| 58-0618 | Handwriting On The Wall Greenville, SC |
1 hr 15 min 9.9MB |
Listen |
Download |
E-1
Thank you, sir. May be seated. Brother Joseph just loves me. This has
been a great day for me. And I met many of the fine people here in this
great city.
And [Someone adjusts the microphone–Ed.]
thank you. No, that's all right. And I was in a restaurant eating
today, and some lady come up, and she said, "This is the… my
opportunity to get to shake your hand, Brother Branham." And she
introduced me to her husband, and she said, "I sure enjoyed that
message last night." I know there's lead me, grace, or love me, or
something here, from all that.
E-2
And the lady invited me to her house for dinner. I hope she's here
tonight, sister; I–I sure appreciate that very much. And to see
that–that you have love in the hearts to invite me to your home.
That's very nice.
I want to say that all the messages is on tape. My good friend here and
associate, Mr. Gene Goad and Mr. Leo Mercier, they are the tape boys of
the meetings, who has them here, and they're at the concession stand,
or the book stand, rather, with the pictures of the Angel of the Lord.
Sometime when you're not holding healing services, we don't very much
announce those (You see?), but they are there for those who want them,
the books and the pictures, and so forth.
Now, it's my privilege tonight to be here again and to speak to you
from His Word, His precious holy Word. And I have thought since last
evening, trying to say how far back the church was getting, I thought I
would try to explain tonight in my way of doing it, how close the
coming of the Lord is. And my purpose in these messages is to awaken
the church, that we must be ready whenever He comes. That's the main
thing. And it–no matter where or what time He comes, let's be ready,
is the main thing.
E-3
You know there were virgins that went out to meet Him. And five were
still virgins, but were foolish virgins that didn't keep oil in their
lamps. And though they were virgins, just the same as the others, they
were not permitted to the wedding supper. So far be it, from any people
here tonight, to be included, so they'd be excluded, from the presence
of the Lord, included in that group of the virgins with no oil in their
lamps.
And I was… Billy keeps telling me that many people are asking him
about prayer cards, to be praying for the sick. Why, I suppose in each
meeting they're praying for the sick. And just as being late tonight,
there was ministers that had a–some sick laying out here in the back
to be prayed for when I come in.
E-4
Now, I was just thinking it to be just night speaking was all I was to
do; I didn't know I was to pray for the sick also. However, if the
people request me to pray for the sick, well, I–I'll be glad to do it.
See, it just… I don't know. I was just thinking of this being a
convention and speaking as just the evening speaker. However you might
consult your board, or directors, or whatever it is, we'll–we'll pray
for the sick if it's–if you wish that to be done.
Now, tonight I wish to read from the Book of Daniel tonight. But before
we do so, let us bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer.
E-5
O great and eternal God, Who brought again the Lord Jesus from the
dead, the great Shepherd of the flock, and has raised Him up from the
dead and He is alive tonight, living with us and in us, energizing our
life, that we might walk upright, soberly, and just in this present day
and generation, being written epistles read of all men. And we pray,
God, that You'll send His Presence so greatly among us tonight, that if
there happens to be sinners in our midst, that they will be ashamed of
theirself, of putting off His grace and mercy that's been so generously
given unto them, that they might come tonight and accept Him as their
own personal Saviour.
E-6
And we would ask tonight, Lord, that You would shake Your church as
never before, that we might know the hour that we're living. For truly
in last evening's reading we find that this church age was to be a
lukewarm, just beginning to get into the world. And the–the vine of
formalism growing around the church and choking out the spiritual life
of the church, so, God, tonight, send in the sickle and the grubbing
hoe, and cut out all the weeds that's choking out the church. All the
great spiritual blessings of the church that it deserves, and that
Jesus has died that it might receive, may it come a hundredfold
tonight, a great shower of His blessings upon the people, as we
reverently wait, Lord.
And as we open Thy Word, knowing that It is the Word of Life, and it's
God Himself painted on a page, we would ask that You would send the
Spirit to the heart of Your servant, Lord, and get a context that would
be just appropriate for this hour. Hear the prayer of Your servants,
Lord, as we pray together, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and for His
glory. Amen.
E-7 Daniel 5:25:
We
are confronting something. There is not a bit of doubt in any heart
here, but what there is something that's fixing to take place. And we
being Christians and the timepiece, that the world has not got the
answer to this day… Science hasn't got the answer to this day. And
the most pitiful thing, and part of it, the church hasn't got it, when
we ought to be the place where people can come and find these things.
But we have drifted away.
E-8
Now, in every age at the junction of each age, there's always been
warnings before judgment. And if people spurns warnings, there's
nothing left but judgment. There's only two things: mercy and judgment.
And when you spurn mercy, judgment has to come automatically.
E-9
And anyone could look upon the streets, and read the newspapers, and
listen to the–the radio. And we all are aware that something is wrong.
And being that it is wrong, God's Bible never leaves us without an
answer to these things. And to see the condition our nation has got
into, we know that there cannot be anything left but judgment to us.
And I say this statement without any apology. If God lets the United
States of America, our lovely country and home, get by without
judgment, He will be duty bound to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and
apologize for burning them up. That's right. For we're guilty of the
same sins.
E-10
God loves sinners but hates his sin. And so you see, God has to act the
same every time. He cannot act one way at a certain time, and that same
kind of a crisis rise, His action on the first has to be on the second
the same way, or He acted wrong when He acted in the first place.
We are mortals, and we're–we're finite mind. And He's infinite.
Therefore, we get smarter and more educated as the days go on, and the
generation rise and falls. But God was perfect to begin with. He does
not get any smarter, because He was infinite. And then if the infinite
God was called on the scene to act, and the way He acted the first
time, it will have to be His decision every time when the same crisis
arise.
