Life Story (55-0626A)

Life Story (55-0626A)

 

^E-1
So happy to be here this afternoon to speak to you of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. And we trust that it'll be a great day for us
all. Coming to your–here to visit you this time, I have come very
tired. I haven't been at my best. I just left a great meeting in the
States and come right over here. And so, I am thankful that you have
put up with me. So we have done… I've done my best though. And I am
trusting that God will just do the exceedingly, abundantly for you.
Say, I'm so happy to hear that many of the German and French people
have come. I want to visit your nation too someday when the Lord will
permit, and you'd want me. So I pray that it'll be all right.

^E-2
After my meeting here, a friend of mine is coming, Tommy Hicks. I
hardly know Tommy, but he… What I know of him, a lovely man, a
real–a real Christian… Come to hear him. I have another friend in
America, Oral Roberts. He is another… He was one of my converts to
Divine healing. Many of them, out of the services we have… The Lord
has brought forth about five hundred ministers of Divine healing.
So we're happy to meet these friends over here, who believe the same message. [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]
I commend Tommy Hicks to you. Receive him in the Name of the Lord
Jesus. He will be following this meeting. Now, Brother Tommy isn't a
seer, but he is a min–he is a minister of the Gospel, and has much
faith in Jesus. That's why we love him, because he loves Jesus.

^E-3
Now, this afternoon has been given for my life story in the boyhood
form. The next time I come over, I want to bring you the picture of the
Angel of the Lord, where the scientific world in America, took the
picture of it. It is written today; the world cannot deny it. Many
times they say, "I don't believe that, preacher," because they don't
believe God. But they have to believe science, for it's scientifically
proven. So they're without excuse. They'll have to meet God someday.

^E-4
I would like to ask you something. What good would it do me to come
here to this nation and be a hypocrite and misrepresent something? What
gain would there be to me? I take money, no. I don't take money in
America. I'm a poor man, and the people just send me over. I've got
four children, a wife, and I have to have just enough for us to eat. My
clothes are give to me. So I have no reason to come to misrepresent
anything. I–I come because in my heart I love you, and I want you to
love Jesus. And that's the reason I come.
Do you know if I would come as a deceiver, do you know God wouldn't let
me in heaven? No deceivers will be in heaven; no hypocrites will be in
heaven. I've got a wife in heaven. I've got a baby in heaven. I want to
see them. But if I'm a deceiver, well, then I'll never see them no
more. So what good would it do me? I believe what I preach, because I
know what it is. And I believe if I wouldn't preach it, then I wouldn't
go to heaven, sure enough. So that's why I'm here.

^E-5
Now, we're going to read the Scriptures found in Hebrews the 13th
chapter, beginning with the 10th verse, to the 14th. Now, listen close
to the reading of the Scripture. And my text is the 14th verse.
[The interpreter reads, in the native tongue, Hebrews 13:10-14.

^E-6 I am so thankful for that. Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come. That's what we all are doing.
I was just thinking, while the brother was reading, just look setting
along here at the masses of sick people. I do not claim to be a healer.
You'll bear me record of that. From the very first night, until now,
I've said I'm not a healer. There's–there's no other man that's a
healer. It is Jesus Christ and your faith in Him. If I only had–if I
only had the power, I'd go down here and make every one of these sick
people well. I haven't the power. No one else has the power. If they
ever get well, it'll be their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus
brings His Word, and He shows signs that He does love them.

^E-7 But God's program is, to contract the people, "If thou canst believe…"
You remember the two blind men? They said, "Have mercy, Lord."
Jesus said, when He touched their eyes, He said, "Now, according to your faith, be it unto you."
The woman that was healed, that touched His garment, He said,"Thy faith has healed thee." Right.
The man with the epileptic child said, "Have mercy on my child."
He said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible." God doesn't change. The–the people knew He was the Son of God.
All
but the church members didn't believe it. The Pharisees, Sadducees,
"No, He's not." But as–as many as believed, they got healed, and they
got saved. Now, same today.

