Thinking On Our Ways (59-0706)

 

^E-1
Cleveland, Tennessee, where I have so many precious friends, friends of
the Lord Jesus of all denominational churches… And when I heard that
I was–had the opportunity to return again to Cleveland, my heart was
just stirred to come here to be with our precious noble brother,
Brother Littlefield. And then, since I've come to the platform to find
Brother Cook, and Brother Hall, and many other ministers here, which
are precious bosom friends to me, and to know that we have a great
services ahead… We are anticipating great things from the Lord.
And we want to send a special greeting to those out in the radio-land.
We wish you were here tonight to look upon the anticipations of the–on
the faces of the people as they are setting, waiting, like just
something could happen at any time. The recorders are running, and the
people with their fans a fanning, and… But in all of it, there seems
to be a great look on the people expecting something to happen.

^E-2
I see they begin to bring in the sick on the cots, and the wheelchairs,
and so forth. We're expecting to have a great healing service here, the
Lord to meet with us, and to bless His people as He has promised to do.
I believe that they are giving out, that tomorrow night starts the
healing services. Then the boys will be giving out prayer cards between
six-thirty and seven o'clock tomorrow afternoon, so that we can
legitimately keep the people lined at the platform for the healing
service. And then also, the following night, Wednesday night is to be
another service–what we call healing service.
We don't mean by that that we're going to heal anyone. We believe that,
by the grace of God we're going to let them know that God has already
healed them, and they are just accepted it then. Just as we're trying
to let the sinner know that God loves him, and He's already saved him,
if he will just accept it. It's the work that Christ finished at
Calvary when He made that all sufficient Word saying, "It is finished."
The whole plan of salvation, all that could be done for mankind by the
heart of God was finished when Christ said those words. God's plan was
completed. We just have to have faith to receive what He has finished
for us.

^E-3
And then, I believe it's Wednesday morning was one of the great reasons
that I'm here, to dedicate this tabernacle unto the Lord, the
tabernacle that Brother Littlefield, I think, is to be pastor of.
That'll be ten o'clock Wednesday morning.
And I would like to see every Christian that could jam into the walls
of that tabernacle, be there. For we don't only want to dedicate the
tabernacle to the Lord and to His service, but we want to dedicate our
own lives to Him in service. For the church just serves the purpose to
shelter the people, but we are the Church, the chosen of Christ by His
grace. And we are wanting to dedicate ourselves anew on Wednesday
morning, ten o'clock for this service. If you're working, ask your boss
to let you off just a little bit for this time. I believe he would do
it, for this'll be a great time for us all.

^E-4
And now, tonight, it has been my privilege in to be a… given to me by
the brother to come and speak to you for a few moments on the
Scriptures.
Now there's anyone that is able to pull back the pages of the Bible,
could open the Bible. But there is only One Who is sufficient to open
the Bible to us; that is Christ. In the Scriptures it's written, "And
there was no one found in heaven, no one in earth, or beneath the
earth, that was worthy to take the Book or to loose the seals thereof
or even to look thereon." And there was a Lamb came into the picture
that had been slain since the foundation of the world; and He took the
Book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, for He was
worthy.
May He open It to us tonight as we listen patiently. And before we do
it, let us bow our heads and speak to the Author of this Book, the
Bible.

^E-5
Lord, there is no words that we could find in the human languages that
could express our adoration to Thee. For it's truly with our whole
heart we adore Thee, O Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, the
Author of Everlasting Life, and the Giver of every good and perfect
gift. And we are so happy tonight, that we have the privileges to be
called Thy children, sons and daughters. And we would say, Lord, that
it is far from our hearts to ever think that we merited this in any
way; but it was through the unadulterated grace of Jesus Christ Who
called us to this great, choice place. And through this, we have been
promised that we have Eternal Life and will be raised up at the last
day.
We are looking forward to that time when the Lord Himself shall descend
from the Heavens with a shout, and the trump of God and the dead in
Christ shall rise. And then we which are alive and remain shall be
changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, and be caught up
together with them to meet Him in the air. How that thrills our hearts.