E-11
Therefore, if a man was a sinner, and God was called on the scene by
the sinner to save him, and God had mercy and saved that sinner, the
next sinner comes, He's got to save him, or He did wrong when He saved
the first sinner.
And when a sick man came to God for mercy, and God granted that sick
man healing of his body, when the second sick man comes, He's got to
grant the same or He acted wrong when He granted the first man healing.
So if sin was to be judged by God, and He pronounced judgment because
of sin, when that sin arises again, He's got to judge it again, or He
did wrong by judging it in the first place. So when Sodom and Gomorrah,
and their sins was judged thus, then if America is committing the same
sins, God's got to give this nation the same judgment, or He did wrong
when He judged Sodom.
E-12
And at the junction of each age… We've had several junctions of time,
when time runs out man's ability fades. And as we would notice, in the
antediluvian destruction… Now, I just want to set a little background
for what I wanting to bring to you. In the antediluvian world, after
Cain and Abel, and then Seth was raised up to take Abel's place,
representing the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the
just One, man begin to spring out from these two boys.
And if you'll notice, man became wise and smart. But the shrewdness
never come through the side of Seth. All the scientists, and the smart,
and intelligent, and educated men, come through the side–the side of
Cain. Because they eaten from the tree of knowledge, of course, but–of
good and evil. But the other side was a humble side.
E-13
And then it came to a place where the world was full of great
scientists, and become wicked, yet religious. And there come a junction
of time that God had to judge the sin. And when He did… Before His
judgment was passed, He sent prophets, angels, supernatural, great
signs and wonders, and then destruction.
And at the coming out of the children of Israel, the church had cooled
off, they'd got in there to be masters of Egypt and so forth. And there
come on the scene, prophets, Angels, messages, supernatural, and
judgment to Egypt.
In the days of the coming of the Lord Jesus, the church had cooled off
again, and sin had set in the church. Then there came a Angel and
appeared to Zacharias. A prophet came on the scene. Then the
supernatural was done, then judgment to Israel, when she was scattered
to the four winds of the world.
E-14
And my most beloved friends, we're at another junction. We had fifteen
hundred years of dark ages in Catholicism. Along come Martin Luther,
cooled off. Along come Wesley, cooled off. And along come the Baptist
and cooled off. And along come Pentecost, cooled off, or, it never went
to a cooling off; it got lukewarm.
And–but just before this great cooling off or lukewarmness of the
Pentecostal church, there will come again on the scene the
supernatural, and prophets, and great messages, and the healing of the
sick, and the raising of the dead. It's God's sign post; we're at the
end time. And the church is lukewarm just cooling off and going away.
It has to be that way. God said it would be that way. But the warning
is to the… "Him that has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches."
E-15
Now, our subject starts tonight with one of these junctions. And that
was… Our scene opens up in Babylon. And Babylon appears in the first
of the Bible; it appears in the middle of the Bible; and it appears in
the last of the Bible. Now, there is nothing on earth now but what
always has been. It come out of Genesis, every ism. If you'll go back
and study close, you'll find that every ism on the earth today, begin
in Genesis. Because it means "the beginning, the seed." And all the sin
that you see on the earth today began in Genesis.
And I want to ask you something, "What is sin?" Sin is righteousness
perverted. Did you ever think of that? You married men that has wives,
and you live with your wife; she is your wife. And she's just as pure
and holy as she was before you married her in the sight of God, if
you're legally married. But the same act with another woman, would be
perverting righteousness unto unrighteousness, which would condemn your
soul to hell for doing it, yet the same act. All unrighteousness is
righteousness perverted. Sickness is health perverted. Death is life
perverted. Everything that is, was.
E-16
And now, Babylon appearing in the first of the Bible, in the middle of
the Bible, and in the last of the Bible, it behooves us to kind of
study about Babylon. The first, it was built by Nimrod, which was the
son of Ham. And it was a great city. And all the round and about cities
paid tribute to this great city. And it was like a great organization
that all the rest of the churches paid tribute to this one great
leadership, headship. And it was founded in the–the valley of Shinar,
which was one of the valleys, one of the greatest richest places in the
known world of that day, and the river Euphrates… Tigris, passed
above it, and the Euphrates went right through the valley. And this
information could be gotten from Hislop's "Two Babylons" and many of
the ancient writers.
E-17
And as we notice, it was built for the purpose of being predominant,
ruler over. And God never did intend any city or any man to rule one
over the other. We are all the same creatures of God, made in His image
and in His likeness.
And this great city was built… Let's take a look at it. It was a
hundred and twenty miles around this city. And the walls of this city
was eighty feet across the wall. You could run a chariot race around
that wall just as hard as a horse could gallop. And every street in the
city was some two hundred feet across. Now, in those days the cities
had very small streets. I've been most of the world, and some of those
old cities, like in Norway and so forth, they–the cities are so small,
that, well, they can't even get an automobile through the street
because it was a little carriage went through the street.
E-18
But in those cities, streets of Babylon, they was wide across as this
auditorium, practically. And many chariots could come down. And if we
notice, as the chariots came and every city, every gate opened up, and
they led straight to the palace, which set in the center of the city.
I was reminded of it not long ago, when I was in Rome. Every road leads
to Rome. Every street, looks like, it leads to the Vatican. Instead of
having a mile post, they had the virgin holding the Christ child
pointing towards the city.
But all the city, the streets led right straight up to the palace. And
before the palace there was great steps that run down, and the river
Euphrates came through the city right in front of the palace.