^E-8
But look, before I would try to take away–to take away the only hope
that these people have… Do you realize there's people here with heart
trouble, cancer, TB, that no doctor can touch? The only hope they have
is Jesus Christ. And you who would try to take that away from them, woe
unto your sinful soul. Be like taking the bread away from a hungry man.
These people want to be well. The doctors done all they can do. And
they know of others being well. They come listen at the meeting many of
them get faith and they're made well. And then you try to rob them from
that? You shouldn't do that, my brother. You should encourage them.
They're human beings. They're brothers and sisters. It's somebody's
daddy. It's someone's mother, someone's little child. Let's help them.
Don't try to keep it away from them.
That's my motive: to try to help someone. And one of these days, I'm
coming to the end of the road. I'll be finished then, and I'll lay my
head upon the pillow; my works on earth is done. I expect to meet Him
in peace. And I hope I hear Him say, "It was well done, My good and
faithful servant; enter into Life."

^E-9
Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, help us now, that know Your dear Son.
And as I approach down the road from whence I have traveled, and renew
these things in my mind and heart again. May all my mistakes be
stepping stones to those are here today. And may they come to Christ
and be saved, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
[Brother Branham speaks to the interpreter–Ed.] Now, you can go ahead and get you a drink now, if that's all right.
I will try not to keep you but just a little while. This is the
afternoon, just before the closing of the service. They say they have
an overflow in the other arena, and–and I trust you out there will
feel the Holy Spirit and come to the Lord Jesus.
Now, the Bible says, "Here we have no continuing city, but we're
seeking one to come." People here today from Germany, no matter, their
cities might have been torn up in the war, but it's still home to you.
Some from France, no matter how bad the city is, it's still home. Some
of you from over in the mountains and farms; no matter how small the
home was, it holds a memory of the childhood. All of us want to think
our cities are the better. Man fights to try to prove that, but it's
all in vain. For here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one
to come. That's the one I'm looking for. That's the one we're all
looking for. We'll live in the same city. There'll be no more shooting
guns, and dying. [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]… live together for ever.

^E-10
When I was born, I come from a parent that was not Christian. Before
me, my father and mother's people were Catholic. And they come from
Ireland. They had immigrated to the U.S. But my father and mother did
not go to church. And I was born up in the mountains in a little log
cabin: no floor, just the ground. We–we didn't have a–a table. Father
had cut a stump in two, or log, and made a table. We had no lights. We
had grease in a can, and a piece of–of goods in there to burn for a
wick. There was no windows in the house, just a little door you opened
up. Our mattresses on the bed was made of straw: very poor.
My mother was fifteen, and my daddy was eighteen. And the morning when
I was born, April the sixth, 1909, at five o'clock in the morning,
there was no doctor; they had a mid-wife. And when I was born, I only
weighed five pounds: very small.

^E-11
And mother wanted to see what I looked like. The little candle light
didn't–didn't give enough light, so they opened up the little window
over the bed. It was daylight, and when they opened the window, that
Light of Fire sailed in. They all started weeping. They didn't know
what that meant. It was right over where I was at.
The same picture that they've taken in America, we have it here, and
the–and the write on it that tells from the scientific world, it's
absolutely a supernatural Being. The man said the mechanical eye of the
camera wouldn't take psychology. And he is the–one of the head of the
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations.). And he is right. He said, "The
Light struck the lens."

^E-12
When I was about eight, ten days old, my mother taken me to a little
Baptist church. When I… That was the only church in the country. That
was my first visit to the house of God. Later we moved to Indiana. That
was in the state of Kentucky. And later on, at the age of about seven
years old, I was packing water one day from a well. And I passed by a
tree. I was weeping. I didn't want to pack the water. I wanted to go
fishing with the rest of the children. But when I heard something in
the tree, like the roaring of a wind, I looked up. I seen nothing but
just a place in the tree about that big around, roaring around. And I
kept looking, and I wondered why it just stayed there like a little
whirlwind, and none of the rest of the leaves were shaking. And I heard
a voice of a Man up there, said, "Don't never drink. Don't drink, and
don't never smoke, or defile yourself with women, for there is a work
for you to do when you get older." Oh, I was scared. I dropped my
bucket, and I ran to the house, screaming. And I jumped in my mother's
arms. And she… I said there's a Man in that tree. They went down to
look: nobody there. They called the doctor, and he said I was just
nervous. I said–I said, "No, I seen, and I heard him speak." And I
never would go by that tree.

