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To Take On The Whole Armor Of God
62-0701, To Take On The Whole Armor Of God, National Guard Armory, Santa Maria, CA, 114 min


L-1 Thank you, Brother Borders. And let's bow our hearts just a moment now for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, as down through these many years, that song, I've heard it call me to the platform around the world, all kinds of languages. I thank You, Lord, that all things are possible. We can think of seeing the disciples at the bottom of the mountain completely defeated, after You had given them power to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cast out devils. And there they was totally, completely, defeated on an epileptic case.
But coming down the hillside came the Master of faith. The father, running to Him, said, "Lord, have mercy upon my child. He has a devil, and oft time he falls into the fire and pines away." And said, "I brought him to the disciples, and they couldn't cure him." [Luke 9:37-40]
L-2 And we can see, as the wind gives a little puff and His hair blows; He said, "I can, if you believe. For all things are possible to them that believe." Father, it's true yet today, that all things are possible when all doubts can be put away, and faith can take its place. And may we somehow today, by the power of Almighty God, be able to do that: put away every shadow of doubt and let all things that's--be possible to us.
We thank You for the great meetings, for the ministers, for their churches, the people, their cooperation, for the auditorium. Everything that's been done, Lord, we thank You for it. All of our efforts, we pray, Father, that each one has put forth will be blessed and multiplied. And may it return to You like bread upon the water, forgiving all of our sins and healing our diseases, and helping us to live so in this present world that people can see Christ in us. [Mark 9:23]
L-3 There lays here today many handkerchiefs. laying on the platform on this pulpit. I pray, Father, that You'll bless each one of them. They represent sick people, afflicted. And I pray that the Holy Spirit that's present now will bless these handkerchiefs for their intended purpose. You watched every one, Lord. You put it upon their heart to lay them up on here. You knowed what they had need of, and I thank You for them people having that much confidence, Lord.
Now, I'm offering my prayer upon the altar with theirs, and praying that in Jesus Christ's Name that You'll heal every one of them, Lord, from the youngest to the oldest, from the sickest to the best. Grant it, Lord. May it be done through the power of Christ, for we ask it in His Name. Amen. Can be seated.
L-4 I have--I'm short of words when it comes to saying how I appreciate this time of fellowship here at Santa Maria. I am very grateful to this group of ministers that has sponsored this program. And I appreciate them, in knowing that in their different organizations and things they have... To have me here they stuck their neck way out, leaned backwards to do things like that, because I've been accused of an organization fighter, and that is not the truth. It's far from the truth. I have nothing against any organization, not at all. But the system of organization I don't believe in. I--I believe in the men that's in those organizations.
L-5 For instance, if I seen you going down a swift river in a little boat, and I knowed that boat was going to drop out here after while, and it couldn't stand those riffles, I'd be an unjust person... I would be a--an enemy to you to let you float right through them riffles, and not warn you to get out of that boat. See? It isn't--it isn't I got any thing against you; it's the boat you're in. That's the thing. You see? I--I love you. I'm--I'm trying to help you. And these men know that, and they--and they stuck their necks (as we say) way out and leaned backwards to have me here. And I will... Keeping the message just as simple as I possibly could, little dramas and so forth, and to try to be a blessing to you all.
L-6 And I'm sure in leaving here, I'm taking a blessing from being with you. It's been a great thrill to my heart to see that there is still people on the earth, even after the revival is over, that's still trying to press on for the Kingdom of God. I appreciate men of that caliber, and I--and you people. (I suppose all the debts was made, everything?) All expenses was made. You had to sponsor that. You had to pay for it. Wish I could've just paid for it myself, but I--I can't do that. I can't afford it; I haven't got money like that. And I... The reason I can come to small meetings, as I have explained...
Now, there's some of our brethren, such as Brother Roberts, and many of those men, who have great business, and they have radio and television, and so forth, that they've got to make so many thousands of dollars every day to sponsor that. See? They have to have it.
L-7 Well, the Lord always knows what He's doing. He knowed--He knowed not to put me in nothing like that. It'd drive me crazy. See? I--I couldn't do it. I just haven't got the mental powers to do it, and... But He did let me have people who love me, and I--and I try to take what little I have got to put my part into the Kingdom.
Now, Brother Roberts, and Brother Allen, and all those other brothers who have the great meetings, we're all working for one Kingdom (You see, see?), all of us working for one place. And each man is trying with his gifts that God has give him to throw souls into that Kingdom.
L-8 Well, with my little part, I'm trying my part to put with theirs to push you up towards Father, and I don't have to have nothing but just the--the expense, the meeting, the people. I would have it in churches. Used to do it until it got so pathetic, in cold countries and hot, and people standing around the churches, the little sick children to be prayed for, and wives, and be disappointed. So then we got to letting them rent auditoriums and just let the people pay for it. That's took up. That's all of it. It settles it.
L-9 And I'm--I'm very grateful for men of big caliber that has great meetings and so forth. I'm very thankful for those men. Here some time ago I stood by Brother Roberts, one of the most successful one in that line and in the--out on the field today, I guess, is Brother Oral Roberts, fine Christian brother. And I'd just been over to Brother Tommy Osborn. And both of those brothers came into the ministry by coming to one of our meetings when we first started. And then I--I...
And Tommy Osborn, anyone knows that precious brother, he's--he's just one of the finest men. He's just a darling. And I've been over to his place and seen his big business for the Lord and seen his books, and his secretaries, and the big IBM's.
L-10 And I went over to Oral's then, and went through that great millions of dollar building, how they imported, and the ceiling all woven with aluminum wires, and oh, I felt unclean to walk on the floors of--of the place, and the great offices, and see five or six hundred IBM machines running. And mail's not even touched with human hands. See? Just come in there, and go through machinery, come through opened up, went down through conveyers, and through this and out, and gone like that, never touched by human hands.
And I thought, "My, my, what a system."
L-11 Then they put... There was some of my friends waiting outside on the front. Then the big gang gathered up there, and I couldn't go out the front way. They had to take me out the back way. And I went out; two policemen come in and taken me out. I went into the parking lot around on the other side, and I was standing there looking. No windows in the thing, just some kind of an indirect lighting. How perfect. You see them take a coffee break there, and just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. And I think, "What a tribute to a faith of one man, one little Oklahoma boy, that God would grant such a thing." I thought, "God, I thank You for that."
L-12 I looked over there to a little old brother, Tommy Osborn. I thought of him, of how that he was down there--up here at Salem that night, or Portland it was, Oregon, when that maniac run to the platform and challenged me. Maybe people here was there when that happened. Was going to kill me right there on the platform. And I was speaking on faith. He said, "Tonight I'll break every bone in your body, you snake in the grass," and spit on me.
And I--I knowed better than say anything, and I just waited. And the Holy Spirit said, "Because you've challenged the Spirit of God tonight, you'll fall over my feet."
He said, "I'll show you whose feet I'll fall over," and he pulled back his fist to hit me.
And I said, "Satan, come out of him in Jesus' Name," and he fell across my feet till he wedged me on the floor.
L-13 And Tommy and them seen that. He went home and nailed hisself up in a room, waited three or four days, then come home up to Indiana, run around the car, a little, nervous fellow. He said, "Brother Branham, do you think God's give me a gift of healing?"
I said, "Tommy, it shall come to pass that that talk about gifts of healing will be run so far into the muck and mire, until it'll be terrible. There'll be such a mixed multitude go up with this. It'll be all kinds of sensations, and isms, and everything else arise, till it come to pass that everybody has to have some kind of a healing ministry or they won't even be feel they're on the field. And that's only to degrade the man that's absolutely trying to hold his position. Remember, you're just as important in the Kingdom of God as anybody else." And so... And I said, "God called you to preach the Gospel, did He?"
He said, "Yes."
I said, "You look like a promising young man." I said, "Then Divine healing goes with preaching the Gospel. (And that's right.) So just pray for the sick." And that's what he's done. How God blessed that boy: smart, intelligent.
L-14 I stood there and looked around. I felt about that big, standing there before that great big building, looking around. I thought, "My."
I kinda had a little funny feeling go through me, and I thought of Tommy over there, and Oral here; and I was on the field before both of them. And my, I'd hate for them to come to my office: one little typewriter setting in the end of a trailer, and trying to get somebody to help me answer the letters, and so forth. I thought, "My, what... I'd sure feel ashamed of myself like that."
I thought, "Well, God, I guess I just wasn't... You couldn't trust me with that much, that like that. I might have done something that wasn't right, so maybe You couldn't trust me." Maybe that's what it was.
And now, not degrading to the brethren, or not... Hope it doesn't sound sacrilegious, but just as plain as you hear my voice, a voice spoke to me that said, "I'm your Portion."
I said, "Thank You, Lord. I'm happy to have that portion."
"I am your Portion."
L-15 So I thought that sounded--made me feel good. I guess He just did that to encourage me, because I felt so like I hadn't done nothing when I stood and looked at them, what God had done for those brothers.
Then I thought maybe at the end of my road, when I finally finish my last sermon and pray my last prayer, that maybe He will give me a little portion of Himself over there somewhere. And I hope to be there at that day with all of you. [Psalms 16:5]
L-16 Amazing, a little boy, little bitty lad, didn't look over twelve years old (I don't see him here), had a little usher band on his arm, come up just now, and knocked on the window. I was setting there reading a Scripture. I'd been studying on a Scripture to preach on this afternoon, and I--I was looking through to be sure that I had the Scripture at the right place. And I'd had a few wrote down here, and I--I was checking them over. And this little boy come up, said, "Brother Branham, can I take your picture?"
And I said, "Yes, sir. You sure can," I said, "if your camera will stand it." So I got outside. He took my picture. I said, "You better examine it. It might be broke." And he just laughed, cute little fellow.
And he said--he said, "I don't think it is."