E-19
And in this great city there were great walls and great gates that were
made of solid brass, some hundred feet high. And I want you to notice,
swinging gardens all along those walls, and the city in the–the city
in the center of it had the palace and the river Euphrates running by
it, just the pattern of heaven. What was it? It's a perverted heaven
that was designed by the Devil. And was called first the Gates of
Paradise, and later was called Confusion, which means "backslidden."
See, it's the Devil that's trying to unite all of the world under one
great ecclesiastical head. They've always tried it. And they're making
a very good show out of it today.
E-20
And in this city they had the greatest army; they had the best material
that could be gotten from all the world was brought to them; and the
whole world paid tribute to this city. And when in such a place as
that, all behind the walls, how secure they felt. The best scientists,
the best brain that they had, the best chariots, the best horses, the
best-dressed soldiers, more to eat, the best-clothed people, and were
safe behind such walls.
Ain't that the very beautiful picture of this country, with the best
that could be gotten, and the best scientist that could be gotten, the
best dressed army that there is.
But then when they got behind these walls, they thought they could live
just any way they pleased to do, and would be all right because they
were safe.
E-21
And that's been the attitude of our people in this country, that
because we have the best and the greatest and the most powerful army,
and the best guns and the best machinery, and the best food, and the
best everything, we felt like we were safe. But remember, the God of
heaven cannot be closed out by any kind of a wall, whether it be a
natural wall or a ecclesiastical wall. God looks down from the heaven,
and there is nothing that He doesn't know about. Or didn't know from
the beginning that it would be that way. He's the infinite God.
And when people think they are secure, then sin sets in. If there would
be by chance, those here tonight who are Swiss, I would not want to
hurt your feelings, but I was just recently come from Switzerland. And
oh, you talk about an independent bunch; they are. They haven't had a
war for hundreds of years. They haven't got nothing to fight for. So
they are just real indifferent (if you'll excuse the street
expression), kind of puffy like.
And when it comes Sunday morning, you would think the millennium was
on. Of all the sacrilegious carrying on, bells a ringing, and chimes a
ringing, till you couldn't hear yourself speak on the street hardly,
and the worse critics against the Lord Jesus I ever met. Why? They feel
like that there's nothing can bother them.
E-22
I crossed the line to Germany. Brother, I mean, there was a different
people, altogether. They had to duck under buildings. They'd been burnt
them in streets. They know what war meant. They knowed what it was to
put trust in God, when a rascal like Hitler had led them into that kind
of a place, and many of those real genuine Christians in Germany
had–had to pray for every mouthful of food they got. Persecution makes
the church strong. And God will strengthen this American church
someday, hiding in a bomb shelter somewhere.
E-23
But I want to tell you something. I'll correct that. There is no bomb
shelter for this bomb they got now. It'll blow a hole in the ground a
hundred and seventy-five feet deep, a hundred and fifty square miles.
If you went a thousand feet in the ground, the concussion of that would
break every bone in your body. There's no place to hide down here.
But I want to assure this church tonight, that there is a place for the
Church, and a shelter. It's not made out of steel beneath the ground,
but it's made out of feathers: Under His wings, the Church will safely
take her place and her position. So that's the only hiding place there
is. God has so made it, that there's nothing materially we can lay our
hands on. It's either trust or perish.
E-24
Our great nation, as it is a great nation, the greatest in the world…
And we're all afraid of communism. You hear all the programs. And I had
the privilege of eating breakfast not long ago with Vice President
Nixon. And his whole conversation while we was talking was communism. I
was just a little holy-roller preacher; I–I felt good to set by his
side. But it isn't communism we have to worry about. It isn't the robin
that pecks on the apple that hurts it; it's the worm at the core that
kills the apple.
And it isn't communism that's hurting America. It's our own rottenness
among us, our immorals that's breaking the backbone of this nation.
Motherhood is marred, and the church is gone to the dogs. All the great
things that we stood for, the great principles and things, has rotted
beneath us. So it's our own morals that's killed us, not communism, or
any other nation. Sin is a reproach to any nation.
E-25
Motherhood and great principles like that, is broken when mother's pay
a hundred dollars for a little snotty-nosed dog (Excuse that
expression.), and take it in the house, and give it a mother's love,
and…?… practice birth control. Any nation would sink under such
stuff as that. And our police allow for her to be stripped in the
street, and walk down… Such things as uncensored television casts, of
old vulgar four or five times married women, prostitutes of this
nation… And the little girls take them for example.
And our stores are loaded down with Davy Crockett and Lone Ranger. Who
was the Lone Ranger? There's a–there's ninety percent of the children
in this city could tell you more about Davy Crockett than could tell
you about Jesus Christ. That's right. Then tell me you fear communism.
It's the Devil you ought to fear.
E-26
When the mother's turn them home, let them set with a baby setter, and
out somewhere in some barroom drinking, and then with the audacity to
put her foot on a rail and sing "God Bless America." And she's the
greatest indebtiment we ever had. I'm American, and I love my country,
but I believe in real Americanism, not this stuff we got today,
so-called Americanism; it's rotted and decayed right under us. That's
where our troubles lay.
That's what's the matter today, because we felt secure. "Why, there's
no nation can whip us." That's right. But there's a God Who will judge
us by His Word and by Jesus Christ someday, and the way we treated
Christ. That judgment is at hand. And these junctions, these signs,
these wonders and miracles that He's did by the hands of His servants,
the Gospel that He's preached through Jack Schuller, Billy Graham, Oral
Roberts, and many others… And the dead's been raised, and the eyes of
the blind's been opened; it is a sign post that we're at the end.
Surely, a spiritual people would understand that.