^E-13
A little later on, about two weeks later I was playing marbles with my
brother, and I felt something come to me. We lived up on a hill, and
the river was below us: a wilderness around. And I saw a bridge come up
out of the wilderness. And it started across the river. Sixteen men
dropped off in–into the water and perished. And I seen a big sign, it
said "twenty-two years." I run in and told my mother.
Oh, she said, "Son, you're nervous. You went to sleep and you were dreaming."
I said, "No. No. I saw it." So they wrote it down on a piece of paper.
And twenty-two years from then, the great bridge crossed the river, and
twen–sixteen men dropped off of it and–and drowned in the river.
Every time, it's perfect.

^E-14
When I went to school, as a little boy, many children had been borned
into the family. My father and mother had nine boys and one girl (nine
boys and one girl.) And then the girl was the baby. I am the oldest.
We had to work very hard. I went to school poorly dressed. I would go
sometime with one of my father's shoes on one feet and my mother's on
the other, and very poor. We… When I'd take something to eat. I'd
take a little piece of bread wrapped up and take a–a bucket with some
greens in it. My brother and I were ashamed to eat with the rest of the
children. We'd go out in the woods, and set down, and take a spoon, and
each eat out of the bucket, and give each other a bite off the bread.

^E-15
I remember one time at Christmas, my mother had popped some corn. And
she give it to us in a little bucket. And I–I–we went to school with
it. So I did wrong. I asked to be excused during time of school. And
when I went through the cloak room, I took a big handful of popcorn out
of the box, and went out and eat it to be sure I got my share. We
didn't have it very often, maybe every two or three years. And then
when brother come out, and we went to eat, he seen part of it was gone.
I–I was sorry.
A few–about two years ago, I was standing at the same place. My
brother is in heaven now. I would do anything I could, if I could take
that handful of corn to him today. I can't now, so don't never do
anything wrong, 'cause it'll come back to you someday.

^E-16
I remember when we went to school together, there come a great snow,
and all the boys had sleighs to ride on. But we didn't have any, so
I–we got a big dishpan and slide down in it. Well, it was–we wasn't
in as much class as the rest of them, but we were sliding.
Well, life went on. When I become a young man, why, I was about
fourteen, fifteen years old. You know how boys get about that age.
Well, I wanted to get a little girlfriend. So I found a little girl I
thought was very pretty. You know, brethren, your first girlfriend:
eyes like a dove, and teeth like pearl, neck like a swan. You love
them? Just–just a boy. Now you know, brethren, you've been through the
same thing. And so a neighbor of mine, his boy, my age, why, he got his
father's car, so he would–we taken our girls for a ride. And we had
just a little bit of money, so we got some sandwiches and–and Coke.
And when I returned, to my surprise, my pretty little girl was smoking
a cigarette. My, I didn't want none of that. Um. I think that's the
lowest thing that a woman can do. I haven't changed my mind since.
Your lovely country here, I appreciate the morals of your country. I
have never seen a woman was immorally dressed, or any woman smoke a
cigarette. I love you for that. Our America is polluted with it. Don't
never do that, sister. Very bad…

^E-17 Now, when she had this cigarette, acting smart, I looked at her. And she said, "You want a cigarette, Billy?"
I said, "No, ma'am." I said, "I don't smoke."
She said, "Now, you don't smoke; you say you don't dance, and you don't go to theaters." Said, "What do you like to do."
I said, "Go fishing and hunting." But that didn't interest her.
And she said, "Take a cigarette."
I said, "No."
She said, "You big sissy."
At
the same time, I was training to be a boxer. Which, I did win the
bantam weight championship, and was going up for the world
championship, and I give it–and I give it up for the Gospel. But I
said, "Give me the cigarette, and I'll show you whether I'm a sissy or
not." So I took the cigarette, with determination to smoke it.