^E-6
Lord, we would pray tonight that these people who have made the
sacrifice of coming to the service, that You'll send each of them from
here so full of Thy goodness and Thy mercy, until all day tomorrow and
all through the night their heart will sing praises unto Thee.
We would not forget those who are lame and afflicted, sick in body
that's laying here on the stretchers and setting in the seats out
there, that's needy of Thy grace to heal them. We pray, Lord, that
there will not be one feeble person in our midst when this service is
closed. May every sinner be saved and backsliders called back to the
house of the Lord, back into fellowship with His Son. And we would not
forget those in radio-land who are tuned in, and the hospitals, and in
the schools of infirmed, and whatever it may be, may Thy Holy Spirit go
through the medium of this radio and into their rooms, and give to
them, Lord, that hunger and thirst in their heart, that it might be
satisfied with Thy goodness.
As we turn back the pages of the Book to read, may the Author of the
Book send His Holy Spirit and make them Words live to us, in such a way
that we would receive what we have come for. Give us of Thy grace and
of Thy power, the forgiveness of our sins, for we ask it in the Name of
Jesus, Thy Son, our Saviour. Amen.

^E-7
May the Lord bless you each. Just for a short time, I thought on some
Scripture, as I come up this afternoon. And it's found over in Psalms
119, Psalm in the–the 59th verse, I wish to read.

And tonight, if I should call it a subject, I'd like to speak on the subject, "Thinking On Our Ways."
You know, David, I'm told at the time of the writing of this Psalm,
that he'd been in trouble. And David was just a man like all of us,
that he had his ups-and-downs, and his differences. And he'd been very
much in trouble.
God has not promised to go through life, any believer to go through
without troubles. But He has promised grace sufficient to take care of
these troubles. That's what thrills my heart, is to know that His grace
is sufficient. All of our depths, and–and troubles, and flusterations,
yet God has promised to see us through. That's just as much as we could
ask of Him, knowing that He knows the road.
As Joshua said to Israel, "You have not traveled this a way before. We
haven't traveled it." So He knows the way and can point it out.

^E-8
I can just see David. His house was being watched. Saul and his army
was watching his house to kill him. I can see David as he nervously
wringing his hands and walking back and forth, to and fro through his
room, looking out the windows and watching every little move in the
bush, for he didn't know what time that a arrow might whistle through
the air right through his own bosom.
And it was then that these words come to him, "As I thought on my ways, I turned my feet to Thy testimony."
It's usually when a man is in trouble, is when he goes to thinking
about God. It's too bad that we have to wait to get in trouble before
we think about Him. But I've heard many people to–several who has
claimed that they was not believers, that they did not believe there
was a God. But I've noticed that same people, let them get hurt or in
trouble.

^E-9
As we're told, Bob Ingersol, as he was dying in his hospital room, he
screamed, "Oh God, if there be a God, have mercy on me." You might say
some great things while you're feeling good, but when death comes
knocking at the door, you're going to change your opinion.
In my length of days, I've seen many such men who didn't care for
church, and didn't care for God, and–and nothing that was right. But
just let them get in trouble, the doctor says there's a cancer eating
you to pieces. They'll go to hunting for somebody to pray for them
right quick. God has a way of making you recognize Him.

^E-10
A few months ago, I was talking to the honorable judge of our city, who
is a bosom friend of mine that comes quite regular to the Tabernacle
when I'm there, Judge Buttoff of Jeffersonville, Indiana. And I was
speaking to him about a–a mother's boy that was up there for stealing
a car. And I talked to the boy at length, and he put his arms around
me, and he said, "Brother Branham, if you'll get the judge to pardon me
one more time, he said, "I'll–I'll promise you, I'll–I'll take my
place in the Sunday school, and I'll–I'll be there every time the door
opens."
Well, I said, "Son, I've asked the judge lots of favors, and… But you
know, he's under oath, and he–he's got to do justice. But I will go
talk to him."
And I said, "Judge, your honor, sir, could it be possible that you
could pardon this young man again? He told me he'd… such-and-such
things he'd do."
I never forget what the judge said. He s–raised up from behind his
desk, and walked around over to where I was, and took me by the hand.
And I stood up. Put his arms over my shoulder, and he said, "Billy," he
said, "every man that I sentence to prison wants to become a preacher.
He's in trouble." But said, "I've seen many of them be pardoned and
serve their time. They forget all about it when they get free again."
It's usually in the time of trouble that man seek for God.

^E-11
Israel, when Israel would get in trouble, then she would seek for God.
When the Philistines were on them, and when the–the armies of the
Syrians would be encamped about, then they would turn out and get the
ark of the covenant, and bring It out, and sing songs, and offer
sacrifices. But then, when God blessed them, and their needs was all
supplied, then right back like the hog to its wallow, and a dog to its
vomit…
Just seems like that's the trend of human beings, have to be pushed into something, pushed into worship the Lord.
If we would set down tonight and figure, what is any greater thing than
Eternal Life? Tell me what kind of a price that you could put on
Eternal Life? If you were dying tonight, with a hundred billion dollars
in your pocket, it could not touch Eternal Life.
You can't buy it. Money is filth in the sight of God, if it isn't used to His Kingdom or to some good cause.