E-27
And I–sometimes I wonder. I was standing, not long ago, here at Joseph
Boze's church and having a meeting, and Billy had told me when I come
in; he said, "Daddy, last night when Brother Osborn showed his "Black
Gold" film from Africa, they was asked to give in a–a donation to help
him in his missions." Said, "I was happened to be standing in the
audience, and I seen this certain little woman, poorly dressed, a
little typical Swede, go down in her pocket and peel off about a
hundred dollars and give it in to help Brother Osborn." You said, "I
cried, almost. That poor little woman, where she'd get enough money to
give that, maybe her meager living?"
E-28
But to support the Gospel, to try to get to every crack and corner, for
the end is at hand… Said, "When I left the building that night, the
second night, she said, 'Billy, honey, have you got a prayer card you
could give me?'"
He said, "Ma'am, I have not. See if Gene and Leo has got any left."
They didn't have any. He said, "Lady, we haven't got any prayer cards
left. They've all been give out."
And she said, "That's all right, honey, I understand."
He said, "But if you meet me here tomorrow night, down here at the front of this row, I'll see you get a prayer card."
She said, "All right, honey." And she tipped her little self back down
to the building. Just in a few minutes I come in, and while the line
started, and the great Holy Spirit, present, showing great signs and
wonders, what taken place? Discerning the thoughts and minds,
foretelling what was and what will be. People were elated, what was
being healed.
E-29
And if you realize, my friend, that is the last message before the
coming of the Lord. Want to ask you, stopping here on my subject a
minute. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, and in the days of
Lot, so will it be in the coming of the Son of God." Now, this time it
isn't going to be water; it's going to be fire. They're going to burn
this generation like they burnt Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, watch the last
message to Sodom and Gomorrah.
There's always three classes of people: the true, the elected, the
virgin; and the sinner, the unbeliever. That's a believer, a
unbeliever, and a make believer. Every city has them, and every church
has them: real believers, and unbelievers, and then make believers. And
we're just snowed under with them.
And watch. Before Sodom was burned, the Angels of the Lord, three of
them, came down to Abraham, which was the believer, the elected, and
which was the real bride, the real virgin that had oil in the lamp. And
Lot was that lukewarm. And two of the Angels went down to try to get
Lot out of there, out of the sinners and the unbelievers.
E-30
And notice what taken place, watch the nature of this Angel. When they
had left, He done a sign to Abraham, which is a very type sign of
today. He had his back turned to the tent. And all of us know that
they'd been waiting for a baby for twenty-five years by a promise of
God. And Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was ninety at the
time. And Sarah was behind the Angel, the Bible said she was. She was
in the tent, and the tent was behind the Angel, and the Angel said,
"Will I keep from Abraham the things that's going to happen, seeing
that he's the heir unto the world?" And He said, "I'm going to visit
you about according to the time of life (at twenty-eight days for
Sarah) and you're going to get this baby that you've waited on."
E-31
And Sarah, behind the Angel, inside the tent, smiled. And the Angel
said, "Why did Sarah laugh in the tent?" What kind of a telepathy was
that?
And Sarah…?… and said, "I didn't laugh."
He said, "Yes, you did." For she was scared.
Remember, that same Angel was God, when Abraham worshipped. And when He
left, he said he talked to God. And the translation there is Elohim,
the Almighty Jehovah made into a form of a man.
And God was manifested on the earth in a Man, Jesus Christ and done the same things before the destructions of the Jews.
And He's manifested tonight in His Church, doing the same thing before
the destruction of the Gentiles. His decision has to be the same each
time. What He was yesterday, He was today, and will be forever. You
notice it?
There it was, the destruction time coming and sin heaping up on every
hand. And God hates sin. And this nation in its condition of rejecting
the very things that God has sent…
E-32
Notice, there was a man one time who needed a rest, and he went down to
the sea. He had never seen the sea; he–he'd heard about it, so he was
on his road down, he said. He met an old salt coming back, which is a
sailor. And the sailor said to him, "Where goest thou, my good man?"
"Down to the sea to rest my mind. I've never seen it." He said, "I long
to see its great waves, and smell the salt water, and hear the sea
gulls."
And the old salt said, "I was born on the sea. I've heard it for forty
years. There's nothing thrilling about it to me." You see, he had just
saw it so much, there was nothing thrilling.
Now, Pentecostal church, and you all, the rest of you, that's what's
the matter with you tonight. You seen so many things of God till it
become too common to you. You take it too lightly, too lightly.
E-33
And this little woman, back to my story, she goes up in the balcony, I
guess, and set down. When the great Holy Spirit was giving discernment,
and all at once It said, "The little lady setting up in the balcony on
the corner with the little checkered dress on…" Said, "You're praying
for your husband which works in a certain place, and his name is
so-and-so. And you're praying for him because he's deaf in one ear, but
said, THUS SAITH THE LORD, he's just been healed." She looked down at
her watch, see what time it was.
Several hours later when she arrived home, her husband was out the door
screaming to the top of his voice. He could hear. Said, "What time did
it happen?"
Said, "I was setting on the stool at just exactly certain-certain time,
and my ear come open." It's exactly the same minute the Lord God said
it would happened.
E-34
There was a poor, ignorant, colored woman, Negro, setting over in the
aisle, crying, because she couldn't get a prayer card to get up on the
platform. And the Holy Spirit moved over to where she was, and I saw
that Light standing over her. And It said to her, "Lady, you're name is
so-and-so," by the Holy Spirit; never seen her in my life. It wasn't
even me speaking, of course not.
And He told her, said, "You're suffering with cirrhosis of the liver,
and you have certain-certain things." And she almost fainted. It was
perfect; always has been, and always will be. If it's God, it has to
be. I'm forty-nine years old; it's never failed. And it can't fail.
