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Thirst (65-0919) |
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1
Good evening, friends. It's a privilege to be here tonight. This is my
second time to be here in this Grantway Assembly, with my dear Brother
Mack and all this fine staff here, and the joining Christians from
different churches, Brother Lee Vayle. And I just met a brother here,
that, a–a bosom friend to Brother F. F. Bosworth, and didn't even know
Brother Bosworth had gone on to meet the Lord. I said, "I feel like I
met the Elisha that poured water on Elijah's hands," when they had been
abroad and didn't know that Brother Bosworth had gone on to meet the
Lord, at eighty-four years old.
2
Now, I want to greet the folks who is on the telephone hookup tonight
across the country, all the way from California to New York, and Texas,
and–and up different parts of the nation, from Maine to California. So
we got a–a system of hooking up these telephones, that's been a great
blessing. And now we understand, through our good friend, Brother
Pearry Green, that they've got a–a little gadget they can put on your
television set, and not only will it be on the telephone but it'll be
televised right in your television set also. And they're seeing about
it now.
3
And, Sister Mack, I'm glad to see you looking fine, setting here at the
organ tonight. And many of my friends I see from down at Sierra Vista,
and Brother Borders–or Brother Roberson, rather, from Indiana: many. I
want to say to the folks up at the Tabernacle tonight, look like half
of them is down here, and from the Tabernacle at Jeffersonville.
And to my friend up there, Brother Koontz, that you called in about,
concerning that sick request. I'm praying for it, Brother Koontz. Just
have faith. Don't worry. It'll be all right.
And down into Texas, Brother Blair, if you're listening in tonight, my
brother, just remember this; that God Who brought you through the first
time, can bring you through the second. And we're believing that God
will grant this to you. And don't you take the Devil's lie about
anything. You just remember that God is God, and there's… and He
still remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we love Him
and believe Him, and we are praying for you.
All of our friends in California, to Brother Mercier and them up here
in Arizona, many other places, Phoenix; and Brother Williams, and you
all are hooked up up there tonight, all around, we're certainly
grateful. And down in Georgia… And we are certainly thankful for
every one of you. The Lord bless you.
7
I have a feeling of real welcome here tonight in this fine church, the
Assembly of God here on Grantway, and with Brother Mack, my good
friend. God has blessed Brother Mack. I remember one time in Canada,
that he was… I was riding back a trail on a horse, way back into the
jungles, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me to get off and pray for
Brother Mack. At that time he was in an emergency, and the Lord healed
him. And so I'm so thankful for that, and to be assembled here tonight
with him to worship the Lord in this fine truth.
A man sitting on the platform, behind me, said, "Don't guess you know
me." Said, "One time you picked me up as a hitchhiker," and, I don't
know, somewhere up in Boston or somewhere, "Detroit, hitchhiking."
And I said, "Well, I usually try to have a hand out, if I can, for those who are needy."
And so tonight we're all needy. And we pray that God will give us a
hand tonight of help, of blessings, and of His grace and mercy.
11
Now, I'm kinda prone to speaking a long time, but I'll try not to do
that tonight. 'Cause the people up in Ohio just called, Mrs. Dauch and
the group up there, Brother McKinney and Brother Brown, and all them
hooked in through Ohio. We send you greetings also. It's late up in New
York, and I suppose it's about eleven or twelve o'clock at this time,
in New York. And the churches come and waited till this hour, just
to–for the service. We're grateful for those fine friends around
everywhere.
12 Now, before we open the Word, let's just speak to the Author a moment while we bow our heads.
Dear
heavenly Father, we are… Our hearts are overjoyed for the privilege
that we have of being alive here tonight and assembled together with
Your people, the people in whom we believe to live forever. We now
possess Eternal Life, because "You gave Your only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting
Life." In His pilgrimage here on the earth, He taught us, "He that
heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me, has Everlasting
Life; and shall not come into the judgment, but has passed from death
unto Life, because we believed on the only begotten Son of God." How we
thank You for this great Saviour. And we pray tonight that His great
Presence will so bless us together here, as we read of His Word and
speak on It. Let the Holy Spirit take that to each heart throughout the
nation, Lord, wherever people are gathered together.
Bless other ministers who are in the pulpit. We pray, Father, that
You'll bless this Grantway Assembly, its pastor, his wife, his
children, the deacons, trustees, and all the board. And, Father,
together may we work for the Kingdom of God while it's enough Light to
see where we're getting around, for the hour is coming when no man can
work. And, Father, while we have this privilege, may we–may we redeem
the time, Lord. May we–that be granted to us. Heal the sick and the
afflicted throughout the land. May the Presence of God be felt in every
crack and corner of the nation tonight.
15
We realize that judgment is striking. Great faults are falling in, and
the nation is shaking, and earthquakes in divers places. Great
historical things that we've heard of in the days past of judgment,
through the Bible, and we see it repeating again today. The prophecy
saying, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of
the Son of man. As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the
coming of the Son of man," and we see it happening now. Man's hearts
failing; perplexity of time; distress between nations, God, we know
we're at the end time.
Help us, Lord, to–to take the Message to every crack and corner, to
every child that You've ordained to Life. Grant it, Lord. We ask it in
Jesus' Name. Amen.
Lord, bless the reading now of His Word.
17
Now, many of you like to kinda look into the Bible, where a minister's
a-reading. And I want to read tonight a couple three verses out of the
Psalms, Psalms 42, just for the way of having a text. And I've got some
Scriptures written out here, and I want to refer to them, if I can, as
we go along in the next few minutes, to speak on this subject. The
Psalm of David, David wrote the Psalms.
Now, while you're turning, I might say this. Many people say, "Well, is
the Psalms inspired?" Certainly, they are. They are… Anything
that's–that's in this Bible is inspired, whether it's history, whether
it's songs, whatever it is. It's inspired. Jesus said, "Have not you
read what David said in the Psalms?" And then I think… Psalms, of
course, is songs. And if songs are inspired of God, which I believe
they are, and prophetic also, I hope I'm standing that day when this
song comes to pass.
Oh, I–I want to be there at that time!
20 Now, Psalm 42.
I think David, in the writing of this Psalm, must've been in distress.
And it usually takes distress to bring the best out of a man. It,
really, that's when God… Gets down to when we fast, many times, to
get ourself in position to get ourself out of the way. And I think,
when David got in these places, then he begin to meditate on the Lord,
begin to think about the things.
Many times, God gets us in–in tight corners where we have to look up.
Sometimes we even have to get on our back in the hospital, or a bed
somewhere, so we can look up to see where the great blessings of God
comes from.
23
Now, the word I want to speak from tonight, one word out of the Bible,
and that is found in the 2nd verse, "Thirst," the word of "Thirst." I
was looking in the dictionary when I was looking up this word.
I was thinking about a–a sermon one time I preached on "Thirsting
After Life." And I took it out of the Psalms too, when David said, "Thy
statutes," I believe, "are more precious to me than life."
Then I was looking and thinking about that word "thirst," so I looked
up in the dictionary to see what it means. And here's what Webster
says, "It's a painful desire," a painful, when you want something so
bad until it becomes painful to you.
Now, it's–it's not a unnatural thing to thirst. Thirst is a–a natural
thing. It's just simply something that God has given us, that we could,
to give us a–a desire for something. Sometimes God has also, has given
you a–a control tower, something that sets inside of you, that–that
controls these different desires. And this thirst, this control tower
that sets in a man's heart, is something that God give him to–to warn
him of the desires that's needful for him.
27
Now, there is two different kinds of thirst. There is a thirst
physically. And there is a thirst also spiritually. I would like to
read this, what David said, again.
Not some historical, or some something that happened some years ago,
or–or some tale that someone told; but "for the living God," a God
that's ever present. And his soul thirsted for that God, not for some
historical something.
29
Now, we find, God gives the control tower to you, to give to you the
things that you need. Now, the control tower in you is what directs
you. And this thirst runs in on this cold–tower, control tower, and
tells you what you have need of, spiritually speaking. The control
tower in the body, and in the soul also. There's a control tower in the
body that tells you the need that's needed in your body, and it's
brought to you by thirst. Also there's a control tower in your soul,
that tells you the spiritual things that you have need of, something in
your spirit, and–and you by this can tell what kind of a life is
controlling you.
When you–when you can see what your desires are, then you can tell by
that what kind of something that's in you, that's creating this desire
that you have. See, there's a certain thing that you thirst for, and
it–and it can tell you in your soul what this desire is by the nature
of the thirst that you have. I hope that you can understand that.
31
There is a–a control tower of the soul, and one for the body, and each
tower is a warning caller for the needs of the other. Each one calls to
the need for what the caller is calling for; it sends out a wave of
warning.
For instance, the–the flesh thirsts to satisfy the desires that's in
the body, and the spirit desires for the things that's in the soul
desire is, and many times these war one against the other. We find
there, what's a great trouble today, that too many people try to live
between those two desires. For one of them desires the things of the
earth; the other desires the things of heaven.
33
Like Paul said, describes it in Romans 7:21, "When I would do good,
then evil is nigh." When you try, did you ever have that in experience,
Christians, that when you're trying to do something that's worthwhile,
go to make an effort to do something that's good, then you find out
that there is the Devil on every hand, just to upset you, everything
that you'd… And that's one good thing that I'd like to say this, that
the Christians might know that when you're–when you're starting to do
something, and there's something always trying to upset you in doing
it, do it anyhow. That's the Devil there trying to keep you from doing
what's right.
34
Now, many times, I meet people that's prone to be a little nervous.
When they find out that they're trying to do something, and–and
everything's just blocking it off on both sides, they say, "It might
not been the will of the Lord." See? Now, don't let the Devil lie to
you like that.
The first thing is find out whether it's the will of God or not. And
then if you want to know whether it's the will of God, look into the
Bible. There is the thing that–that sets you straight, is the Word of
God; and then if you see it's in the Word of God, for you to do it…
Like, for instance, seeking for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Many
times I run into people, say, "Well, I have sought for the Holy Ghost,
and I just couldn't receive It. I don't believe It's for me. Every time
I get down, I get sick. And I go to praying, if I fast, I get sick. And
if I try to stay all night, or stay up, I get so sleepy. I–I can't get
off my feet." Remember, that is the Devil. Because God intends for you
to have the Holy Spirit. It's for whosoever will.