And I said, "Well, I hope it's not." Then he turned and looked at me. I said, "Do you live here?"
He said, "I do."
I said, "You sure got the most wonderful climate of anywhere I've ever been."
And he said, "Thank you." He said, "Well, Brother Branham, I don't want to detain you; I know you're studying. And if I never meet you here again, I'll meet you at the other side." A little boy, was a little usher.
I thought "That's right." Yes.
Partings leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
While sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
In seeing, shall take heart again.

That's right. Let us see where we can come from; and make footsteps, that if there is a tomorrow those who come on will follow the footsteps. Let's be sure they lead straight to Calvary, 'cause that's the place. Thank you all again.
L-17 And now there may not be, the... I don't know who takes care of these armory, whether it's the--the officer of the day, or whether it's the... who it is; or--or whether it's a committee, or... Whoever it is, I want to thank them for this precious time that they have given us, and this army building here.
And I don't know too much about the army. I always wanted to be a soldier. You heard my life story, how when I used to just look at magazines and see soldiers, and I--I--I wanted to have a uniform so bad. And I--I think it's a credit to have--wear the uniform of this United States, to what we represent--a great honor. The First World War I was too little. I was only about four years old. And in the last World War I was too ugly or something. They didn't take me, so they--they wouldn't have me.
I went over to register as a minister, and he said, "Are you married?"
And he said, "We put ministers in the class of 4-H." And said, "When we need them we call them."
I said, "I'll be waiting, sir. I'd sure like to get out there and encourage the boys, do all I could." They never did call me, so I guess they--they didn't need me.
L-18 So I remember I wanted to wear a uniform so bad, I... A fellow had a Boy Scout suit, and I told him, "When you wear it out, will you give it to me?" And he said he would. And finally two or three years passed, and I kept asking about that suit. And he tried to find it, and he didn't find nothing but one legging. And I took that, and I wore that, that one legging. I'd stand up to the blackboard at school to write, and I'd put that legging on the right leg, so I could stand this way, you know, and write sideways. Everybody thought I had on two, you know. I just had the one. So it was a uniform. But I was always kind of little, and...
L-19 You know, after all I--I did get a uniform. You might not see it on the outside, but it's on the inside as... I'm going to speak on that just in a few minutes. And I hope that I can live so it will show on the outside, is my prayer.
Let's read now out of the Scripture, 6th chapter of Ephesians, 10th verse beginning.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,... in the power of his might.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of... darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And above all, take the shield of faith, wherein ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of faith, which is the word of God. [Ephesians 6:10-17]

The army of the United States didn't receive me because, I suppose, there were men more eligible. But I'm glad that I got enlisted in an army of the Lord. And He gave me a uniform.
L-20 Paul here is speaking, is talking about preparing a soldier for battle. The Gospel has many leans. You can liken it unto one thing or another. And Paul speaks of it as a runner in Hebrews the 12th chapter. "Seeing that we are compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sins that easily beset us." He's speaking there of the Olympics, or perhaps the Roman Circus. And so now he's speaking of armored men going into battle and how he's got to prepare himself.
I was thinking this afternoon, being that we're closing out here in this armory today, that I would take that for a text. "To Take On The Whole Armour of God," be equipped, be ready, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against Satan, God's enemy, principalities, and wickedness, and evil spirits, wickedness in high places. And we're pressing towards the mark of the high calling, and we are certainly in a battle. [Hebrews 12:1]
L-21 And no nation would dare to send a man on the battlefield untrained. He might not only get himself killed but another group. He doesn't know how to take a hold, and so he must be prepared for it. And the nations are wise to that. They get their men ready.
Now, the spy system of the whole world, you know, it's so that even though we be friends with other nations like England and--and our--our allies, yet we have spies in England; and England has spies here. And we have spies all over the world, and the world has spies here, whether we're friendly or not friendly. It's the system that they use. It just seems like that you, in that national affair you cannot trust anything.
L-22 And you know why? Is because the whole world is controlled by Satan. Every kingdom in the world is ruled by Satan. We hate to think that, but that's the Scripture. You know, the enemy taken our Lord up into a high exceeding mountain, exceedingly high, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, "They are all mine. I'm the ruler of them. I do with them whatever I want to, and I'll give them to you."
Watch the wisdom of the Lord Jesus staying with the Word of God. He knew He'd fall heir to them in the Kingdom, in the Kingdom that is to come in the millennium. So He said, "Get thee hence, Satan." [Matthew 4:8-10]
L-23 Now, you see, Satan can do with them whatever he wishes to. Now, if these nations were controlled by God, we'd have no war. There would be no more conflict. There would be... God's. But Satan is the ruler of every kingdom. He rules the world. But someday...
You see it in the people. Every person is wanting one nation to control the world, want one flag, and they want to be the most powerful nation in all the world, and take everything under their own control, and make all the rest of the nations speak their language. What is it? It only shows that there is such a place. [John 18:36], [Matthew 4:8-9], [Luke 4:5-7]
L-24 As David said, "When the deep calls to the deep..." Now, before there can be a deep to--calling on the inside, there has to be a deep to respond to that call. In other words, I've often made this kind of a statement in saying this, quoting this Scripture: before there could be a flower to grow in the earth, there had to be an earth first, before there was a flower to grow in the earth.
And go out here to the seashore and think of the fish. Now, before there was a fin on a fish's back, there had to be a water for him to swim in to use that fin, before the fin ever come there. See? [Psalms 42:7]
L-25 And now, we all are looking for a place where there's no death, where there's no sickness. Look at us. As little boys and little girls it was--our main object was win some marbles, or spin tops, or play dolls. Then we had to go to school. Then when we... Next thing was which woman would we choose, or which man, for our life's companion? Then the family come on. They--they--the family has to be educated; the home has to be paid for. And time that's done, we're finished too. Our hair has turned gray and slipped out, and we're--our face is towards the setting of the sun. See?
L-26 But we're longing for that something inside of us, that's saying there--that there is somewhere... What is it? It goes to show that that place is somewhere. Here you are setting here this afternoon. I looked--passed by a lady. The Holy Spirit just said, "Turn around." She was setting there in a wheelchair with her hand up. What's she doing here? Here sets a beautiful young woman setting here, crippled up; maybe a man setting here, arthritis; maybe one with heart trouble.
Now, these people in a wheelchair may live an ordinary life. See? You often wonder sometimes about crippled people. Anyone can see they're crippled. There's no miracle in telling them they're crippled. It's this that looks nice and healthy, then tell them where their trouble is; that's the miracle. [Joshua 1:3]
L-27 But sometimes when a person's crippled, they think that's the end of it. Oh, no, no. Just watch. I--I know what it is, but I'm watching to see what He tells me to do. See? I can only speak as He speaks. But you see, they're--they're thirsting, hungering for somewhere. Something tells them that there's a power somewhere that can liberate them. Well, just as sure as that's in your heart, thinking that, there's got to be a fountain somewhere of healing. See, see?
See, before there can be a creation, there has to be a Creator to create the creation. See? And as long as in you is thirsting for somewhere to touch, there is a--surely a fountain open somewhere that you can touch, because it has to be. Something's created that in you. And if--if there was no Bible to tell us so, still it would have to be a reality, because there's something in you that a Creator has created. And before there can be a desire, there has to be something to fulfill that desire.
Did you ever have something you were hungering for and you just couldn't get the taste of it? After while you got it. There it was. See?
L-28 Now, we're longing for somewhere there's no death, no sorrow, no heartaches, no old age. That land is somewhere. And we'll never be able to achieve it by guns, and fighting, and so forth, of the natural carnal weapon. But there is a land that we can go to, and it's a battle to get there.
When God gave Israel Palestine when he was in Egypt, but they had to fight for every inch of it. And he told Joshua (in Joshua 1); He said, "Wherever the soles of your foot treads upon, that I have given you." So footprints means possession. See? Just keep walking, walking, pressing on. And every time you make a step into the Kingdom of God, that's yours, just on... And all things are possible that's given; and all things are given that's possible. But it's a battle. [Revelation 21:4], [Matthew 19:26], [Mark 9:23], [Luke 18:27]
L-29 And in our achievement here in--in the nation, of trying to look around to find out what's taking place, the spies of the other nations here, spying out on us... We have spies over there spying out on us. They're watching to see what kind of a new weapon that will come up. And then they have--take that back to their own country, and find something to counteract that weapon, that'll beat it, get a little better.
Now, first war I remember is the World War I. I was a little boy. And I remember my father coming up the road driving two horses and a wagon. He... And he had a sack of beans setting on the wagon. And we'd go down on Saturday and buy sack of beans, and a--and a sack of flour, and a sack of meal, and--and a few things like that to run us through the week. And I said...
L-30 I heard him say, "War was declared, mother. You hear all those whistles?" Dad was about twenty-three or twenty-four years old then. He said, "I may have to go."
And I thought, "My daddy go to war? I'll take this sack of beans, and hit somebody with it if my..." See? And I was just a little bitty fellow. And I remember his rifle, the old Springfield rifle, how he said it would shoot through a telephone post. That rifle is absolutely obsolete.
The old steam engines on the tracks, that used to bring up the ammunition and--and bring up the soldiers to the battle front, a great old fellow that old steam engine was, but it's obsolete. They don't have it no more. They got something far better than what they had then.
Then in the next--next war, the--and Garand rifle taken the place of the Springfield. And now they've got atomic missiles; the Garand rifle's gone. They're always renewing and getting something better to--to combat the enemy.
L-31 And we are a army. The Christian church is an army of God. We are soldiers, soldiers of the cross. And it is the business of every nation to see that their soldiers has the best that there is. Nothing...
I was preaching the other night about achievement at another meeting somewhere, and I talked about our American soldiers. When Washington was at Valley Forge, about half of them had on shoes. They were bare-footed. But they had a general that prayed all night. He swept across the Delaware the next day. That's why we got America. It's men, gallant men who had something to fight for. We should never let them down.
