Meanest Man I Know (62-0127)

^E-1 One time Billy Paul,
my son, was to speak at a–address a congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and
the–he is not a minister. He's like his daddy. But he said, "The first thing,
I'm scared." So that's something on the order, I suppose, the way I feel this
morning, standing here before these men of the Lord, His servants; and getting
up here after such men as Brother Oral Roberts, Velmer Gardner, and other great
servants of the Lord has been here preaching…
And then I was just noticing
the time and hearing the announcements. It takes me about six hours to preach,
so I–I couldn't have time this morning for that. I usually start in at about
seven-thirty at night and let out about one or two in the morning. So I just
hardly haven't got time. Maybe I will try that tomorrow afternoon.
So it's a
privilege of being here this morning. I deem this a great honor that the
brethren has presented to me through the Lord, that I would be able to come here
and address this wonderful breakfast this morning. Looking out, seeing that you,
no doubt, had a real breakfast, I trust, that both spiritually and materially.

^E-2 And now we have had
such a glorious time in the last nine days here through the Maricopa Valley of
Phoenix, and Tempe, and Mesa, and Sunnyslopes, with this group of ministers in
their churches. We deem this such a privilege to go… forerun this great
convention, addressing them and telling them that we're expecting the
exceedingly abundantly above all that we could do or think to happen in this
meeting.
Brother Williams has just told me that one of his relatives was
saved last night, which would been a–very much in sin, and we are… If that
man is here this morning, I thank the Lord for you, my brother, and with all
them who got saved. And pray that if there's any here that's not saved, that
they will fall right in line this morning and–and be saved.

^E-4 I love the Lord
because He's so merciful when we're so undeserving. And yet He is so merciful.
That's been one of the marvels of my life and my experience has been to see when
we were so unworthy, and yet He visits us anyhow. And it just rides over the top
of our unworthiness and gives us His blessings anyhow.
As all know that, many
of you know perhaps that… And just learning of another brother going through a
deep time of sorrow, like I have by losing my mother… I don't think I lost
her; I think she just went ahead of me. And I hear that Brother Rolph
McPherson's daughter died. Is that right, brother? Has anybody…? My, that
grieved my heart when some sister told me. I didn't even know it.

^E-5 Usually, God in His
mercy shows me my people before they go. My father, he died on my arm, and I
committed his soul to God. My brothers… Brother Shakarian and I, many of the
men here, was overseas (last year I believe it was) there at Jamaica, Kingston,
when one morning at a breakfast the Holy Spirit came in, and I said, "Now, His
Presence is here. To know, see that lady going there with that on her arm? Call
her over here just a moment." Told her of her condition. "I see the young man
coming here now. He has a certain thing," and what's bothering him.
And just
then, I looked down and I saw a person dying, and a young man standing, having a
convulsion or spitting blood. And I said, "Call Billy Paul at once." The young
man was spitting blood. "Don't let him go up on Blue Mountain today. I don't
know what it is." And then later, we found out it was my mother-in-law dying at
the same time, and my brother-in-law standing there convulsing out blood.

^E-6 A few weeks in the
early part of August I'd come in, and Brother Arganbright called me to go to
Alaska with him on a hunting trip and to establish a chapter. Well, the Lord had
showed me a vision of (Now, this is awful to have to mention this. I hope it
don't sound sacrilegious.) but of a hunting trip I was going to take, and was
going to get–what I was going to get, who was going to be with me, and why
they'd be dressed, and just exactly. There'd be a nine foot silver-tip grizzly.
It would be a forty-two inch high rack of a caribou.
And when he called me, I
said, "That sounds like it, but let me pray to Father first." And I'd announced
it to the church and many places. Hundreds of people knew about it. So going
into Alaska sound very good, but the Holy Spirit kept warning me away. And you
must never go against the leading of the Holy Spirit.

^E-7 Then a few days
later a man that was in British Columbia, who was just a young convert, had a
brother that, when I was up there in the spring, that had had epilepsy all of
his life. And we were back on a hunt then after the service. He'd always asked
God that I could see a vision for his brother; he'd never been in one of the
meetings.
But riding out, we was wrangling the horses. Brother Eddie Byskal
(which I think is here this morning) and I were in the back, wrangling up the
horses. And I happened to look up across the mountain. I saw his brother, and
what he looked like, and what to do for his cure. And I spurred up my horse real
quick and rode up and put my hand on the back of the guide's saddle. I said,
"Your brother…" described him.
Said, "That's right."
I said, "Go get
him. Send him to come up here. And then you leave him alone until he has one of
his spells."
He says, "He has four or five a day, and had all of his
life."
"As soon as he does, jerk his shirt from his back, and throw it into
the fire, and say, 'This I do in the Name of Jesus Christ.' It'll leave
him."
And he got his brother. And he'd just went out of the house. He had to
start that day to–to cut places so the hunters could get in–what we call
clearing trail.
And his little wife was so afraid of… She was a little
Pentecostal woman. And way up on Racing River, about five or six hundred miles
from civilization. And the little wife… When the boy fell into the fit, the
first one (she usually clears the window), but… She was scared, but she jumped
right straddle of him, jerked his shirt off, and threw it in the salamander, and
say, "This I do in the Name of Jesus Christ." He's never had a one since. And so
he wrote me a letter and said, "Come."

^E-8 Well, up there… To
serve time, save time, rather (There's many setting here who knows. It was told
beforehand.), just exactly… I got the declaration in my pocket–nine foot
silver-tip grizzly. Just exactly the place, just exactly the
time–caribou.
And the guide said, "You mean from right here? We can see to
where that man's standing with the checkered shirt on that you told us. From
here to there you're going to kill a nine foot silver-tip grizzly?"
I said,
"That's THUS SAITH THE LORD."
He said, "How will it happen?"
I said,
"That's not for me. That's… He's done said it. I just obey what He
said."
And so, on the road down, we was in the–we was about three mile right
down the mountain, not even one tree or anything, just caribou moss, above
timberline. When we was in half a mile… He was packing the head then. We'd
take turns, about, weighed about one hundred fifty pounds. So we were…
He
said, "You say these are going to measure exactly forty-two inches?"
"Just
exactly."
And when we got to the saddle, just exactly forty-two inches. And
half a mile, he said, "Well, Brother Branham," said, "now the bear is within a
half a mile."
I said, "That's right." Just turned. I said, "What's that
standing right there?" There he was, looking right at us: nine foot silver-tip
grizzly. And here's the guide's declaration I have in my pocket.

^E-9 Coming home, mother
was sick. It was the grace of God. I had three other trips planned with
brethren, but He knew I wouldn't be able to take them. Now, mother said to me,
"Billy, I'm going home."
I said, "No, mother." I said, "If you're going home,
God's never said nothing to me."
And then on she went, worse and worse. And
finally, the Lord called her soul home. And I–just to show you what the real
Pentecostal blessing means: when she was so low… I led mother to Christ,
baptized her myself. And when she was so low that she could no more speak… She
just kept talking about the sweetness of the Lord. Said she seen me in a vision,
standing, a real old man, holding to the cross, reaching down for her.
And
then when she was going, a few moments before she went, she couldn't speak no
more. I said, "Mother, you can't speak no more. But as your son, I want to ask
you, "Is Jesus just as sweet to you now as He was when you received Him in the
form of the Holy Spirit? If… You're dying right now, mother. You can't live
over five more minutes. And if Jesus is just as sweet to you, though you can't
speak, bat your eyes real fast." And she'd bat her eyes, and the tears roll down
her cheeks. Like a little wind came through the building, and her precious soul
was taken home.

^E-10 Going home I asked
the Lord why–why did He not show me. Was it because my other people, I'd be at
different places? And then I picked up the Bible, like this, and I said,
"Father…" Mrs. Domico (She's, oh, perhaps at this meeting; she attends them
all.), she'd just give me a red letter Bible. I don't believe in taking God's
Word and making a ouija board out of it. But I was so broken up, just picking
out her clothes down there. And she was a sweet person. I pulled the Bible down;
I said, "Somewhere in here You can comfort me," and the verse, "She is not dead,
but sleepeth."
So the next morning, about nine o'clock while setting in the
room weeping, we was fixing to go down see how she'd been laid out, a vision
broke before me. I seen great masses of little crippled children being laying
together, and I was singing a song, "Bring Them In." And on the side… The–the
place was so far back that, went down like this, and had to raise up in the back
so the people in the back could see the front. And thousands of people were
gathered.