^E-18
But when I started to light it, I heard something a whirling around.
There come that tree back before me again. And I knew that God said,
"Don't you never smoke." So I threw it down, and run away, and went out
in the field, and started crying. And I asked God to let me die. Nobody
wanted me; my people didn't. The young people didn't want me, so I
wasn't wanted.
But He's come to me; He said, "I'll give you friends; just follow Me."
Went on down through life…I was very bashful then (backward).
And–and I–I–I guess you wonder how I ever got married. One–one day,
I met a lovely girl. She was a German girl, and she was a Christian.
And I started keeping company with her. Now, notice a moment; I want
you to get this part of it. I then become a Christian. Going with a
girl, after while we got married.

^E-19
We didn't have nothing of the world, but we had each other. When the
day we got married, we had an old stove (old stove), an old bed, and a
little old table. But we loved one another, and that's the main thing.
I–I worked hard to–to make her a living. After while, God gave us a
little boy, my little Billy Paul. And then, later a little girl come.
And then one day I was coming down from Michigan, and I met a church
group. They called them the Pentecostals. I had become a minister of
the Baptist church. But I heard these people; they were happy, and they
were rejoicing. And I wondered why they were so happy. I'd never heard
of that kind of religion. I stopped to listen, and I heard them
preaching. I stayed all night. The next day they asked me to preach.
And I got up and started preaching, and hundreds and hundreds came to
Christ. And the ministers come around and said, "You're a Baptist?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "Come, preach for us."

^E-20
So I put down all the invitations, and I hurried home to my wife. And
when she come to meet me, I told her about these happy people. She
said, "Oh, Billy, I would like to have that experience." Said, "What do
they call it?"
And I said, "They said it was the baptism of the Holy Spirit." I said,
"Let us go find Jesus like that." So we did, and we both received the
blessing. So I was going to leave then to go on evangelistic work.
So we went to tell our parents. Now, her mother was a refined type of
woman, belonged to a great big church. She said, "Now, Billy, them
people are nothing but trash. There's nothing to them. You stay away
from them. I don't want my girl around them."
I said, "Oh, but they were real."
She said, "No. No."
And I said, "I believe they are. And so I… My wife started crying. And there's where I made my fatal mistake.

^E-21
Now, from here, listen. I listened to my mother-in-law instead of God,
and forsaken the church, and went on back with the Baptist people.
Right away, plagues hit my home. My wife took sick; my father died on
my arm; my brother was killed. And everything happened just in a few
days. A great flood hit the country and washed away the homes. My wife
was in the hospital. And I was out on a rescue with my boat. And one
night out in the water, my boat got in the current, and was going over
a big falls. I couldn't get the motor started, and I raised up my
hands, and I said, "Oh, God, don't let me drown. I am not worthy to
live, but think of my wife and baby."
And I tried again, and it wouldn't start, and I cried again to God. And
then, just before going over the falls, the motor started, and I got to
the land.

^E-22
And then I tried to find my wife. And when I got to the hospital, it
was covered over with water. The dike had broke, and all the waters
gushed in. Where was my wife and baby? I begin to find people [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]…
see if there was anyone drowned, but they got away on a train. And here
I was setting on an island by myself. God give me a chance so–whether
to call people trash or not. I said, "God, I know I've mis–I've
misbehaved myself. Don't let my wife be killed."
Weeks later when the waters went down, I found her almost dead. TB had
hit her; my two children were sick. And I loved my wife. And I run
through the building trying to find her. And I screamed for her. And I
seen her laying on a cot in a refugee's camp. And her eyes were way
back. And she raised her hands; it was real bony. And I started
weeping. And she said, "Oh Bill, I–I–I'm sorry I look like this."
And I took her in my arms, and I started crying. I said, "Honey, I'm so sorry that you're so sick."
And the doctor touched me on the back, and he said, "Come here,
Reverend Branham." He said, "Reverend Branham," he said, "your wife is
dying. There's no way to save her." Oh, I said, "Surely there's some
way, doctor." I begin to call specialists, and they come. Nothing could
be done. We done everything we knowed to do. She kept going.