L-32 Now, they had muskets in them days, knives. That's the best they had. Any nation... They had the best we could give them. And today look at the difference in our army today than there was then.
But you know, when God... Being infinite, infinite He cannot change. There's where my faith rests, is on God's Word, because It is God. And Himself... [Malachi 3:6]
L-33 See, a word is a thought expressed. And when God thinks anythings in His mind, and then when He expresses it, it's eternal. Because no man is any better than his word, and God is eternal, and His Word is eternal with Him, because it's part of Him. And you are part of your own word, and God is part of His own Word.
Now, I can say anything, or the nation can say anything, in a year or two they have to keep improving it. But God is perfect, and His first decision is... He cannot change it any more, because it's perfect; 'cause God would not do anything unless it was perfect. [Malachi 3:6]
L-34 So when God... The first battle that was ever fought was not fought on the earth; it was fought in heaven, Michael and his Angels against Lucifer. And they were kicked out of heaven. And then that great army of the devil and all of his imps fell upon the earth, and God knowed there was going to be a battle. I believe He knowed from the very beginning everything that would ever be. If God's infinite, He knowed every flea that would be on the earth, every gnat, how many times it would bat its eye, and how much tallow they'd all make together. He's infinite. [Isaiah 14:12-17]
L-35 So the infinite God's going to choose for His army the best weapon that could be given. And He chose it, and it was His Word. God gave His army the best equipment that it could ever use, and ever could use, and would never have to be changed. And He's never changed it since. You don't improve it; it remains the same all the time. It's God's Word that He fortified His people with.
No matter how many things Satan ever gets, how many things any other army ever gets, or anything, it can never take the place of God's first choice, His Word. He gave them His Word, His promise, and said, "Stay with it," the best that could be known. [Matthew 4:4, 6, 7, 10], [Luke 4:4, 8, 10]
L-36 Now, the enemy knowed as long as the human race stayed with that Word, he'd never be able to touch them. (Now, I'm beginning to feel religious right now.) As long as the human race stayed with the Word... God fortified His family on the earth, His army, in the fort of His Word. That is our Fortress. "The Name of the Lord is a mighty tower. The righteous run into it and are safe." They're fortified.
The Lord is the Word. They are in there fortified and safe forevermore, as long as the human race stays in the Word. As long as the church stays in the Word it's fortified. There's nothing going to bother it. [Proverbs 18:10]
L-37 Now, the enemy, to try to get a spy in there, to try to get in there some way, he had to get some kind of a tactic to work his way in. That's the way spies work their way into this nation, is some kind of a tactic to get through the--the consuls and so forth. They had to have a way to work theirself in here. Communism had to do the same thing.
L-38 While we're thinking about communism, let me give you a little word. This is going to sound strange for a preacher, but don't you never fear anything about communism. It ain't nothing. I want any minister, or any Scriptural leader, to ever show me in the Bible where communism will rule the world. Romanism's going to rule the world, according to the Bible. You watch that. Don't you think about communism. It's just a puppet in the hands of God to fulfill His will. Exactly what He said. He uses that. But don't you never worry about communism. It's Romanism, the Bible says.
L-39 There's three curtains. As I leave you this afternoon, I leave this with you. Remember, there's three curtains. One of them's called the iron curtain, one of them the bamboo curtain (China and so forth, eastern). And then there's a purple curtain. Don't fear the bamboo curtain or the iron curtain; but be careful of that purple one. Better be careful. The antichrist shall be so close to deceive the very elected...
What is the elected? When that light shines upon that (S-o-n) s-u-n shines upon a seed that's governed by botany life, it'll come to life. And when the S-o-n of God shines upon that predestinated seed, it'll come to life that quick, just as soon... I don't care what state of life. It might be a prostitute, it might be a drunkard or a gambler. It'll shine at that minute, as soon as it strikes it. "Deceive the elected if it was possible." [Matthew 24:24]
L-40 Now, notice. Satan tried to get in there to spy out, to see what--how he could get a hold of that human race, and he took one of the most famous tactics that... Well, it showed that he had to be a supernatural power to think of it. And he used this the first time and was successful, and he's done it ever since, and still successful to a certain estate. He used reasoning against faith.
Satan come to Eve and begin to reason against the Word of God, the great Armor that God had fortified His people with. He begin to use reasoning. Now, "It's only reasonable that God would not destroy you. Surely you will not die." But remember, friends, that's Satan's tactic to begin with, and he still uses the same thing, and still successful with it: a reasoning. [Genesis 3:4-5]
L-41 They try to reason: "Why would we need the Holy Ghost today? Why would we need Divine healing? Why would we need this, and how would we need another Pentecost? We're all civilized." They were too.
But you see, if whatever it taken to begin with, and whatever God give them to begin with, that's what it ever remains. And tactics of reasoning is what Satan used, and that's what he ever uses: reasoning.
We know our enemy, because any enemy... (Now, Brethren, I have let away from doctrine, you see, around here, but I've got to say this.) Any enemy that reasons against... Or any person, any church, any organization, any individual that reasons against one punctuation of God's Word is your enemy. It takes the Word to defeat the enemy. [Genesis 3:1-5]
L-42 When Jesus of Nazareth was here on earth He never used His power; yet He was God manifested in flesh. He never used His power when Satan come against Him. He said, "It's written." What did... He had to do that, because Eve broke down on that. And what Eve lost, Christ regained. Where Eve let down, Christ fortified again. "It is written: man shall not live by bread alone. It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." It is written, it is written. What is it? He stayed with the original artillery. But Eve let down. She begin to listening to reason.
And there's people today who can almost reason you right down and prove to you that the thing is wrong. Satan was very successful with Eve. What does reasoning do? It makes it appealing. "Well, now, if I want to be religious..." [Luke 4:4, 8, 10], [Matthew 4:4, 6, 7, 10]
L-43 Please don't get me wrong now. A man comes to a place he wants to be--wants religion. He wants to be saved; he doesn't want to go to hell. No human being wants to go to that place. It wasn't made for the human being; it was made for the devil and his angels; wasn't made for human beings.
Now. But the human being sends hisself in there. God throws every red light He can across it, and the people fights right on beyond it. You have...
Before you can come--become an unbeliever, you have to bypass faith in God's Word first before you can become an unbeliever. You have to run the red light of God. [Matthew 25:41]
L-44 Notice, these people, how that Satan made it so appealing. And sin is appealing. I know I haven't got too long on this text, but I'd like just to take my time for a few minutes. Let's stop on that just for a moment. We could be here in the morning on the same subject, but let's just watch.
Sin in the last days, Peter tells us, that he will go about like a roaring lion. It's getting worse. Now, I want to ask you something. I'm not condemning; I'm just making a statement. Some of you older men, or let's take any of us, and go back to a picture of some woman fifty or sixty years ago that was a beauty queen in her day. Pearl White, Scott Jackson... She was supposed to be America's most beautiful woman. If you'd see her picture hanging on a wall, you'd think it was an antique. What is it? It's women have become more beautiful. Satan is dressing them in that way, fixing them in that way. See, that becomes that way because it's become more appealing. It's a... [I Peter 5:8]
L-45 I--I'd better bypass that, 'cause I promised I wasn't going to get into them things again. See? But how it is, that was his first tool. He's bringing it right back again in the last days. Sisters, don't get mixed up in that stuff. Stay away from it.
Did you notice, in every sex that there is, the male is always the prettiest. Which is the prettiest, to say the--in the bird family? Look at the--the little... Someone said, "pheasant." That's all right. Let's look at the big cock pheasant, how pretty he is, and look at little speckled hen. Let's take a look at the deer: the doe, a plain little homely-looking thing, and the buck, a great big beautiful species.
L-46 Look at the bull and the cow. Look at the elk, the male and female. Look at anything that you want to look at, and you'll always find that the male is the prettiest, besides the human race. And the male is ugly, and the female is pretty. That's right. If you see a male that's a little pretty thing, you just remember; there's a misplaced cell somewhere.
Now, that ought to make all of us ugly ones feel good. But it is. When you see a man looking and acting like a woman, there's a tiny bit of perversion there somewhere. And you see a woman trying to act and look like a man, it's perverted there again. It was both male at the first time, and God separated them. He put the masculine spirit in the man, and took the feminish spirit, and put it in the woman. And when you see a man trying to be feminish, or--or a woman trying to be masculine, there's something wrong somewhere.
L-47 Notice. So that they would be one, both soul and body, He took a rib from his side, and made a woman. See? A woman is not in the original creation; she's a byproduct of the man. See? Today in America she's boss, god, and everything else. She'll twist down the street and send more souls to hell than all the bootleg joints you could place between here and Los Angeles. That's right.
But yet a good woman is the best thing that God could give a man, because it's part of him. But of this Hollywood down here, and such hellholes as that has corrupted the nation and the life of the nation, and broke the backbone through the immorals of womanhood and motherhood, through divorce courts and everything else. (I--I'll get off my text. I'll come back again sometime.) [Genesis 2:21-24]
L-48 It's appealing. Now, he makes it again... He makes it educational, intellectual. Did not the Holy Ghost tell us in II Timothy, 3rd chapter, that in the last days it would become an intellectual group in the church? "Heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that are good?"
You say, "Them's communists."
Oh, no. Them's so-called Christians (See?), having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. And the power is the Word made manifest. Said, "The Gospel come to us not through word only, but through power and demonstrations of the Spirit." I'm speaking of the army of God now: fortified. [II Timothy 3:3-4], [I Corinthians 2:4]
L-49 Makes it appealing, rich, glitter... Oh, everything's a glittering with Hollywood, the swag-hole of the earth. And used to be that we went to Paris to get model conditions for our women, and now Paris comes here to take them from us. I preached here some time ago on "The Invasion of the United States," and overthrow of the American government. You ought to heard it.