Many times you find, when you're prayed for in a meeting, for Divine
healing, then the next day you find out, no doubt, that the Devil will
make that twice as bad as it was the day before. See? Remember, that's
just Satan trying to get you away from the blessing that God has got
for you. See? Don't you listen to that fellow. See? Always press right
on.
38
I had an experience with that just recently on the road to Africa. If I
ever had any time that the Devil ever did press at me, was to go to
Africa this last time. It become one of the–the finest meetings and
times that I ever went overseas. I got, I believe, more things
accomplished in that little time that I was there, besides my hunting
trip, than I ever did at any time. I always thought that those churches
didn't want me there, and come to find out… I had a letter from
someone, that it was, oh, they didn't want me there, all the
association; and found out it was one man with a letterhead from an
organization, that said, "We don't want you," he meant him and his
family. See? So then when I got over there, I… See, just "we," that
was he and his family; and it wasn't the people at all. So now it's a
great field opened up for us.
39 You see, when Paul said, "When I would do good, then evil is nigh."
You
let a young convert come tonight to the altar, somewhere here in this
tabernacle, or–or out across the nation; and just remember, tomorrow,
mother will be more angry that she ever was, dad will be all upset, and
all the school kids. And everything just goes wrong, because it's Satan
trying to get you to turn around. He's trying to run you off the path.
"When I would do good, then evil is always nigh."
41
Now, let us look at the thirst, and let's see whether actually a thirst
is a natural thing. I've had people to tell me, "Oh, I never did. I
believe it's just for some people to want to be Christians." Oh, no.
That's wrong. It's actually something that's associated with every
human being. It certainly is true. When we come to this country in the
early days, we found the Indians here. And the Indians, though they
were heathen at that time, they worshipped the sun or something. As
long as they are human, there is something in them, a natural thirst,
calling out for God, somewhere.
42
Now back in the jungles, just recently back there, four hundred and
eighty miles from the closest civilization, a little small town of
about three thousand people, of Beira, in Mozambique. We found natives
that didn't even–never seen a white person. I found a native girl, she
had no clothes on (any of them hardly have clothes on), and she was
setting up in a tree. And I was tracking the lion, and there was… I
heard something like a human being screaming. This native girl setting
up there, walleyed, holding a baby. And what she was scared about…
That's her only protection is get up a tree from a lion, leopard or
something, or some animal. And she'd seen me, and heard it was a human
being, but when she looked and seen a white person, she'd never seen
one in her life (See?), and she was scared to death. See?
But when we find those people, even in that primitive condition back
there, they were still worshipping. Before we called a line in, they
poured out some mealy meal (That's what they eat.) on a little leaf,
and clap their hands, and called on the spirit of some great something
they didn't know where (like a patron saint or something, to a
Catholic), to protect them, that they wouldn't be killed during the
time of the charge of this lion.
44
See, it's something natural. It's not a unnatural thing to thirst for
God. It's a natural thing. It's just something that you should do. God
has made you up like that. And it's no super human, it's just actually
a common human being. It ain't just special for some people.
They say, "Well, I've seen some people live such a–a victorious life,
that they're constantly on the housetop, they're praising God. Wished I
could feel that way." Well, the reason you are feeling that way, it's
the thirst in you. And it's just a natural thing. It's for every person
to thirst for God.
46
Now, we'll take some of the natural thirsting first. Let's take, for
instance, thirsting for water. As David said here, thirsting for, of
the water. Thirsting for water, the body is in need of water. And if
you don't supply that thirst, you'll perish. You'll dehydrate, and
you'll–you won't live. If you can't get water to that thirst, to
quench that thirst of the natural body you'll soon perish. You won't
live long. You can live longer without food than you can without water.
Because you can fast for forty days (Jesus did), I suppose,
without–without food, but you couldn't do that long without water. You
would just simply dry up and die. You must have water. And–and the
thirst that comes on you, why, it's to show that the body is in need of
something to keep it alive. The body's got to have the water in order
to stay alive. You're eighty-something percent of water and petroleum,
anyhow, and you've got to take these sources in to keep you alive. As
I've said, if you neglect it you'll perish.
The thirst also is an alarm. It's an alarm clock, that thirsting. The
soul sets off alarm clock, a little buzzer inside of you that tells you
that death has lurking nigh, that if you don't get water pretty soon,
you've got to die. And it gets louder and louder, until finally you
keep putting it off and you'll die, because it's a alarm clock.
48
Like David described it here in the Psalms, "As the hart panteth after
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God." As the hart
panteth after the water brook…
I've often thought, as reading of this of David. David was a woodsman,
a hunter. And he hunted deer, of course. And many of we in this day
hunt them. The hart is a deer.
And we find, if you ever seen the dogs, the wild dogs will grab a deer.
And usually they got, like the coyote, a fang. And he can grab the deer
right above the burr of the ear here, and swing his weight. He cuts the
throat of the deer, and the deer doesn't have a chance then. But
sometimes the–the–the dog, like in Africa there, the wild dog will
grab the deer right in the flanks, if he misses the throat. He'll grab
the second time at the flank. And if the deer is strong enough and
quick enough, he can shake the dog off.
51
The deer is much faster. The dog stalks him when he's not looking, and
when he's upwind from him, and–and he–he don't know the–the dog is
near.
And then, when the wild dog grabs him, if he's real quick, he can throw
it off. And–but when the dog comes out of the flank, he has got a
whole mouthful of the deer's flesh. Or, when he grabs at his neck
sometimes, he'll cut close to the jugular vein, and miss it. And the
deer, shaking him, will pull a whole chunk of meat out of the deer's
throat, then the blood begins to run.
And then the dog will come right on the trail of that blood, after the
deer. And as the life of the deer begins to dwindle, as the blood,
which is the life stream to the body, as that begins to dwindle down,
the deer gets weaker. And the dog then, or the wolf, is right behind
the deer.
Now, if that deer can't find water… Now, water has something in it,
that when the deer drinks the water, it stops the bleeding. But if he
don't get water to cool him off, then the–the blood keeps flowing out
faster; because he's running, keeping his heart pumping. But if he can
ever get to water, the deer will live.
55
Now, there's a great lesson there (See?) and David saying here, "As the
hart panteth for the water brook, my soul panteth for Thee, O God."
Now, that deer knows, unless he finds water he's gone. He just can't
live. I've tracked them many times after being wounded. When he hits a
stream of water, he'll cross in and get a drink, go up over the hill;
come back down, cross, get a drink of water and go up. You'll never
catch up with him, as long as he'll follow that stream. But once when
he leaves the stream, if he can't find another water brook somewhere,
you'll catch him right away. And now, the deer knows that, so he'll
stay right with the water, where he can get to it right quick. Now,
could you imagine a deer with his nose up, he's been caught out
somewhere where there is no water?
57
And he says, "As the hart thirsts or panteth (is a thirst) after the
water brooks, my soul thirsts after Thee, O God. Unless I can find You,
Lord, I'll perish. I–I–I can't go unless I find You." And when a man
or woman, boy or girl, gets that kind of a thirst for God, he's going
to find something. See?
But when we come at it just kind of halfway, "Well, I'll kneel down and
see what the Lord does." (See?), you're not really thirsting yet. It's
got to be a thirst between death and Life, and then something takes
place.
59
The deer, also here he's… We find that he also has another sense of
smell, that sets off an alarm in him when his enemy is near. He's
possessed, this little creature, with a–a sense to protect himself.
And he's–he's got a little alarm in him, a little something, that he
tickles his nose when the enemy's near. You can get in the wind of the
enemy, and he knows that you're there, and he's gone. Sometimes a half
a mile away, he can smell you and get away, or the wolf or any danger.
He's able to sense it because that he's made up that way. He's a deer,
by nature. And that sense in him is just one of the God giving senses
to him to live by.
60
And then I thought, comparing the deer with a man that's thirsting for
God. Before the enemy gets there, there's something about a child of
God, that when you once are born into the Spirit of God, receive the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, there's something about the person that can
sense the enemy. You can take a man when he's taking the Scripture, and
reading the Scripture, and try to inject something to that Scripture,
that's contrary to the Scripture, a man that's filled with the Holy
Ghost can [Brother Branham snaps his finger–Ed.]
sense that right quick. There's something out of the way. When he gets
into a place, and–and that little certain sense in there, that it's
done to protect your life. You–you mustn't–you mustn't never go for
anything unless it's exactly the Word of God. You must stay right
exactly with that Word. And now, and we are secured with that sense as
long as we're in the Holy Spirit.
61
You can go to read, and like for instance, somebody say, and I go to
read in Mark 16, and say, "And these signs shall follow them that
believe: In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues; or take up serpents, or drink deadly things, it would not
harm them; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover."
Now, then, you find a person get up there and say, "Now, that was for
the apostolic age." That… Now, right quick, if you have received the
Holy Spirit, you've been endowed with that sense. It sets it off.
There's something wrong there. See? They try to explain it away, that
it's for another day, that really you don't need those things today.
But Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." See,
there's a little something sets off in you, a little buzzer, in knowing
that that's wrong and that's the way of death.
63
'Cause Jesus said, "If we add one word to This, or take one Word from
It, our part's taken out of the Book of Life." See, not one Scripture.
We must take It just the way It's written. And God watches over His
Word to perform It, and we know that It's got to be just right.
So therefore, no matter what a church would say, what anyone else would
say, if you're borned of the Spirit of God, you become part of the
Bible. God told Ezekiel; he was a prophet; He said, "Take the scroll
and eat it," then the prophet and the scroll became part of each other.
And that's the believer when he receives the Holy Spirit; the Holy
Spirit wrote the Bible, and the Spirit of God is the Word of God. "My
Words are Spirit. In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
Hebrews 13:8, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." And when
you are a part of that Word, oh, then let something come up contrary to
that Word, [Brother Branham snaps his finger several times–Ed.]
there's a little buzzer sets off right quick. See, It's to warn you
that death is in the road. We should never do that. There is a also…
These thirsts are just natural. They are natural for the Christians. They're natural for the human being.