^E-12
What do you think would happen tonight in Wall Street… There is
places in the world that I've preached that's so primitive until they
hunt on the seashores for little mussel shells, little curlers in them.
And that's what they use for money. And then I preached in places to
where they taken the teeth out of animals, and would bring them and
exchange them, and they are currency.
What do you think tonight that Wall Street would think if these men
would come to their markets, and place mussel shells, and stinking
teeth out of animals, and want to exchange them for our gold bonds.
Why, they'd say, "Get those stinking things and get out of here."
That's what our money and our greatness is before God. We can't buy it.
God's so good till He gives it to us without money or without price,
and we turn it down. It doesn't even sound sane, does it.

^E-13
I was speaking to my wife a few days ago after I had celebrated my
fiftieth birthday. And I said to her, "Honey, I'm getting old. And this
Bible, I must place back into the hands of my boy someday." And I was
speaking to her about how when we were young. And I said, "Here, we
been married all these years, and it seems like it was just yesterday."
And I said, "Life has passed so quick, but honey, listen to this." I
said, "If God would come to this room and would say, 'I'm going to give
you a choice: to live another fifty years, and you're going to go
through poverty, and sickness, and troubles, and be rejected, and
despised, and have a terrible time… You're going to have to beg every
meal that you eat in the next fifty years, but at the end of that fifty
years, you'll have Eternal Life. But I'm going to give you the whole
world and all the money, and turn you back to eighteen years old and
make you king over all the world for a million years. But at the end of
the million years, then, that's all.'"
I'd say, "Lord, let me beg or anything; just give me Eternal Life." For
there'll be a time when there would be no more of me. But as long as
there is a God in heaven, if I got Eternal Life, I will always live
with Him. When the eons of times has passed, we live on, because we are
part of God, sons and daughters of Him.

^E-14
And it's a shame that we have to be pressed into places to make us
accept it. What an enemy we have. Yes, an arch-enemy. And it's good to
turn to the Lord before these troubles strike.
Now, most of the time it is, that it's troubles that makes the people come to the Lord. But we should come before they strike.

^E-15 Now, for instance like in the days of the–of any Christian that we want to place before us.
I was thinking of a story. Sometime ago, up into the north woods, there
was a–a colored boy. He was about twenty-five years old, and he's just
a–kind of a floater, we called them. And he was a gentleman, but not
a–a fugitive or a renegade. But he was a… He was a gentleman, but
just a guy that likes to float around, no place to go, and nothing to
do. That's a horrible way to take life. I gave a man his dinner
sometime ago. Was a bum…
And I said, "When did you start this?"
Said, "About twenty years ago."
I said, "Where are you going?"
He said, "Nowhere."
I said, "Then where did you come from?"
He said, "Oh, nowhere."
I said, "How long do you expect to keep this up?"
"Oh," he said, "I don't know."
No–No ambitions. Why, the Christian ought to be the most ambitious
person in the world. Bring this glorious Gospel of Eternal Life to a
dying and perishing world. We should be up and at it.

^E-16
This young man drifted into the north woods to a country I used to hunt
in many years ago, deer hunt. And when… He wanted a job. He didn't
have any money, and–and the woods boss hired him to help the old
colored cook.
And one night after the supper was over, and the dishes was washed…
They slept in a little back room with just a little canvas between
them. And all of a sudden, the young fellow said, "I was awakened. And
I heard two men standing by my window. And there was the most mournful
sound I ever heard." He said, "I threw back the blanket from off my
face and jumped up quickly." And said, "The room was just constantly in
a light from the flashes of lightening." He said, "I heard those two
men say, 'Well, Jim, we'd better go back down to the camp, because we
may not be here in ten more minutes; that twister's headed this a way.'"
Said he jumped up, and he looked out the window in time to see that
great snake-like of a circle of clouds tearing up the mountains,
tearing the trees and twisting them into the air. When he seen the
bodies of full trees flying hundreds of feet into the air, heading
right towards the cabin.