If–if, it'd been me, it'd failed the first time. But God cannot fail,
because He's God. He can do anything but fail.
And then He told her, said, "But your main subject; you have a sister
that's down in Little Rock, Arkansas in a hospital, a mental
institution, been in there ten years, totally insane, butting her head
against the wall." And then she just liked to passed out. Said, "But
THUS SAITH THE LORD, she has just come to herself."
E-35
And the next morning, the matron dismissed her as a perfect case. And
she flew to Chicago and give testimony on the platform the very next
night. And Chicago's got just as much whiskey in it tonight as it had
before then. Every nightclub is open; the women are still wearing
shorts, smoking cigarettes; and the church is wading on in sin just as
it always did.
Why? They feel they're secure, because they belong to a church. Because you are an American.
Brother Bosworth said he asked a woman, some time before he was going away, "Are you a Christian?"
Why, she felt insulted. She said, "I give you to understand; I burn a candle every night." What's a candle got to do with it?
And another one said, "Are you a Christian?"
He said, "I'll give you to understand, I'm American." What's that got to do with it? Just about as much as a candle's got.
E-36
You're not a Christian until you've accepted Christ and been born by
the Holy Ghost, and a new creature. Anything less, you're lost. You
might be Pentecostal, baptized forward, backward, this way, that way.
You might have sung in the Spirit, spoke in tongues, danced in the
Spirit, whatever you might've done; but if you're not truly born of
God's eternal Spirit, you're lost. And if you are, the fruits of the
Spirit declare what you are: Love, joy, peace, long suffering,
goodness, meekness, gentleness, patience, in the Holy Spirit.
E-37
Secure, oh, how Babylon thought they were secure; they had everything.
They had religion. So there come a time that their women got immoral.
Their men got feeling, their preachers, to a place that they were the
only ones on the beach; there was no one else but them. And they had
a–a king down there, which was a modern Elvis Presley, a big-time boy,
pea-picker Ernie, or some of them, like one of our big great men of
today, is so-called in America.
So he throwed a big rock-and-roll party. And he invited all the
celebrity to come. And he was going to have it just in modern
rock-and-roll. And so…
E-38
You see, there's nothing new; it's just got a new name. Old Charlie
Barleycorn that you grandmothers, they used to say is a old scarecrow
with his hat pulled down, liking to feel that old whiskey and beer. He
was old Charlie Barleycorn. Brother, he's got on an tuxedo, call… He
sets in a bumper in every ice box today. He's in class. But he's still
the same old devil. Exactly right.
They might not have called it a rock-and-roll, but it was a
rock-and-roll. And this big-time boy that they had in that day, he
said, "I'm going to throw a big party. I'm going to really have one."
So he invited all the soldiers, and he got the best whiskey and the
beer, that they could find in the nation. And all the women got baby
setters for their babies. And–and all of them come up there to dance
with these soldiers. They were having a real time. I'd imagine they had
a modern telecast. All the fringe hanging down, a great big garden, in
the back of the temple… They put up the big candles, and they had
lots of light back there. And, oh, what a modern time they were having.
I'd imagine all those women throwing their feet in the air, and
hollering, "whoopie," and these soldiers drunk. They were drinking and
carousing, as the Bible expressed that they was.
E-39
And they'll be doing the same in this time. What's any different from
that and our America today? What about all these nightclubs and so
forth? And ninety-five percent of them are so-called Christians. That's
exactly right.
Some time ago… I haven't the time to tell it. I run into a hotel
room. And there were Sunday school teachers and all setting there,
drunk, and couldn't help one another. That's correct.
Now, and when they had this big party… You see, no one could bother
them; they had the best scientists in the world. They were protected by
walls two-hundred-and-fifty-feet high and eighty-foot across, guards
standing everywhere, the best chariots, the most eating. They had
everything, so why should they worry?
E-40
When people gets like that, when you get a place where you can't have a
burden on your soul. You get a preacher in your pulpit that can comb
his hair down so tight, that'll hold his mouth open and grunt, and say
"aaaaamen" like a dying calf; and then think you got some kind of a
star, because he's got a doctor's degree.
I'd rather have my family setting there, would listen at a preacher
didn't know his ABC's, didn't know split peas from coffee, and knowed
the Lord as his Saviour, then all the great…?… And their
tuxedos…?… the turned-around collars. Certainly. The Devil's always
full of that. That's exactly what started it in the beginning. He's
still on the move.
E-41
Now, I want you to notice just a little further. As they had this great
party, they were dancing and having a big time and drinking their very
best, of Oertel's 92, or whatever they had in that day, just a showing
off, and having their big time, and dancing, and everything. The didn't
know what was going on in the outside world.
And neither did this nation know what was going on in the outside. What
happened at the first war? When everybody down on their knees, saying
prayers, and praying and crying to bring the boys back. And what did
you entertain them with when they come back? Beer, whiskey. That's what
they were entertained with to begin with. You ought to have been on
your knees, thanking God, yet, saying, "Keep us out of war, Lord." What
a disgrace it is, what a shame in the sight of God.
E-42
Now notice. Instead of the women putting on their clothes and acting
like ladies, look the way they did. Instead of men coming back to
church and serving God, what are they doing? Out, carousing, running
around, drinking, smoking, all kinds of nonsense; care no more about
God, and know no more about Him, than a Hottentot would know about an
Egyptian knight, and yet they claim to be Christians.
If you're a Christian, you'll live like it. The fruits of the Spirit
will follow you. If the Life of Christ in you, you'll live the Life of
Christ. You go to a pumpkin vine, you find pumpkins. You go to a grape
vine, you find grapes. Jesus said, "I am the Vine; you're the branches."