^E-11 And I seen a
renowned woman walk in, though she was dressed old fashion, with a skirt down,
and the little things around the neck, and big hat turned over, and lots of hair
done up in the back. So I seen her walking up through the building and–through
the place. This wasn't a building; it was outside. And there was a box on each
side, like where the celebrity set. And she was in this box in a few moments,
bowing to the people. And I got in the pulpit and was going to preach. And the
lady turned to bow her head to me, like this. When she had her head down, I
bowed mine. I was in five feet of her. And when she raised up, it was mother,
beautiful, young.
Just then, like over here, a thunder and a lightning and a
roar, and a Voice said, "Do not worry about her no more. She's like she was in
1906." I went away and looked in the old family Bible to find out what happened
in 1906, and that was the year that she was a bride to my father. So today she
is part of the Bride of the Lord Jesus, of which I am a member. Someday I will
see her again.

^E-12 And I'm sure that
Sister and Brother McPherson in their loss… And I want to say that Brother
Tommy Hicks just called me a few days ago, when I first got into Phoenix here.
He lost his brother. I guess it's been announced, one of our brethren. He was
killed instantly down in Mexico. And Brother Tommy had to fly in to identify his
brother, which was an unsaved person. And poor little Tommy was crying, his
heart would break.

^E-13 And I trust
that–that we'll never have that experience, but we all might be ready at that
day to meet Christ, because if we–if we're not ready… It's not hard to go
when you're ready, but, oh, when you're not ready…
And remember, those…
That was not just… You don't dream those things; you see them, and they're
actually facts. The old will be young there forever. There'll never be no more
old age, or any trace of sin, or any trace of old age. What an encouragement it
is to us to know that there is a land beyond the river.

^E-14 I would like now,
that we would approach Him by bowed heads and bowed hearts, as… I… Just for
a little drama, as usually I like to give at the Business Men's breakfast… I
want to read some Scripture, and before reading it and praying, I would like to
ask if there's anyone here that has a request would like to be remembered, just
raise up your hand to God, whatever the request is. Oh, it's–it's a needy
audience, a needy world. Let us pray.

^E-15 Our heavenly
Father, as we walk in and out among the people, we are aware of the fact that
someday we're going to make our last walk. We must meet each other for the last
time on earth someday. And as each time we ministers go to the pulpit, we wonder
if there will be another opportunity to introduce You to our congregation, not
knowing what time that may come. And, Lord, we pray this morning to be merciful.
And as I read Thy blessed Word, I pray that the seed will fall into the hearts
of the people, that they will receive it.
And if there be any here today,
Lord, that's not saved, may they get saved today. May they make that
all-sufficient decision this morning by accepting the Son of God as their
Saviour. Those who are weary in the Way, and has gone out of the Way, bring them
back, Lord. And those who are in the Way, bring them joy, and peace, and
satisfaction of their great acception of–in times past of the Lord Jesus.

^E-16 We know that the
people has been setting here since seven o'clock this morning, tired. But will
You refresh them, Lord, with showers of blessings from the heavenly throne of
our Father. Give to them, O God, that which is needed for the hour.
And now,
with the reading of Thy Word, committing myself to Thee, O Lord, and may the
Holy Spirit bring forth the exceeding abundance from the Word.
You know the
request behind every hand that was raised. I pray Thee, Father, that Thou will
bless that request. Give to them the desire of their heart. Bless this
gathering, this time of fellowship when men and women of all walks of life from
across the nation, and out of the nation, has gathered here at this great place
called Phoenix, raised up from nothing. May the Holy Spirit take His little
church this morning, and make a–a phoenix out of it. Raise it today by
miracles, and signs, and wonders of the living God during this convention.

^E-17 Each one that's
baptized out there in that swimming pool, or wherever it may be this afternoon,
may the Holy Spirit move upon the waters and catch that person as they come out.
For we know the commission is given us by the Word of God that can't fail.
Peter's great address on the day of Pentecost at the inauguration of the church,
he said, "Repent, every one of you, be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the
Lord our God shall call." Lord, You're still calling today. And we know the Holy
Spirit will come down into this valley, and over this water this afternoon, and
give those people the desires of their hearts, sealing them into the Kingdom of
God. Grant it, Father.
Bless this convention, bless every man, boy, or girl,
whoever may have a word to say, and may it be fruitful to the rest of us. We ask
in Jesus' Name. Amen.

^E-18 Now, for just a few
moments of your time… And I'm going to ask Brother Shakarian, or some of them
that… I'm a southerner, slow to begin with. So I was… My people tell me that
I come to the world kinda late. I've always been late. When I was preaching at a
United Brethren church not long ago, and I was just only about a hour late. You
know, they're right on the dot. So the pastor got up and said, "Audience, I'll
now introduce you to the late Mr. Branham."
I was late for my wedding. I kept
my wife waiting about two hours: had to make a sick call. Now, if I can just be
late for my funeral; that's the main thing. Well, I'm so glad that there is One
on time, and that's God and His Message: always on time.

^E-19 Now, tomorrow
afternoon, the Lord willing, I'll be speaking to you, preaching; the Lord
willing. Now, if you'd like to read the text, or write it down for this morning,
for a little simple drama, I would like for you to read St. Luke 7:36.

Very
simple… We're all acquainted with the story. Now, I believe that it must've
been about sundown when the courier arrived. He was tired; his feet were dusty;
his hair was matted together with dust and perspiration, because he had run most
of the day. He had a–a duty to perform, and he had to hurry and do it. So he
had probably went into Capernaum, and they told him in Capernaum, "Yes, He was
here a few days ago, but He's gone." Then he went into Nazareth, and so forth,
city after city. Finally, along about late in the afternoon, the sun setting,
tired, feet sore, weary, he finally had met the One that he was searching for:
Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, if we could only be like that, run city to city, place to
place, until finally we're in His Presence.

^E-20 It must've been
Philip… Philip was kind of the outside guard, seemingly. They met him first
before they got in to the other apostles. Say, like Jesus setting somewhere, and
there was John leaning on His bosom, Peter, representing faith and love, was
closest to Jesus. So Philip probably brought this courier to–to, let's say
Peter. Peter brought him on into the Presence of Jesus.
And He was tired.
He'd been preaching all day, and perhaps His voice kind of husky–husk with the
soreness and dust from the day, of the people tramping on the ground and the
dust coming up, and His strength depleted, as He must've stood and talked to the
people about the Word of God. He was looking out upon them and seeing how that
they were hungering and thirsting, would explain to them how God brought about
all of His great works.

^E-21 Oh, I would've
loved to have been there to listen to that. No doubt, I believe that every
person here would've longed to be there, to hear what He had to say, listen to
His doctrine, what His doctrine was, how He expressed Hisself, and what type of
a voice He had; and look upon His face and to–to see Him performing His works,
and discerning the thoughts of the people, and telling them of different things
and diseases they had, and pronouncing them healed. I would've loved to have
been there. Oh, my. I would like to have seen that.

^E-22 And perhaps maybe
He'd just got through with a sermon of… You know, Jesus' first doctrine. Did
you ever know what it was? "Ye must be born again." That was His first doctrine,
"Ye must be born again."
So He might've went back to Genesis and began, and
said, "In the beginning, God said, 'Let there be.' And there was. And He said,
'Let everything that I have spoken bring forth of its kind.' And it did." Then
He might've brought something like this, saying, "Well, now that it brings
forth… But yet, you can take these seed and you can mix them together, and you
can get what's called a–a hybrid product, beautiful, very nice, but it isn't
the original. You let it go, it'll go back to its kind again."

^E-23 And a hybrid
product can never stand the roughness and the treatment that the original can
stand. Why, an old longhorn would starve one of your Herefords to death out on
the prairie in the wintertime. She can make her own way like a deer. But your
hybrid Hereford, your hybrid Brahma-Angus, it'd die out there. You have to baby
them.
And He… If He was standing today, I believe He'd say something like
it to us. Not only have we hybreeded fruit, animals, but we've hybrid religion:
has to be babied and petted. It's not the original. We try to take the Word of
God and breed It into something else, and breed It over here, and It becomes a
bunch of delicate babies that we have to baby, and they can't take the real
Word. He might've been saying something like that.
Then He might've said,
"You see, really your lives are hybrid. Father said, 'Don't touch the tree.' But
Satan said, 'It won't hurt you.' So therefore, your life now is in a hybrid
condition." And that life cannot go back to itself, because–breed back.