^E-17
And he said he heard something knocking on the canvas, and the old cook
in the other side of the canvas said, "Son, come over on this side,
I've got a lantern lit." Said he went over to the other side, and the
old cook had a lantern lit. And said she said to him, "Do you know the
Lord Jesus as your Saviour?"
He said, "No ma'am. I never prayed in my life."
"Well," said, "you'd better be praying, for we may be swept off the earth in the next few minutes."
He said that godly, saintly, old woman knelt down there with that soap
box, and prayed just as calm as she could be. And said, "I couldn't
pray." He said, "Every time I'd start to say, 'Dear God,'" said, "about
that time a tree would land against the cabin." He said to me; he said,
"Reverend, I was too scared to pray." And he said, "I got this much
out, 'Sir, if You'll just spare me, I will come to You sometime when
there's no storm on.'" He said, "That's why I'm here tonight. There's
no storm going on. But that promise in my heart, and the memories of
that hour still lingers."

^E-18
It's right to come to God while you're sane and in your right mind,
when everything is quiet. When you got time to think and come sanely
and soberly, that's the time to come to God. For then, He's a present
help in a time of trouble.
He said he'd never forget how that old saint just so reverently could
pray as smoothly and calmly when that storm was going on. It means
something to know God, to be ready for It when It comes. Then He's a
present help in time of trouble.

^E-19
I remember not too many years ago in the north woods… My mother's an
in… half indian off the reservation down here. And I thought I was
too much of a woodsman to ever be lost. And I'd just got married. And
this looks like taking advantage of my wife, but on our honeymoon, I
took her on a hunting trip. And I… She was staying in a little
lean-to that we come into that morning.
I said, "I believe there is some bear track I noticed coming up." I
said, "I will go track that bear; will be back about noon." It was
about nine o'clock at morning.
I got on the trail of that bear, and I was led all over the country.
Finally I lost him. And I was coming up a little draw, and I noticed a
deer. I said, "That'll be a nice one to take home." So I shot the deer,
started back. And I noticed the clouds had begin to get low, fog coming
in.

^E-20
If anyone knows what it means to be in the mountains when fog comes,
you just have to house in. You don't know where you're going. I knew I
had to get back; she'd never been in the woods. And I started hurrying.
And I walked and walked up a little stream. And I said I know now that
this stream, where it makes the bend, that's where I cross over, and go
down on the other side, and I knew how to come out. Well, I thought,
"Looks like I ought to be that bend." And I stopped, and I begin to
perspire. And I was standing right by the side of my deer again. I'd
come right back around to it. I did that three times. Now, the indian
calls that the death walk. He's walking a circle, but where do you go
out. Well, I seen I was lost, but I didn't want to admit it.
That's the way human beings are; they don't want to admit they're
wrong. There's no doubt men and women in this building tonight, or out
in radio-land that's not right with God, but you don't want to admit
it. You're covering it up by going to church, or saying some kind of a
prayer or a creed. That isn't getting right with God. Being borned
again, becoming a son or a daughter of God, that's God's requirements.
Be right with Him.

^E-21
Then I walked farther, and I said, "Oh, I'm too good a woodsman to be
lost." I said, "Now, Bill Branham, you just come to yourself. You're
foolish. You know how to get out of here. Go on." And it was so foggy;
I couldn't see nothing. And I started walking.
And after a while, I kept hearing a Word, "I'm a very present help in
the time of trouble." I walked a little further, and it got so that I
could hear It speaking out, "The Lord is a very present help in a time
of trouble."
Well, I thought… I knelt down and I said, "Lord, I'm admitting that I
am lost. I'm not worthy to live. But my wife and Billy, a little
suckling baby, they're worthy of living, Lord. Don't let them perish."
And I prayed, and I got up, and I said, "Well now, I will have to
choose the best that I know how." So, I started walking straight ahead.
Thought, "I'm going right–st–exactly right. The wind's in my face."

^E-22
And just then it seemed that a hand laid on my shoulder. And I turned
to see who it was touched me. And I looked up, and a little place
cleared in the skies, and I saw Hurricane mountain and the ranger's
tower where I was going to. Oh, what a feeling. He's a very present
help in the time of trouble.
Be right with Him now. But when death, or sickness, or whatever it is strikes you, then He's a present help.
I never forget. I pointed my hands straight towards the–the way I was
going. If I'd have went the way my choice was, I'd have went into
Canada. But I was… went this a way, to my right where He turned me
around. And I held up my hands.

^E-23
It started getting darker. I walked for about three hours, almost dark.
And then it got dark. I couldn't have seen the tower line that run from
the tower down to the lean-to, about six miles. And I knew I was on
Hurricane Mountain. I couldn't change my course, run up over the slabs.
Oh, it's a rough road when you're trying to go right sometimes. But
it's right; it's the only way out. I walked. After it got dark, I held
up my hands until they felt like they were going to drop. Oh, they were
cold, and the snow a blowing. And I thought, "If I could only touch
that line." So dark… And I'd stop and I rested my hands a moment,
keep my directions set right. Then raise my hands and start again.
You'll never know how I felt when my hand touched that line. I knowed I
could hold onto that line. I helped put it up there that spring. I
could hold onto that line. And right at the end of the road of that
line where it stopped, waited my loved ones. That was a great thing.