I had a little flapper setting on the platform, or a little twister, ever what you call it, and said, "Here she is." And that is right. Lowest of all the nations: more divorces in America than there is the rest of the world put together almost. Corrupt, dirty, filthy, and the last civilization, and we're on the west coast, where the east and the west will meet. That's right. Right in our own churches, right among our own people...
L-50 But Satan makes it appealing. Certainly. It's appealing. Sin's appealing. But the enemy keeps finding a better bait. He will strip her off a little more, and do this, and do that. And don't worry, he will never make her completely naked. She'd be horrible then. See, he knows just what to do. But Satan keeps bringing sin in. And that was the original sin. That's the way he's going out: with the same thing as the kingdom come in, the warfare.
Now, watch. But God doesn't have to do anything more to His, make it any more appealing. The only thing He has to do is just raise up a standard of His own Word against the enemy. When the--the Bible said, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of God raises a standard against it." What does He do? He makes the Word that He's already said more positive (whew!), and taking His same Word, and just making It more positive. [Isaiah 59:19]
L-51 I haven't got my purse, but did you ever notice on the back of an American dollar? Over on one side it's got the American seal, an eagle with the arrows in his claws: American seal. But in the other corner that faces you, I believe the right-hand corner, he's got a pyramid. And he's got wrote under there, "The Great Seal."
Why would our nation would think of making an Egyptian pyramid "The Great Seal," above even our seal of American eagle? Did you notice? Just above the pyramid is the headstone standing above it like an eye shining.
L-52 Now, I've been to Egypt, and in those pyramids... How I could take all afternoon. Now, I don't believe in doctrines of pyramids. I'm only making a parable. But as you notice that pyramid, it never did receive the stone. Enoch built that--that pyramid or in his days. They can't figure it out.
Now, they got all kinds of religions on it, like they have on the zodiac. But everything in... God wrote three Bibles. The first one was in the heavens; the second one was in the pyramid; the third one's on the earth, and every one of them agree with one another.
L-53 Watch. What does the zodiac start off with? The Virgin. What does it end with? Leo the lion: the first coming of Christ, and the second coming of Christ. And we're now in the crossed fishes, which is the cancer age: perfect. Watch the--the tower here, the pyramid. The first is way wide; next it become more in the minority; then up close again; and then the headstone come.
What was it? Luther in the reformation, justification. Then the enemy begin to come like a flood. He raised up a standard, sanctification, a little more powerful in the Spirit. Then when the enemy begin to cover that over and they begin to organize and join this, that, and the other, then the Spirit of God moved into the Pentecostals, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They organized, and went off. Now, what's He doing? There's no other age to come to, but He's taking that Pentecostal church and taking the elect out of that, and honing it so that when this Headstone comes upon it, will have to be like the rest of it.
L-54 Why, it's so... Them rocks laying up there of hundreds of tons, laying up there, it's so close together without mortar that you can't run a razor blade between them. And when the Headstone comes, Christ comes to His temple, it'll have to fit perfect like the rest of it. And the ministry of the Pentecostal church will have to get so perfect till it'll fit right in with the same ministry that He had here, which will take the whole thing in the rapture, being the church. Right.
Now, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, He raises a standard against it." Now, watch. In Eden He gave them His Word for their Armor, just the Word spoke. Then the enemy came in like a flood, and He took the Word and made it flesh to dwell among us, a little stronger. From up there speaking, here He is walking on earth. Glory. Going to call me a holy-roller anyhow, so you might as well get used to it now. [Isaiah 59:19]
L-55 Oh, first it was the Spoken Word out yonder. Now, here It is; you could touch it; It's made flesh. And then when the enemy still come in like a flood, He poured the Word into the person, being the form of the Holy Ghost. There's your one, two, three again: justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, Like Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and so forth, in perfection.
Now, notice the Spoken Word. God above us, God with us, God in us: the Word above us, the Word with us, the Word in us. Hallelujah. Ye are God's, God's army, marching on: God's Spoken Word above us in a Pillar of Fire; God's manifestation of His Word in flesh; now God's Spirit, Spoken Word, in us. Amen. Oh. [Isaiah 59:19], [Acts 2:37-39]
L-56 Now, as it was in the days of Noah, there was giants in the land, you know. And so, Satan also has his intellectual giants in the land. That's right. Oh, my. D.D., D.D., Ph., double L, Oh, my, my, my, intellectual giants... Oh, they know all the words, all the grammar; they know--they just know it all, intellectual giants. But somehow or another they become spies. And that's the spy system. Forgive me now, intellectual brother, but it's a spy system that sits out among you to take out the sheep and say, "Why, that's holy-rollers. That isn't so."
If it's with the Word, it is so. Now, we know we've got counterfeits everywhere. That's right. It's a battle. You've got to know your enemy, and you've got to know your Armor. Your Armor is the Word. Your enemy is something that'll reason against It. "Now, I tell you, dear, you don't have to do this. Our church is the biggest church. We got more..." Uh-huh, intellectual giants... And you listen to him a few minutes, he will have you so far away from the truth, till you won't know where you're at. That's right. Oh, so deceiving, his collar turned around, you know, and walking down, and say, "Well, we are... We've been on the road a long, long time." [Ephesians 6:10-18]
L-57 You know, here not long ago I see where the--the pope of Rome invited all the churches back to the beginning. I said, "Praise God. I'd like to do that."
"All of you come back to Rome, where the church begin."
I'd like for some historian, some Bible reader, or some scholar to prove to me that the church begin in Rome. The church begin in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That's where the church started. Rome had nothing to do with it. Rome was the ruin of it when it organized.
But I'll tell you; organization begin in Rome. That's true. But the church in its birth, in its armor, begin on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. And if the honorable pope wants to go back to that time, I'll join hands with him, and say, "Bless God. I'll put everything I can for you. I'm trying to get back to that day."
L-58 The Message of the last day, the evening Light messenger (according to Malachi 4) will be turning the hearts of the children back to the fathers, the Pentecostal original message. Got it so scrupled up, and so forth, out here... Take the Word of God.
Spies are in the land. Oh, my. They like to fuss with you. One come here not long ago to me, and he had, "Only the hundred and twenty went upstairs, only the twelve apostles received the Holy Ghost, Divine healing. We speak where the Word speaks, silent where it's silent," and went on like that. I just let him blow for a little while, like the Irishman's owl, all fuss and feathers, and no owl anyhow. So he got through like that. [Malachi 4:5-6]
L-59 I said, "Wait. You ought to give me a chance to explain that. Did you say there was only the twelve apostles received the Holy Ghost?"
I said, "Then Paul didn't have it. Only the gift of healing was only give to the twelve, you said? Then what about Stephen, that went down and preached to the Samaritans, and laid hands on them, and cast out devils in a great revival? What about Paul coming down there and laid his hands, Peter come down, laid his hands upon them and they all received the Holy Ghost? How about Acts 10:49 when the Gentiles received it? Because the circumcision marveled, upon the Gentiles was also poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard them speak in tongues and magnify God. Then said, "Can we forbid water, seeing that these should not be baptized that has received the Holy Ghost like we did at the beginning?" Amen.
Glory. That's the truth. Oh, I'm so glad to have the sails set in the winds of the rushing mighty wind, aren't you? Sails you right through the Bible, Scripture by Scripture. [Acts 10:47]
L-60 But to hurry up, these intellectual giants are too much for God's humble people. Now, God's people has always been uneducated and humble. Just tell me one time it was any other way. Watch the two sons. Watch Cain and Seth's children. Abel was killed, which was a type of death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Seth took his place.
Now, Cain's children become intellectual, religious, 'cause their father was intellectual (Cain), religious. And Cain built an altar; Abel built an altar. Cain made an offering; Abel made an offering. Cain worshipped; Abel worshipped. And if God only respects a church, its order, its worship, its offerings, and so forth, if that's all God respects, He was unjust for condemning Cain, 'cause he was just as religious as Abel was. But he didn't come the right way. [Genesis 5:1-10]
L-61 How about Moab? There was Israel; there was Moab, who worshipped the same God we do. What was it? It was Lot's daughter's child. And there they was. They went out and brought bishop Balaam in. And he made seven altars, just like they was down in Israel.
Now, Israel was a undenominational, had no nation to go to, but it was going to one. Amen. Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come. Watch. Balaam offered seven clean sacrifices, bullocks, just like they had down in Israel. And Balaam offered seven rams, speaking of the coming of Christ. So did Israel. [Numbers 22:31]
L-62 Then if fundamentalism is all that God requires, both places was justified. But what was it? What was it that Balaam failed to see? He failed to see that Pillar of Fire. He failed to see that smitten rock, that brass serpent going before Israel for an atonement. He failed to hear the shout of the camp--of the King among them. He judged them by their works.
God don't judge no one by their works, judge you by your faith. Notice. I want to clear that up about the little woman last night too. It wasn't her works of washing her feet. He justified her then before Simon by saying what she had done; He justified her by works, what she was doing. But when He justified her in her own sight, He said, "Thy faith hath saved thee," 'cause no man is justified by works. By her faith in Him being the Son of God, not what she was doing, but her faith in Him... And your faith always tells your works. That's right. [Luke 7:50]
L-63 These intellectual giants are in them days were far... They... Look what Cain's children become: scientists, doctors, workers of metal, great men in the earth. But what was Seth's children? Farmers, sheepherders. See, they couldn't compare with them at all, and God likened us unto sheep. If anybody ever raised a sheep...
A sheep's one thing, when he's lost, he's totally lost. He can't go nowhere without the shepherd. And that's the way God made us. We don't claim no intellectuals. We just got a Shepherd; that's all. And He takes us around from pasture to pasture.