^E-24 Like, you can take
the donkey and breed it to the horse and the mare, and it'll produce a mule. But
the mule… The mother mule and father mule cannot have a baby mule. You have to
keep hybrid.
The same thing with corn, it's beautiful, but you read "Reader's
Digest," what all these hybrid things are doing to the people–cancer and
everything else. Hybrid chickens, they say that in twenty years, if it isn't
stopped, what'll happen? Women cannot have babies no more. They're becoming
stronger, closing up, smaller in the hips, can't have the baby.
Leave things
the way they are. Let God alone. That's the way with His Word. Leave It like It
is. Don't try to add something to It to fit a creed. Keep It just the way God
said It. Believe It. That will make a husky, strong Christian, not a baby that
has to be denominational babied, petted around, letter from church, one
denomination to another. When He puts his name on the Book in heaven, it's
settled forever.

^E-25 Jesus might've
said, "Now, in order to get back to the original, God has to speak again."
That's what He does when He gives you new birth. Your old life is gone, and
you're back to the original Word of the Lord. If you're not, you're hybrid into
churches, denominations. But when God speaks His peace and the Holy Spirit, then
you're back in the original family of God again. You don't have to be babied
then. You're a rugged Christian who can stand it.
Go to the cross, to the
fiery furnace, to the lion's den, or wherever it may be, because the Word of the
living God burning in your heart and soul. And all can backslide, all can turn
against you and everything else, but that won't stop one thing. That rugged Word
of God stays right there when He spoke that original voice into your heart, "You
are Mine."

^E-26 I suppose maybe on
something like that, I don't know, but He might've been speaking. And His voice
was hoarse, His lips parched, His face red from the direct rays of the
Palestinian sun, which is very hot. And then, maybe Philip and Peter waiting
till He finished, and then maybe He said this at the last, "Seek, and you shall
find."
And about time He finished that, Peter might've said, "Lord, here is a
man that's been sent from a certain place by a certain man, and he wishes to
speak with You."
And He looked down at him and said, "Say on."
Never too
tired but what He's ready to listen to anything you want to say. He's the same
today. No matter how late it is in the night, how weary He might be, He's still
ready to answer anything, question, that you'll ask Him.

^E-27 And he said… This
courier perhaps thought this was a time that his journey was over. So he said to
Him, "A certain, certain cardinal, bishop something, Pharisee, my master, is
going to have a great feast. And he's honored you; because my master is a great
man, and he's honored you, seeing the crowd that's around you," in other words,
see the way you're dressed. "And yet he wants you to come and visit him at this
feast at such-and-such a time."
Jesus always goes where He's invited. No
matter where it's at, He will come. Oh, He come to a lion's den one time, to a
fiery furnace. I believe it was David said, "I make my bed in hell, He will be
there." He will come to the poorest, to the richest, to the most immoral, to the
meanest, to the lowest. He will come anywhere He's invited. No matter what your
conditions and position in life is, He will still come. That makes Him God to
me: Humble. "I'll be there. Go tell your master, I'll be there at that
such-and-such a date. I'll be there."
That most miserable courier, how could
he have done it? I wish I could've had his place: turned his back upon the Lord
and went away with a satisfied feeling that he had pleased his master. So many
times we're guilty of that. We're so interested…

^E-28 I was reading in
the Nicene Fathers, the post-Nicene Council, that where St. Augustine of Hippo,
setting with St. Martin one day as he was visiting him at the monastery. Out in
the back yard in the garden God gave him the opportunity to receive the Holy
Ghost, like Martin did. But he turned it away, so interested in the–the dogmas
of Rome till he couldn't receive the Holy Spirit. Many times we get that way, so
interested in other things. Sometimes we're so interested in time that we're
brought right into the Presence of the Lord Jesus and walk away.

^E-29 A man interested me
the other night on the platform when he was speaking about going to one of the
conventions and taking his whiskey and cigars. That's all he knowed about a
convention. But I'm glad that he accepted the opportunity. So many times we
don't do that: accept the opportunity.
This courier delivering the message,
and in the Presence of the Lord Jesus, and yet was just stupid enough, if I must
say it, to turn away, and think that he had did all that was necessary.
Sometimes we go to school and get a Ph.D. or LL.D., go into a Pentecostal
meeting and–to tell them that the days of miracles is past because the bishop
sent us to tell them so, and turn away from the very fact that we're in the
Presence of Jesus Christ.

^E-30 What an opportunity
God gave that man, that poor miserable man. I wish I could've stood there. I'd
have fell down at His feet the first thing 'fore I said anything about what the
cardinal wanted. I'd said, "Lord Jesus, be merciful to me a sinner." That'd have
been the first thing in my life, knowing that He was Life, and the only Resource
to God was through Him. I would've accepted Him, let Him be my personal Saviour
first, and let the mission that the cardinal had give me, or the pope, or
district man, or whatever he was that had give me a mission; I'd have sought
Christ first.

^E-31 I think that ought
to be the sole duty of every man and woman that attends these meetings,
regardless of what somebody else said. You've been brought into the Presence of
Christ. No matter how successful, or unsuccessful, no matter how great, or how
poor, no matter what you are, at the first opportunity, fall at His feet and
say, "Lord, be merciful to me." Then come, tell the businessmen you'd like to
join their ranks. Put God first.
This most miserable man, how we would look
at him this morning if we could pull back the curtain, and see if that was
continually his attitude, to turn from the Presence of Christ, when he'd had the
opportunity to stand by Him. What a miserable person that is yet today, because
he lives somewhere. And it might be you and I after this meeting today. It
depends on our attitude when we're in His Presence. Always accept it.

^E-32 But he turned his
back upon the Lord and walked away feeling relief, satisfied, that he had done
what he was told to do. Sometimes it's not good to do what you're told to do. In
that case, it was right.
So then we find out that he must've hurried back and
brought the commission and… "I found him; I–I know who he is. I met him, and
I told him. And I've got His promise that he will be here. He will be here. He
said he would be here."
Now, there's something wrong with this scene. There's
something wrong somewhere. Those Pharisees didn't like Jesus. They hated Him.
They couldn't find His Name on their denominational roll. They could find none
of their schools of theology He'd come through. But He'd come through one, not
theirs, God's. So we find out that these Pharisees hated Him. He had no
cooperation with them. They despised Him.

^E-33 And you cannot come
together for fellowship unless you've got something in common. That's the reason
we love to come to these meetings. We've got something in common: the Holy
Spirit, brotherly love, fellowshipping one with another while the Blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses all of our sins. We have fellowship; we have something in
common.
When you see a–young people with old people, you see a little girl
hanging around grandma all the time, there's something wrong: too much
difference in their age. You know, the young women, the sixteen years old, they
like to pop their chewing gum and, you know, and things like the others, and
talk about the boyfriends. And the–and the old ladies, they like to talk about
stitching, and cutting and sewing, and cooking, and so forth. And the little
kids like to–to play dolls or marbles, tops, or whatmore. But when you see a
little bitty girl hanging around with grandma, you just imagine grandma's got a
sack of candy somewhere. Something wrong, or she's grandma's pet…

^E-34 So this Pharisee
must've had, as we'd call it on the street, a 'trump card' up his sleeve to
invite Jesus, 'cause he hated Him. There was no fellowship. I just imagine he
said to the other great men in his neighborhood, "You know that so-called
prophet? Our people knows that it's telepathy. We know that he's a
fortuneteller. And there's nothing to him."
You know, all them didn't die. A
lot of them still lives. "We know that they–we don't believe Him, our–our
association has done denounced it. So you know what? At this certain feast that
I'm going to have, I'm going to see if I can get him down here, and we'll prove
that He's not. We'll prove that He's not what He says he is. So we'll get Him
down here." And that's to my opinion, was the card he held in his sleeve. Oh,
these Pharisees.
There was only two classes of people then: rich and poor. So
they–they could really put on a feast. Oh, my, how they could do it. They'd
pick, select the most suitable time of the year, maybe when the grapes was all
ripe around in the vineyards. And the night-blooming jasmine and the orange
blossoms that–that filled the air, and just made the valley full of the
fragrance of the–of the odor. And then they would take and roast a lamb. Oh, a
delicacy, roast that lamb. And–and the poor people would smell it down in town,
and their mouth would water to smell that lamb roasting.