And we come to the church and what do we find? "My denomination is
better than yours." "We're not cooperating in that meeting." Oh, my.
Arguing, fussing, stewing, that's not Christ. Certainly it isn't. But
the day we're living in…
And oh, I can see them just having a big time. And after a while, about
like some of our radio or television comedians, or movie stars, they
wanted to have some fun, crack a joke about the bald-headed preacher or
something, you know, something that they like to make fun of religion.
Like people, them guys come out here, and Elvis Presley, and make a–a
little album, or some kind of a religious service, or some kind of
religious song, and then go out and say he's religious: Rock-and-roll
on one side, and religion on the other side. You can't get bitter and
sweet water from the same fountain. It's nothing but a lie of the
Devil. There's only one difference between Judas Iscariot and Elvis
Presley. Judas Iscariot got thirty pieces of silver for selling Christ.
Elvis Presley was a Pentecostal boy; he sold out Christ and got a fleet
of Cadillacs and a million dollars. That's the difference.
E-43
Ernie Ford, sing those hymns, and like a face loud enough to drink
buttermilk in the bottom of a churn, so sanctimonious, and come back
around, and put his arms around them women, and those things.
And this awful Godfrey, and them, with them dirty army jokes. And you
people listen to such stuff as that. And you children take that for
your example? Read the Bible and take Christ for your example, and get
away from that stuff. This nation is perishing. That's exactly right.
Oh, that's the way they did in Babylon at that junction. Now, they
had–they had known better, because there was a real prophet of God in
that country. They had a revival going on in that country, but not
among that class.
So notice what taken place. They said, "Let's tell a little joke now."
And this young shyster got out there and said, "Now, we'll just have
some fun out of them holy-rollers. You know, a few years ago, there
used to be a lot of holy-rollers through our country," he said. "My
father, King Nebuchadnezzar, brought them over here. And let's go get
their vessels and have a little fun."
E-44
Oh, brother, there is a place where you can step across the separating
line between mercy and judgment, and I'm afraid we've done it. Frankly,
I know we have as a nation.
And they went and got the holy vessels of the Lord. What is a vessel of
the Lord? What contains the blessings, and that's His Church. Ye are
vessels of the Lord.
What did they do? Made fun of them. Come out and poured wine, and
whiskey, or whatever it was, in there. And let's just–just dramatize
this a minute. I can see this modern fellow, Elvis, or what he could
compare him with today, and this modern rock-and-roll dance he was
doing. And they were the soldiers, and the women back on laps and
everything and some babysetter, home, taking care of it. Now, they
called them concubines, which is a legal prostitute.
E-45
Today that's what the nation's filled full of: Married and divorced,
and married and divorced, and married and divorced. And because they
got some kind… [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]… they call a "pretty frame" or whatever, some kind of a pretty face… Brother, they become idols to the nation.
Why, used to be, we had to send to Paris to find out how to strip our
women; now Paris sends over here to copy after us. I'll preach on
that… No, I won't have time, one of these nights…?… on the
invasion of the United States and overthrow of the government by the
Devil, see where we're at. One of the lowest there is in the world in
them things… More divorces in the United States than there is the
rest of the world put together. That's right. What is it? It's this age
that we're living in.
E-46
But all the time, right in this, there is a genuine Holy Ghost revival
going on. You ought to see it. It's shook before the eyes and they
don't see it. But God's just to send it anyhow.
Now, about time he got the glass up in his hand, I can hear him say,
"Say, you know them holy-rollers that we had? Here we are, we're going
to drink a toast to them."
Oh, brother, if that ain't a good telecast. Oh, they think that would shake the nation. It would.
But God does some shaking too. So just as he was ready to drink the
toast, the first thing you know, he happened to look, coming down from
heaven come a Man's hand. And there was a plaster wall, and the
candles… Not out in the dark, but right in the light, a Man's hand
come down and wrote: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN," writing on the
wall.
E-47
I can see this modern joker standing there with… And his eyes popped
right back on his cheeks. His knees bumped together. He was all shook
up. Oh, standing there looking, the Bible said his knees bumped
together. There'll be a shaking up some of these days. All shook up…
What was it? There was something happened that he had never seen
before. He had thought he had all the armies on the outside.
But God looks down from heaven. And that Man's hand begin to write.
And I can see the soldiers, just dancing with these women. And men
there, and their wives home, walking the floor with a sick baby, them
out there with another woman in their arms; just a modern America
having a big time, dancing and hurrahing.
And all at once something happened. And they begin to look at their
leader. And they found out… They looked over on the wall, and the
handwriting was on the wall. God had stepped in.
E-48
So I can hear the king say, "This must be religious. We'll right
another album," like some of our singers, and some of our comedians
today.
So he sent out and got the bishop, and the archbishop, all of his
soothsayers and counselors. He sent and got the district presbyters and
all the doctors of divinity. And he brought them all in to read this
handwriting.
What happened when they got there? They had never seen anything about
speaking in tongues, unknown tongues. They'd never been taught anything
about it. They knew nothing of it. So how could they have the gift of
interpretation? That was at the junction of the first Gentiles. And
there was unknown tongues on the wall. Nobody never heard nothing about
it, but it was wrote on the wall in an unknown tongue.
And these preachers said, "We don't know nothing about the supernatural."
E-49
That's the way it is today. You talk about Divine healing and the power
of God, ninety percent of them know no more about it than nothing. All
they know is their old cold starchy theology made up by man. Oh, it's a
horrible day we're living in. And people are going to perish, and they
won't listen to it. There it is. It was wrote on the wall, and they
couldn't understand it. So they were all shook up, the whole bunch of
them, preachers and all.