L-64 So today these great intellectual spies are too much for the poor, humble children of God. Now, Jude said in the book of Jude, last of Jude there, he said that they have creeped in among us: creeped in. That's what's causing to go out in these big tantrums that they've done. Creeped in among us, men foreordained to this condemnation, creeped in among us, drawing us away from the Word, causing us to lose faith in the Word: wandering spots, ships without sails... The rushing wind could blow, and they just got an old dead organization pole standing there, going, "Wooo, days of miracles is past. Wooo, no such a thing as Divine healing."
But if you've got a real spiritual sail setting up there, the Spirit picks it up and away across she goes into lands that they know nothing about. That's right. Yes, causing you to lose faith in the Word by their polished-up seminary experiences. [Jude 1:4]
L-65 They attacked Noah in the same way. They've attacked God's children every time the same way. Nimrod built hisself a tower to get away from the plagues of God, but it didn't last. Nebuchadnezzar built him a city, but it fell. Noah, building the ark... Could you imagine scientists in those days that could build a pyramid that we couldn't build today, could embalm a body with fluid we know nothing about? Many things that we've never learned yet that they know.
Could you imagine them scientists saying, "You old quack. Show me. We can shoot the moon with our radar and stuff. There's not a speck of water between here and there. How's it going to come?"
But Noah said, "God, if He promised water, He can put water there." Sure. It's too much for the--these children today, these poor little children, the intellectuals. [Genesis 10:8-10], [Genesis 11:1-5]
L-66 Oh, look at the day of--when Jehoshaphat come down and got off of his grounds. And he met Ahab. And Ahab, always an axe to grind, and he said, "Does not Ramoth-gilead belong to us?"
He said, "Sure. Joshua, in dividing the land, give it to us."
Said, "All right."
But you know, Jehoshaphat was a good man, but just out of his place. That's what's the matter with many a man today in some of these spiritual morgues, icicles hanging down in, the thermometer, spiritually speaking, ninety below zero. Go in there, and say, "Amen," or "Praise God," everybody stretch their neck like some gander goose, looking around, see what's taking place: dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. They forget about... [I Kings 22:3]
L-67 I was preaching one night, and a woman got to screaming and shouting, a little Baptist brother told me the next day, said, "I was enjoying your message till that woman went to screaming." Said, "You know that made chills run over my back."
I said, "Brother, you're living in the quietest world you ever lived in. If you go to hell, there'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. If you go to heaven there'll be screaming and shouting all the time. Why," I said, "man, if that made chills run up your back," I said, "what will it do when you get to heaven? Why, you'll freeze to death when you get there." I said, "You'd be so out of place. For even the Angels, with wings over their face and hands are...?... over their feet and over their face, are singing, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy.'"
God is an object of worship. God is worshipped, worshipped. If anything I honor the Pentecostal people for is to let loose and worship God. Yes.
L-68 Intellectual giants... There stood Jehoshaphat, been used to worshipping God. Here was Ahab. And Jehoshaphat, of course, being a man of God, thought the first thing is consult God. That's the best thing. He said, "We should consult God."
"Oh," Ahab said, "certainly, your honor, sir." Like saying, "Yes, sir, your honor. Why, sure. I have a seminary down here plumb full of them. I've got four hundred of the best there is."
Said, "Call them up."
Here come up Doctor Ph.D., L.L.. All of them come up there. And Micaiah and all of them come up there, not Micaiah. All the prophets come up there. And they said, "Prophesy and tell us: shall we go up to Ramoth-gilead, where Joshua... God give us that land?"
And they go on down. And they consulted God, and they prayed, and they prayed, come back up and said, "Yep. Go up. The Lord's with you." [I Kings 22:15]
L-69 Hezekiah went, and made himself a great big set of horns, run through the crowd, said, "By this, these big iron horns, you're going to push Ramoth-gilead,. push the Philistines plumb out of the country" or the Assyrians. "You're going to push them plumb out of the country by this." Oh.
"Now, let's reason. I say, 'How do you know that's so?'"
"Looky here. God gave that land to us. The food that's grown on that land goes to Israel. God gave it to us by Joshua."
"Amen," all of them said. "That's right, sir, your honor. And our enemy is fattening themselves on our land. It's not right."
"Amen. That sounds good." [I Kings 22:1-7]
L-70 Doesn't it sound good, intellectually? But you know, there's something like that, that just don't always strike a man of God. Jehoshaphat looked around. He said, "Is this all you got?"
"Why," he said, "we got four hundred here with one accord. Why, the whole school is out here. All the seminaries are together. All of them's here."
It just didn't ring out somehow. That was that predestinated seed. You see?
He said, "Haven't you just got one more?"
He said, "Yes, I got one more. But I hate him. I hate him." Said, "He's Micaiah, the son of Imlah." But said, "I hate him because he's always prophesying evil against me." Oh, brother. God bless that man. He said, "Here's every one of our organizations, every one of them in one accord," like the U. N. up there now. [I Kings 22:3-8]
L-71 You know the Bible said He'd--He would bundle the tares first. They're sure bundling up together, all to the World Council of Churches, every one of them going, where it's all headed for. That gives the church a chance to grow then. All right. Get a little persecution where you're not fed so well everything have to be pushed together. God's got a way of doing things, you know.
L-72 So first thing you know, that all... He said, "Send and get him. Let's hear him, see what he'd say."
He said, "I'm warning you before he comes. That guy doesn't do nothing but slobber out against me all the time."
"Oh, don't let the king say so."
So they sent the deacon board over to get him, to have this meeting. So when they got--come got him, they said, "Look, Micaiah, do you know what? You've been put out of the association, you understand. You're not in the association any more. We had to excommunicate you. And I tell you now, you know, and you're an Israelite, the same as the rest of us are, you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us."
"Now, I'll tell you what to do; if you want to find favor, and get back in your right position again with the--with the brethren, I'll tell you what you do. You go over there and say the same thing they say." [I Kings 22:3-17]
L-73 Brother, he was barking up the wrong tree then. That kind of stuff don't go with a man of God, a prophet. He knows what fortified him was the Word of God.
He said, "As the Lord lives, I'll only say what He puts in my mouth." Oh, my, there you are...?...
Now, if somebody say, "That's what I do too," every one would try to say that. But if he puts something in there contrary to His Word, it was the devil put it in there, not God. God only puts His Word. Watch where that prophet is getting. He knowed the Word of God came to the prophets. And Elijah, the prophet, had already cursed Ahab because of Naboth, and said that the dogs would lick His Blood. So how could God bless what He had cursed? [I Kings 22:14]
L-74 So Micaiah said, "Wait, and I'll see what He says." He's going to have the vision first and compare it with the Word. That's always. Compare it with the Word. That's God's Urim Thummim. So then, when he--he went, said, "Give me tonight." And that night might've prayed all night, and the Lord come to him, told him what to say.
He went down the next morning, said, "Go on up, that's right, but I seen Israel scattered like sheep, having no shepherd."
See, what had he done? He had compared his vision with the Word, and he knowed he was perfectly right there. No matter how many of them intellectuals; great, high, school-trained, and polished scholars, and seminary, that didn't--didn't phase Micaiah one bit. Why? He stayed fortified by his vision of the Word. There he was. [I Kings 22:17]
L-75 One of them smacked him in the mouth, said, "Now, we'll never take you into the association." Said, "Let me show you something, Micaiah. Isn't it reasonable..."
I don't care how much reasoning it in, if it's against God's Word, it's against God's Word. If a intellectual giant come, said, "We don't need no Holy Ghost. We don't need this Divine healing." I don't care how much reasonable it looks like; if it's contrary to the Word, God gave the promise. Amen.
L-76 They say, "That was just for the apostles." I just wonder where they get that. Peter said on the day of Pentecost, "Repent, every one of you and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your 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." Amen. Just for the apostles... For every one that's called. Yeah, don't listen to that giant. See?
We wrestle, the Bible says here, not against flesh and blood. We don't try to break toeholds in the wrestling ring with flesh and blood; but we try to break heart-holds of the spirit that's got a hold of the people, got into their system, into their heart, making them do and say things that's wrong. Sure. [Acts 2:38]
L-77 I used to... You know, I'm an ex-pugilist myself. I got--had the undefeated bantam weight championship of three--three states. I used to watch the fellows come to the ring with all kind of fancy stuff, all fancy fangdangoed on them. That didn't made them fighters. Sometimes that was a sham. That didn't have nothing to do with it. If he--if he didn't have some hidden power there to break the holds...
And that's the way we try to bring our churches today: with the highest steeple, the prettiest pews, the best-dressed crowd. That don't break the toehold. No, it takes that hidden power of the Spirit of God, that Word in there to break the hold. That's right.
L-78 Like Peter was. He was a good with his sword. When Jesus got in trouble, he pulled out his sword. He could flop any way, cut the high priest, his servant's ear off with a sword. But when it come to real Christian courage, he didn't have it. Yes. But the spiritual courage, he denied the Word made flesh standing right among them.
He was good with his sword. That's right. He could duel the creed just as good as anybody could. But he, when it come to spiritual courage, he didn't have it. So he failed right there. Now, why? He only knowed one thing, his creed. But brother, after he went up to Pentecost, he put on the whole armor of God. Now, watch him. He's a different person now. He put on the whole armor. [Matthew 26:51-53]
L-79 What was it? That Word that he'd walked with was in him, burning him up with fire in his flesh and soul. He had the whole armor of God on. That's God's provided armor. He had the baptism, filled with the Holy Ghost. What is it? God makes Himself ever present in His own army. God, on the day of Pentecost, sent down the full armor of God for His army. That was Himself among you.
"Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more. Yet ye shall see Me because I will be with you, even in you, until the end of the world." Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and forever," Matthew 28. All right. That He has... He is with us, in us. That's the armor. It's Him. He is the Word, and He is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is in us, which is the Word making the promise manifest. This is the promise. Christ is the Word, and He makes It manifest. [Matthew 28:20]
L-80 The Spirit quickens the Word, makes the... In other words, he's the powder that sends the bullet out there with it. Like it was the powder when David met Goliath with a slingshot with a rock in it. He only had one place to hit, and that was right between the eyes. Rest of it was armored. But God got in that spirit.