^E-35 But you could only
come by invitation. They had their yards all fenced in and so forth. And they'd
probably get out in the great patio in the back. And it was a real selected time
for their so-called fellowship that these priests and hierarchies had together.
And they just invited the celebrity. So you see, Jesus would be out of place
there. Anybody filled with the Spirit would be out of place there. So they–they
had all their discussions of other things.
And that's one thing I like about
a Business Men's meeting, not only a businessmen, but where they set and talk
about how they can get a little on this side, and cut off a little from this
one, and rob Peter to pay Paul, they say, you know, and such things. I like it
where you come and you talk about Jesus, and about God, and about the Holy
Ghost, and about the power, and the resurrection, and the coming of the Lord.
That's what I like in the Business Men.

^E-36 But this fellow, he
was a different sort of a character. And he had… He got everything ready, the
selected, and no doubt sent word around to all the high priests, and the
bishops, and so forth. "Now, he's coming down. Be here. Now, we'll just
certainly one time for all prove that there's nothing to this guy. And you all
come down. You've never seen Him. And we'll expect maybe something that we can
catch Him in."
So finally everything was put in order. The right day come for
the–the feast. And the–or that morning everything was set in order and
everything ready. And oh, how they could get it ready. Everything just
touched…
That morning, real early, all the servants was up with the towels
over their arms that was going to serve. The beast had already been killed and
was being barbecued in the front yard. And the wines was all set in the special
bottles and jugs, the goblets was on the table everywhere. And all the servants
was ready to serve the crowd that come.

^E-37 Transportation was
a very odd thing. They had three ways of transportation. The army come in a
chariot. The rich man came on a mule. The poor walked. So they had different
ones out there to take care of the guests as they come up. It was really set up
real nice. Now, let's keep our minds close.
And as we see, that perhaps maybe
the man that was going to take care of the soldier's chariots that came,
they–they had a place they'd take care of their–unhook their horses and put
them in the stable and give them food. And the ones for the rich to take their
little donkey out and fix him. And–and then they had another fellow there. He
was called the foot-wash. He was a flunky, the lowest paid man of all the
group–a flunky, foot-wash, lowest job of all.

^E-38 And sometimes when
we think that we're somebody… And the highest Hierarchy of heaven became flesh
in a foot-wash flunky when He come to wash mortal's feet. When He come to the
earth He didn't come to be a big somebody. God always takes the–the nobodies to
make somebody out of them. That's the trouble with the people today; they're
trying to be a somebody. You want to become a nobody. God takes something that
there's nothing to, to make something out of it, and it proves that He's God.
How that this low job to wash the feet of the people, and Jesus taken that job,
the lowest that there was on the earth, to become an–an example.

^E-39 He didn't have to
do that. He could reach in a fish's mouth and pull out a coin, or–or speak to
the mountains, it'd poured gold by the billions of tons. He could pump water out
of a well and turn it into the most delicious wine in the country. He could take
five biscuits and two fish, and fed five thousand. He didn't have to do it. But
He come for an example the way Pentecostal people should be: took the lowest
job. Oh, sure, that's what… But we try to take the biggest. If we can't be
bishop, doctor, pres… or something–highest places, biggest things… Oh, my,
we're just–we're full of big things.

^E-40 I don't come, when
I'm invited like this, to baby and pet people. I pray, say, "God, that's Your
people. What can I say when I see the things creeping up?" Then the Holy Spirit
begins to tell me, "Strike at this." See, we want something big. God takes
something little.
Elijah heard the mighty rushing wind, the thunders,
lightnings, and the earthquake, and never bothered him. But what attracted him
was a still small Voice. That made the prophet put something over his face and
walk forth to hear God. I wonder if we Pentecostal people hasn't relied too much
on rushing winds, a lot of noise, instead of remembering, or hearing that still
small Voice. We hear so much rumble, we can't take time to hear the still small
Voice.

^E-41 You know, a wagon
goes out in a field, runs over humps and bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, making all
kinds of noise, squeaking and squawking and jumping. But coming back it's loaded
down with good things. It passes the same bumps and don't make a move. We ought
to be loaded. As long as there's malice among us, as long as there's differences
among us, we're not yet loaded.
Take a weed, light-headed. But wheat comes
up, holds itself up in the air, and shakes by the wind, sticks its head straight
up. But when it becomes full-headed, it bows.
I think that's what's the
matter with all of us today, the churches. We don't associate ourselves enough
in–in real humility, not a false, but something that you stay there until
something's happened to you. Humility… Too much wind and thunder, and not
enough still small voices, I think that is true. We look and see that it's true
because the fruit that it bears upon our people. Somehow it isn't just like it
used to be.

^E-42 Back to our story.
We'll get that Sunday. Notice, we find these Pharisees–this Pharisee making
everything ready for his big blow out, as we'd call it, big spread that he's
going to put on. And I look at the–the man out there ready to take the
soldier's chariots, and the one taking the rich man's donkey.
And–and in
Palestine, they wear a garment on the outside, which is a robe. On the inside,
they wear a underneath garment that comes to the knee. And as they traveled in
those days, they walked up over the mountains and–and across, making shortcuts.
And when they did, the walkers and the one who had beasts of burden, they walked
the same path.

^E-43 And the beasts
along the road where they walked, and–and then laying upon the ground, the dust
begins to accumulate. And where the beasts had crossed the land, there was a
smell in the dust. And as the–the people walked, and this big garment swinging
loose caused a wind, and it picked up the dust, and it got on their limbs, on
their face. And they wasn't presentable to entertain if they were smelling like
that.
So they had a–a foot-wash flunky that would meet the guests at the
door. And when anyone come up with their card of invitation, he had a whole rack
of what we would call, something like bedroom shoes, made out of textile or–or
some kind of a goods. And the sandals of those days were sometime a piece of
wood, like we have them, called the Roman sandal, with a piece of leather that
the toe went between. The–the foot was exposed then to the dust.
And as they
tread along, they'd come to this place, give their–honor their ticket. And they
would reach down and take off these sandals and set them up in a place, with
their name, and reach up on the mantle and get another pair of soft sandals and
put on their feet, which they were ready then to go in. Oh, their rugs was
sometimes were real thick and great tapestries. They had a beautiful play in
their homes. Those people were rich.

^E-44 And then the next
thing this person did, he was–washed, his feet. And then the next thing
happened, he went to the next guest, and he was standing with a towel over his
arm, with a little cruse in his hand. Then he–he would pour oil in his hand,
let him rub it behind his ears and on his neck, because his face was burning. He
was dirty. And he'd take this towel then and wipe his face off good. And–and he
was all right, the smell was off of him, and he was anointed with perfume. And
that was costly, very costly.
They get it, they tell me, from way up in the
mountains where they get these little apples after the rose is gone. And the
little apples… And it's a very costly thing. Like the Queen of Sheba brought
up to Solomon: spices, and spikenard, and so forth. And they made this perfume
out of it.

^E-45 And they relaxed
themselves by… they were… Feet was washed, the smell was off of them, that
burning, blistering sun upon their face… Then they were refreshed. Then the
next thing… the first step, second step, now the third step. Now, I could
preach on that awhile but I–I haven't got the time–how that's justification,
sanctification, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Then, when they went in, they
met the guests. They was met by the–the–the host. Then something like this
(stand up, Brother Demas). After you see, washed, perfumed, he did–he wasn't
embarrassed of the smell. He had on soft shoes to walk on the big Persian rugs.
He was anointed; he had a good smell on him, not the stink of the animals; but
he was perfumed. Then they reached like this. (Come right here, Brother Demas.)
I've been in the Orient. Now, take this hand like this; then they'd come this
way together. Then they patted one another when the host met the guest. Then
that was called the welcoming. See, he'd been washed, perfumed, and was kissed
welcome. They kissed on the neck. He was kissed welcome. Then he was a
full-fledged brother.
That's the way it is in the church when we're washed by
the Blood of the Lamb, perfumed by the Lily of the Valley, and kissed by the
Father. Then we're welcome guests. Oh, there's so much to be said there. But to
keep you not too long, I don't want to tire you.