^E-24
But I was lost worse than that one day, when a loving hand touched me
by the heart and turned me towards Calvary. I held my hands up until
Something got a hold of me. I've held onto It reverently, walking
quietly and slowly. Someday at the end of this line will wait my loved
ones and my Lord. He's a present help in time of trouble.
He… with Job in his troubles… Before his troubles struck him, he
said, "Peradventure, my children might have sin, so I will offer a
burnt offering for them." He made preparations, whether if anything did
happen, when he begin to think of the ways of his children. They might
have went perverse to his teaching.

^E-25
And let me say this with reverence and with respect: If these American
mothers and fathers would put more time praying for their children like
Job did, there'd be less juvenile delinquency. The trouble of it is,
our modern American mothers and fathers lead them to drinking, and to
card playing, and to cigarette smoking, and things of that sort, which
makes juvenile delinquency. It really isn't juvenile delinquency; it's
parent delinquency. Neglecting to come to God and find Him, then
trouble strikes.
When trouble struck Job, he'd offered a burnt offering, come up on the
only grounds that God will receive a believer, that's on the burnt
sacrifice and the blood. So when trouble struck his house, God was a
present help in the time of trouble.
When they accused him of being a secret sinner, he knew that he was
righteous with God, because he'd met God's requirements. Then he could
say, "I know my Redeemer liveth. And at the last day He will stand on
the earth. Though the skinworms destroys this body, yet in my flesh I
will see God." He… Why? He knew that he'd come God's provided way. He
didn't come by the membership of his church; he come by God's
sacrifice. That was what God required. Certainly.

^E-26
It was David, when he was setting on his throne, and Nathan the prophet
come in and been–begin to reveal the secrets of his heart. Then David
thought on his sinful ways. Yet, he was a good man. Been a man after
God's own heart, but he was living with Uriah's wife. And it was wrong.
And when David, the king of Israel thought on his ways, It drove him to
sackcloth and prayer, because he thought on his sinful ways, drove him
to his knees to pray.
It was Jacob, who had deceived his brother and lived luxuriously down
with his father-in-law, with camels and sheep and everything. One time
there come a yearning to go back home, go back to church, and go back
to the right thing again. And he started with his wives, and his
children, and his flocks. But when he heard that Esau was coming, he
thought on his ways. On his ways of deceiving, he'd deceived Esau. And
he knowed Esau was on his way to meet him.

^E-27
And there's so many Christians tonight, professed Christians, that's
only deceiving the thing that they're confessing to be. Death will come
creeping around the door one of these days; you'll going to thinking on
your ways then.
As Jacob thought on his ways, he stayed the other side of the brook and prayed all night long.
If Christians would think on their ways, and would drive them to prayer
and to repentance, it would be different. The world would be different.
The Church would be different. The people would be different.

^E-28
It was Moses. Going down an old familiar path one morning as he begin
to think on his ways. God had called him to be a deliverer of Israel.
What did he do? Went in his own way, instead of taking God's way, and
murdered a man. And when he was thinking on his way, and what a failure
he had been, and living in luxury, had traded the ministry of the Lord
for a sheepherder's job…
No doubt somewhere down over the air waves, or in this building
tonight, I'm preaching to a many a man and woman who God called into
the ministry, and took an easier road, because it had more money in it.
There wasn't… You're herding sheep when you ought to be preaching the
Gospel. So easy to take that way of luxury.

^E-29 But while Moses was thinking on his way, a burning bush appeared in the way.
God,
send burning bushes tonight to every man or woman that would dare to
think on their way. Take inventory of your life, how you living. What
if Jesus would come tonight? Think on the ways.
It was Peter who was standing, warming himself by the enemy's fire,
cursing, denying Jesus. When he heard that old rooster crow the third
time, it made him think on his ways, the way he'd been treating Jesus.
He'd been called to the ministry. He'd been called to serve God. And it
took a rooster to make him think on his ways.

^E-30
Brother, sister, tonight, it's about cock crowing time for a lot of us,
that would make us wake up and think on our ways, the way that we are
treating the Lord Jesus. In this new modern age of all self-styled and
polished religions, it's time to think on our ways and come back to the
old pathway that Jesus Christ trod when He was here on earth, a way of
sacrifice. Think on our ways.
There was Judas Iscariot. When the high priest begin to count out
thirty pieces of silver… And when he heard the tinkling of that
silver, Judas thought on his ways, how that he had sold out Jesus for
thirty pieces of silver, took a rope and hung himself.