But there come the little queen in. What was the queen? She wasn't at
their rock-and-roll party. She must've been in a prayer meeting
somewhere with the prophet. See, she wasn't there, because the Bible
said she come into the party at that time.
And she went up to the king, and she said, "O king…" Now that
represents the Church, the queen, the bride of the king. Come running
in, and said, "O king, don't be all shook up. And don't be alarmed
because these doctors of divinity can't read the supernatural. But
there is a man that can read it, that's in your kingdom."
And I'm so glad tonight, that there is a Man, there is One that
understands the supernatural. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the
neglected One that's in our midst. He knows the supernatural.
E-50
And they sent and got Daniel the prophet. And he came in, and he said
he would read it; for he had the gift of interpretation. So he begin to
interpret the unknown tongue and told the king what was going to happen.
The king thought he was safely secured, but he didn't know that all the
time, a godless nation like Russia… Now remember, the prophet was not
in Medes o Persia; he was in Babylon. The big rock-and-roll was going
on in Babylon, where the revival was going on too, where the prophet
was and the message was.
But all the time, the Medes and Persians (are just as godless and
heartless as Russia is) had found a way. They had some scientists too.
And they had bypassed the river Euphrates.
E-51
And today, when we thought we had it all, and right in the midst of our
rock-and-roll, and boogie-woogie, and our stripteases on the street
publicly… And you don't have to go to the theater no more; they're on
the street. Stripteases, that's all they are, modern stripteases on the
street, dressed like Jezebels, calling themselves Christians. And the
handwriting is on the wall.
There's a sputnik going in the sky, and we can't compete with it. Oh,
we put up one; it went three feet off the earth–off the earth and
fizzled out. And we can look up tonight and find that a big sputnik is
circling the earth. And in Russia, just one drink extra of vodka, and
we could go to ashes before morning.
E-52
Billy Graham said some time ago in his broadcast, "There isn't one
thing to keep America from becoming a satellite to Russia in any
fifteen minutes of time they want to do it." What's the matter? We felt
secure, didn't we? But we left God out. We–we adopted rock-and-roll
and all the kind of modern entertainment and stuff, and left God out of
the picture. And the handwriting's on the sky.
The Bible said, "There will be signs in the heavens above." We got
saucers, flying saucers, that the Pentagon can't even think of what
they are. Mystic sights in the heavens, upon earth, sea roar, tidal
waves, earthquakes in divers places, all kinds of things happening, and
the Church, lukewarm, they can't even set through a meeting. What's the
matter? It's because the Bible's got to be fulfilled. The handwriting's
on the wall, America. And Russia, if they want to… You know they
never display their best; we don't either.
E-53
But we've let it come to this place with our sin and modern living. And
without prayer in the church, cooling off and going away, we've let it
get to this place. They thought if they send about… They got a ton
and a half, or two ton, bomb up there now, or satellite. We couldn't
touch them with no missile. There ain't a thing we could do about it.
They could get a few of those hydrogen bombs, move right over the
United States and say, "Surrender or go to ashes." They can do it in
the next fifteen minutes.
What would we do? Why, the only sensible thing there is to do is
surrender. The Pentagon would surrender; the nation would surrender.
Then what would happen? Right in our drunken stew, like another Pearl
Harbor, great shiploads of ungodly men, Russian soldiers, planes full
of them, come right into our homes, and grab the women, ravish them,
bust the heads of their babies in the street, take over home and kick
you out. What you going to do about it?
All because we have failed to see this handwriting on the wall, and the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ… Listen, brother, that could happen
by morning. And if it's that close, how many here that's read
newspapers and understands that that could happen by morning and we
couldn't help it, raise up your hand. Sure?
E-54
Well, if that could happen by morning, and the Church goes home before
that happens, how close is the coming of the Lord? Oh, you're going to
call me a holy-roller anyhow. You might… I feel religious. Listen,
the Lord could come at any minute. We're at the junction, the signs and
the wonders, the handwriting, a sputnik, signs posts, everything, and
the church cooling off. We're at the end time.
E-55
What are you going to do about it, friend? Don't listen to "this–be a
fairy tale." That comes from THUS SAITH THE LORD. Just in closing, I
wish to say this. Don't trust in scientists. Scientists come from the
wrong side. They did in the beginning; they do yet. The smart and
educated comes from the wrong side. It's the humble in heart that comes
from God's side, not those who have Ph.D. I say they couldn't be; I
don't say that. But the majority of them come from the other side with
a social Gospel.
We believe in an old fashion Gospel that saves from sin and makes you
live different, and makes you full of joy and happiness, and looking
for the coming of the Lord. God, be merciful to you, Greenville, South
Carolina. God, be merciful to you. Wake up. We're at the end time. Here
it is the handwriting on the… Not on the wall, but in the sky. God
said it would be, and there she is. It can happen at any time.
E-56
Listen, and be quiet now just a minute. I had the privilege of visiting
India just recently, where I had my greatest meeting in number. There's
approximately there, couldn't get in, around–around five hundred
thousand. For the healing of a blind man, I seen so many come to
Christ, it's–it's far beyond the thirty thousand of Africa.
But when I come in I picked up that newspaper, and it said the
earthquakes must be over, said, because the birds are returning. I
know, went to read the article; I have it in my possession right now,
and it reads like this. That about a day before they had the
earthquake… In India, they don't have fences out of wire like we do.
Their fences are great tall fences made out of rock. Lot of their
buildings are made out of stones they pick up and put together.
E-57
And the little birds go into those crevices in the rocks and build
their nests. And along the great walls in the cattle yards… The
cattle, in the afternoon comes and stands around that wall to be in the
shade. And they stand around that wall to fellowship together and get
out of the hot sun. But a day… Listen, friends. A day before the
earthquake taken place, all the little birds flew out and left their
nest, and went out in the middle of the fields, and set in the bushes.