^E-23
And one day while I was out patrolling… I was a State Game Warden at
the time too, because I–I didn't believe in taking people's money, so
I worked for my living. I turned on the radio, and it said, "Reverend
Branham, come–come to the hospital; your wife is dying." I took off my
hat, undone the gun, and took off the badge, raised up my hand to God;
I said, "God, let her live till I can get there." And I turned on the
siren and run down the road. I stopped in front of the hospital and run
up those stair steps.
And here come my doctor, my buddy. We've been friends together since
boyhood. We come to each other's house. He has a great clinic there.
And–and he put his arm around me. He said, "Billy, she's going." I
said, "Will you go back with me, doctor, to the room?"
He said, "I can't." He said, "Hope (That was my wife's name.)," he
said, "I–I love her like my sister. I–I can't go back in there." He
said, "I'll pray, and you go in."

^E-24
So I started walking in, and when I shut the door behind me, there was
my lovely wife, beautiful woman, real Christian, mother of my children,
dearest thing on earth to me. Her cheeks sunk way in, and she was look
like dead. I shook her with my hand. I said, "Hope, speak once more.
Please, honey. Oh, God, oh, God, let her just speak once more. I love
her so much. Won't You let me talk to her just once more?" And then she
opened her eyes. Oh, I shall never forget it. And when I–she looked at
me, she tried to raise her–raise her hands for me. And I got down
close to her. She said, "Oh, Billy, I love you so much. Billy, I'm
going away, and I want you to be a good boy." She was twenty-one. She
was twenty-one. I was twenty-three.
She said, "You know that Holy Ghost we've been talking about?" She
said, "Billy, you know you oughtn't to have listened to mama."

^E-25
Oh, I said, "Hope, if I could only live it over." We knew we'd done
wrong. And she said, "Promise me something, Billy. That you will preach
that Message until you die." She said, "For it's real." She said, "I
was in Glory. I seen the Lord Jesus and the Angels." Oh, she said,
"It's wonderful." She said, "I must go back." Said, "Don't think I'm
beside myself, for I'm not." She said, "But I know what I'm speaking
of." She said, "Will you promise me that you will preach the baptism of
the Holy Spirit until you're gone from this earth?"
I said, "I promise it."
She said, "I'm…" Said, "Take good care of the children." Said, "Take care of Billy." [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]… kissed me, and she said, "I'm going."

^E-26
And I said, "Honey, at the resurrection, you stand over at the east
side of the gate. And when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, coming
in, when you see all the saints coming in, stand there by the post, and
keep saying, 'Bill, Bill.' I'll have the children, and I'll meet you
there." That's my last date with my wife. By God's help, I'll keep it.
She went to be with God. We taken her down to the undertaker.
And then they come to me and said, "Billy, your baby's dying too." Oh I
said, "No, it can't be." And I rushed to the hospital, and there lay my
little baby, dying. Oh, my heart…
"The way of a transgressor is hard." Remember that. When God calls you, go on, no matter what anybody says. You serve God.

^E-27
I laid my hands on my little baby, and I said, "God, please don't take
my baby. Let her live." She was my little darling, and I couldn't stand
to see her go. And it looked like a black sheet come down. Then I
raised up, and put my hand on her head, raised up my hand to God. I
said, "God, I'm sorry that I have done the way I did. Forgive me, and
please keep my baby here with me. I love her. There lays her mother,
dead. Don't take my baby, too. I promise you I will preach. I don't
care what the world says." My heart was breaking, but I know I had to
reap what I sowed. I put my hand on the baby again, said, "God, not my
will, but Your will be done." And the Angels come, packed her away. Oh,
my heart…

^E-28
I went out; I didn't know what to do. I put her in her mother's arms
and put her down in the ground. A few Easters ago I took–I took my
little–my Billy Paul and a little flower to the grave, went early one
morning. And the little fellow coming up to the grave, we took off our
hats, and he started crying. And he caught me by the hand. He said,
"Daddy, you've been mother and daddy both to me. Is my mother down
there?"
I said, "No, son. Way beyond the river, her soul is in the Presence of
God, and your little sister's there too. And in Jerusalem, there's a
empty tomb. And she was in Christ, and she'll come forth too some
morning." And I held him up to my bosom; the little fellow was crying.
And I said, "Honey, daddy's got to preach the Gospel. I get lots of
persecutions, but someday, you and I, we'll meet Mommy in peace with
God." We put the flower on the grave. We walked away. [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]