^E-31
I wonder tonight, if many people here and listening tonight, hasn't
cheated their neighbor just a little bit, done a little crooked deal. I
pray that if that be the case, that you'll hear the tinkling of that
money, till it'll send you to your knees of repentance. And many of you
hold out God's part, spend it for things out here, for whiskey,
tobacco, cigarettes, gasoline to ride around on, when it belongs in the
house of the Lord. It's your solemn duty to give it. Think on your
ways. Think about it. Thirty pieces of silver…
It was a Roman soldier, after he had pierced His side and had seen
water and Blood, seen the sun go down in the middle of the day, and the
rocks rent out from the mountains. It was after he saw this that he
begin to think on his ways, and smote himself on the chest, and cried,
"Truly, that was the Son of God." Waited a long time, but he was
thinking on his ways.

^E-32
I wonder tonight in radio-land, and this visible audience, if many of
you aren't thinking on your ways, the things that you have done, and
the things that you've left undone. It's just as great to leave undone,
as it is to do something that's wrong. "For he that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not, to him it's sin." If you're thinking on your ways,
there's one thing that I'm sure I can introduce to you. As the poet
said,

The old Salvation Army song. They used to sing this:

^E-33
I know no other cleansing. I know no other way. Nothing else that I
know to do, only to confess your sins. Be right with God. Clean up
little bitty things. It's the little fox that spoils the grapes.
The other day I had a confession to make myself. I was in my home
and–and some people had been bothering me day after day. And a big
office, and they were–just had me so wearied, I–I didn't know what to
do. Finally, I was–felt like the world was pulling the top of my head
out. I was so nervous, and I couldn't leave to go to meetings, and
meetings waiting, hundreds of Christians waiting to be prayed for, sick
children crying, mothers and fathers in the hotels and motels with
their sick and dying, and I had to stay in an office with an attorney
on the case for somebody… And they were pushing me right and left,
and up-and-down. I didn't know what to do. I was answering everything,
then they'd take me right back over it again.

^E-34
And I'd went home to eat my dinner. They told me I could be off that
afternoon. I was going to catch up on some of my sick calls. And there
was the phone ringing. It was my private phone. I have an answering
service. My wife went to the phone, and she picked up the receiver, and
she answered. And when she did, she held her hand over the top of the
phone. She said, "Billy, it's them attorneys again."
"Oh," I said, "I can't go through another half a day." I said, "I told
them that same thing over and over and over and over, day in and out,
day in and out. And then they're going to call me again?" I said, "I
can't do it. I will… I just… There's so many people waiting to be
prayed for." I said, "Tell them I'm not in here," and run around behind
the house.

^E-35
And when I come back in a few minutes, my precious little wife standing
in the door, she looked at me, and I know what she meant when her eyes
caught mine. She said, "Billy, was that just exactly right?"
You now how you like to justify yourself, I said, "Oh, sure. I wasn't in here."
She said, "But you was when the phone ring."
I said, "But I–I wasn't in here when you told them that." I said, "That was all right."
She said, "Billy, are you sure of that?"
"Oh," I–I–I–I said, "I think so."
And I started out, and I got my hat. I went down to make a sick call. I
went into the room to pray for a little sick baby. A man had been
waiting a long time with this baby. And I went in to pray for it, and
when I started to lay my hands on it, Something said to me, "Can you
lay your lying hands on that child?"
The Bible said in I John 3:21, "If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence in God."

^E-36
That's what's the matter today with the Christian Church, can't get
anything done, is because our hearts are condemning us with unconfessed
sin. It's not easy for me to tell this, but it's the truth. That's the
way to be truthful.
And I started to pray again, and I seen I wasn't fit to put my hands on
that baby. I said, "Sir, I will see that your appointment is held. You
just stay here."
I rushed to the phone and called the attorney. I said, "Can I speak to you a minute?"
He said, "Sure, but the other fellows are done gone."
I said, "Just stay in your office a few minutes." I rushed down there
and went into the room. I said, "Attorney, I want to tell you
something. When you called awhile ago, I was there." I said,
"You–you… When you called, you had me so nervous, I hardly knew what
I was doing. I was almost beside myself." I said, "I had my wife to
answer like that, but it was a lie. And I've lied to you, and I caused
my wife to lie."
Said, "Well, you wasn't in there just then, Billy. She said you wasn't."
I said, "I wasn't. But I run out of the house and run behind the house
to keep from being in there." I said, "It's a lie anyhow." I said,
"Will you forgive me for it?"
Walked across the floor, looked me right straight in the eye, and I
could see in his gray eyes little tears begin to form. He took me by
the hand and hugged me. He said, "Brother Branham, I've had great
confidence in you, but I got more than ever now." Why? When we think on
our ways. I went and prayed for the baby.