^E-46 But when… Then
kissed, welcome, he–he's at home. He didn't have to worry about nothing. He'd
go over and get the refrigerator get a big sandwich, and kick off his shoes, lay
down on the bed, and anything he wanted to do. He was at home.
And when God
kisses us welcome into His Kingdom, we're home. It's all right. It's all over
then. We've been washed by the preparation that He prepared for us: His Blood, a
sweet smelling savour, perfumed by the sanctification that drives the stink of
the world off (Hallelujah. I feel kinda religious right now.), taking away the
stink of the world, or the desires of the world. See, if the world's still in us
then there's something wrong.
No wonder we can't have a real Pentecostal
revival. No wonder there's something missing. The guest hasn't exactly entered
right. You see, Jesus taught that one time about the robes, and He said, "This
man was found there not prepared, and he was bound and cast in outer darkness."
So much could be said on it.

^E-47 But that's the way
they did it. Then they were home, they felt like they were a brother. You can't
feel like you're a brother when you still desire the world. You can't associate
yourself out here in things of the world of cheating, lying, stealing, you women
bobbing off your hair and wearing shorts and everything, then still feel at home
when the Word of God's being preached. You're supposed to be Pentecostal,
supposed to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Someone hit at me not long ago,
said, "Why don't you leave them people alone?" Said, "People think you're a
prophet."
I said, "I'm no prophet."
Said, "Well, they think you are. Why
don't you teach them people, them Pentecostals, how to receive these things, how
to get great spiritual blessings and enter into the Presence of God and see
visions also. If you'd leave them alone…"
I said, "How can I teach them
algebra when they won't even learn their ABC's?"

^E-48 How can they accept
spiritual things when they won't even have the common decency to clean
themselves up? Not to hurt you, but be honest with you… Unhonorable things
that the Bible says that you shouldn't do, yet we associate with it. Sure. See,
you can't be welcome. No, sir. You're out of place with the Word, and He is the
Word. Now, so much for that. We'll get that some other time.
But notice, on
as we go. You say, "What's the matter with you?" Well, you men that'll let them
do it, that shows what you're made out of. Some of you women, pastors' wives,
act like that and dress like that. What is it? You're trying… Your husband let
you do it? Oh, brother. What is it? Some of these water-head haircuts you have,
trying to act like the first lady of the land. Jezebel was the first lady of the
land too. Some of their pastors wouldn't tell them about it, but they had Elijah
down there stood out on it all right. That was her pastor. She didn't want to
believe it. Led around…

^E-49 Notice, we find out
that they had to be ready and prepared to go in. How did it happen? We see Him
now, setting in the room, unwashed, unanointed, not kissed welcome, setting in
the cardinal's house. I want to ask you something. What happened to that
foot-wash flunky? Where was he at? How did he bypass that? What an opportunity,
and missed it. Oh, I believe if I'd been there and knowed He's coming, I'd have
been on a stepladder somewhere watching for Him to come. The honor of washing
His feet, the honor… But somehow he just bypassed Him, let Him go.
Where
was the man with the anointing oil? But somehow He was there and was dirty. It
kills me to say it, but Jesus with dirty feet. You know the Frenchman calls Him
Jesu, Jesu. Jesu with dirty feet, nobody caring to–enough about it to wash His
feet.
"What's that got to do with us, Brother Branham?" He come and He was on
time. He's always on time, never late. We call for a revival, and He comes.
Somebody starts to praise the Lord. Are we… He's put out of the church. See?
He's never welcomed. Jesu with dirty feet.

^E-50 Oh, why did He get
dirty? He got dirty coming because He was called to come. And today He's also
when He comes He's called holy-roller, some scandal name. Why did He take that
sort of a thing? Because we invited Him to come, and God came down in the form
of human flesh. He lived here on earth. He became that so that… We invited God
to come, and then when He come, they don't want Him. They didn't want Him. Many
times we don't want Him. It interferes with our denominational setup. It
interferes with the social standing we have with the other churches. God have
mercy on we poor miserable Pharisees.
What we need is the power of the Holy
Ghost back into the buildings, and back into the people, that could have the old
fashion Pentecostal power that cleaned the church from the janitor to the
pastor. That's right. Amen. That's what we need. But we pray for it, and when it
comes, "Oh, no. That interferes with my social standing." See? Oh, sure, cuts
down some of the dignity. If you don't have it just so-and-so, the people won't
come. Jesus said, "No man can come to Me except My Father drawed him." Notice
again, "All that the Father give Me will come." Keep the thing clean.

^E-51 We can't never
compare with the world. We're doing wrong by trying to act like the world. We're
never can compare with them. And we've got no business out on their grounds.
Bring them over on our grounds. We got something they haven't got. We go to act
like them, then they know we–we're saying something we haven't got. Let
the–let the world come to us, not us go out after the world. Let the
world…
You know, Hollywood shines, but the Gospel glows. There's a lot of
difference between shining and glowing. Glow, not shine with the outward
appearance, glow on the inside by the Holy Ghost, with sweetness, meekness,
gentleness, patience, and love. Glow, don't shine. Shine is after the world.

^E-52 The church is a
whole lot like it was in the days of Esther. Esther didn't take the perfuming
of–of the women. She adorned herself with the modest apparel, the hidden man of
the heart. And the king said, "Put the crown on her head." Esther was a type of
the church today, those who are ready to come out and adorn themselves with the
sweetness of the Holy Spirit, not the perfuming and the dressing of the world,
try to compare with them but that hidden man of the heart, that's the one.

^E-53 Notice, we find
Jesu setting out there with dirty feet. They'd never been noticed. How did He
get in? How did He miss… How did the foot-wash flunky miss Him? How'd the rest
of them miss Him? I don't know. But He was setting there with dirty feet. Nobody
was doing anything about it. Oh, Pharisee, he and the other, the bishop, and the
archbishop, and the cardinal, and all the rest of them was over there tipping
their goblets together, and drinking the–the fine wines, and–and talking about
the things of the–of Israel, but failed to see the God of Israel.
That's
today. We want the biggest building in the town or… And all the people like to
flock to the biggest building there is in the city. All these big, the best
dressed, and all this other. And some poor little man preaching the Gospel down
yonder on the street corner, or out there somewhere in a alley, in a little
church, and you don't want to associate with him. What's the matter? There's
something wrong. Go up there where the rest of the people act like this and
dress the best. It's too bad it's getting into our realms. Right.

^E-54 What we need is a
humbling. What we need is a rebaptism of the Holy Spirit, with God's love and
power to take this world out of us, bring us back to adorning again to the Word:
washed by the water of the Word. Get back to Christ, instead of fashioning
ourselves of the world, trying to act like the first lady and–and all these
other things, some of the bishops, and so forth. Don't matter about that. You
want to be like Jesus, Jesu.

^E-55 Now, think of it.
Everybody standing around the fence after the feast got on, the fragrance of the
lamb and–and the–everything. There was nobody on the street. Everybody was
standing, looking in, their mouth's watering, grasping for a bite of the lamb.
They couldn't come in. No. They were the poor, the trash, outside. And here was
one on the inside dressed and looked like them on the outside. Something wrong
somewhere… Setting there, not only the decency to wash His feet, or–or kiss
Him welcome, just let Him set there, nobody around Him. His disciples couldn't
come; they wasn't invited. But here He's setting here, looking around.

^E-56 Now, listen. Way
down the street, to the lowest part of the city, down in the red light district,
we turn right, go up an alley. There's a little old creaking steps coming down
the back. And as you climb it, she squeaks and skreaks. Open the door, and we
find in there a little woman. Oh, I don't believe she meant to be bad. Maybe she
had a good parent, and she just took the road that's wrong. Or maybe she was a
good girl; some slick-haired, curly-headed Judas ruined the little lady's
reputation.
I'm always hitting at the women. I'm going to take up for you
awhile. There's a many a good girl gone wrong because of some little perfumed
Judas running along with his hair slicked down, and hold his mouth open in
front; going on with some little something of a–one of these here Ricky or
Elvis' machines out here on the street. Take some little girl out 'cause she
thinks he's cute, give her a cigarette, get her on a dance floor.