^E-29
When she has dead–when she was dead, and I went out and buried her, I
couldn't get over it. I–I could see her going, but I couldn't see the
baby going. Why should that little baby go? And I was working, trying
to pay off the debts. And I was living in a little shanty house, just
one room, and a little old cot. And the little old… The floor would
be freezing over with ice, at night. And one night I come in, and I
picked up some mail, and in there had a letter to Miss Sharon Rose
Branham. Oh, my. My heart ached. And I–I knelt down and started
praying. I said, "Father, I can't stand it no more. I–I–I just can't
live. My baby, my wife, what can I do?"

^E-30
And then, being a game warden (a game warden, conservation officer),
I–I took my gun, pulled back the hammer, and put it up to my head, and
raised my hand. I said, "Oh, God, I hate to be a coward, but I can't
stand it no more. I'm going mad. I have to take my life." And I pulled
the trigger, and it would not fire. I pulled again, and it didn't fire.
And then I opened it up, and there was the bullets in it. And I pulled
the trigger then, up in the air, and it went off. I threw the gun away.
I said, "Oh, God, I can't even rid myself. I worried. I love them. And
I–I was getting delirious. And then a deep sleep come over me.

^E-31
Now, listen to this, the love of God. I thought I was going, walking
along out West. I was dreaming, of course. And I thought I seen a–an
old wagon with the wheel broke off, which meant my broken family. And I
seen standing by the wheel, a beautiful girl, her–her pretty eyes. And
I passed by her. And in the west of–of America, it's custom to tip
your hat, women. And I said, "Good morning."
She said, "Hello, dad."
I turned, I said, "You called me your father."
She said, "You are."
Oh, I said, "You can't be, because you're as old as I am."
She said, "Father, up here, we don't grow. We're–we are immortal."
I said, "Who are you."
She said, "On earth–on earth I was your little Sharon Rose."
Oh, I said, "Surely not." She said, "Where's my brother, Billy Paul?"
I said, "I don't know."
She said, "Daddy, mother's waiting for you."
I said, "Mother? Where is mother?"
She said, "Up in your new home."
I said, "Home." Branhams don't have homes; we are–we are poor.
She said, "But, daddy, you got a home here."

^E-32
So I turned, and there was a beautiful home. Christian, that's where my
treasures is today. That's where my home is. That's what my hopes are.
And I looked at that big, beautiful home. Our people are poor people.
And I said, "We don't–I don't own that.
She said, "Yes, that's yours, and mama's waiting for you."
So I went up the road with my hands up, singing, "My Home Sweet Home."
And here come my wife out, her beautiful, black hair, her black eyes.
She reached out her arms to receive me, like she always did. And I run
up, took her by the hand, kissed her on the back of the hand, and knelt
down. I said, "Oh Hope, is that our little Sharon down there? What a
beautiful girl she made."
And she put her arm around me. She said, "Billy, you are so tired." She
said, "You have been preaching so hard and praying for the sick." And I
had never prayed for the sick to that time. She–she said, "I…" Said,
"I have watched you." And she said, "Won't you set down?"
And I said, "Yes."
And she looked–I looked around, and there was a big chair. And I
looked at the chair, and she looked back to me. She said, "I know what
you're thinking."

^E-33
When we were married, we didn't have any furniture, but just a little
bit. And we wanted to buy a chair. And we started making payments on
the chair. Oh, I loved that chair. When I'd be so tired after
preaching, I'd lay back in the chair. And I got so I couldn't make the
payments then, and they come and got the chair. And we both just cried,
because we couldn't pay for the chair.
But she looked at me; she said, "Billy, they'll never come, get that
one." Said, "That one's already paid for." I know sometime…
A woman asked me the other day; she said, "Brother Branham, when do you ever get any rest?"
I said, "I don't." I said, "Sometime I'll get it though, when I cross
the borders over on the other side. I got a home there. I got a wife
there. And above all things, I got a Saviour there."