What was it? He had five stones and a slingshot. Look. F-a-i-t-h in J-e-s-u-s. Here He comes. Something's fixing to happen, 'cause there's the Word, the promise, and the power to sling it. That's what we need today, is a man that'll take God's Word with the power of the Holy Ghost behind him to press it out there and watch it come to pass. That's God's army. Amen. His Word of fire, His army is all dressed with the ever Presence of Himself in there, going with us. "I'll go with you, be in you. Not you that speaketh; the Father that dwelleth in you, He doeth the works." [Matthew 10:20]
L-81 In His army... He presents His army in the form of five offices, first, apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists. That's His army; that's His soldiers; that's His commanding officers, all with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, waiting out there to meet the enemy on any grounds he comes upon; to meet the enemy with the Word of God (Amen.), each one backing one another up, with Him the Chief Captain, not out there in front, up here, above, back behind; but in them. That's the army. Vindicating, vindicating what? His resurrection, by the proof of His works. [Ephesians 4:11]
L-82 John 14:12, Jesus said, "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also." What is it? It's God in the church in these five predestinated offices, backing up every Word that He said with the Holy Spirit Himself in there, which is the Word made manifest, proving His resurrection, proving that He lives.
All other religions are dead. Their forms are dead. There's only one that's right, and that's Christianity, because Christ is a living in the church of Christ (Amen.), making His Words manifest, for He is the same. If it's the same Word, It'll do the same thing, and show the same works, and the same signs. Matthew 28 says so. Be with His army, in them, securing them... Think of it. The great Word General triumph in us. [John 14:12]
L-83 I may be keeping you too long. I don't want to weary you. But look. People at home is used to setting for hours and hours when we teach. I'll try to cut off just a few minutes. I don't want you to go. I want to pray for you 'fore you go. I think this is more essential to you than any prayer line. See? It sure is. Now, if you'll just listen... See?
L-84 The great triumph General who came down, and was made... the Word made flesh took that Word and defeated Satan on every ground, and said, "You destroy this temple, I'll raise it up in the third day." And why? David in the Word said that "I'll not suffer My holy One to see corruption, neither will I leave His soul in hell." And He knew that that was one promise of God, that He'd be raised up. And He took that Word, and went to death with it, and knowing that that Word had to come to pass.
There's not one Word God's promise but what will come to pass. Said, "Heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word shall not fail." Every promise is perfect. And on that one promise in the Scripture, "I'll not leave My holy One to see corruption, not suffer Him to see corruption, neither will I leave His soul in hell." [John 2:19], [Matthew 24:35], [Mark 13:31], [Luke 21:33], [Psalms 16:10], [Acts 2:27]
L-85 Now, Jesus knew that corruption sets in the body after seventy-two hours. The nose falls in. Undertaker, if present, would know that. Now, the corruption sets in the body. And David said, by the Holy Ghost, a man, inspired, the Word of the Lord coming to this prophet, said, "I'll not suffer My holy One to see corruption." And He knowed before one cell would corrupt, He'd be up out of the grave.
Why? He was the Word, fortified by the Word. And He rose up. He conquered death, hell, and the grave; and Himself come back in the form of the Holy Ghost to fortify His army for this last day, in this big onslaught, where these great intellectual giants rising up, reasoning against the Word. But "I'll not leave you comfortless. I'll come again, and be with you, in you." [John 14:18]
L-86 Again, He said, "I'll pray the Father. He will send you another Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. He will abide with you forever." What is it? The Word, God's Artillery in the human being, manifesting the resurrection. Think of it. That great Conqueror, Who conquered every sickness, conquered every superstition, conquered every giant, conquered everything there was to be conquered on earth, died, conquered hell, conquered death, conquered the grave, conquered the atmospheres, ascended up on high, come back in the form of the Holy Ghost. And we are more than a conqueror through Him that loved us. Amen. [John 14:16]
L-87 What an army. Like a mighty army, marches the Christian soldier. Amen. Great triumph, He's in us. Not me, He's already conquered it. I don't have to do a thing but just believe Him and walk on (Yes, sir.), for He is risen. His Spirit is in us, the great Victor. The resurrection Presence is in us.
We've raised from the things of the world, from unbelief and creeds to a living Christ, with every power of the enemy defeated. Even death itself is defeated. Hell's defeated, grave's defeated, every sickness defeated. Amen. Not me a conqueror, He conquered. It's not what I am; what He is. Amen. Where's He at? In me. I've passed from death unto Life.
Someone said, "Billy, you act silly."
Maybe I am, but I feel better this way. Just let me alone. That's right. In here I got Life; out there I was dead. I'm a lot better off living today. Amen. Oh, I love it. Don't go before us; He goes in us.
L-88 A great fire broke loose down in Jeffersonville, here not long ago. The Pfau Army, or, the Company begin to burn down, and they sent and got the fire department. And the Jeffersonville Fire Department standing around like a boy with a little hose, the chief walking around there with a cigar like a de-horned Texas steer, walking around there saying, "Squirt a little water up here. Squirt a little water up here, boys. Come on, come on." Everybody seen he was chief. "Squirt a little water up here."
"Well," they said, "we got to get another fire department. It ain't sufficient." Sent down to Clarksville. Here they come: bang, bang, bang. Got up there, and that chief walked out. Shook hands with the other chief, doing honor one to another.
L-89 And how can you have faith, when you have honor to one another? Oh, my. Some great man, bishop, great big guy, presbyter, nothing. We are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. There's nothing big among us. It's what's in us that's big. It's God, the Holy Ghost in every one of us who believes. No great holy bishops and holy fathers; it's the Holy Ghost that's in the people. Yes.
L-90 So along come this Clarksville Fire Department. "Good evening, bishop." Yes, like that. The building burnt right on down.
After while they called Louisville. Brother, they had something then. I can just stand there now and see that old hook and ladder coming across there. And them going along there, saying, "Break out that window. Squirt a little water in there."
When that Louisville, big trained army of fighters come up there, they swirled that truck around there in the street, brother. They cleaned off half the sidewalk when they turned. Who was at the end of the ladder? They had a power lift that throwed it up. Who was on the end of the ladder? The fire chief himself. Amen. When they... He had the hose in his hand and an axe in the other hand. Said, "Let her go." And they pulled that lever.
L-91 Who went first? The fire chief. When it hit up against the wall... He took that axe before the ladder got against the wall, and slammed it through the window. Said, "Come on, boys." Not, "Go on, boys, come on, boys." Hallelujah. That's what Christ done. The Word come, lived as a human, conquered death, hell, grave, never said, "Go on." He said, "Come on. I'm with you." The fire was out pretty soon.
L-92 That's what it is--the great Conqueror. We don't need no great intellectual giant denominations. "I belong to the biggest church in the city." Nonsense. I belong to the littlest one, but it's the One.
I've been in the Branham family for fifty-three years: never did ask me to join the family. I was borned a Branham. That's right. That's the way you're a child of God. You're borned a child of God by the new birth. A Chief leading through every battle, our great Chief leading the way back home...
L-93 When nations (Listen now, in closing.)... When nations here not long ago begin to provide a helmet for the protection of their army... Now, they knew they was going to have to use it. They knew there'd be shrapnel flying, so they knew they had to use it. Oh, it may not have seemed so necessary in training. But brother, once on the battlefield, you have to have it.
When they're training soldiers, if there's any here... I think it's a ninety-pound pack they put on a little rookie's back. Start him out here, and like to nearly sweats himself to death. In training he don't think it's necessary, but just wait till the time comes. He will need everything that's in that pack. He will be glad he had it. Yes, sir. He--he's got to have it, and he will be glad that they trained him to use it. [Ephesians 6:17]
L-94 And so now, God, knowing at this last days there will come intellectual giants, there will come everything intellectual, all kinds of the enemy with reasoning powers to try to prove to the church that the days of miracles is past and all this. God packed in the baptism of the Holy Ghost with what? Speaking with tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecies, gifts, and all kinds of things. They may seem hard in training, but, brother, on the battle front, every one of them's got to be used. God equips His soldiers exactly what it takes to use. Amen.
Oh, they might say, "Just learn psychology." That won't work. No, sir. That's as thin as broth made out of the shadow of a chicken that starved to death. So that's no good. We have to have power of the Holy Ghost coming upon a man, with all the nine spiritual gifts dwelling in him.
Oh, you say, "I just don't like to get out. I don't like to pray all night. I don't like..." Well, then you're going to get killed out on the battle front.
L-95 You stay there till God equips you with the baptism of the Spirit. Then everything you've got need of in this world or the world to come, lives right in you. The all wise God knowed how to equip His army. He equipped it with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's exactly what He sent for these last days.
He knew that we'd have to have it. He knew that people would reason, would go to reading this Word when it become in print out here, what would happen. And today we find the people saying, "Well now, where is that God of history? Where is that God that crossed the Red Sea? Where is that God that healed the sick?" They try to say, "It's back..."
L-96 What good does it do to give your canary bird vitamins, and make him have good strong wings, and keep him in a cage? That's what they try to do with the people: feed them all kinds of vitamins of this, that, and the other, and the first thing you know, tell them all the days of miracles is past. You're penned up in some little thing down here. It's a lie. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God knowed it would take the baptism of the Holy Ghost to prove His latter day signs. That's right.
He knew, to be an effective witness... Like our gracious friend (I don't call his name, because it's not proper. This is going on tape.)... but a precious friend, a good brother, the kind that's going down in Sodom I told you about the other night... When he was in India (You know who I'm talking about.), that Indian bishop challenged him that there was no such a thing as Christ; it was a man-made religion. He said, "I'll get thirty people on this side, of sick; and you take thirty on that side. I'll heal one every time you heal one. And your Bible teaches that it'll heal."
