heart.

²⁶¹ [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]
That's true, if it's your time to go, you're going to go some way.
That's right. But first, before He tells you, if you'll be sincere and
don't doubt it, you'll get well. That's exactly right.
Lazarus was raised from the dead; he died again. But he was raised from
the dead to show that God keeps His offer to people, He said, "Mary,
believest thou this? I am the Resurrection and Life. I'm commissioned
of God to raise the dead. You believe this?"
She said, "Yea, Lord. I believe that You are the Son of God, that's come into the world."
Said, "Where you buried him?"
He had to die again. But he raised him to show that He was the
Resurrection and Life. See, God does those things, and everything's in
Divine order. Oh, I'm so glad to say that. Everything is perfectly in
order. If you can believe, everything you ask for is given to you. It's
got to be.

²⁶⁶ All right, just continue praying now while we bring them forward. God bless you.
Lord
Jesus, our sister is very sick, hearing me stand here and preaching
this Word, may You–may You, for this little sluggishness of doubt,
just get away from all of them, Lord. May they rise up, leave this old
mountain of walking back and forth, go on to Jordan, Lord. Grant it,
Lord. May our sister travel this path now from this hour on, believing
that God heals her body. In Jesus' Name. Go on your road, believing.
God bless you. Lord Jesus, give to her the desire of her heart, for her
daughter and her family. I pray this, in Jesus' Name, she receive this,
as I offer my prayer and my faith by laying hands on her. If I didn't
believe You, I wouldn't lay my hands on her. If I knew You wasn't going
to it, I wouldn't pray for her. But I believe, Lord. She believes too.
And we're placing our faith together, believing in Jesus' Name, Amen.

²⁶⁹
God bless you, Pat. Lord, for his precious children he wants saved.
He's getting hard of hearing. The doctor says cataract's coming on his
eye. He wants to live for God's glory. Grant it to him, Lord, as I ask
for this petition for my brother. And…?… in Jesus' Name. Amen. God
bless you, brother. Don't doubt. Believe that what you've asked for. [A lady speaks to Brother Branham for about 20 seconds–Ed.] Okay sister.
Lord, this poor little woman standing here for her son. God
won't…?… something, Lord, that's hurting her. He's going for a skin
graft. And she prays for his body and his salvation. She prays for her
loved ones. She's asked for her own nervous condition, Lord. She's just
about to break. God, I pray that You'll give her the desire of her
heart. Heal her of her afflictions and make her well. In Jesus' Name, I
pray this prayer of faith over her. Amen. God bless you, sister. Go,
believing it. God bless you.

²⁷³
Lord, for the salvation of her loved ones, I pray that You'll grant her
request, in Jesus' Name. Amen. Believe now, sister, that you receive
that, and it's yours. If you believe it, it's got to come.
For our Brother Edgar Tyler. Bless your heart…?… and all the way from Phoenix, Arizona. Is it hot out there?
That lady here was healed in my meeting. Where was she from? Are you
from Phoenix, lady? You're not from… You was at the meeting in
Phoenix.
What do you want Him to do for you today? Take asthma from you. God bless you, brother.
Dear God, as this precious brother…?… cry out to our…?… and to
the cause of the burdens of people. I pray that You'll grant him
deliverance, coming all the way from Phoenix, Arizona, to be prayed
for, to stand in this line, to hear the message, to encourage him.
Lord, it seems like a great sacrifice. It is. But the Queen of the
South came for three months on the back of a camel through the Sahara
desert to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold a greater than Solomon
is here; the Holy Spirit is here, a greater than Solomon.
Lord, I pray that You'll heal him of this affliction of his body. Give
him the desire of his heart. Let him walk in the path that's ordained
for him. May the goodness of God rest upon him. I ask this blessing for
my brother, in the Name of Jesus Christ, God's Son. Amen.
Ed, as you return, go with it. It's yours. I give it to you. Go and receive it.