^E-34
Someday when you people here in Switzerland hear that Brother Branham
has gone home, don't weep; rejoice, for I've gone to a better home
where I'll never get tired anymore. I don't want to be a baby to be
weeping. But if you only knew the story of the heartache, and all I've
went through with to get this Gospel to the people, you'd understand
why I'm weeping.
I want to see people saved. I've got critics. I–I don't… I love them
anyhow. I–I want to see them saved too. I–I–I don't want… I–I've
got to preach the Gospel.
Someday it's going to be over. I'm no boy no more; I'm forty-six. I
don't know how much longer I got. But by God's help, I'll stand on His
Word, and tell the truth, and preach the Gospel until Jesus shall come
or death will set me free, then go home, a crown to wear, for there's a
crown for you and me. Shall we pray.

^E-35 [Brother Branham is weeping–Ed.]
O God, forgive me, Lord, for weeping here in Your service. But when I
think of the back life, my beloved sweet wife that's waded across the
border, and all the mistakes that I made listening to ministers instead
of You, I feel ashamed of myself. O God, help me to continue preaching
the real truth. You've been so good to me, and I've been so evil. But I
want to try to make it right by telling others what a real Friend You
are. How You come to me when I had no friend, O God, and You've give me
friends. Oh, I'm so thankful for that, Father. Here we are, way over
away from the homeland. My mind goes back today, up there on that
hillside, a little bunch of roses, setting by a tombstone. Someday if
You tarry, I'll be buried there too.

^E-36
Then I've got to meet, Father, what I preached to. O Father, these
lovely Switzerland people, German, French, and all around, they're Your
children. O God, I pray that You'll bless them and save them from sin.
And let them take my mistakes and not do the same thing. But may they
bypass all these evils. Won't you do it, Lord? Save every one, every
one. God, even forgive those who persecute. Let Thy Spirit of love
settle over this nation, this people. O God, we're just human, make so
many mistakes. Be merciful, God, and save all the lost, for Jesus' sake.
While you have your heads bowed, I wonder… This poor miserable life
of mine, but one of these days I won't be here. I'm going home. Are you
a Christian? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? Do you
really love Him? If you don't, and you'd like to… This is to you in
the overflow also. Would you like to accept Christ? Would you
love–would you love to love Him? If you do, all that wants to believe
Him today and say, "Brother Branham, when life is over, I want to go
over across the waters too. And I want to meet Jesus. And I'd like to
set down with you and your wife over on the other side."

^E-37
If you love the Lord, and you want to accept Him now, to be born again
and filled with the Holy Spirit, would you raise your hand? God bless
you. All the way up in the balconies, on both sides, out in the
overflow, God, be with you. Oh, you don't know how that makes me feel.
God bless you. If you believe God hears my prayer, shows me visions,
and you accept me as His servant, would you stand to your feet for a
moment, all that wants to accept Christ, to be born again. Oh,
my….?…
Would you bow your heads.

^E-38
O God, look at this audience of people. Be merciful, Father. I'm sorry
I'm all tore up. But, God, be merciful to the people and save every
one. Those who are on their feet, and those who can't get on their
feet, may they all come to glory in peace. And may they all receive the
Holy Spirit. In the Name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
To you who are standing, you accept Jesus? Say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen"–Ed.]
Turn around, shake hands with somebody next to you, and say, "Praise
the Lord." Turn right around to somebody near you. Shake their hand.

^E-39
God bless you. God be with you. God's peace rest upon you. Oh, I love
you. No, I'm not beside myself. I love you. And I'm so happy to see you
accept Christ. All that's happy, say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."–Ed.] Praise the Lord. ["Praise the Lord."] Hallelujah. ["Hallelujah!"]
Now, all that's sick, put your hands up in the air, ask God to heal. O
God, in Jesus' Name, heal every sick person; get glory, Lord. I commit
them to Your hand, in the Name of Jesus Christ.