66
There is also a thirst for success. So many people today, how we school
for this thirst. We just noticed they started the university up. And we
go down there, and people spend thousands of dollars to send their
children to the school, and–and to universities and colleges, and so
forth, to get an education, "To be successful," they call it, "in
life." But now, I have nothing against that; now, that's all right.
But, to me, you could get all the schooling in the world and still you
haven't found the right success. That's right. Because that will just
temporarily make things a little easier for you here. And there's…
But when you die, you leave all that behind you.
67
And this entire economy that we have… I was saying it the other day
at Phoenix. It stand quoting again, that, "All this modern
civilization, the whole educational program, the whole scientific
program, is all contrary to God's Word and His will." Civilization is
absolutely… There'll never be a civilization in the world that is to
come, like this one. This is a perverted civilization. God had His
first civilization upon the earth, when He spoke His Words and they
come up, every seed of its kind, and in that civilization there was no
death, sickness, sorrow. And now we take the things that is in the
scientific world, that was put here to hold it together, and pervert it
into something, and that brings death.
Like the atomic bomb. I don't know the formulas of these things, but I
might say this wrong. They take uranium to split a–a molecule, and a
molecule breaks into atoms. What does it do then? It just annihilates
almost, just destroys. Everything that we do…
69
We take medicine, put this formula with this formula, to cure this, and
put it into us. And what do we do? We tear down something else.
Now, I guess you read–read last month's "Reader's Digest," that it
said that, "In this age that we're living in now, that young men and
women reach middle age between twenty and twenty-five years old." Think
of that. Little girls in menopause, and twenty, and twenty-two and
twenty-three years old, middle age. You see, what's done it, it's been
this hybrid food and stuff we're eating. See? It's the stuff, the food
and the–the life that we're living. Scientists has brought it to us,
and in doing so they're killing you.
I was in Africa where I'd see them boys that never had a dose of
medicine in their life. They eat meat that had maggots in it. They
drank out of a pool that it looked like would kill an ox. And I was
shooting a target at two hundred yards, and I couldn't see it with a
pair of seven-fifty binoculars. And a man my age was standing there,
telling me where it was hit with his naked eye. Now, if all this modern
culture has done something… I feel if I had his eyes and his stomach,
I'd be a pretty good man. Yeah.
But there you are (You see?), that's what science, education,
civilization, we're destroyed by it. We destroy ourselves. It started
in the garden of Eden and runs on for today. But thirsting for
success…
73
Then, we thirst for fellowship. We go, we want fellowship. It's like a
young man and a young woman. Now, it's not unnecessary–or not (I mean)
unnatural for a young man and a young woman to–to love one another. It
is a thirst for love. It's their age, and they–they love one another.
And it's not unnatural; that's just a natural thing for them to do that.
Now, we find many things, in the life that we live in the natural body,
that we thirst for. It's just something sets in us. We want to do it;
we absolutely feel that it's necessary. And it is necessary that we do
it.
We find many women in these days thirst for beauty. Now, there isn't a
woman… It's a natural thing for a woman to thirst to be pretty.
That's–that's her God-given instinct and–and her beauty that God give
her for her mate. And now, we find out that women want to be that way.
Why is it? It's just because it's something God gave her. And it's not
wrong for women to be pretty. They should be.
76
And did you know, they are the only creature that–that the female is
prettier than the male; it's in the human race. Every other animal,
take the–the cow to the bull, the doe deer to the buck, the hen to the
rooster, the mother bird to the father bird, always you find the male
is big and pretty. But on the human race, showed there's where the
perversion come, it turns around; and it's the women so is–is pretty,
and they lust to be pretty.
Not like some of these weird creatures we see on the street of this
day; no, no, not that kind of pretty. No. That's the horriblest looking
sight I ever seen in my life. Yes, sir. That is a perversion; that's
perverting the true thirst.
77
Now, the true thirst that a woman should have, would be to "adorn
themselves in modest apparel, and to have a Christ-like spirit," I
Timothy 2:9. Now, that's a way the woman should thirst to be. Now, if
you want to be pretty, that's the way what makes you pretty (See?) is a
Christ-like spirit, and adorn in modest apparel.
Oh, my, some of these people today out on the streets, you can't tell a
man from the woman, and it's a–it's the most horrible looking thing
that you'd… I wouldn't, it's–it's… I–I never seen anything like
it, like human beings. It's beyond human. Eyes painted way up like
that, and, you know, them funny-looking lizard eyes, and all them
funny-looking clothes. And, why, it don't even… All so out of form,
they don't even look like a human being. And some of them boys out here
with their hair combed down, their sister's rollers in front here, you
know, why, it's a complete perversion. That's right. It's a–it's–it's
Satan, and Satan is the perverter.
80
When God made everything in the garden of Eden, it was lovely, then
Satan come in and perverted. Satan cannot create nothing. There's only
one Creator; that's God. But Satan perverts the original creation. And
now he's got into this (I want to speak tonight about) perverting
the–the original creation of thirst.
Now, a woman, as I said before, wants to be pretty. There's something
in her that she's feminish, and she wants to be that way. But the way
they are on the street today, hair cut like a man, wearing man's
clothes; and then man turn around, wearing women's clothes, and a
haircut like a woman. See, it's a perversion, the whole thing. Your
food's perverted. Your life's perverted, your thirst, perverted. Your
desire is perverted. It's a day of perversion.
83
I was speaking here not long ago on "Satan's Eden." God took six
thousand years and made a perfect Eden. Satan come over and sprayed
them seeds and deformed them. Now, he's got six thousand years, and
he's got his own scientific Eden right back again on a perversion of
the right.
And this is the age of hybreeding, hybreeding. They even got the–the
churches today till they're hybrid. That's right. They get in here;
they just go to church; it's a lodge instead of a church. A church is a
place where people come together and worship God in Spirit and in
Truth. And today it's a lodge. We go there and have a little time to
shake hands, and fellowship, and some black coffee in the back of the
building, then go home till next week; we've done our religious duty.
Now, it's a perverted age. And Satan is perverting these thirsts that
God put in you to thirst. Satan is perverting them. Now, if you want to
know the right, perversion…
86
If you, the women, wants to be pretty, take I Timothy 2:9, that's that
"adorning themselves in modest apparel–apparel, with a Christ-like
spirit, meek, subject to their husbands," and so forth. That's the way
that you should be adorned, your life you live.
He perverts the true nature of God, and the true thirst of God, of the
body and soul, by lust for sin: sin, a perversion. Now, we find out, a
person today, the way they've took that perversion; thirst for God, the
thirst for to be pretty, and all these thirsts for… For water,
they've turned that into satisfying that with drinking. The thirst for
joy (Everybody wants to have joy.), thirst for fellowship, all these
great thirsts that God put into us that we might thirst after Him (God
made you to thirst after Him.), and we try to satisfy it with some
other kind of a thirst, with some other kind of a perversion of the
correct thirst. See how it's in the natural? See how it's in the
spiritual? We think, as long as we join church that–that satis–that's
all we have to do. Well, that is absolutely wrong. No. God wants you to
thirst for Him. "As the hart panteth for the water brook, my soul
thirsts after Thee, O God." See, see?
89
Now, if that deer was panting for the water brook, what if somebody
come along, and another buddy deer could come along, and say, "Say,
I'll tell you what I–I could do. I know where there is a mud hole down
here." Well, the deer wouldn't want that. He… That wouldn't do him
any good.
And there's nothing can satisfy that thirst that's in the human being,
until God comes in. He must have It or die. And no persons has a right
to try to hush or satisfy that holy thirst that's in them by the things
of the world. No, sir. It's ungodly to do so. And if you thirst for
God, don't shake hands with the preacher and put your name on the book.
If you're thirsting for God, there's only one thing to satisfy it;
that's meet God. If you're thirsting for God, that's the only way you
can meet Him, is to do that.
91
And then there is a great danger also, if you don't watch what you're
doing in that time. If you're thirsting for God, be sure it's God you
find. See? Be sure that it's–your thirst is satisfied. But if Satan
has been able to pervert you from these natural appetites (and that
he'll do if he can), he'll–he'll simply make you try to be satisfied.
A man get out… what makes a man gets drunk: is because he is worried and tore up. There's something lacking in him.
93
I was at Mayo's, here not long ago, and I was up there on a interview.
And then it was told in this, that, talking about drinking, and I told
them that my father drank.
Said, "What made him drink?
I said, "I don't know."
He said, "Is because that there was something that he–wasn't
satisfying him, and he thought he could drink to throw it off his mind."
I caught it right then. See? It was really God, was the only thing can
satisfy that thirst. God Himself is the only thing can satisfy that
human thirst, is to accept God.
96
Now, Satan takes these things, as I said, and perverts them. Then if
you're–if you're… If you won't give that thirst the right place in
your life, and won't thirst and take the things that God provided to
stop that thirst with, to quench it, then Satan will lead you to some
of his stagnant cesspools of this world. You must have it somewhere. If
you can't find food, you'd eat from a garbage can. See? And if you–if
you couldn't find water, and you was dying, you'd drink out of a–a
pool of any kind, because you're perishing.
But there's no reason for that, when you're thirsting for God, because
God is a living God, not some historical something. "My soul thirsts
for Thee, the living God," Something that gives living waters,
something that satisfies.
98
There is another nature, a natural, just a natural thirst, in that
thirst of the soul. You might say, "Brother Branham, is that soul
thirst, is that natural?" Yes, that's natural for a soul to thirst. And
it's… For God made you this way, that so that you would thirst for
Him. He wants you to thirst after Him. Now, God made you like that. He
didn't have to make you like that, but He did do it. And if He hadn't
have made you like that, so that you would thirst, there would be an
excuse at the judgment bar, say, "I–I–I never did thirst for God."
But there's no excuse, you do. You'll make it somewhat; you might make
it your wife; you might make it your car; you might make it something
else; you might go to church and try to satisfy it. And I have nothing
against going to church, but that isn't the satisfaction. It's to find
God, the living God, the God of heaven into your soul, that satisfies
that longing and thirsting that you long for.