^E-57 I've met thousands
of them, their poor little lives wrecked and ruined. It ain't always their
fault. Don't ever fall for a boy like that, sister. Let him alone. There ain't
nothing to him. If he ain't filled with the Holy Ghost…
I'm going to say
something (I don't mean it for a joke, 'cause this is no place for jokes.), but
just something that happened in my church. This is a place of the Gospel. We had
a girl at our church here sometime ago, nice, pretty little girl. First thing
you know, she cut her hair. That's against the rules. Yes, sir. When she does
that, the Bible says she's a dishonorable woman. Get away from her. The Bible
said a woman cuts her hair is dishonorable. Now, that's the Word. God knows
that's right.
If the Holy Ghost is in you and won't cooperate with that, what
kind of a Holy Ghost is that? See? The Holy Spirit itself in you makes you live
what you are. If the Holy Spirit disagrees with the Word, and you call it the
Holy Spirit, then it's not the Holy Spirit of God. You got some sort of a
spirit.
Today we have all kinds of spirits. People say, "Shut your eyes, open
up your mouth, receive something." You do. But look what you got after you
received it. Don't you do that. You come to God sensibly, with all the
intelligence, holding on to the Word. Get the Spirit of God, it'll make you walk
right in line with God. Sure.

^E-58 This little girl,
she got to running around with some little Elvis. After while I asked her, I
said, "Martha, what–what makes you do that? What do you see in that guy? He
smokes. I've seen him standing on the church ground, smoking."
"Oh," she
said, "Brother Branham," said, "you know," said, "he's got pretty curly hair."
And said, "He just smells so good."
Now, if that ain't something to pick a
boyfriend. I said, "But he isn't saved." I said, "I'd rather go with a boy that
smelled like a stockyard, and had feet like a boxcar, and had the Holy Ghost."
Yes, I would, than one of those little things. She finally ended up on the wrong
road, like maybe this poor girl did. Some boy led her wrong. Then she started.
If you've already started, sis, there's hopes if you'll just meet this Man I'm
talking about. Maybe she hadn't had the opportunity.

^E-59 So she starts down
the street on her regular routine. And she sees nobody. Where's everybody at?
And she passes another corner and another corner. Where is everybody? There's
nobody today. After while she smells that aroma. Poor little empty stomach
begins to hunger. She moves up amongst the crowd, up around Pharisee's door, and
she sees the bishop, and the cardinals, and all of them in there, tipping the
goblet. And she presses herself up to the fence, and people begin to get away
from her, some of them worse than she is. That's right.
Self-styled, don't
realize that every woman went wrong had some reason to. Every man that went
wrong… And we think we're so self-styled many times we don't want to associate
with the bums on the street. We ain't got time to stop and talk to them a
minute. And then call ourselves Christians?

^E-60 Yes, she pressed
her way up to the fence, and she was looking around through there. She was
hungry. And she looked, and she was watching. Over here in the corner stood
Pharisee. She could hear that great big "Ho-ho-ho," over in the corner. Looked
over and here he was tipping the goblets with that fine fancy wine, and the lamb
being roasted, and dinner almost ready to be served. And–and looking around
like that…
And after while her eyes caught somebody (Oh, may we all catch
that picture now.), setting over in the corner, unnoticed. And she must've
caught His eye. Nobody can ever look Him in the eye and ever feel the same
again. She saw Him. And she thought, "Who is that? There's something different
about Him." And there is. There never was nobody like Him. There can never be
nobody like Him. He was different from others. And there He was setting. She
looked down, and people turn away from Him. And they–she noticed His feet was
unwashed; His face was still parched and burning.
If we could only see that
today (And you know what I'm talking about.), see Him setting in disgrace, like
His people does today to the world. They don't want no association with them.
They're the same as… You say, "Pentecost," brother, they're gone. You say,
"Holy Ghost," oh, my. They're away from it.

^E-61 What we people need
to do is to wash His feet, anoint Him, that we might rise in the power of His
resurrection. Take that disgrace off of Him. Amen. Make the world ashamed of
themselves, with the power of His Life in us, as different creatures, not like
them out there; that's cannon fodder. That's nothing but atomic ashes. The
church is a borned again creature.
Here He was setting. In that kind of a
crowd that's the way He looked. And that's the way a genuine Spirit-filled man
or woman looks in the sight of such a crowd. Notice, she looked at Him. She
thought, "You know Who that is? Somebody here… Is that that prophet of
Galilee?" Oh, that's Him."
Oh, her heart begin to pound. Something when you
find Jesus, your heart goes to acting funny. It's going to get a new Master
right away. Heart went to pounding. "Oh, that's the–the One that was down there
at the well where that woman of Sychar was. That's the One that found the woman
as immoral as I, and told her that she had too many husbands, and forgave her of
her sins. Oh, He'd never forgive me. I'm too wretched. But it's not right that
Him setting there like that. He's the God of eternity. He's the only Saviour.
It's not right for Him to be treated like that." And she got an idea. I hope you
get one.

^E-62 Down the street she
goes just as hard as she can, down to the little alley, up the alley to the
little creaking steps. Creakety, creakety, up she goes, pull the little
squeaking door open, after she takes the lock off, goes in, falls down on the
floor. She thinks, "I'm on my knees." She reaches under the bed, pulls out a
little box, and unlocks it, in a little piece of her stocking, perhaps. She
takes it out; she shakes it. There's all her living. That's all she's got. But
she's ready to give it.
I wonder if we're that sincere. Don't point your
finger to her if you're not. All she had, she was willing to give it. And she
pulls it up to her bosom, and she–her heart's full of joy. All of a sudden,
something's presented to her, "You know, He's a prophet. I believe He's a
prophet. I don't care what rabbi says, what the cardinal or bishop says. I
believe that He is the One that Moses spoke of. I believe that He's the prophet
that was to visit us in these days. And Him being that, He will know where I got
this money. He will know the–the means that I did to get this money. But it's
all I got."

^E-63 Sure He knows you.
He can tell you right from this pulpit right now all about you. Yes, sir. You
believe it? I can prove it to you. Amen. Excuse me. He knows what you're made
out of. He knows these words sometimes scorch you. He knows all about
you.
But it's all she had. That's all He expects out of you. Just give your
all to Him, your whole heart, will, and popularity, social standing. Just throw
it all on Him, no matter what you've done. But she said, "This is my only
opportunity, and I'm going to take it." Maybe it might be your last opportunity.
You better take it while you're in this convention. Don't you go home without
it, for I believe you're going to see Him moving in the same way. He already is.
You're going to see Him greater than this. You're going to see His Word made
manifest.
Notice. And she says, "It's all I got, so it's all I can give."
That's all He expects. "Brother Branham, I'm–I'm…" I don't care what you are,
how much of a hypocrite you've been, how good a church member, how
self-righteous you may stand this morning before the people. Just give what you
got. That's all He expects. He will take that.

^E-64 She goes down the
street, she said, "Well, easy. I'll go because there's something in me telling
me to do it." That's when it's real, not when you're putting it on, but
something real. Here she goes down the street. And she looks around, and she
remembered Lavinsky has the best perfume shop in the city. So she enters the
door. The little bell rings and one raised up, looked to see who it was. "Well,
what do you want?" Like some of these men before they become Christian
businessmen. That's poor business.
"What do you want? (I don't like for a
person like that to be in my shop.)"
"I want the best you got." (Oh,
my.)
"The best I got?"
"Yep. It's for a–it's for a real certain Person.
It's for a special occasion."

^E-65 That's the way we
want. The best that can be got, the best we can give. Not just three minutes a
day in prayer, but the best you can give. "Oh, I want the best you got." Well,
he knew a woman like that really didn't have money enough to buy that. So she
takes her little stocking top and said, "How much is the best?"
"Twenty
pieces. That's the best I got."
She pours her little stocking top out there,
and–and the money rattles. Oh, of course, that's different. He who said there's
no profit in keeping Joseph in the land, he's ready to make it you know. So he
gots up there and counts it out, "Oh, yes, exactly twenty pieces of Roman
denarii." That's what it costs.
"What are you going to do with this?"
"Oh,
this is for a special Person."