²⁸²
Brother George… Most everyone knows George Wright. How many remembers
the story when he was dying just recently? All the doctors passed by
him. His body was swollen up like that, a blood clot in his heart.
Several doctors had give him up. I went to pray for him. Brother Funk,
he was here awhile ago I believe, was with me there that night. Set up
on the hill down there, act like I was going hunting.
I want to say to this church now, I got to tell some things that's been
going on. A lot of times you think I'm hunting; I'm not hunting. That's
an excuse to keep people from following me. I have to go there to be
alone with God. I'm not going out hunting, friends. Yes, I am hunting,
but not–not that kind of hunting.
I set up on the hill. Now, to him I was going rabbit hunting. Went
around right behind the house, and held my hands over towards the
house, and prayed and prayed. Dying… The Holy Spirit spoke to me one
night, "One of these men that comes from a church that don't believe
that healing's right." A certain minister came to his house not long
ago, and tried to withstand me there on a debate. Many of you people
here, were there that night. See where that man almost lost his mind?
Now he's trying finally get the Holy Ghost. [Brother Wright says, "…?… he's got the best friend he's got though, brother."–Ed.] Think of that.

²⁸⁶ A man that stood there to debate, and said, "First I want to tell you, you're of the Devil."
I said, "I forgive you for that. You don't know what you're talking about."
So then he turned around and said, "I know you got the Spirit of Christ."
I said, "I was a devil a few minutes ago, and I was a Christ now. Which
is it? See? So now, they… Terrible things has happened.
This man laying there, dying. And this man laughed at him, said, "Now, go get your Divine healer."
And I was up at Lexington, Kentucky, where a woman was healed of
cancer. And in a vision the Lord showed me, coming back, along that
morning about five o'clock. He showed me that. Said, "You'll shake the
hand of Brother George Wright, coming up through the Tabernacle, and
walk up here and shake your hand. And the man that's made fun of him,
he'll dig his grave." I didn't know it, didn't know he dug graves.

²⁹²
I called up Sister Wright. She's bound to be here somewhere. Yeah.
Called up Sister Wright, I said, "I have THUS SAITH THE LORD." That's
right. Them's the kind of visions I want to see from now on; then I'll
tell somebody something, it comes back. I said, "Brother George will
dig the grave of the man, or be at the grave of the man that's making
fun of him. And he'll come in the Tabernacle, and I'll shake his hand."
The blood clot left Brother George.
And about a month or two after that, I was back. And he always, nearly
always, come around this a way; but that morning he come this a way,
and I had already…?… Said, "Look, look, look, here he comes right
here to shake, just exactly…?…"
And here he is today. That's been… [Brother Wright says, "Nine years."–Ed.] Nine years ago. ["I had nine blood clots that left."–Ed.] Nine blood clots, nine years ago.

²⁹⁵
By the way, I hear that Sister Hickerson… Is Brother Hickerson here
today? That she's better. That's fine. She had blood clots too, a bunch
of them in her limb.
Now, he's got rheumatism in his hand.
That was his daughter, Sister Hattie setting right there, on which I
testified now, that the new ministry worked the first time. That's
right, Sister Hattie. Wonder if the boys are in this morning, are they
with you?
Where's the boys at? There's both of them standing right back there at
the back. There's the two boys that the mother–daughter of our…
Raise your hands up, boys, so they see who you are. All right, standing
back there at the back. It's wonderful…?… It sure is.

²⁹⁸ All right. Brother George. [Brother Wright says, "You know, Brother Bill, I believe."–Ed.]
I know you believe. And I know, many times, I've laid there in your
room at nighttime, watching out the window, listening at an old
mockingbird. Someday we got to go over, Brother George. Until that
time, God be with you. I know He will then. "Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for Thou art with
me." In that vision here not long ago, when I seen those old people
turned back young again, that's the way I'll see you someday…?…
Our heavenly Father, give to our brother the desire of his heart. Heal
him of this rheumatism. He's getting old, Father, and I pray that
You'll help him. Help Sister Wright and little Edith, and all the
family down there. Sister Hattie and her children, all their loved
ones, be with them, Father. Grant this request, as I ask it in Jesus'
Name. Amen.
[Brother George Wright says, "I will be seventy-nine."–Ed.] Seventy-nine. God bless you, Brother Wright, give you many more days. Praise the Lord.