Now. For He made you so you could thirst for Him, for His fellowship.
Now, there's a genuine thirst for fellowship. Now, we like to meet with
one another. We're doing that tonight. We meet here together tonight
because we like to fellowship one with the other. Why do we do that?
Because there's something in us that we want to meet one another.
That's just natural. And now, we meet on a common ground here; that is,
because we're all thirsting for God. See? And then we meet here on this
regular, common grounds here of fellowship. In the church tonight here,
might be many different denominational views and so forth; but when it
comes to that thirst, we can meet on a common ground, one ground: we
all thirst. Some might believe in sprinkling, the other one in baptism,
and one in pouring, or so forth; but when it comes to the thirst for
God, we–we come on one mutual ground. And God made us so that we would
do that: thirst for Him and for His fellowship. I don't know
anything…
100
When I was a little boy, I remember I was raised in a real poor family.
And I remember of many times I'd go out with fellows. I couldn't dress
like to go out to a decent place. But, I–I don't know, there's
something about people, that I liked. I liked to get with them. But I
was, more or less, what is called, the black sheep. And when I got
saved and found that Something in me that I thirsted for, a–a Friend,
Somebody that would be a buddy to me, Somebody I could trust, Somebody
you can set down to and talk your troubles over with… And when… I
found that real true satisfaction when I found Jesus Christ, that real
true Satisfier that takes away all–all the–quenches all that thirst,
and gives you something that–that just looks like that there's just
nothing to take His place…
101
And now how Satan tries to pervert this satisfying of the soul, that
thirst for the soul. He tries to give you everything to satisfy it. And
he's so deceitful in these days of perversion. This is a perverted
world. It's a perverted race. It's a perverted people. Everything is
perverted, and has perverted so gradual until it's become the most
deceitful age that we–any human being ever lived in. It's more
deceitful than it ever was.
Now, you just–you just can't imagine of how deceitful the nation's got, even with our own brethren, like American people.
103
I was speaking sometime ago. I was in the woods a few weeks ago and
found a–a–a cigarette pack laying in the woods. And it said on there,
"A thinking man's filter." And I went on down through the woods a
little ways, and I come back; kept bearing on my mind, "A thinking
man's filter, and a smoking man's taste."
Well, I was at the World Fair couple years ago, remember they had that
Yul Brynner and all them over there, when they was making
demonstrations of cigarettes. And how they took that smoke and put it
across a piece of marble, and took a Q-tip and raked up that nicotine
off of there, and put it on the back of a rat. In seven days he had so
much cancer he couldn't get up on his feet (See?) from one cigarette.
And then they showed how that when that goes into the human lung…
Some of them say, "I don't inhale. I just puff it in my mouth." Shows
how it gets in the saliva and goes right down just the same, into the
throat. See?
And then this man said, "You see so much talk about a filter." He said,
"Now, if you have a desire (There's a thirst. You see?), a desire to
smoke a cigarette, one natural cigarette might satisfy that desire for
the time being. But if you've got a filter, it takes four cigarettes to
satisfy," said, "because you're only getting about one fourth of the
smoke."
106
And said, "A smoking man's taste"? See, you cannot have smoke unless
you get tar. And when you got tar, you got cancer. So there you are
(See?); it–it's just a gimmick. And I think of a–a tobacco company
that's in this nation, and–and it lives by this nation, and then with
a gimmick like that to absolutely deceive American citizens, to deceive
them. A thinking man's filter? It's only a gimmick to sell more
cigarettes.
Then I thought of that thing, "A thinking man's Filter," I thought,
"that's a good idea." So there is a thinking man's Filter; that's this
Bible. A–a thinking man's filter will take this Filter; It'll produce
a righteous man's taste. See?
Now, you cannot pull sin through the pages of this Bible. No, It stops
it. It filters it out. Now, you can go to church, and just take
anything, but you can't come through this Bible and have sin. It will
not do it. It filters out all sin, and It gives a holy man's taste.
Because if the man is thinking that he wants to be holy, and be like
God, and be a son or a daughter of God, then he wants the right kind of
a Filter. So He stops all sin on this side the Bible, and He can only
bring the Holy Spirit through the Bible, that wrote the Bible. It's a
holy man's taste to have this thinking man's Filter.
109
Now, we find how deceiving it is today. Matthew 24:24, Jesus said in
the last days that the two spirits would be so close alike until they
would deceive the very Elected if it was possible. How close, how–what
a deception of–of right and wrong we have today.
Even in our–in our government, in our politics, we–we haven't even
got a man that we could put up as a politician that'll absolutely stand
up for what he thinks is right. Where is our Patrick Henrys and George
Washingtons, and Abraham Lincolns of today? Just as our President said
there, "The way, if they want communism, they can have it, whatever the
people wants." If that ain't a–a man that won't speak his conviction.
A man will stand on a principle, that'll stand on what's what a
principle… Just want to go the–the–the way of least resistance.
And that's the way that the people's got in the church. They want to
come join church, and they say, "Oh, well, that–that's it; I–I've
joined church now." You're trying to satisfy that great holy thirst
that God put in you, that control Tower trying to turn you to the right
thing, and you try to satisfy it with joining a church, quoting a
creed, or something like that. When, it's nothing but the very Presence
and filling of God Himself in your life, that'll satisfy that.
112
He won't be satisfied with a creed. You'll never pull a creed through
that Bible. No. There's not even the Apostles' Creed, so called, will
never come through There. Show me in the Bible where the Apostles'
Creed says, "I believe in the Holy Roman Catholic church; I believe in
the communion of saints"; when the Bible said, "There's one Mediator
between God and man, and that's the Man Christ Jesus." You'll never
pull that through the Bible.
113
You will never pull all these dances, and shorts, and things that the
people are doing today, these twists and watusis, and all these things,
through God's Word. You'll never pull this modern trend of civilization
through that Bible. It's against it. See? And you try to satisfy that
thirst, but (You see?), it'll… This Bible will only satisfy a
righteous man or woman's taste. This Holy Spirit, that they'd laugh at,
and said, "You've gone out of your mind."… But That satisfies that
longing, that something that the world knows nothing about. They have
perverted themselves from true baptism of the Holy Spirit and the Word
of God unto what? Unto the cesspools, the cesspools of the church, of
dogmas, and creeds, and–and denominational differences, and so forth.
Say, "You a Christian?"
"I'm Methodist. I'm Baptist. I'm Presbyterian." That don't mean one
thing to God, not one thing. You can't pull them things through God's
Bible here. And you're trying to satisfy that holy thirst that God give
you to thirst after Him. Is that right?
115
Now, you know that David said here, "…for the living God." Now, "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Then there can be
no satisfaction until this Word, which is God, becomes alive in you,
then you see God Himself fulfilling the promises that He made in the
Bible.
116
Now, we have different interpreters of the Bible. One church interprets
It this way; another one interprets It that way, and another one this
way. Some don't take but a little bit of It; some take here and there,
a piece of It. But God's His Own interpreter. When He makes a promise
and fulfills it, that's the interpretation thereof.
If I promised you I'd be here tonight, and here I am, that's the
fulfilling of my promise. If I'd say I'll meet you in the morning, and
I'm there, that's my promise. There ain't no need of making any other
excuses, I have got to be there.
And when God makes a promise, and then comes around and fulfills that
promise, that's the interpretation of the promise. And I'd dare anybody
to take God at His Word, and see if every Word in that Bible isn't the
Truth. That's right. That's what that thirst is in there.
You say, "If I would've lived in the days of Jesus, I would've done so-and-so."
Why, you're living in His days. What are we doing about it? What are we
doing? You say, "Well?" What you done, perhaps what the Pharisees done.
They belonged to church and denied Jesus Christ.
121
We always say today, people try to say, "We compare. We've got to
compare Bible leaf with Bible leaf, Scripture with Scripture." That
isn't the Truth. No, it isn't the Truth. "This Greek word means this,
and this means that." The Greeks themself, way back in the Nicaea
Council, and them writers back in there, they had different forms. One
believed this way. This Greek scholar meant this, and the other one
said this one meant it this way. And they fussed over It. We don't need
interpretation of Greek scholars or Greek words.
To know Him is Life, the Person, Christ Himself, not comparing. It's a
revelation that God built His church upon. And if we don't build upon
that same church… The Bible said, "Abel, by faith…" And faith is a
Divine revelation. See? Faith is a Divine revelation. All right. This
whole Thing's built upon the revelation then, and unless this is
revealed to you… Jesus said, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou has hid
these things from the wise of this world, and revealed it to babes such
as will learn." See?
123
Now, the whole thing is built there; you've got to know the Person. And
you cannot satisfy that by joining church. You've got to find the
Person, God Himself, which is the Word and–and interpretation of
Hisself today, the promises that He made today. The people that He was
going to have in this day, "the church without spot or wrinkle," don't
mean a denomination; it means the persons, the individuals without spot
or wrinkle. "Be two in the bed, I'll take one and leave one; two in the
field, I'll take one and leave one." But when God, that holy thirst to
be like Him, and then you see that His Word is in you, vindicating
Itself, that you are God's servant… Whatever God says, you just toe
right up to it, then you're coming through the right process then to
satisfy that holy thirst that's in you.
124
Oh, of course, the people will laugh at you and say, "You've lost your
mind. You've gone crazy." But remember what they're drinking from. See?
Look where they're at. Could you imagine a big artesian well spurting
up fine water, and somebody down at one of them holes down there with
dead tadpoles, and creeds and everything laying in it, drinking down
there, looking up and making fun of you? Oh. Why, he doesn't know; he
doesn't know what a–what a thirst-quenching stream you're living at.
That's exactly right.
We got a living God, not one that died nineteen hundred years ago and
stayed in the grave, but One that raised again. Hebrews 13:8, says He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same Holy Ghost that fell
on the day of Pentecost is the same Holy Ghost that's here now. He's
the satisfying Portion, because He is the Word. That's right. The Holy
Ghost wrote the Word; He interprets the Word. The Bible said in II
Peter, that the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, "Men of old, moved by the
Holy Ghost, wrote the Bible."