And this certain great evangelist said, "Days of miracles is past." He wouldn't do such a thing as that.
L-97 I think, like Elijah said that time, "Why didn't you send..." If you didn't have the faith to do it, there's plenty of them here that does have it. Oh, brother, I might have been defeated, but I'd never let that infidel stand there, or that unbeliever, and--and make fun out of the Word of God. If I'd have had to go down in defeat, I'd have went down trusting the Word of God.
Like the Hebrew children said, "Our God's able to deliver us from this fire. But however, we'll never bow to these creeds." That's right.
You need the Holy Ghost to press out there. Why didn't he say that when we was in India? Why didn't he say that when that blind man come right up before the King Nehru there, and come up before them people, and testified of being total blind in a Methodist seminary, and was healed, and made perfectly well on the platform. They know what to challenge and what not to. Certainly do. They think they got a chance. [Daniel 3:17-18]
L-98 Satan knows that reasoning and where reasoning lays. Yes, sir. To be an effectual witness of His resurrection, He knowed it would take the Holy Ghost, 'cause man cannot do those things. He equipped His army with the Holy Ghost to do those things, to make known the secrets of the heart, as He promised. You can't do that with any kind of training. You've got to do that by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the armor of God. And this is the evening Light. To make Hebrews 13:8 reality, it would take more than a training. You can read words, and read words, and read words, and it'll never make it come to pass until you have the Holy Ghost there to manifest that.
That's the Light; putting on the whole armor of God, not just a dress only, dress up and say, "Glory to God. I got the Holy Ghost." Then you're spurting all the power out the whistle. You're doing no good. Put it in action; put it in faith; make it move; make it do something: putting on the whole armor of God to go out and withstand the wiles of the devil. [Hebrews 13:8]
L-99 When he said, "Jesus Christ is a fake religion. It's been dead for a long time. There's no such a thing as this; there's no such as that, and days of miracles is past," stand there with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and prove that it's the truth. Glory. Hmm.
Think I act funny? Maybe I am. I've lost my mind to the world, and found it in Christ. "Let the mind that was in Christ be in you," takes the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the whole armor of God; not just to shake hands with the preacher, put your name on the book, or take some kosher and swallow it, and a priest drink up the wine. That isn't it. But, brother, stay there until there comes a rushing mighty wind that fills all your being, takes all your doubts out, takes all your creeds out, takes everything else out, and puts the Word in there with the power of God behind It to back it up. Glory. I feel real good. Amen. God said so. It's the Holy Ghost, not a... [Philippians 2:5]
L-100 I got plenty more here, but I ain't going to say it. Brother, the whole armor of God is the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the Word behind it. And if anybody says they got the Holy Ghost and deny one Word of this, then it's not the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost wrote this Bible, and He said, "Whosoever shall take anything out of It, or put anything in It, the same will be taken, his part out of the Book of Life." The Holy Ghost recognizes the Word only, because that's His Word, and He cannot go back on His Word. He has to keep His Word. Amen. [Revelation 22:19]
L-101 Somebody says, "We got the Holy Ghost, and we don't believe in miracles." Then it proves you haven't got It. Amen. Anybody that'd call the power of God, a discernment, and prophets, and so forth, in the last days, a mental telepathy or something is borned of the devil. It can't be of God. It's contrary. Don't recognize the Urim Thummim. Anything that recognizes on this and flashes back the truth is God. Amen.
Oh, I love Him. He's here. That old Word, there's nothing brings faith like the Word. The whole armor of God, soldiers trained...
L-102 Jesus said in here, "The works that I do shall you do also." That truth? How did He make Hisself known the Messiah? By being able to discern the very thoughts that was in their mind. How did He speak it in the New Testament? "The very same works that I do you'll do also." Hebrews, the 4th chapter, He picked it up again. Said, "The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even the marrow of the bone, and the joints, and so forth, and a discerner of the thoughts that's in the heart." Hallelujah.
Jesus said, "As it was in the days of--of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man," when God made Hisself known in a man, turned His back like this to an audience, and had His back turned to a woman, and told what she was thinking about. That's the Word of God. It's the truth of God. [John 14:12], [Hebrews 4:12]
L-103 People, you might think 'cause we're setting here a little four or five hundred people, setting in the building this afternoon, it's too little. Remember God never gathers in big multitudes. "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'll be in their midst." That don't mean... You say, "Well, we've gathered in Jesus' Name." That means that you are actually in Christ. The world is dead to you, and you're dead to the world; and Christ is alive in you. He's here without a shadow of doubt. I see Him moving on the audience now. Amen. He's stopping me. You just believe. [Matthew 18:20]
L-104 What about you, lady? I don't know you setting there. You got nervousness, complications, bowel trouble. You believe God healed you? Raise up your hand if you'll accept it; go on your way.
Lady setting right behind her there, yeah; ulcer. If you can believe, God will make you whole. Don't doubt it. Believe it with all your heart and God will take the ulcer away. You believe it? It's on your right leg. Believe with all your heart. If that's right, raise up your hand. All right. I don't know the woman, never seen her in my life. If we're strangers, wave your hand like that. See?
What is it? It's Christ, the whole armor of God. Listen. The Word is a sword, and there's only one thing that can fight the enemy. That's the hand of faith to hold that sword.
L-105 Here not long ago a man said he dreamed that the devil kept going, "Boo, boo." And he'd jump back. And the devil'd get bigger and he'd get little. He knowed he had to fight him sooner or later, so he grabbed the Word. And every time the devil would say, "Boo," he said, "Boo" right back, and the devil got little. That's what it is. It takes the hand of faith to hold the Word. Hallelujah.
L-106 What about you? Got a relative, got a stroke. That's right, isn't it? Yes. You believe she'd get well? Have faith.
You say, "You was looking at him." All right. There's a man and woman setting behind me. The man's got a blood condition, arthritis. His wife's setting next to him. She's got thyroid trouble. Mrs. and Mr. Rader, believe with all your heart, and God will make you well if you want to believe it. Do you, sir? I don't know them. If we're strangers to one another, raise up your hand. See? There you are. What is it? The whole armor of God. Hallelujah.
"I love Him, I love Him, because He first loved me, And purchased my sal..."
L-107 That stunted you, sir. You didn't know you had that much faith. But I was standing here watching that Light a moving around. I thought, "If I turn my back they'll see the same Angel that lived back there, and come down and manifested Himself, and told what the people were thinking in the tent. It'd sure know who you was, and what about you." I challenge anybody in here to believe the same thing. Hallelujah. The power of God, the whole armor of God, the entire Word of God wrapped up in you: the great Conqueror.
Oh, He is a mighty Conqueror since He rent the veil in two. That is, not only one person, but every one, whosoever will, can come behind the veil now. Haste and stand in the Shekinah Glory. Amen. Be a royal priesthood. When they went behind there, they could taste where they had a pot full of original omer, full of--of manna that fell at the beginning, was kept in there only for the priesthood. We know that. But now the veil's rent. Not only the priesthood, but every one of us can be royal priests. [Matthew 27:51], [Mark 15:38], [Luke 23:45], [I Peter 2:9]
L-108 Come in and take a taste of the original manna, the kind that fell on the day of Pentecost, the Manna for the church, the Holy Ghost, the Armor, what we're fortified... Not with intellectual education, doctor's degree, but we are fortified with the baptism of the Holy Ghost to prove the Word of God is the truth. Glory. Hallelujah. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do you believe it?
Let's sing to Him, "I love Him, I love Him, because He first loved me." Everybody now.
I love Him (Do you do it? Raise your hand.), I love Him,
Because He first loved me,
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's...
Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Give us "Onward, Christian Soldiers," brother, in a march, four, four, if you will. All right. Oh, my. Oh.
... arching as to war,
With the cross of (Let's stand up now.) Jesus
Going on before;
Christ, the royal Master,
Oh, leads against the foe; (What have we got? The armor.)
Forward into battle,
See his banners go!
Onward Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
L-109 You're not ashamed of Him, are you? Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation." Let's just take our hands and say, "Hallelujah" real loud, now. Come on. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise our God. Praise our God.[Romans 1:16]
... army
Moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
Where the saints have trod;
Oh, we are not divided,
All one body we;
One in hope and doctrine,
One in charity. (Everybody now sing it.)
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
Oh, with the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
L-110 Would you like to join? The only way you can join is to be borned. Now, the great thing is open here, the altar of God. There's room at the fountain. Any man in here would like to join these ranks this afternoon, that will lay aside every creed that's contrary to the Bible, every thought that's contrary to the Bible, every doctrine that's contrary to the Bible, and with faith walk up here and say, "I accept Jesus Christ upon the basis of His shed Blood and His Word," I tell you something will happen to you right here. And you'll be fortified with the power of the Holy Ghost.
L-111 No man has the right to claim himself a preacher until he found them sacred sands. Moses was just as intellectual as he could be. He had the power of the--of the knowledge of the Word. He knowed his position; he knowed he was a prophet, everything. But until he met God on that sacred sands back there... No intellectual could ever explain it from him. He was there when it happened.
No man has a right to claim God until you've come onto that sacred ground, where no intellectual giant can ever touch. You was there when it happened. It don't make any difference what they can explain; you know it happened. Oh, glory. Do you want to join us while we sing this one more time? Come around the altar. We'd be glad to pray for you 'fore we start the prayer line. All right, brother, again, "Onward, Christian soldiers." Come now, join us. Last call. If you want to come, come now.
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching... (If you haven't been fortified by the Spirit and the Word...)
... Jesus
Going on before;
Christ, the royal Master (great Conqueror)
Leads against the (unbelief) foe (reasoning);
Onward into battle,
See his banners go!