^E-66 So he reached up on
the shelf and gives her the alabaster box. She puts it in her bosom. She slips
back up again; she looks in there; she sees Pharisee and them all standing
around in such a great conglomeration of–of pomp. And she sees Jesu still
setting there with dirty feet. Nobody had paid any attention to Him. "How am I
going to get in? They'll throw me out when I start in the gate." But you know,
there's something inside of her, telling her to go in. She wanted to do a
service for Jesus.
And if you're wanting to do a service for Jesus, there
ain't enough bishops and cardinals on earth to stop you from getting in His
Presence. That's right. There ain't enough denominations and hypocrites in the
country to do it, or enough devils in hell to stop you from it, if you're–want
to do a service for Jesu.
Here she comes. She slips around. She sees the
guard at the gate turning his back. She sneaks under the gate. Here she makes
her way real quick. That's right. When you first get in, go right to Him. Don't
mess around. Don't go talking, see what this one says, and what this
organization says, and that says. Go right straight to Jesus. Get to Jesu. Don't
pay no attention to what these others say. Get to Him right quick.

^E-67 So she slips up
real quick. She stands, the Bible said, behind Him. She got to thinking, "Oh,
oh, I'm in the Presence of God." A strange feeling always comes over you when
you come in that attitude. But if you come in the attitude that Pharisee had,
you'll have the same feeling he had: nothing to it. But just come in that
attitude if you want to see Jesu. See what kind of a feeling comes over you. Let
that old heart melt within you this morning towards Him. Listen to His still
small Voice. There'll be a different attitude.
She slips up. He was setting
there. She thought, "Oh, oh, I'm so nervous. I don't know what to do. If I get
around, maybe He might run me out of here. Oh, what… Well, I'm nothing–I'm
nothing anyhow." Now, when you get to thinking that you're nothing anyhow. If
you're afraid you're going to ruin your prestige, then you'd better stay away in
the first place. "I'm nothing to begin with."

^E-68 So she run around
in front of Him and she looked. Then she was close. That's what you want to get,
just a little closer look at Him. Maybe you're looking at Him too far away.
You're looking at Him way back yonder two thousand years ago. What about Him
this morning? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever: same power, same
signs. "The works that I do shall you also." Brother Demas awhile ago quoted it
in King James, "Greater than this shall you do." But the right translation, and
anyone knows, is "More than this shall you do," not greater. No one could do any
greater, but more of the same great works. He raised the dead and stopped
nature. Nothing else could be done any greater, but more.
Why? He's in His
church universal, the great holy Apostolic Pentecostal catholic church, around
the world: Jesu in every member. He was only in one Man, God was then. Now,
God's in His whole church. Right this hour people's being healed. Right this
very minute people's receiving the Holy Ghost. If He was just standing here
alone in a man form as He was then, He could only be talking to this audience.
But now He talks the world over in the Holy Ghost.

^E-69 So there she was in
His Presence. She moved around. I can see those little eyes look up at her, and
her heart nearly failed. "There's the Man that forgive that woman and knowed her
heart. He knew that woman of Samaria, Sychar. He–He knew she had five husbands,
and He knows how guilty I am." He does. He knows how guilty you are. He knows
just how lowdown every one of us are. He knows us.
She looked Him in the
face, and she recognized it. Now, she never looked over at Pharisee, or looked
at the chart to see how many members belonged to the church, whether she'd join
it or not. She looked at Jesu. She felt guilty, and she couldn't hold her tears
any longer. And she looked down at His feet, and the tears begin to drop off on
His feet. She was so ashamed. She fell down on her knees, she… He seen her.
She couldn't hold her tears any longer.
There's something about when you get
around Jesus, you start crying, not with a cold… I ain't go no use for these
cold, starchy confessions, and putting your name on a book and joining the
church. You got to die to yourself, be borned anew.

^E-70 And the tears begin
to drop off on Jesu' feet, and she didn't have nothing to wipe them with. So
hanging her head down, crying, her–her pretty curls that she had all done up on
top of her head, you know, like this, fell down. She begin to wash His feet with
her hands and wipe with her–her hair. Some of our Pentecostal sisters, bobbing
all their pretty hair off, have to stand on their head to get enough hair to
wash His feet, to wipe them. Right.
But He–she, even in her condition…
Don't condemn her. She took her hair, begin to wipe His feet. She'd look up. Oh,
if He'd have moved a foot, if she… If He would've batted an eye, she'd have
gone out of there. But Jesu, when you're trying to do something for Him, He just
lets you do it. I love that. He just set still and looked at her. And she tried
to say, "I–I…" and wiping His feet. What beautiful water to wash His feet:
tears of repentance; better than He could have got from old Pharisee, old
self-made denominational waters. He had waters of repentance; her great big
briny tears striking his feet. Her, with her pretty hair just washing and wiping
His feet, saying, "Oh, I can't say it." She was… "I–I…" and wiping His
feet. Then it got so He just let… "Oh, I can't say it."

^E-71 My, Jesu just
watched her. After while she took the alabaster box out. She was ashamed to
stand up to put it on His head. She thought, "If I can just set at His feet,
that'll be good enough."
Some of you want to be the big shots. His feet's
good enough for me. His Word is sufficient. As long as I know that I'm in Him,
and His Word in me, that's good enough. When I get over there, if I can just put
my hands on His feet, that's–that's enough. That'll be all right, that's all I
ask. I think that's the way we all feel. Washing His feet, tears of water of
repentance, that's what He wants His–His dirt washed off with: repentance, not
penance, repentance.

^E-72 Washing His feet,
wiping them with her hair, directly she reached in nervously. She got the
alabaster box, and she hit it, and she was so nervous. And she broke the end of
it, poured it all upon His feet, and she was real nervous. And–and then she
reached back, and begin to wipe His feet. [Brother
Branham makes a kissing sound–Ed.] "I want to…" And she looked
up.
She noticed His eyes was off of her then. What's going on all the time in
the room? There's not a move made. What's the matter? Everything stopped. Oh, I
can see that self–self-styled Pharisee, the meanest rascal in the country. Oh,
he's red in the face. He's so humiliated. Somebody said, "Amen." Why, somebody
say "Amen" in his church, "Hmmm." You disturb him. Little power of God… He
happens to say a word… He made mistake somewhere, and said, "Jesus Christ come
to save sinners." And somebody say, "Glory to God."
"Oh. Hummm. Ushers, put
them out. Yeah, they disturb me." They disturb me when they don't say
it.
So–so there… He was so humiliated, oh, plumb down to… Oh, he was
just a… (I have to quit.) He was so humiliated. He was looking at Him, and he
said within himself, nodding to them cardinals, "You see, I told you. If that
man was a prophet, He would know what kind of a woman that was."

^E-73 Sure, He did. She
was a million times better off than him, though he was a church member. She was
a prostitute. Shame on you miserable, poor, church members that knows no more
about God than that. Humiliated, said, "I told you, told you. See? If He was a
prophet, He was a prophet, He'd know that. He's no prophet."
But Jesus could
discern his thoughts. So He raised Hisself up. The little woman stood, her hair
hanging down her–over her shoulders, down about her waistline; the tears
streaked down; and–and grease all over her mouth from kissing His feet; great,
big, pretty brown eyes. Wonder what He's going to say? Looks down at her.

^E-74 He said, "Simon, I
got something to talk to you about." Oh, self-styled poor miserable hypocrite,
professing to be a servant of Christ… "I got something to say to you. You
invited Me to come here, and I come. I left My busy schedule." He always does.
That's right. He come here. He's here now. Sure. "I left My busy schedule
because you invited Me to come. And when I got to the door you didn't wash My
feet; you didn't anoint My head; and you never give Me a kiss welcome. But this
woman, ever since she's been here, she's done nothing but wash My feet with
tears and wipe them with her hair. She anointed Me."
Now, what's He going to
do? There she's standing there, her big eyes looking up at Him. What's the
verdict? O God, let that be my verdict. Let that be what I hear when I try to do
Him a service. Though I have to say things to my people that cuts me to pieces
inside, but I got to do Him a service. It's written in the Word. I must do it.
We must do it, brethren. Regardless of what the price is, we've got to do it.
It's a service that God requires. Preach the Word.

^E-75 Look at her. She
was spellbound. "What's He going to do, condemn me?"
Then He looked and He
said, "And I say unto her, her sins which were many, are all forgiven her. Her
sins which were many, are all forgiven her."
That's the verdict I want to
hear. I want to try through my life to do God's work. You want to try the same.
And the verdict at the end will be the same thing, "Thy sins which are many, are
all forgiven thee." Let's bow our heads just a moment.