³⁰¹
Brother Daulton. My, my. Here's a brother that's been precious to me.
I'll tell you what happened. I haven't got time to go through it. His
wife knows. Said, "He was dying." Heart attack, was it, sister? And
before the Lord had give her a dream, and the interpretation came. And
when the heart attack struck him, she stood right before it and said,
"I defy this." God had give her a dream that it was going to be that
way, and the interpretation come. And the doctor's thinking the man was
dying then, and here he is alive today.
Lord Jesus, to our precious brother, he drove a long ways to come into
this meeting this morning. His hip's bad. Just like an automobile,
Lord, parts are beginning to wear, go down; but, O Lord, be his
strength. Thou art our Strength. Undergird this crippled place in his
hip. Undergird every weak spot, Lord. And give to our precious brother
his healing, as I bless him in the Name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.
God bless you, Brother Daulton. So shall it be.

³⁰³
All right, sister, what can the Lord do for you? Why, Sister Daugherty.
Is this Betty? Why, Betty, bless your heart. Who in this Tabernacle
don't know Betty Daugherty. The first time my old ministry ever worked
was on this child. How many remembers about the…?…
Betty had St. Vitus' dance. And she was in such a state, that she
didn't even act like a human. No doctor could do nothing for her. And I
went to St. Louis. This church gave up the money, and I borrowed
somebody's overcoat; and they made eleven dollars up for me to go over
and pray for this little girl. She was just a little girl, about
like–about like this little girl setting right here, little baby girl.
And I stayed… Is Brother Daugherty here? He isn't. And prayed and
prayed and prayed, I couldn't get nowhere. And finally, setting out in
Brother Daugherty's car, I saw a vision of what for them to do. And she
followed the vision just exactly the way the Lord said do. I believe it
was a little bit against their thoughts at that time. But she done it
just exactly the way the Lord said do it, and Betty was healed. The
first time I saw her, how… Said, "Grandpa Daugherty at one end of the
bed, Brother Daugherty at the other. And let her take a rag and wash
the baby's face, and hands, and so forth." As I went down through the
prayer, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name."

³⁰⁷
And Betty now has been stricken with cataracts. I got to pray for her
just a–a short time ago at the back of the building at Chatauqua.
Betty, honey, let's go over this real close now. I want to hold your
hand. Are you blind all the way, Betty? You can just see daylight and
darkening. How old are you now, Betty? Twenty-two. She was about seven
or eight…?… Sister Daugherty, you had a hard…?… You know,
Betty, I've always believed that God had something for you to do. And I
believe that's why it's been this a way with you. And now I believe
that the enemy has did this evil thing.
Now, you know, Betty, this. If I had power to reach in there and take
those cataracts and pull them out, I'd do it. I don't have it. But,
Betty, what I told you the first time, that's the truth; as I set here,
and you and I, as brother and sister in Christ, Brother Daugherty, your
precious daddy, just as sweet a brother as I ever had, your dear mother
here… I've lived in your house, and you shared your food with me,
and–and everything. You've been like–like that you would have to be
my sister, and I could be no more sincere now than I would be with
Deloris setting right here.

³¹¹
Now, God promised this, Betty. I want to you to all… Your father,
being a minister, you've been raised up in a family that prays for the
sick…?… You've been prayed for many a time. It's got to a place
where sometimes we just go over it, and back and forth. And we–we–we
kind of lose the value of it. You see what I mean?
My, you've made a fine, pretty girl, Betty; it's a shame to see your
eyes gone like that. Is Meda still in the building? My wife wanted to
see you; I want her to see you, Betty, what a pretty girl she made.
Betty, you was a pretty little girl. You've always been a good girl.
Now, there is a few things down in life, that you fail, Betty. Now,
just as a doctor would look over your–your physical body, I want to
look through your soul. Have you failed God anywhere, Betty? If there
is, just acknowledge it to Him, "Lord, if You'll let me go over it
again, I'll not–I'll do different."

³¹⁴ [Sister Betty speaks to Brother Branham–Ed.]
Now, this is a strange thing. Let's think it this a way. Now, I did not
know that Betty Daugherty was going to be in this meeting. But the
first one on my other discernment was Betty Daugherty. Here it is back
again at the first meeting on this. She knew right then what I was
speaking of. I don't want to start that discernment again, 'cause in
the line. But she said what she ought to have said just now. She was
filled with the Holy Ghost while at–while I was at the St. Louis. And
as a teenage girl, kid, maybe she has done things she ought not done.
But who hasn't? Who hasn't? If it isn't grace, we're all lost. And if
you're willing to confess your wrongs, God's just to forgive your
wrong.

