Ministry Explained

1 Thank you, Brother Lindsay. And good evening, audience. It's a great privilege tonight, to be here in this lovely location of our nation to start my first meeting since we've come back from Europe.

Little tired tonight, of... We had to drive hard. We just come from New York, and came down home, and took right off here right away.

And I'm very happy to be here and to meet, already some of the friends that we've met in other meetings, especially Brother Richey and Brother Hall. We had Brother Hall in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and I learned to love him, and Brother Richey in the Houston meeting. And it kind of feels like getting home. And then feel this wonderful feeling of fellowship already, why, well, it just seems like it's... I believe the prophet said once, "I hear the sound of abundance of rain." I trust that it'll be that way through these coming days of the revival.

2 I've always wanted a chance, an opportunity, rather, to come to Minneapolis. I've been postponing this around for the last three or four years, to come here. It always be somewhere we'd be bypassed to somewhere else and have to miss Minneapolis. And when I learned that we were coming, why, I certainly was elated over that.

And being a little tired and just coming back off of my vacation, it may take a night or so before we'll, the meeting will be in its right category. One thing it's new to most of us, I guess, here, most of you, rather. And another thing that I had to hurry so on this... Usually before I start in the prayer lines, I take three days of fasting and praying, as many people know that how I--I try to be, have the...

How many's here that's been in one of the services before? Let's see your hand. Well, that's just wonderful.

3 Now, and this time after just arriving home in time to get started up here, well, I did not do that. And I may be just a little...

We kind of take our time for first night or so. I'm sure you'll bear with me and pray with me while I'm... And I'll do all that I can, by the help of God, to minister to the needy in this meeting, and do all I can to pray for every one. And I trust that it'll be as... The Lord has been awfully good to me in praying for the sick and the needy.

4 And since returning from Europe, this is my first meeting. And am I just a little too... not very loud, Brother Hall... I'm--I'm kind of small, and I don't speak very loud to begin with. And then makes it kind of hard in a tent. But I...

This will be my second time that I ever had a healing service in a tent. My first revival was in a tent, something about like this, right after my conversion. And I always like to hear that canvas blowing. And it seems like it's something about it, I--I think of when Abraham dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob there. They're heirs to the Kingdom, so we're his sons. If we're dead in Christ, we take on Abraham's seed and are heirs according to the promise.

5 And now, each night, as I understand, the meeting is to be twelve nights long, if the Lord permits us. And we want to try to make every night count. And now for the first few nights, first night or two, while I'm going on my fast and prayer...

Many of you understands that the ministry that our Lord Jesus Christ has permitted to me, has (as I humbly say that), is a little odd, a little different maybe from, maybe what you'd be used to your healing campaigns. But I can only do as He bids me do. Like anyone else, we just have to do as He says do it. It operates a little strange because it's under a... the direction of a supernatural Being. And it--it's quite a phenomenon--phenomena, rather, that--that--that they have told you.

Of course it speaks out to the diseases, and the sins of your life, and tells you why, and what caused you to be sick. You just make that right, why, I've never seen it fail yet to what the people was healed. And that...

Many times the weakness of it is the part of the lack of faith after the people are healed. On the platform, here before the Divine gift, it will deliver anything. Any... No matter how bad they're crippled, blind, twisted; they'll be healed here at the platform.

6 But now, it's been throwed to me many times that... how long does it last? They say, "Well, in a few days, most of them cases go right back in their conditions." Then they try to say it's hypnotism, and so forth, which we Christians are--are not slothful concerning those things to understand that the enemy has always got something to say against God. And we look for that. And we do not expect to go through life without persecution, for the Bible says "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."

And I can only be honest. And if a person is honest, and be truthful and honest, God will be with you. And if a man says anything, well, we're free moral agents, and we can say anything that we wish to. But if I would say something, and it would not be right, then God would not testify of that. But if I say something about God, and something God has done, and then God in return comes around and testifies that that is right, then you ought to believe it, because God has said so, and not a man. And that's only fair to any audience. And that's what the claims has been made.

7 And it's nothing that I have in myself to do, I'm just a--just a man that as the rest of you brothers are, a sinner saved by grace. And it...

I was born in a very poor family, raised up irreligious. My people before me, and my grandparents were Catholic. My father and mother never went to any church at all. We're Irish by descent, and by nationality, rather. And we didn't not go to church.

Till when I was a little boy about seven years old, or when I was first borned, very peculiar thing happened the morning when I was born. And a Light came into the room. All of them started crying. Up in the mountains where I was... Kentucky where I was borned. Went on for seven years. And at the age of seven years old, It appeared to me the first time as a Voice speaking to me, and told me never to smoke, or to drink, or to defile myself in any way; because there'd be a work for me to do when I got older.

8 Later on in life It kept appearing. It would show me things; I'd say just what It told me. It never has failed to come to pass yet. 1947, '46 rather, on April the se--or May the seventh in the room, an Angel of the Lord came into the room. When I seen the Man, It... When He spoke, I didn't know Him. When He... seen Him, was the first time I'd ever seen Him, human form. It appeared many times. Down on the river after my first revival, It came down in the form of a--like a star when it's in a distance, but when It comes close, It looked like a Light. And It's a... It appeared and many people fainted where it was some ten thousand people, I guess, was present to see it. And then It just... I never knowed what It meant.