Onward, Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
L-112 How many in here is already in that army? already been filled with the Holy Ghost? believing every word of God? know that it's the truth?
Our heavenly Father, I don't know when I can ever be back to this coast again to see these people. I hope right at soon again. But, heavenly Father, I thank You for this great testimony, night after night, miracle after miracle of the unknown and unseen God works amongst the people with unknown things that they know nothing of, to see Him manifest Himself, and make known His Being here, proving that He's not dead but is risen from the grave.
I pray, heavenly Father, that You'll give this people all the power of force of the Holy Spirit, that they might be able to be witnesses up and down this coast in the last days. For truly, Lord, any man that's got his right mental conditions knows that we're at the end time. Every Bible reader knows it. The world knows it. Scientists says that we're three minutes before midnight; the striking hour is here.
L-113 And You promised that in this day what would take place. We read in the book of the Revelation at this Laodicean church age, that the intellectual giants got in and pushed Christ plumb out of His church, and He was standing knocking on the door of His own house trying to get back in. O God, not another--no other age was it ever that way. But it's in this age, this intellectual age.
But You've got Your soldiers harnessed, Lord. The buckler, the shield, the helmet, the Word, and we stand this afternoon as a group in the minority. But O God, hone us; make us; shave us down; take the disbelief and things of the world away from us, until when the Christ comes He will fit right into His church perfectly, into their program, for it'll be the program of the Holy Spirit: led, and moved, and acts of the Holy Spirit when Christ comes. Grant it, Father. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen. [Revelation 3:14-21]
L-114 You may be seated just a moment. I'm going to ask everybody now that's got prayer cards... When usually an evangelist comes into the city, they find out... They say, "Well, just the preacher... Wait till Brother Branham, Brother Roberts, somebody." It don't take that. It takes these men too. I'm going to ask them to help me pray for the sick this afternoon. You're going to see something happen too. All right.
All right. How many's got prayer cards? Raise up your hand. All right, I want you to line up right down this way, right down this aisle here, and come right around this way, everyone with prayer cards.
[Brother Branham talks with someone--Ed.] Do it after--after we start. No, I'll take them right now with the cards first.
Now, line up right here. I want my brethren to come here with me. Just all you all going to pray for...?...
L-115 The Bible said... Jesus said... And heavens and earth will pass away, but His Word cannot fail. Now, listen close, friends. If you don't believe this, you're just walking in that line of non effect. I want to ask you. Out of the many, many things that the Holy Spirit has called over the church this week, has He been wrong in any of them? Has anybody ever seen it wrong in other meetings? Has it always been true? If it has, raise up your hand. Always true. See? All right. Then that same Holy Spirit's right here.
That little woman setting here awhile ago, down here somewhere, had enough faith for her and her husband. I don't remember; seems like a dream to me somehow. All right. If you've got faith for some of your loved ones, pray for them while they're in this line.
Now, we're going to pray for these first. We promised that. And now, as you come through this line, here's men here with the same authority as anybody else has got to pray for the sick. [Matthew 24:35], [Mark 13:31], [Luke 21:33]
L-116 Now, listen. I want all of you to quote this Scripture with me. Jesus said this in the last commission He gave to His church, after He appeared to the eleven and upbraided them because of the hardness of their heart and their unbelief, because they believed not them which had seen Him after His resurrection.
He said unto them, "Go ye into all the world... (Now, remember, He's being taken up now.) Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned." That's as far as many read it. And--and is a conjunction that ties a sentence together. "And these signs shall follow them that believe..."
You've been taught to shake hands, put their name on a book. Jesus said different. He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; if they take up a serpents or drink deadly things it wouldn't harm them; and if they lay their hands on the sick they shall recover."
That's the last commission Jesus gave, and here's the question He asks: "Will I find faith when I return?" Now, He never said, "Will I find righteousness? Will I find a church? Will I find people?" He said, "Will I find faith?" That's the question. [Mark 16:15-18], [Luke 18:8]
L-117 Now, to you that's coming in this prayer line, these elders and people standing here, Christians that's filled with the Holy Spirit, is going, with along with myself, is going to lay hands on every person that passes through here. And you know that you're going to be healed. Go right off of here and say, "It's all right. I'm going to be well. That settles it."
Now, when this line is over, then we're going to call section after section, 'till everybody gets prayed for that wants be prayed for. I promised it.
L-118 How many out there will be praying for this prayer line? Raise your hands. All right. Brother, on the organ, give us that song "Only believe" now, and let's pray now. Everybody, and brother, sister, stand right where you are. Don't let a person come by without laying hands on them.
Get someone here, now, who can help the people on the platform, someone can help them off. Come here, Brother Fred, if you will. Brother Fred Sothmann there, one of my trustees, come here and help the people off the platform as they come on. Stand right along here. And somebody come down there to help down there. Or have they got--they got... Yeah, they got an usher down there. Fine. All right, let's bow our heads now.
L-119 Our heavenly Father, we are here to help You. And we realize as we minister to Your children, You said, "Insomuch as you have done unto the least of these that believe in Me, you have did it to Me." Now, here's mothers, fathers, sweethearts, children, standing in this line here, little babies. And we pray, heavenly Father, that as we in our humble way, with all that we know how to do for the people is preach the Word, explain It to them. Then we see You come down and discern the thoughts of the people, proving that You're here. That makes You the great Pillar of Fire, the great Christ of God, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Then these anointed people with Your Spirit stands here to lay hands on the sick. God... Pray that there'll not be one unbeliever among them, and everyone may go from here happy, rejoicing, and watching the disease and affliction of their body leave. Grant it, Father. We commit them to You in Jesus' Name. Amen. [Matthew 25:40]
L-120 Now, I want some song leader who can lead songs. Come here, Roy. I want everybody with your heads bowed now, in prayer, and singing in your heart, "Only believe. All things are possible," while Brother Borders leads the song. Everybody start praying now as we pray.
Only believe (everybody singing now),
Only believe,

[Brother Branham prays for the people. Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
L-121 Everybody prayed for now? Isn't He wonderful? I noticed coming through the lines... Now, just remember, there's people here could testify that has been in other meetings, and just passed through a line, be prayed for. And we could pile this thing here full of letters of testimony, signed statements by doctors: cancer, strokes, polio, everything healed. You see, you must just anchor and take a hold of it. Don't leave it; just stay right there. Now, you remember, you begin to notice after while...
L-122 Just recently we had a meeting, and there was a lady come through the line, and she was a... It told her about what was her trouble. She had a stomach trouble, a peptic ulcer in her stomach. And it told her, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, you're healed." And said it, told her to go home and eat.
And then another lady come through, and she had a growth on the side of her neck here (oh, I guess an inch long, or something), and told her the same thing: she's going to be well. And so they was neighbors.
And the lady with the peptic ulcer went on. She tried to eat and she just couldn't eat. And she would try to take some food, and she'd just vomit it up. And finally, it went on for about two or three weeks, and she just... She looked like it was just going to lose. And then we, in another part of the country about three weeks four weeks later...
L-123 And one morning her children was going to school, and she got up. And every time she'd take anything she'd just--just burn and hurt, and she'd just vomit it up. And finally her husband said, "Honey, I--I believe you're bringing a reproach upon the cause of Christ."
Now, you can't do that when you're confessing. "Confess" means "say the same thing." Confession... When you go to a attorney to--to make a confession, you say the same thing. And you're saying, "By His stripes I am healed." That's what He said. And you're confessing that He's done it. And she kept on. [I Peter 2:24], [Isaiah 53:5]
L-124 So one morning she was standing there washing the dishes, crying. And she... All at once she felt a little funny feeling, she said, come over her, and her stomach begin to feel cool. Well, she never noticed it. She just went ahead washing the dishes. She got real hungry. (The woman may be setting here now, for all I know.) And she said the children had left some oats in their plate, you know, rolled oats, you know, cooked. And usually them just burnt her up, with a peptic ulcer. So she took a spoonful or two, and it didn't bother her.
And then, after while she ate a piece of toast. It didn't bother her. So then, she just fried her up a couple of eggs, and got a cup of coffee, and just had a regular gastronomical jubilee. She just eat right on, didn't bother her. And she waited about two or three hours, nothing harm--no harm.
L-125 She run down to her neighbor to tell her neighbor, and her neighbor was screaming. She thought something had happened. And here she was shaking the sheets in the bed. She'd just got up. The growth was gone. They couldn't find it. She was shaking the sheets, trying to find it. And they both come to the meeting to give testimony before about five thousand people. What happened? The Angel of the Lord... See?
Now, remember, Daniel prayed, and it was twenty-one days before the Angel could get to him. How many knows that? And when the Angel of the Lord pronounced that blessing, what if she'd have give up? Satan would've came right in. But she held right on. [Daniel 10:1-14]
And He passed through the neighborhood that morning. He knows where you live, all about you. He knows you here. He knows where you're at. When He gives you the blessing, He will confirm it, if you'll just stay with it. He passed through the neighborhood, and healed them two women, going on somewhere else. He's God. Isn't He wonderful, so wonderful.
L-126 Now, I think that let's... I think it'd be nice if we would--if I could ask you a question. I prayed for you. Soon I'll be in the mission fields over there in Africa and India, where witch doctors and devils and everything... Will you pray for me? Will you be praying for me? Thank you, until we meet.
Till we meet! till we meet!
Till we meet at Jesus' feet;
Till we meet! till we meet!
God be with you till we meet...
L-127 Will you pray for me, now? Would you do that? Now, let's all just close our eyes, raise up our hands, and sing it. Organist, give us a note. I started a little low. Give us a note on "Till we meet." And now, until we meet... And if we meet no more until I cross the river, remember, I've told you the truth. I'll be there with the same testimony. I trust that if I never see you again this side of the land, I'll see you over there. But hoping I'll get to see you again here, until we meet, God be with you. All right, all together now.
Till we meet! till we meet!