³¹⁶
I'm raising my faith now. Lord, I bring this girl to You. And I'm
putting my hands over her eyes. I'm rebuking these cataracts, and
believe that Betty will see again. Let the power of the living God, the
Divine One, give Betty her sight again, as I offer this prayer while
faith is upon me. In the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, may I
shake hands with my sister again, somewhere, today, tomorrow, or
whenever it will be again, and them bright eyes look at me and say,
"Brother Branham, I can see as good as I ever did in my life."…?…
Let us believe that…?… You believe that, Sister Daugherty?…?…
Lord, in the Name of Jesus, the Son of God, give to our sister the
desire of her heart, as she stands here…?… Let the power that
healed Betty Daugherty the first time, and this also the second time,
let it heal our sister, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

³¹⁹ Brother… [The brother speaks to Brother Branham–Ed.]
Our brother wants to be saved. You accept Jesus Christ as your personal
Saviour? You believe that He died for you and rose again? You now claim
Him as your personal Saviour?
In the Name of Jesus Christ, let every sin question be gone from this
man's conscience. May our brother…?… the day when…?… his life
is now a Christian, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Turn to this audience and say, "I accept Jesus as my Saviour." [The man says, "I accept Jesus as my Saviour."–Ed.] Now, that he's so glad his sins are forgiven by the Blood of Jesus Christ. That's what we like (Amen.), a double cure…?… [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]

³²²
And that I accomplished more this morning by the message that I've had
and the things as I have knowed, I've–I've followed the commission
more than I've accomplished in the last five years, because I have
found the center of God's will.
Now, it may be a hard thing for me to change from one ministry to
another. But it isn't changing the ministry; it's taking the same
ministry in a higher sphere. It's the original commission. All these
other things have been building upon that. Now's the time.
With all my heart, I'm believing for every person that I pray for. I
believe they're going to be well. And with all the evidence that we
have, everything that God has showed of year after year of infallible
proof of the Bible living again, then how could it fail? It just can't
fail.

³²⁵
Now, there's only one way to make it fail; that is, for you not to
believe it. If Jesus stood here Himself, and would pray for you, and go
through the same act that we have done this morning, no more would
happen if you would believe with the measure of faith that–no more
could happen, than what will happen, if you believe with the same
measure of faith. Because I only represent Him. I'm a sinner saved by
grace, just a man like you are, just a human being. But God has to have
an outlet somewhere. And He's proved that by His Word; He's proved it
by the ministry; He's proved it by the Angel of the Lord, and here it
is. Now, it's up to us to believe it.
Now, remember, just like a child, if there's been an affliction, see it
no more. If there's been a disease, it's not there no more. Just ignore
any symptom, anything that's contrary to what's been asked. Many
times… Every child that comes to God's got to be tried. We're tried
to see if we believe that or not. And you'll have wars and troubles.
But remember we're on our march.

³²⁷
God bless you. I love you. And I, by God's help, I hope He lets me
serve you as His servant for many, many years to come, is my prayer.
Pray for me.
And now remember tonight: "The Five Infallible A-vindications Of The
True Church Of The Living God." Until then, let us stand up to our
feet, just a moment.
Oh, is there a baptismal service? [Brother Neville says, "I believe there is."– Ed.]
Oh, a baptismal service? The people for baptism, are you here? Raise up
your hand, anybody for baptism. One, two, three… Yes. I'm very, very
sorry, friends.
Now, to those who have to go, I will dismiss them. The rest of them
stay for baptism, that wants to. We have a baptismal service, just in a
moment.

³³¹
Father God, dismiss those who have to go with Your blessings, Your
benediction, Your grace rest upon them, thanking You for all that's
been accomplished this morning, as we're pulling away from the
mountain, starting upward. Lord, may we walk up through every ladder
rung, until we reach the–the Kingdom of God. Grant it, Lord. Be with
us now. Forgive our sins, those who stay now to be baptized for the
remission of their sins, in the Name of Jesus Christ, may these things
be granted.
Gather us together again tonight. May Thy power and Thy blessings be
upon us tonight. May there be a great night tonight. May many, that's
confused, be straightened out tonight. Grant it, Father, for we ask it
in Jesus' Name. Amen.
All right, you may be seated now if you wish to, while we make ready for the baptism.

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