Now, you can't do it; you can't satisfy that holy thirst with nothing
less than God Himself living in you in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Education, culture, joining churches, reciting creeds, going to belong
in a fellowship; all these things are very good, but they absolutely
will not stop that holy hush–that–that holy thirst, rather, won't
hush that holy thirst.
127
I was listening to Billy Graham, the great evangelist, the other night.
I tell you, I pray more for him now than I ever did, when I seen him
really rapping it to them, the way they did. He said, "That bunch of
clergymen coming down the road, them collars turned around…" Going
down there where they had no business to go, sticking their nose in
something. But they was going down the road [Brother Branham claps his hands–Ed.]
clapping their hands and patting their foot. Well, they looked like
unholy-rollers. Now, you see, but they got something they–they believe
in. They got something; it excites the soul. They got something they
was excited about. Some woman went and stuck her head in something down
there, and they thought she was a martyr, and she had no business to be
into. Now, we find that these men [Brother Branham claps his hands] had something they could clap their hands about. They were happy. They were doing something.
Well, if you can do that for a–a principle that you think is right
here; and then stand in a church and somebody clap their hands or pat
their foot, the deacons would lead them out the door… See, they have
turned their people to a filthy cesspool of creed and denomination,
instead of feeding them on the blessed holy Word of God that's
delivered by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
129
See, they try to… They quench their thirst by saying, "I am Doctor
So-and-so," or come out of a certain seminary or a certain school. But
that don't mean one thing, not a thing. But, you see, they–they try to
satisfy themselves, say, "Now, God will recognize me because I am His
pastor. God will recognize me because I am holy Father So-and-so, or
Bishop So-and-so," or–or something like that. They're trying to
satisfy their thirst there, when you can't do it. "I got a Ph.D., LL.D.
I got my Bachelor of Art. I got this." That's all right. But, to me,
that just means you're that much farther away from God (That's right.),
that much further away from God all the time.
You only know God by an experience. You cannot educate This into you.
It's borned into you. It's something that God gives you. Education has
nothing to do with It. One of the greatest men in the Bible couldn't
even sign his name, Saint Peter. That's exactly right, and him and
John, the Bible said they were both ignorant and unlearned. But it
pleased Jesus to give him the keys to the Kingdom, because he was
thirsting for God (Amen.), thirsting for God, fellowship. Yes, sir. Oh,
my.
131
I think of Isaiah, that young man, oh, a fine young man; he was down
there in the temple one day. The great king had, he put his faith
towards him and thought he was one of the greatest men, which, he was a
great man. He was raised up, fine parents, a good mother and dad. But
when he went out, his politics was clean, and he–he made things right
with God. And Isaiah looked at him and thought he was a great man, put
him for an example. But don't you never put no man, but the Man Christ
Jesus, for your example. All men will fail. After while, he got to a
place; he was–he was king, but he tried to take a priest's place and
went into the temple, and he was stricken with leprosy.
Then Isaiah was all worried, so he goes down to the temple and he begin
to–to pray; he thought he would go down and pray a while. And now,
look, that man was a prophet; but down there in the temple as a young
man, he was crying out to God one day, and a vision fell before him.
And when he did, he seen Angels, Cherubims, with Their faces covered
with Their–with Their wings, and Their feet covered, and flying with
two wings. And They were going back and forth, up-and-down through the
temple, crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."
134
And Isaiah, that great thirst that he had had, he–he perhaps was
schooled. He–he probably had a good education. He had a–a marvelous
conception of what God ought to be. He–he had heard the priests. He
had been in the temple. He'd been raised to be a–a believer, but (You
see?) he'd never come face to face with It before. See? He–he had a
desire to do right. He wanted to be right, but he just had the
educational side. He had the theological side of It.
But when he got there in the temple that day, and he seen these
Cherubims waving these wings back and forth, and realized that these
Angels ministered in the face of God, and them Angels didn't even know
what sin was, and to stand in the Presence of God They had to cover
Their holy faces, to stand in the Presence of God, then that prophet
cried out, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. All of my
theology–theology and stuff that I've learned, all of my marvelous
conception that I had of God, I'm face to face with it now." He said,
"I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell with people that's unclean
lips." All their teaching of the laws, and things they had done, had
never reached that place to where he come into the Presence of God, and
seen God with his own eyes, and His trail when He was setting up on
High in the heavens. And there he was face to face with reality. And he
cried, "I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among unclean people."
136
Then it was that the Cherubim took the tongs, and a coal of Fire from
the altar, and touched them unclean lips, and turned him from a coward,
or from a educated man, a teacher, to a prophet that the Word of God
could speak through. Sure, while he was in the Presence of God, It was
something different. That thirst that he'd had, had reached that place
then, till he was filled with it.
And let me tell you, friend, I don't care how many churches you join,
how many names you put on, which a way you go, and whether you're
sprinkled, baptized, or whatever you are; until you meet that Person,
Jesus Christ, that–that's the only thing that'll really satisfy.
Emotion won't do it; you might jump up-and-down and shout as long as
you want to, or you might run up-and-down the floor, and you might
speak in tongues as much as you want to. And them things are holy and
good. I don't say–I don't say nothing against that. But until you meet
that Person, that satisfying Portion, that Something that takes every
fiber in your body, not by emotion, but by a satisfaction…
139
Used to see a little sign, said, "If you're thirsty, say Parfay." There
used to be a little drink when I was a boy, called Parfay. I remember
coming down the road, oh, from fishing, I had been up to the pond, old
stagnant waters. And I was about starved to death, and I seen a sign
say, "If you're thirsty, just say Parfay." And I started saying,
"Parfay, Parfay." I got thirstier all the time. And I–I… See,
I–I–I got so I couldn't even spit after while, I was so–so thirsty.
Well, you see, that won't do it. There's nothing will satisfy it. I
don't care; you can drink cokes; you can drink anything you want to,
with them sweetened bicarbonated waters, and so forth, there's nothing
that will satisfy the thirst like a good cool, cold stream of water.
That'll quench that thirst. All these other things are substitutes.
141
And why would we want to take a substitute when there's a genuine
baptism of the Holy Ghost that satisfies every fiber and longing in the
human soul, can stand right in the face of death, like the great
Apostle Paul said, "O death, where is your sting? And, grave, where is
your victory? But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ." That's the experience, brother; that satisfies
that holy hush that–or that holy thirst that's in you. It satisfies
it. You don't have to–to do anything else about it. Yeah, It cleanses
the lips.
And there also, just people who live upon the emotion, upon the… Some
people say, "Well, we got a lot of that in our Pentecostal movement."
And they'll go in, which is fine, they'll pat their hands [Brother Branham claps his hands–Ed.]
and play the music. The music stops, "sh, whew," a bucket of water went
over everything. See? Now, we–we do that… We–we got in a habit of
doing that. We got, we–we… It's just become one of our customs.
143
Let me tell you something. When you worshipping God, in the Spirit and
in Truth, when it becomes a custom for you to do it, because you think
you ought to do it, because you think if you don't shout, or jump
up-and-down, or dance with the music, your neighbor's going to think
you're backslid; you're drinking from a stagnated stream. Right.
Until It fills every fiber, until the Holy Spirit Itself's bubbling in
you; I don't care whether the music is playing, whether they're playing
"Nearer, My God, To Thee," or whatever it is, the Holy Spirit's still
ringing the glory bells in your heart. That satisfies. That's God's
satisfying Portion. Anything less than That, you're done.
You might speak with tongue like men and Angels; you might give all
your goods to feed the poor; you might prophesy, and you might have
knowledge, understand all the mysteries and all these things, and you
still become nothing (I Corinthians 13) until that satisfying Something
that can only quench that thirst…
"My soul thirsts for the living God, like the hart panting for the
water brook. Unless I can find It, I'll perish." When you get to
hungering for God like that, something's going to take place. The Holy
Spirit is to lead you to those great fountains of God. Yes, sir.
147
Now, there is a good thing: to worship in the Spirit. That's true. But
sometimes you have Spirit without Truth. St. John 4, said, "We worship
God, Spirit and Truth." And Jesus is the Truth. That's exactly right.
And He is the Word.
The streams God sent to satisfy you in the natural, Satan has polluted
every one of them. He's put the poisoned dope in every one that he
could get into. That's right. He took that great stream of the church.
That, that was God's way. Jesus said, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against It."
Now, there's different arguments of that. The Roman people, the
Catholic says, He built It upon Peter. See, and if that be so, Peter
backslid in shame. So It wasn't. It sure wasn't built upon Peter,
Petra, the little rock. And then the Protestant says, that He built It
upon Himself, Jesus Christ. Not to be different, but I different with
them. He never built It on either one. He built It upon the revelation
of Who He was. He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas, flesh
and blood never revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven
has revealed this to you." Not by knowledge, you didn't learn it by
books. You didn't learn it by joining church. You didn't learn it in
the shops. You didn't. But the Holy Ghost Itself has brought the Person
of Jesus Christ to you then, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church, and
the gates of hell can't prevail against It." That holy thirst has been
satisfied in the Person of Jesus Christ. There you are. That's the
thing that we want to look for, satisfy that thirst with That. All
right, we find that we must a…
152
Knowledge? Oh, my. Knowledge is a great thing. We fill up, and today
we're full of it. But you see, knowledge… As I was saying the other
day, speaking on that subject of knowledge, there was a man standing
outside, was talking to a friend of mine standing there, said, "If a
man don't believe in education, why is he reading the Bible?" They…
I thought, "Well, if they didn't get what the Lord Jesus said, how are
they going to get a dummy like me, what I say?" They couldn't even
understand Him, as plain as He was.
He said there one day, "Except you eat the body, the Blood, drink the
Blood and eat the body of–of the Son of man, you have no Life in you."
He didn't explain It. He walked on. That's right. See?
"Why," they said, "this Man's a cannibal. We want Him… To eat His
body, drink His Blood… He's a vampire. See, He wants us to become a
vampire." See them intellectuals?
But He said, "My sheep hear My Voice." See? It would come to the
Elected, God had elected by foreknowledge. "And those who the Father…
No man can come to Me except the Father draws him. And all the Father
has given Me, they will come; they'll understand it."
Them disciples couldn't understand it, but they believed it. See?