^E-37
Went back and the next day, I went up to my cave, where I go to pray,
way away. I stayed all day, and it was getting along about evening
time. About three or four o'clock I come out of my cave and stood by
the side of a big rock hid way back.
People's tried to find that for about fifteen years. They never find
it. I went in the wintertime, see them hunting for it. They get almost
to it, and see how they turned. Something mysteriously turns them. God
gave me that cave. That's the place I go to pray. In there's an altar
and everything. I never touch one thing. It was just that way when I
found it long ago.
And I prayed all day long, and I said, "Lord God, I did wrong, and I
caused my wife to do wrong. Don't hold it against her, Lord. Please
forgive us. I want to stay clean before You, Lord, that when I'm called
to pray for Your sick children, there'll be no condemnation in my
heart. I want to be right, and that condemns me. I couldn't pray for
that little baby. Will You forgive me?" And I prayed and wept in there
from about seven o'clock one morning till about three or four that
afternoon.

^E-38
There's a big rock lays at the mouth of the cave. And it faces the
east, way back in the jungles and woods. And I come out and get on this
rock, and raise up my hands and–and just praise the Lord. And I was
standing there thinking on my ways. I thought, "Lord, why did I ever do
such a thing? Why could a man get so bothered? But I'm so glad that You
love me, that You let me think of it, that You revealed it to me, that
You told me I was wrong. That means that You want me to do right, that
You love me."
You ought to thank God when He condemns you for your sins, and the things, as you're thinking on your ways.

^E-39
And as I stood there praising Him, after I had a satisfaction that He'd
forgive me, and a Scripture come to me. And I said, "Lord, there was
one time that You hid Moses in the cleft of the rock. And when You
passed by, he said It looked like the back of a man." I said, "You've
been so gracious to me around this place, could it happen once more,
Lord? Just to let me know that… I took my gift and started to the
altar, and I went and was reconciled, and then come back to offer my
gift according to Your Word. If You forgive me, pass by me, Lord, and
let me see You."
I don't know how much you believe this in radio land. You may call me a fanatic after this. That's between you and God.
When I said that, over to my left, a little space, just about like that
little Pillar of Fire you see in the picture, a little wind went to
whirling in the bushes. Come right down and rolled right past me like
that. Went on down through the woods. I raised up my voice; I wept and
I cried. I hollered to God and said, "I love You with all my heart,
Lord. I'm so glad that You are a prayer answering God, and forgive them
that will turn to You with all their heart and repent." Call upon the
Name of the Lord.
"He that will cover his sins shall not prosper. But he that confesses his sins shall have mercy."

^E-40
Call on Him while we think on our ways. Before healing service starts
tomorrow night. Let's think on our ways as we pray, as we bow our
heads. You in radio-land, I call you to this just now. Think on your
ways. Think of what you've done or what you have not done. Gather up
these few broken words, and let it say this, "O Lord, search me. Try
me. And if there be any unclean thing about me, anything that's wrong,
forgive me, Lord. Let me go afresh. Let me go new again. I confess my
sins in the Name of Jesus Christ, saying that I am unrighteous, but I'm
coming in His righteousness asking forgiveness of my sins."
In the visible audience here, this great crowd in here tonight,
Christians or sinners, while I been speaking, have you been thinking on
your way? And you would like to turn your feet again towards a complete
life of sacrifice? It's so easy for Christians to become so… oh, so
dilatory, just neglecting to pray, neglecting to testify, neglecting to
do what's right. We shouldn't do that. If that condemns you, and you
have condemnation in your heart tonight, and would desire a little word
of prayer said in your behalf, would you raise up your hands, you here
in the visible audience. God bless you. That's good. That's good. All
down through… Up in the balcony…?… God bless you.