^E-76 We have invited
Him, and He's come. All through the churches this week with my brethren, we've
prayed, "Jesus, be here." I stood up on top of South Mountain the other day,
said to my wife, "Look down through that valley. How many times in the last hour
has God's Name been taken in vain? How many adulteries was committed since last
night in that valley?"
She said to me, "Billy, why, what did you come here
for then?"
I said, "Honey, but down scattered through that big Maricopa
Valley (that one day was nothing but cactus and lizards), there's been many a
prayer went up in the last twenty-four hours. Real borned again saints of God,
they're praying that the sinner will make his way to this convention."

^E-77 And He's come. He's
here. I know He is. Let's make Him welcome with our few tears from our cold,
hard hearts. Let's wash His feet this morning. Let's tell Him we love Him, going
to serve Him from now on. Hear that great eternal verdict, "Thy sins which are
many, are all forgiven thee."
Going to ask you a solemn question. I want it
from your heart. If there's men and women here, which there is, that's not lived
right with God, and you'd like to hear the verdict that woman heard that day,
"Thy sins which are many, are all forgiven thee," will you raise up your hands?
Now, don't nobody look. Let me and the Lord look. Raise up your hand. God bless
you. God bless you. Bless you. Bless you, all around.
Now, church members,
you here that knows that you've never been borned again… And yet Jesu is here.
You know you'd be ashamed if He'd happen to make you shout His praise, or try to
tell you to testify to somebody. You raise up your hand and say, "Jesu, I'm
sorry. I want to be a real born again Christian from today." Raise your hand.
Bless you. God bless you.

^E-78 Now, some of you
Pentecostal women with short bobbed hair, shame on you. Now, you know you're
wrong. If you didn't know it till now, you know it now. Are you ashamed of it?
If you are, raise up your hand. Don't nobody look. God bless you. That takes a
real lady to do that. God bless you. That's right. God bless you. That's right.
Sure you are. Sure you're ashamed.
You mean to tell me that you got bobbed
hair and not ashamed of it? Trying to please man instead of God? Don't you
realize that as long as you don't… You'll never from this day on ever be able
to go any farther with God. This is the thing that bypass you, right
here.
Say you got the Holy Ghost, dance in the Spirit, speak in tongues?
You've relied too much on that, instead of that still small Voice. You can have
mental emotions, but your life proves what you are. Can you get grapes on a
pumpkin vine? cucumbers on a watermelon vine? You know you're wrong. Raise up
your hand. Be lady enough to do that. Many of you haven't raised your hands,
many of… God bless you, there's a host of them now.
You men that
permitting… Some of you preachers, shame on you. You Full Gospel preachers
that let your wife do a thing like that, shame on you. God have mercy on your
soul, brother, with not the very decency enough to preach the Gospel. Are you
afraid of her?

^E-79 What about some of
you that smoke cigarettes, still claim to be Pentecostal, still take a sociable
drink with the boss. Some of you businessmen still haven't give up your things
of the world, to–you want to… You've got to have a little sociable drink on
Christmas. Shame on you. Shame on you. Don't you know Jesu is going to condemn
you on that day? You know you're wrong.
Some of you has even bypassed the
Word in these last days. Churches are getting formal. Something's wrong. Your
congregation won't stand for… I know some of you preachers are innocent. You
go out here preach the Word just as hard as you can. That congregation… Lay it
on, brother. God will hold them responsible.

^E-80 Some of you haven't
loved Him like you should. Some of you are real honorable Christians, and you
haven't loved Him like you ought to. And you know you're guilty. You don't pray
enough. I'm going to put up my hand now. I don't pray enough. I'm ashamed of
myself. I'm ashamed of my life. I asked Him to come to this meeting, and
I'm–I'm–I'm ashamed of my life before Him. I'm with you. I'm ashamed of my
life before Jesu. Bless His heart. He came from heaven this morning to visit us,
came to us to talk to us, to speak to us. He's speaking to us right now, that
little still small Voice down in our heart. There might not be rushing mighty
winds. We've had so much of that.
Let's veil our face this morning with
shame. I'm ashamed to be Pentecostal with the life that I live. I'm ashamed I
have no more power in His Presence. I'm ashamed that I'm no more of an example
of a Christian before my people. Jesu, have mercy on me. God, I'm not without
fault. I need correcting too, and Your Holy Spirit's speaking to me.

^E-81 We want to talk to
You, Lord. We want You to forgive us. We want to be real Pentecostals, Lord. We
want to be really filled with the Spirit. We're not ashamed of tears; we're not
ashamed of You in no manner. And this morning You've visited us, and we want to
wash Your feet. We want to give You our lives. We–we want to be real
Christians. We want the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: meek, gentle, loving
one another, forgiving one another. God, for Christ's sake, forgave us. We want
to be like Him. He was our example.
All that has that desire in their hearts,
that you'd just like to bow your head this morning in His Presence, knowing that
we're guilty too; that you'd just like to wash His feet too, would you stand
quietly to your feet now. God bless you. My wife used to sing a song: Dear
Jesus, I love Thee, I love Thee. If ever I loved Thee, dear Jesus, it's now.
Let's bow our heads now, everybody.

^E-82 Our heavenly
Father, we–we have been so–so indifferent towards You. We have mistreated You.
We've mistreated the cause. We have been indifferent. [A
woman begins crying out–Ed.] I pray for that poor woman just now, that
the devil trying to get her away. Go after her, Holy Spirit. Don't let her
alone. Go after her, Jesus. That devil crying, may he come out in the Name of
the Lord Jesus. May that poor lost soul be saved.
We're sorry, Lord. Move
upon us with Your Holy Spirit. Fill us with the goodness of God. Pour out of
Your blessings, Lord. We're–we're washing our hearts with the water of the
Word. Come into our lives, Lord. Sit down at our table. Set down and dine with
us today, Lord. We'll take You just now as our Saviour. We'll take You as our
Guide and our King. And let the Holy Ghost just bathe our souls in His Presence,
giving us love, and mercy and understanding.

^E-83 May every minister
take a new hold. May the Business Men, may this organization, may every church
member, every person in here feel Jesus take His place in their heart just now.
Grant it, Lord. We love You and give You our lives; welcome You to the
convention. We are going to baptize the people out here this afternoon. We're
going to make altar calls. We're going to praise You in songs. We're going to
praise You in the Word. We're going to praise You with all that we've got, to
let the people know that we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation.

^E-84 We should go from
here living different lives because of Your visit with us. We will not try to be
like Pharisee. We know that You are the King of prophets. You're the God-prophet
that speaks in our hearts now. And we pray that You'll discern our hearts, and
reveal to us our causes that's hindering the great move of God in this last day;
that from here may go anointed ministers, anointed men and women with such an
inspiration on them of the loving Lord Jesus, until there'll be a revival break
out all the way across the continent. Grant it, Lord.

^E-85 We know You've come
on our invitation, and we're going to make You as welcome as we know how in each
one of our lives. We stand with this benediction in our heart, Lord, saying that
we love You, Lord Jesus. We bless You. You're above every–every organization.
You're above the things of the world. You're above our dressing. You're above
our everything. You're God. You're above our emotions. You are God. And we love
You with all of our hearts. Receive us, O Lord, as we raise our hands to You to
give You praise. The great King of glory sets in our midst this morning. We
praise Thee and commit ourselves to Thee. Through the Name of the Lord Jesus, we
bless this people.
Do you love Him? Do you reconsecrate your lives to Him,
men and women? Raise your hands and say, "Jesus, I prayed too that You'd come to
this convention. Now, I consecrate myself to Thee. From this hour on let me be
wholly Thine. May my walking, talking, and association prove that I'm sealed by
the Holy Ghost, the way I live, talk, and walk."

^E-86 Give us a chord on
the piano, "I Love Him." Do you really mean it? Say "Amen" if you do. [Congregation says, "Amen."–Ed.] Do you really love
this expression to Jesus as we sing it together? All together in the old fashion
way now. "I Love Him. I love Him, because He first loved me." All together now
let's go.

^E-87 Just a moment, in
relaxing, just keep the prelude. Satan had interrupted the little woman, ran her
from the building. The Holy Spirit caught her out there and brought her back.
She's in the meeting now, relaxed. "In My Name they shall cast out devils."
Power is in sweetness and humility. That's what makes things great because it's
humble and sweet.
Don't you love Him? Now, all together again with our eyes
closed and our hands raised towards heaven, all your heart.