That's right. If you believe it… I can't understand many things. I
believe it anyhow (See?), because God said it was so.
158
Knowledge, you know, Satan's Gospel is knowledge. Did you know that? He
preached it in the garden of Eden to Eve, and she was deceived by his
knowledge gospel. Now, and has polluted the whole human race with it.
That's exactly right. They've took educational programs, put them in
the church. They're all right out there, but not in God's Word. No,
sir. You don't know God by education. You don't know God by–by–by
knowing how, learning mathematics and pronouncing big words.
Paul, he was a smart man. But when he come to Christ and received the
Holy Spirit, went to the Corinthians, he said, "I never come to you
with enticing words of man's wisdom," though he could've done it. Said,
"I come to you in power and manifestations of the Holy Ghost, that your
faith would be in God, not in the wisdom of some man."
Now, sometimes we make the church programs. They also call for
their–their pastor. The church goes to vote the pastor; they say,
"Well, this pastor now, he's got two degrees in college. He learned
four years of psychology. He took this, that, the other." And they'll
vote that kind of a man in (why?) instead of a pastor who believes in
God's Word being inspired and being God, and will preach the Word
regardless of how people feel about it.
161
God told Ezekiel, you know, said, "Preach that whether they believe it
or not. You preach it anyhow." See? Right. Whether they accept it, or
not, that ain't it. They didn't accept Jesus. He went right on
preaching It just the same. See?
Instead of a real pastor that will really preach the Word and believe
in God, they–they–they try to bring in the–the intellect, the man
who's got the best education, the man who can stand in the pulpit and
don't take but just about fifteen minutes so they can get home right
quick, and go some–do something else, and Ricky can get his hot rod
and start out, and–and they can go to the twist parties and
everything. And it's, oh, it's–it's just it's a–it's nothing else but
a hybrid educational pollution. That's right. That's just exactly what
it is. That's right. But what is it? It satisfies their taste (See?);
it satisfies a worldly church member's taste.
It don't satisfy a saint's taste. He'll take the Word every time.
But they say, "Oh, well, now them people's just a little off at their
mind. See, they just don't, they don't get it. They, they're trying to
live in a day gone by."
164
Isn't it strange I come out here in the west, and I find out they're
all trying to live in a day gone by. They always want some of the old
fashion cowboy days. And go down in Kentucky, the old fashion hillbilly
days, they want to act like it, have programs of it. But when it comes
to old fashion religion, they don't want nothing about it.
Old-fashion days? I come down here in the rodeo time; I seen they had a
big woman down there, that green stuff under her eyes, and short bobbed
hair, a cigarette in it's mouth. Why, if they'd have seen that back in
the old days, they'd have thought she was cankered somewhere. They,
they'd–they'd–they'd have put her in. What if your mother would've
walked out, dressed like you and your daughter dress today, what would
taken place? They'd had her in the insane institution. Sure, she come
out without her skirt on. Well, now remember, it's the same thing today.
Men is rottening in their flesh. If they're going through the middle
age between twenty and twenty-five years old, their brain cells are
rottening too. They haven't got… People has got so they haven't got
enough understanding. They don't know what decency means. They don't
know the difference between right and wrong. And, oh, though, their
educational program, they…
167
Did you know, education (I can prove it to you,) is of the Devil? Not
to read and write; but I mean, putting their education in your church.
What does communism lay on? Science, education; that's their god. Satan
(See?) that's what he introduced to Eve. That's what they're still
holding to. Now, it's got over in our churches, got over in the
Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterian, Pentecostals, and all. Some
education, intellectual, some great so-and-so and something like that,
that just throws him farther away from God. It's wrong. Yes, sir. Now,
we find out, that they–they–it satisfies their desire. When a–when
a–a church would vote in something like that, it goes to show what's
in that church's mind, what their desire is, what their thirsting is
for. They want to say, "Our pastor's wide minded. He don't mind us
mix-bathing, and he goes with us."
170
A little girl told my Sarah there the other day. Her pastor had been to
Africa; and when he come back, she stripped off her clothes that night,
with a pair of little tights on, and done the watusi for him, to
entertain him 'cause he had been to Africa. The Watusi's a tribe over
there, you know. Boy, I'd like to see one of my girls in my
congregation try to do something like that: watusi?
See, it goes to show… And a pastor would set and look at one of his
congregation, a little sixteen or eighteen years old girl out there
stripped off like that, and let her get by with that, that shows that
he come out of a cesspool himself. A man of God do a thing like that?
Certainly. That sounds flat, but I realize I'm preaching across the
nation too. But you know this also, brother, sister, let me tell you,
that's the Truth.
173
A vulture wants dead things. That's right. And that's dead. That's
exactly right. Plainly shows, it just plainly show here what is their
head and their control tower, what it's giving them (See?), what's in
their soul. Their soul longeth for things like that.
Their soul longeth for a high intellectual church, where the people
dress real fine, and the pastor takes fifteen minutes, or twenty. And
if you go over that, they throw him back on the deacon board. And he
mustn't say nothing about sin. He mustn't say anything about wearing
shorts, and wouldn't say nothing about people doing this, that, or the
other. He mustn't mention that at all. If they do, the board will have
him throwed out. See what it is? That's their thinking man's filter.
The Bible said in I John 2:15, "If you love this world system, or the
things of this world, it's because that the love of God's not even in
you."
176
Now, what about all this carrying on they done today in the name of the
church: practicing square dancing in the church, bunco, bingo parties,
teenagers rock-and-roll, twists, all these stuff. Look at this Elvis
Presley, a devil standing in shoes. Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, the
biggest indebtiment this nation has ever had. That's right. They say,
"Oh, they're very religious; they sang Christian songs." It oughtn't
to… The church oughtn't to even permit a thing like that. Some of
these guys go out here, and–and tonight they're in a–a roadhouse out
here, dancing and playing music and everything, and the next night they
come to the altar and weep, and the next night they're playing music on
the platform. Oh, goodness, gracious. How far can filth, how far could
filth go anyhow? Yes, sir. Prove himself first to be a man of God, not
all this stuff just because he can beat an old guitar or something.
By your desire, you can tell who's on the throne of your heart. By what
you love, that's what tells. You, you say, "Well, I think them things
are all right, Brother Branham." Well, just remember now; in your heart
you know what's there. Yes, sir. By what is feeding your soul, what
your soul is thirsting for, and you can see it satisfies that; if it
isn't this Word, then there's something wrong, because the Holy Spirit
lives on the Word only. See?
178
I want you to see another great danger, just before we close, if you
are not–if you're not guilty of any of these things that I've
mentioned, and that is, the danger of neglecting a thirst. See? You
say, "I have a holy thirst. But I–I'm not guilty, Brother Branham, of
just go and joining church, and things like this." But, see, to neglect
a thirst. If you neglect to satisfy a thirst of water or food, you'll
die. And if you neglect that thirst in you for God, you'll spiritually
die.
You call for revivals; you wait for your church to have a revival.
Well, that ain't–that ain't the revival for you. The revival ought to
begin right in you, when you begin to thirst for God. There might not
be another member of the church wanting that revival. If it breaks out
in you, it'll break out other places. See? But, see, you neglect that
thirst.
You neglect to milk the cow, when the cow is–the udder is full of
milk; and if you let that cow stay like that, she'll go dry. That's
exactly right. If you neglect to take a drink of water, say, "I just
ain't going to drink anymore," you'll die. You neglect to eat food,
you'll die. So if you neglect to give the Holy Spirit the Word of God,
you'll die.
182
You Christians, you Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals,
Assemblies of God, Oneness, Twoness, Threeness, whatever you are
(See?); don't care… That don't matter nothing to me; I don't think it
does to God. See, you're an individual; you're a unit. You'll never go
to heaven as a church, a–a–a denomination. You'll go to heaven as one
single person, between you and God. That's all. I don't care what
church you belong to.
And if you neglect to read the Bible and to believe the Bible, and the
Holy Spirit to feed upon That, you'll die. Jesus said in St. John 4:3,
the Scripture I got right… Jesus said that, "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every Word," not just part of It.
We take a little bit here. I call that a Bible hitchhiker. They say,
"Well, I believe This, but now let's go over here. See?" See?
You've got to take it Word by Word. Jesus said, "Man shall live by
every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Did you know that?
And, you know, we've made–we've made the day that we're living in, we–we made this day the–a–a–a religious perversion.
187
My daughter called me in not long ago, and said to me, "Daddy…" (in
the next side of the house), she said, "come over here, we're going to
have a religious program on." It was a singing, hymn singing, and there
was some little Ricky reading it up there. And if I ever seen a
sacrilegious movement, it was that. Them guys up there, and people,
looked more like it was a floor show. Supposed to be an Indian tribe,
and they were carrying on, and–and jump up and box at one another.
Why, what's went with the sincerity? Where is those old fashion hymns
we used to sing, and rejoice in the Spirit of God, and tears roll down
our cheeks? And now we try to hold our breath until we ain't got enough
breath in us, till our face turns blue, to try to show that we're some
sort of a singer. See? We've copied that off of Hollywood, and all
these programs that we see through this intellectual hymn sing and
training of voice. I–I like to hear good singing; I like to hear good
old fashion, heartfelt, Pentecostal singing. But I sure hate to hear
that squeaking they call singing today. That's right. I think that's
the most ridiculous thing. It's a perversion. That's right.
189
I like to see a man when he's a man. I hate to see one with–with his
wife's underclothes on out here, and slicked up along the side;
and–and a roller hanging down here in front, and two cones of hair
hanging down like bangs cut in front. That, I–I couldn't call that a
man. He don't know what side of the race he belongs on. See? That's
right. You see, the woman, look, the woman is trying to cut her, make
her hair like the man; the man's trying to make his hair, bangs, like
the woman. The man is wearing his wife's underneath clothes; she's
wearing his overalls (See?), just a perversion, right around.
And that's the same thing it is with nations, with people, with
churches, with everything. Oh, God, where's the end of the thing? The
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the end of it.