^E-41
"What good will it do," you say, "Brother Branham?" Raise up your hand
one time and see how it feels. And you in radio-land, way out there,
dad out there by the radio, mother setting across there sewing; you
there in the hospitals, have you examined yourself by the Word yet? You
that's got sickness in your home, you that's got a wayward boy, have
you–have you talked to him? a girl that doesn't obey God, have you
talked to them, put your arms around them, have you just neglected it
expecting the Sunday school teacher to do it? God gave the child to
you. It's your duty to talk to them. If there is, won't you put up your
hands just now, say, "Lord, remember me. I'm now thinking on my ways,
and I'm turning my feet to Thy testimonies. I'm coming back."
Maybe you had a real experience; your heart was on fire right after you
received the Holy Spirit in your life, and your soul was a burning. But
somehow or another, you got away from It. It never got away from you,
but you got away from It. And you would like to have that joy that you
once knew with God. If you want that, raise up your hand, and say,
"God, restore to me the joy of my salvation."

^E-42
And out through this visible audience, there's just many many hands up.
"Restore to me the joy of my salvation." Now, let's search our hearts
and see if there be anything wrong. And as we pray… As I pray, you
here, and in the radio-land also, you search your heart and ask God to
forgive you. We're coming right down to a great service now in prayer.
Let us pray.
Lord, O great God, great Elohim, Jehovah, Who blasted forth with Your
fingers and wrote the commandments, You Who breathed from Your nostrils
and the winds dried up the Dead Sea, You Who rolled back the banks of
Jordan and extended her across the path that Your children could cross
on dry land, You Who raised Lazarus from the dead, brought Daniel from
the lion's den and the Hebrew children from the fiery furnace, send
Your Holy Spirit tonight throughout Tennessee and all the regions
around about, and may we think on our ways as the Spirit of the living
God deals with us.

^E-43
Lord, if there be any sin in us, we pray that You'll take it out of our
lives. We want to be free from condemnation, for it is written, "There
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ, that walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Grant, Lord, that many flesh
walkers tonight, looking after the things the eye can see, may they
turn and accept faith in the heart which cannot be seen, for it's the
evidence of things not seen. May they accept Jesus just now to come in
and to take control of their whole being.
We pray, Lord, again for the sick and the afflicted, those that are
needy out into the radio-land and in the visible audience, the people
here on stretchers, and on the chairs, and–and laying on the cots, and
whatmore. We pray sincerely, Lord, for them that You'll heal them. And
I believe that You will do it.
For one day You were passing a tree, and there was no fruit on it. And
You said to that tree, "No man eateth from thee." And the next day it
was withering. And You said, "Have faith in God." How can we have faith
if our hearts condemn us. But if our hearts condemn us not, then we are
sure that God hears.

^E-44
Then, Lord, take our prayer for the sick tonight, and I say to the
sickness, this mountain that's before them: Leave in the Name of the
Lord Jesus. May it wither away. May every sick person be healed. May
every sinful person be forgiven. May every wayward boy or girl be
brought back to God again tonight. Grant it.
And may these next three services here bring forth one of the greatest
outpouring, that there'll be an old fashion revival break out through
Tennessee here. This great religious centers here like the Lee College,
and many of the other great institutions, may there come revivals
that'll just set their hearts afire, many thousands be brought to
Christ. Let it start now, Lord, and scatter throughout the world, ere
the coming of the Lord Jesus, when the pressing times, and the battle,
and the fog will be low, and we will not know which way to go, but be
walking in circles. Let us find Him now Who is a very present help in a
time of troubles. For we ask it in His Name and for His glory. Amen.

^E-45
Do you love Him? In the visible audience, would you raise up your hands
and say, "I love Him." Give us a chord, "I Love Him," you know, "I Love
Him, I Love Him." Let's sing this good song together here in the
visible audience and in the radio audience:

"I Love Him." All right, will you sing it with me now. All right. Where's the song leader?

^E-46
You at the drive-in with your car turned on now, you out riding on the
highway, why don't you just pull off to one side. Sing this with us.
You young man there with the–with his girlfriend, and you young lady
with the boyfriend, won't… If you're not Christians, why don't you
surrender to Christ just now. What's the use of trying to make a home
without being a Christian home. Start it now. Start it, everyone,
everywhere. Sing it again with us now. As we raise our voices to God,
let's also raise our hands to God. All right.

All believers, let's just say to the Lord a great big hardy "Praise the
Lord." Let's say it. Praise the Lord. Oh, doesn't that make you feel
good? Don't the Word just kinda scour you out, make you feel different?
Now, the message is over; we're worshipping the Lord now. How many
Christians are visible, let's see your hands? All that's Christians,
raise your hands. Oh, my. Just about one hundred percent. Let's sing it
again, then shake hands with your neighbor, the one in front of you, by
the side of you, each side, and the behind you. Back and forth, shake
one another's hands while we sing, "I Love Him." Come on now, everyone.