9 Later on, why, when He met me, He told me what it was to do, was to go pray for the sick people. I told Him that they would not believe me.

He said, "There'll be giving you signs, like was given to the prophet Moses. As Moses was given two signs to prove to the people that he--God had sent him to deliver them," said, "so would I be deliver... given two signs. One of them would come immediately, and the other one would follow along if I'd be sincere."

That, which I guess, there's many of you here tonight, know that how it come to pass. First was to discern the diseases... kind of diseases. Then I did that till it got to a perfect way where It never failed. Then It started in to telling the people the secrets of their hearts, the things that they had done in life, all the way down through life's journey; which many of you might stagger at that now, and get it wrong.

10 But remember, when Nathanael came to Jesus, and Philip, his brother had went and found him, and said nothing good could come out of Nazareth. And when he came to Him, Jesus said to him when he was in the prayer line, said, "Behold, a Israelite in whom there is no guile."

He said, "When did You know me, Rabbi? Whence knowest Thou me?"

Said, "When you were under the tree before Philip called you, I knew you."

And he said, "Thou art the Son of God, the King of Israel." His heart was prepared to receive Him.

11 At the woman at the well, when Jesus was speaking with her, He said, "Go, get your husband."

She said, "I have none."

Said, "You've said right, for you had five, and the one you have now is not your husband."

She said, "I perceive that You're a prophet. And we know Messiah cometh, and so forth." And she went into the city and told the men of the city, "Come, see a Man Who told me the--the everything that I did. Is not this the very Christ?"

12 Now, Christian friends, we're all an Eternity bound people. Every one of us here has got to meet God and face God someday. And we're going to give an account for the deeds that's done in our lives.

Now, if I told you I was a gangster, and had the spirit of--of John Dillinger was upon me, well, you'd expect me to have guns and be that kind of a character, because his spirit was on me. If I told you I had the spirit of an artist, some great famous artist, you'd expect me to be able to catch the scene of the waves when it was tipping of the sunset, and almost bring it out in life's color. If I had the spirit of an artist in me, I would do the work of an artist.

And if we had the Spirit of Christ, then we do the works of Christ. And the Spirit that was upon Him, He said, "A little while and the world seeth Me no more; yet, you'll see Me, for I'll be with you, even in you to the end of the age."

13 I wouldn't want you to know one thi... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] They class me a fanatic, not if I would think I'd be too good to be a fanatic, but for the sake of the Gospel that I represent, I want you to know me as your brother, and not as a Divine healer. That's just a name that newspapers and magazines tacked on. There's no one that's a Divine healer. No man can heal you. There's o... Even Christ, the Son of God, did not claim to be a Divine healer. He said, "It's not Me that doeth the works; it's My father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works."

So if Jesus, our lovely Saviour, Who would not take credit for being a healer, how much more ought we to disown that credit to, of being a healer. We only pray for the sick.

And it's faith that you're healed. By faith are you healed. Now, before you can have faith... I find that many people come to faith in a kind of a haphazard way, if you'll excuse that expression, kind of like they're making a guess at it. And ninety percent of the people that comes into the line have hope instead of faith.

14 Now, hope is one thing and faith is another. Faith is a positive sense. It's not a guesswork; you don't just imagine it. It's just as real as any other sense of your body, just the same as sight is. Sight is real. Hearing is real. See, taste, feel, smell, and hear, the five senses of the body that control the body, they're real faculties to you if none of them is injured. And then, faith is just as real as any of the other five senses, and more real, because it'll go in and above those five senses.

Now, the first and fundamental cause of Divine healing is because God said so in His Bible. That's the only... That's the sure foundation, is the Word of God.

15 And now, I think while I'm speaking tonight, I want to try to first start this meeting in a new way, not just run in like I usually do and take three or four nights to... 'fore the people realize what's happening. If you build their faith, I believe, firm first, upon what is the foundation, God's Word, I believe there'll be a better results right here in Minneapolis in this revival than we've had yet.

I tried it in Europe, and it worked wonderfully. When many times... When my last night was speaking, many many hundreds of the people, while speaking through an interpreter, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I forget how many hundred at one time, of young people, just when they seen. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word. Now, the Word of God will defeat Satan on any grounds, any place, anywhere, at any time. God's Word...

16 When Jesus... We all believe He was the Son of God. Is that right? We accept Him as the Son of God. And He was more than a man; God was in Jesus. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. He was a God-man, God working through Him.

Now, but when He met Satan, or Satan met Him, He did not use any of His fine gifts, which I believe that in Him dwelt all the powers of Heavens was in Him. But He never used any of them to defeat the enemy. When He met Satan, Satan tempted Him. He said, "It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone."