191
So if you neglect to feed the Holy Spirit the Word of God… Jesus
said, "Every Word shall be by the Holy Spirit." And listen now. If you
try to feed it the wrong thing, if it's the genuine Holy Spirit in you,
It'll know the difference. Now, remember, the Word of God is what the
Holy Spirit feeds on. It don't feed on enthusiasm. It don't feed on
education. It doesn't feed on church going. It doesn't feed on
theologies. There's a lot of difference between an inspired something
and a theological standpoint of it.
All those theologians in the days of Jesus, my, they had word by word,
page by page, all laid out, the Messiah had to come this way. That's
exactly what it was. And they every one missed it. You know what Jesus
said when He come, said, "You are of your father the Devil, and his
works you'll do."
It wasn't revealed to them what the real Word was. See, they missed
those little corners, like they're missing today. "If you'll belong to
this and belong to this, you'll be all right." Don't you believe that.
You got to belong to Christ. And if there's Something in you, hungering
for Christ…
194
Just remember, when you were in your father's loins, you were with him
then. But your father didn't know you then, and you didn't know your
father. And you had to come and be born. God made a way through your
mother, for the–the seed bed, and then it come. And then you become a
man or a woman, whatever it was, then you recognized your father, and
your father could have fellowship with you.
Now, remember, if you've got Eternal Life, your Life was in God at the
beginning. And the Life… God is the Word. And then when the Word was
made flesh in Jesus Christ, God coming down to dwell in His Own body,
made Hisself the Son of God, when God came down to dwell in that, you
were in Him when He was crucified. And you were crucified with Him, and
you died with Him on Calvary. You was buried with Him on the mountain.
And you rose with Him, on Easter morning. And now you're setting
together in heavenly places in Him, and now you've got fellowship with
Him. See?
God Himself become one of us. "No man has seen the Father at any time,
the only Begotten of the Son–Father has declared Him." That's God
became a man, so He could fellowship you as a man. See? And now
you're–you are flesh, and He's flesh. God is made flesh among us in
the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. And in Him was God. He was God,
nothing short of God. He was God, God manifested in the Son Jesus
Christ, which made Him Emmanuel, as the prophet said He would be.
197
Now, see, then you had to be; before the world was ever formed your
name was put on the Lamb's Book of Life. And then what can you eat? The
Holy Spirit lives by the Word of God. And now, in Revelations 22:19,
the Bible said, "Whosoever shall take one Word out of This, or add one
word to It, his part will be taken from the Book of Life." See how deep
it is? You cannot… The Holy Spirit won't live on the things of the
world.
Like a dove bird and a crow. A crow is a big hypocrite. A crow, that
fellow can go out here and can eat wheat all day long, and go over
there and fly on a–an old dead carcass, and eat it too. He can set in
the field, and he can eat with the dove, wheat, and go over and eat on
the dead carcass.
But the dove can eat wheat all day long, but it can't eat on a dead
carcass, because it's a dove. And a dove don't have any gall. One bite
out of that dead carcass, it'd kill the dove. See, it has no gall. And
that's the way it is, no bitterness.
And that's the way with a real, genuine Christian. They don't want the
things of the world. They just eat the Word of God, and That alone,
what's clean, the thinking man's Filter. See? They come through That
and That alone. The dead things of the world, it stinks to them.
Look at the old crow in the days of the antediluvian destruction,
flying from body to body, eating them old dead carcasses, he didn't
come back to the ark. But the dove could find no rest for her feet
(See?); she come back to the ark where she was getting grain. And
that's the way we do; we live by the Word of God.
202
In Psalms 42… David must have wrote this Psalm, Psalms 42, when he
was a fugitive, when he said, "My soul thirsts after Thee, as a hart
panteth after the water brook." Look, he cried. David was a fugitive.
He had been… He had the anointing oil on him; he knowed he was going
to be king. The prophet had anointed him king. Now, notice. And there
he was, he had a little bunch of soldiers made up of Gentiles, and so
forth, was up on top of the mountain… Where his own beloved city,
because of their sin, they were garrisoned all around with the
Philistines. And David, on that hot day, it must've been when he wrote
this Psalm, "As the hart panteth for the water brook…"
Notice David in this condition. He looked down; he looked at his
beloved city. And he remembered when he was a little boy, he used to
take the sheep out by this certain pool there. It was a great, great
water country, and also bread country down there. Really, "Bethlehem"
means "the house of God's Bread." And then when David remembered going
by there and drinking that good cool water, and here he was laying up
here now, a fugitive, away from his own people. He had no place to go,
and his soul must've cried for that good cool water.
204
He had some servants there that, my, just the least of his desire was a
command. And they, three of them, fought their way through that line of
Philistines; fifteen miles, seven miles, or something, down and back;
cutting their way through, and brought him a drink of that water. But
the soul thirst…
His body, he was up there, probably had to drink out of anything he
could get ahold of, some old goatskins and things, with some old hot
water in, on that hot day. He thought, "If I could just lay down and
quench this thirst that I have… If I could just go down there to
Bethlehem and lay down by that spring and drink."
206
And when they went down and got the water and brought it back, his soul
thirst was so greater, not for Bethlehem, but from Jerusalem; his soul
was. So he sacrificed the water, said, "I wouldn't even drink it." He
poured it out upon the ground. See, his soul was more thirsty for God,
than it was to satisfy the quench of a good–his thirst of his body,
with a good cool water. He poured it upon the ground.
See, the house of God, the soul-cooling waters of Jerusalem, which is
above… Jesus said, in John 6:33, "I am the Bread of Life. I am the
Bread of Life." "Bethlehem," "house of God," our church, earthly Church
of God, the church that's here on earth. We love to go to the church
here on earth, but greater is Jerusalem, which is above, which is God.
Jerusalem above, which is God. Greater is that soul's thirst to be
there with Him, than it would to be just to satisfy yourself with
joining a church somewhere. See? Joining a church don't satisfy that
thirst. David proved it here. The waters right from the house of God
(See?), he poured it out upon the ground to find favor, to get a good
cool drink from God. Even on that… Greater than the thirst that's in
you is that thirst of the soul-thirst for God.
208
Notice Jerusalem, the word… "Jerusalem is from above," the Bible
said, "which we're… is the Mother of us all." And Christ is our
Mother. We realize that. God is our Mother, for we're born of Him. The
word simply means "peace," Jerusalem, Shalom. Or, Shalom, which means
"peace," Jeru-shalom (See?) means "peace."
Greater should be the thirst of any soul for the waters of Life than to
say you belong to a church. The thirst of the soul can't be satisfied,
the real true thirst… It can be perverted. You can think you're all
right when you join church, but that isn't it. That won't satisfy the
genuine holy thirst for God. It just simply won't do it. It just…
It's just not there.
210
Now, David said in Psalms 42:7 here, "When the deep calleth unto the
deep, at the noise of Thy waterspout…" the soul's call…
Look, I've often used this as an illustration. If there's a fin on a
fish's back, it had to be put there for him to swim with. He has a need
for that. Now, what if he'd say, "I'm going to be a different fish. I'm
going to be a smart, educated fish. Uh-huh, I–I'll just… I'm going
to believe some real theology. I believe I don't have to have that
fin"? He wouldn't get very far in the water, would he? And that's
exactly right.
What if a tree said, "Now, I know there had to be an earth first for me
to grow in. That's right. I'm supposed to grow here. But I'm going to
be a different tree; I want them just set me out here in the middle of
the street, so I can be noticed"? See, he wouldn't live very long. See?
That's right.
When the deep calleth to the Deep it takes more than joining a church.
It takes more than shaking hands with the preacher. It takes more than
living a good, straight life. It takes something to satisfy inside of
you, that pours down from God into the soul. "The deep calling to the
deep, at the noise of Thy waterspouts, O Lord. The deep calling to the
deep…"
214
What kind of a thirst could we think was in us tonight? We, as
Pentecostal people, where are we getting to? What kind of a thirst is
in us? What kind of a thirst is in me? What kind of a thirst is in you?
Don't try to hush that holy thirst for God.
Years ago, when they used to have gold out here in the mountains. I
read a story, many years ago; it's always stuck with me. It said there
was a–a prospector went out here somewhere beyond the mountains here
and was prospecting for gold, and he struck a rich claim. And he come
back, thinking, when he got to the city, what he would be, his troubles
was all over. And–and he–he tried to–to say, "I… Tomorrow I'll get
in and I'll…" Just one day's journey, he'd be into the city, and he'd
have the gold. And he had big sacks full of it.
216 He had a dog with him. Not comparing now the dog to the Holy Spirit, but as I'm making an illustration. But this dog…
Through
the night, the prospector laid upon his bed, and–and he begin to
think, "Now, tomorrow I'll–I'll take all my gold in, and I'll become
just what I've always wanted to be. I–I–I always wanted to be a rich
man. I–I wanted to own fine things, and so forth."
And–and then this dog begin to bark, and because there was an enemy
approaching. And he–he went out there, and he said, "Shut up." And so
the dog quieted down. And no more than got back in bed, he started like
he was going to go to sleep, and the dog started again, just jumping at
the chain. And he went to the door again, said, "Shut up. I want you to
know that tomorrow I'm a rich man." See? And that was his great dreams.
219
But the dog started barking again. And finally, he got so discouraged,
he went and got his shotgun and shot the dog and killed it. He said, "I
don't have no more use for you anyhow. Tomorrow I'm a rich man. I'll
become a rich man tomorrow."
And he set the gun down in the corner, turned his back over to the
door, went to sleep. And the man had been following him for days,
slipped in and killed him. He wasn't a rich man (See?); he stopped that
warning buzzer that was trying to tell him his life was at stake.
221
And, brother, sister, you will never be able to… Don't never try to
hush that holy calling in your heart (See?) by joining a church, by
reciting a creed, by belonging to a certain organization.
There's only one thing can satisfy it; that's the Person, Jesus Christ.
"As the hart panteth for the water brook, so my soul thirsts after
Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for the living God." See? There's
something in you, that wants to see the moving of God. Your soul
thirsts for it. Don't stop anything short of That.
Don't let some pastor tell you, "You just have to shake his hand, join
the church, or belong to this organization." Don't you kill that holy
hush. It's warning you. Someday will come when you'll come down to the
end of the road.