And all the cattle and sheep come out from around the walls, and went
out in the middle of the fields, and stood together to make shade
around one another.
What told them it was coming an earthquake? The same God that led them
into the ark long ago. And they stayed there for two days, until the
earthquakes was over, and then they begin to come back again. They had
no education; they could not read and write. But they're creatures of
God who has to depend on Him.
E-58
I'm not trying to support my ignorance by saying you… I don't say you
shouldn't be educated. But education's been the biggest hindrance the
Gospel's ever had. Brethren, don't depend on your education, on your
society, on your nation, upon your church. Depend on God and let Him
lead you.
Listen, friends, let me tell you today. If God could warn the birds to
fly away from danger out of them walls, could warn the sheep and the
cattle to get away from around those walls, they were going to fall,
how much more could he do a man or a woman that's made in His image?
Listen, friends, let me tell you again. Listen to this and be sure that
you don't miss it. All you people here, every one of you, get away from
these modern walls of Babylon, these churches and things that's
teaching that the days of miracles is past, and there's no such a
things as real heartfelt religion. Get away from these modern walls.
They're going to fall and crumble. Run quickly into the middle of God's
grace and call out to Jesus Christ.
E-59
Would you stand to your feet just a minute? O God, be merciful. Run
people, hurry, hurry, hurry; get to Christ as quick as you can. Get
away from these modern walls of this formalism. Get into the middle of
God's grace, quickly. All you Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostal,
Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Catholic, all of you, get away from these
modern church walls. You feel like you're secure because it's a great
church, nothing against it. But brother, unless you are found in His
grace, covered with His goodness and His power, what good will it do
you?
I feel led to say this just before closing, while we bow our heads just a minute. Recently… No one moving, please.
E-60
Recently, there was a man, about hundred years ago, by the name of
Danny Greenfield, modern American evangelist. He dreamed that he died.
And when he did, he thought he went up to heaven. He got to the door.
And while he was there at the door, the caretaker come out and said,
"Who are you approaches this holy place?"
Said, "I'm Danny Greenfield, the American evangelist."
Said, "I'll see, sir, if your name's on the Book." And he looked on the
Book. There was no name like that. He went out and said, "Sir, your
name's not on this Book. You have to depart from the gate."
He said, "Sir, I'm an evangelist."
Said, "I can't help who you were." Said, "I only take care of these books, and your name is not on the Book."
Said, "What can I do?"
Said, "You might appeal your case to the great white throne judgment."
He said, "If that's all I can do, I'll do it."
E-61
And said, he begin to move through space. And he went faster and
faster, and then he begin to slow up when he come into Light. The Light
wasn't coming from no certain place. But when he got right in the
center of It, he stopped." Said, "Oh, what a place to be." And he heard
a great voice, said, "Daniel Greenfield, why comest thou unto My
judgment?"
He said, "I was rejected at the gate, and the only thing I could do, Sir, was to appeal my case here to You."
Said, "All right, you'll be judged by My law." He said, "Daniel Greenfield, did you ever tell a lie?"
E-62
He said, "I thought I'd been a truthful man, but I knowed that there'd
been some things I told wasn't true." Said, "Yes, Lord, I've lied."
He said, "Did you ever steal, Daniel Greenfield?"
He said, "If anything I thought I'd been, would've been honest. "But
said, "In the presence of that Light, I remembered a lot of little
deals that I pulled that was shady."
Now look, friend, right now here on earth, the way you feel now, you
might think it's all right. But in the presence of that Light someday,
there'll be a lot of things that you think is all right now will be
shady then.
He said, "Yes, Lord, I stole."
He said, "Daniel Greenfield, My law requires perfection. Was you per–perfect, Daniel Greenfield?"
He said, "No, Lord, I wasn't perfect."
He said he was listening to hear that great voice that would say, "Depart from Me, you horrible person."
E-63
And said he heard then, the sweetest voice he ever heard. No mother's
voice is like that one. And he turned to his right side to look; he
said he saw the sweetest face he had ever seen. No mother's face looked
like that one. And said It walked close to him, put His arm around him,
and He said, "Father, it is true that Daniel Greenfield wasn't perfect
in his life while he was on earth. But there's one thing that Daniel
Greenfield did do when he was on earth; he stood for Me. So here, while
he's here, I'll stand for him."
And I wonder tonight, friends, if you're depending on your church to
stand for you at that day, or you depending on some little experience
you've had to stand for you in that day, who would stand for you? Do
you know Him? Would He stand for you? You make your stand for Him now;
He will make His stand for you then.
E-64
Now, with your heads bowed, and I pray that you're sincere. All in here
would like to say, "Dear God, I'm on my feet tonight because I'm making
a stand for You. And I want You to stand for me at that day. I tried to
be a decent woman or a decent man, boy or girl, but I really want You
to stand for me, Lord. I now raise my hand as a sign that I want You to
stand for me while I'm standing for You."
Will you put up your hand? God bless you, all over the building,
literally five or six hundred, maybe more than that, that wants Christ
to stand for them. You make your stand, Christ will make His that day.
That sweet, kind voice, the struggle, you're pressing a dying pillow
and the–the pulse is ceasing, and the cold things are coming off your
hands, and the struggle is in your throat, and the doctor walk away and
shake his head, there'll be someone make a stand, to stand for you if
you really mean it.
Bow your heads. Just in a moment, I'm going to ask Joseph to come here
and lead us in prayer. While you have your head bowed, really mean it
now, with all your heart. Pray, while I turn the service to Brother
Joseph Boze.