224
Like a little lady in our city we come from. She told the… A little
girl went up there to church, and a very fine little girl. And she was
coming down the street. She had long hair, you know, and her hair
pulled back like a slick as a peeled onion, nearly, and her face
looked–no makeup on. And this girl used to make fun of her, said, "If
you didn't have that flat-headed preacher you got up there," speaking
of me, said–said, "you could look like something decent. But you look
like something out of an antique shop." And, oh, she just really raked
her over the coals, every time she could see her like that. Said, "Our
pastor's broad-minded." Said, "He–he–he knows them. That, why you do
like that? That don't mean anything, how you dress or think." It does.
God's Bible says it does. We shall live by every Word.
So this little girl never paid a bit attention to her, went on. She's a missionary now.
226
So then this–this young lady took a social disease, and she died. A
friend of mine pumped the embalming fluid in her when she was dying. He
told me, said… After she was dead, he kept smelling the fluid. She
had a hole eat in her side, social disease. They didn't even… Even
her parents didn't know what was wrong with her. And she died. But
before she died…
She taught Sunday school. And all of her little Sunday school group
come in; they wanted to see her when she went off to heaven, the Angels
come and pack her away. And her pastor outside, smoking a cigarette,
walking up-and-down the hall in the hospital… And they was all going
to sing when she was going to die, you know. They knowed she had to
die. Doctors said she was dying, so they was all going to see the
Angels come, pack her away.
228
And all at once, when she faced the reality… Now, she was a loyal
church member, she was a Sunday school teacher, and a loyal church
member of a fine big denominational church. But when she started to
struggle, death struck her; her eyes bulged out, and she said, "I'm
lost." She said, "I'm lost. Go, get the pastor."
He put his cigarette out and walked in, said, "Here, here. Here, here. We'll get the doctor to give you a hypo."
Said, "I don't want no hypo." Said, "You deceiver of men. I'm dying,
and I'm going to hell. And I'm lost because you failed to tell me the
truth. Go get that little Gooduse girl, and bring her up here to me,
real quick. She's right."
Wait till you face the reality once. Don't you try to stop that holy
hush. Don't you blast it away with some modern, educational,
double-barreled shotgun. You listen to that warning of the Holy Ghost
tonight, that's warning you, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no
man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." And He is the Word.
232
Let us bow our heads just a moment. I want to quote one more Word of
the Lord Jesus, while you're thinking about it. Jesus said in Matthew
5, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst." It's even blessed to
have that thirst in you. Have you come to a spot that your–your–your
whole system has been so polluted by denominationalisms, and little
cults and clans, and things, little church orders, social, like joining
lodges, and so forth, from church to church? Has the Devil been able to
put that water of pollution, and you're slopping out of it, like a hog
in a trough? When, you don't even know what the real quenching thirst
of God, to see Him, a reality, by the Holy Spirit living in you,
manifesting. If you're–if you're that way tonight, if you're still
thirsting for God, let me tell you:
233
If you've got that thirst tonight to know more about God, and to come
closer to Him, will you just raise up your hand now while every head's
bowed, say, "Pray for me." O God, look at the hands.
Out into the land where the broadcast is coming now, from east, north,
west, and south, you in them rooms, raise up your hands to the pastors
and whatever is there, that you desire, you–something in you,
thirsting for God. That holy thirst, don't satisfy it. Oh, you say,
"Brother Branham, I–I shouted once. I danced in the Spirit."
Don't–don't–don't take that. No.
Wait till that satisfaction comes, the satisfaction portion of the
fullness of the Holy Spirit comes in, then these joy bells of shouting,
and speaking in tongues, and dancing in the Spirit will come. You won't
have to do it by the music. You'll do it when you're going down the
road in your car. You'll do it when you're sweeping the floor. You'll
do it when you're driving nails in the wall, with your carpenter work.
Wherever you are, that joy unspeakable and full of glory… Now, let us
pray.
237
Dear heavenly Father. Long, lengthy, drawed out, this little message
tonight, but, dear God, may Your Holy Spirit deliver the–the meaning
to every heart. Right in this church, tonight, there was just
multiplied numbers of hands up, all the way around the halls and
everywhere. We–we pray, dear God, for them. Oh, may that satisfying
Portion of God, which is Christ, the Hope of Glory, the Hope of Life in
you, may it come to each one of them.
Way out across the nation, from California, way up in New York now,
where it's early in the morning, they're listening in up there; over
in–in New Hampshire, and–and down along in Boston, and all the way
down in Texas, through Indiana, out into California, and around. O God,
look at those hands; look what's beneath them, Lord, that heart there
that's hungering and thirsting.
239
This perverted day, where the Devil's blinded people's eyes, just to
join church, and say, "That's all you need." And they still look at
their own self and see the way they do, and the desire they have to be
like the world and…
When, the Bible tells us, "If we even love the things of the world, the love of God is not even in us."
Just think, Father, how perverted that he can make that real true Word,
how that they can say, "Oh, we believe the Bible, but not This. We
don't believe This. We believe This was for another age. We believe
this is That," because some denomination has twisted their minds into
that cesspool.
When Jesus said, "Whosoever shall take one Word out of This, or add one
word to It, his part will be taken from the Book of Life."
Dear God, think of the disappointments there at judgment when people's
lived a good, clean, holy life, went to church just as loyal as they
could be, and lost.
244
Think of those Pharisees, how from little boys, they trained in the
Word, come up through schools and everything, holy (had to be, or
they'd be stoned to death), and Jesus said, "You are of your father the
Devil."
How that Israel went down there… And let this be a warning to the
Pentecostals, Lord, across the land. How that Moses, a prophet, came
down into Egypt to fulfill the Word of God, to bring the evening light
to them. How they seen the great miracles of God. How they followed
him, crossed the Red Sea, was baptized unto him, went into the
wilderness and eat Angels' food that fell from heaven, and then refused
to take all the Word, when they come back from Kadesh-barnea, to
Kadesh-barnea, from the–from the promised land, and said, "They're
like giants; we can't do it." When God said, "I've already give you the
land": borderline. Jesus said, "They are every one perished." They are
dead, lost, without God, though they done all these things. They seen
these miracles; enjoyed, danced up-and-down the seacoast, with Miriam,
when they beat the tambourine. And only three out of the two million
went in.
246
We realize, Father, that when the sperm, the genes from the male and
female come together, there's only one out of a million that's
accepted. One germ from the male finds the fertile egg of the woman,
the female, and a million others perish.
There's a million, two million, come out of Egypt; two, Joshua and
Caleb, entered the land. One out of a million, Father, I–I tremble
when I think of that. Think, across the world today of five hundred
million Christians, that'd be five hundred if You should come tonight.
O God, let us remember that every Word of God stands a memorial. We
must believe It. We must obey It.
And when You said, "Repent, every one of you, and 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 you, and to your
children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God
shall call." And, God, You are still calling tonight, and the promise
is as long as You call.
And clergymen has twisted the minds of those people, and directed it by
an educational, denominational school of theology, to a thing to say,
"Oh, you just believe." The Devil believes also, but he can't receive
the Holy Spirit. Judas Iscariot was a–done all the–the rest, the
disciples did, preach the Gospel; but when it come time for him to get
the Holy Ghost, he showed his colors.
God, may the people of the land tonight realize that without that
experience, they are lost. May it be tonight that their souls will be
satisfied with Thy Portion, Lord, as we commend them into Thy hand.
They are Yours, Lord. We're only responsible for the Word. I pray that
they'll believe with all their heart, and be filled with the Holy
Ghost. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
251
Oh, is He your
satisfying Portion? Oh, my. You love Him with all your heart? Now, them
words are sometimes cutting, but let's just sing in the Spirit now
(See?), each one of us now. Let's shake hands with the brother setting
next to you, sister, and just say, "God bless you, pilgrim," as we sing
it again.
Now, we shook hands with each other. Now, let's just close our eyes and sing in the Spirit, raise our hands to Him.
253 Oh, isn't He wonderful?
Oh, are you enthused about your experience with Christ? Isn't He wonderful? Doesn't He satisfy?
254
You believe that's Scriptural? The Bible said, "Clap your hands. Make a
joyful noise unto the Lord." You know, I always wanted to play music.
My daughter, Rebekah, is taking piano. My little boy is taking trumpet.
But I–I did learn an instrument of ten strings. [Brother Branham begins clapping his hands–Ed.]
You love Him?
255 [Brother Branham begins humming, "Jesus, the Light of the World."–Ed.] Worship God with everything you have. [Brother Branham continues humming–Ed.]
You love that? Now, I wonder if you got your feet converted, you don't
dance anymore out there for the world? See? Let's pat our feet to the
Lord–to the Lord. Is–is your hands converted? You don't steal
anymore? Your lips are converted, you don't lie anymore? Just don't get
religion in your head, get it all over you. That's it. It takes the
whole man. That's right. Now, let's pat our feet.
Now, let's just raise our hands.
257 Don't you love Him?
You believe He's the Light of the world? Do you? Paul said, "When I
sing, I'll sing in the Spirit. If I worship, I worship in the Spirit."
See? Whatever you do, do it all in the Spirit. That's right. And the
Spirit brings the Word to Life. Is that right? That's right. Yes, sir.
259
Sorry to confuse you players like that, but I just get carried away. I
don't know no better than just to worship. That's the way you do it.
Yes, sir. I'm thankful for this opportunity, Brother Mack, to come and
fellowship with you and your church here tonight, all these fine people.
And you that raised your hands for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I
trust that you'll meet Pastor Mack here, or some of them, and go back
in a room here. And just remember, when God spoke the Word in the
beginning and said, "Let there be," there had to be. And He said,
"Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled." See, it's got to happen. Come to visit your
pastor here, and stand by him as he preaches the Gospel.
261 Now, let's sing again that good old song; I just love that, "We'll walk in the Light."
Jesus
said, "I am the Light," and you're in Him. See? How do you get into
Him? Joining Him? No. Shaking? No. Baptism of water? No. "By one Spirit
we are all baptized into one Body, which is the Body of Christ." And in
that Body is nine spiritual gifts operating through the local body, the
local church. That's apostolic, if I ever knew of it. That's right.