Then upon the pinnacle of the Temple, He met him again with the Word of God. When he taken Him up in the mountain, He met him again with the Word of God, so showing to us, as our example, that the Word of God will defeat the enemy any place, anywhere, any time. It is written.

17 That's when you are prayed for, do not come into a prayer line except first that you understand what you're doing, and how you are to accept God.

Not long ago, right here at the greatest clinic in the world, Mayo Brothers turned me down as a hopeless case. Said I was finished for life, and could never, no more, be useful. I was wrecked for life when that, I guess, the best in the world. When they turned me out, I was a hopeless, helpless, creature. Oh, I'll love Him, the longest day I live. Then He met me. And by faith, I believe Him. And tonight, I weigh more than I ever weighed in my life, and better health than I ever was in my life. Why? Is because faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word. Jesus said in Luke, "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe you receive them." There you are.

18 Watch the order of the Word, and you shall re--shall receive it, shall have it. First, you believe you've got it, then it'll be given to you. And when you come, make your confession, believe God, believe that He will do it, and He's under obligation to do it.

God is worth no more than His Word is. No man is worth any more than his word is. And God is infallible. He cannot lie. His Word is true. And we just accept Him by His Word and believe it. It's got to happen.

19 I've seen cases where the best of doctors had turned them down with cancer. Some of them blind from birth, spastic children, twisted in all kinds of shapes. I've never seen one time that He's ever failed to deliver them at the platform. Now, that's right. Why? He's God. And when He's took at His Word, all things are possible. And it will happen if we believe it, and will act upon our conviction.

20 First, we must be sure that it is--that it's the will of God to heal. We ought to take some time on that in the meetings, which the managers probably will, upon the will of God to heal, how Jesus died to heal, how the commission was given first to heal.

The first thing He said when He sent out disciples, "Heal the sick; cleanse the lepers; raise the dead. Fr--freely as you receive, freely give." That was His first commission, Matthew 10. And Mark 16, the last commission, He said, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; and these signs shall follow them that believe." Why? All the world. "In My Name they shall cast out devils; they'll speak with new tongues; take up serpents or drink deadly things shall not harm them; and if they lay their hands on the sick they shall recover."

What's the matter is, we Christians get too weak when it comes to the showdown. If it's real, it's real. If it's not, it's not. And if I didn't believe Him with all my heart and know it was real, I would not be here tonight. But I believe it. And not only that, I know it's real. See? And I seen it over thousands of places.

21 When He--He met me that night and told me, I--I with a common grammar school education, how could I go to face the peoples of the world to take that gift? He said, "I will be with you."

I said, "They will not believe me."

He said, "You'll be given two signs."

Now, remember, the signs does not heal; the signs raise faith to heal. But only through faith is it healed. Do you understand? See, see? Signs only works faith.

And now, Moses, when he went and told the children of Israel that God had sent him down to deliver them, he performed two signs. He put his hand in his bosom and taken it out, leprosy, put it back in his bosom and turned it again normal. He threw down his staff, and it turned to a serpent, picked it up, and it turned back to a staff. And Israel believed Moses.

Now, these signs that has been given to know the thoughts, the heart of the people and the things that they had done, is not by man; it's by the Spirit of God that comes down and reveals it. It comes into the meeting many times, great Light circling through the meeting.

22 Not long ago I believe, down at Houston, they caught It in a picture, a photographer. Many of you I guess... How many's ever seen the picture? Let's see your... Oh, many of you...

There, that's the part... That's the One that does the healing. Not I myself; I'm just a channel. Like the pool of Bethesda, it--it wasn't the water that healed; it was the Angel on the water that done the healing. It's not man that heals; it's the Spirit of God on the man that does the healing. See? You get what I mean?

Now, I know none of you. I--I do not see a person in the audience that I would know. And God knows I know not what's wrong with you, not a one. But under the anointing, there's no one could come to this platform but what would be told just what was wrong with them, and what they were, done in their life (See?), maybe the cause of the sickness.

23 Now, what that is for is to build the faith of the patient. I try, and have been, and said when I was in Europe, I try just to hold back as long as I could, 'cause I can't... It makes me so weak till I can't stand up. Sometimes they pack me from the platform, as many of the people know that, just takes the very life out of you.

And while we're here tonight, I was hope... Before I start in to praying, that I would explain it to the people, so you would understand. I don't think there's anything wrong with me; it doesn't hurt me; I come out of it in a little bit. But it begins to draw down. When it does, it changes features, everything. I don't know who's around me, nothing about it. The patient comes to the platform, and if...

24 You might come right now and tell me you had faith, I'd believe you. I'd take your word, 'cause I believe you're a Christian, and you mean that you got faith. But sometimes you say you have faith when you just think you have faith. But now, I would believe you had faith now. But under that anointing, it--you know whether they got faith or not. And when they haven't got faith, it seems like your patient's down here, and here you are up here. And they're down here saying they have faith, but they're supposed to be up here. See what I mean? But when that faith of the patient rises up to here, then I've never seen it in my life, God being my Judge, but what was delivered right there at the platform (That's right.), no matter what it was.

I've seen newspaper reporters jump to the platform and scream when they see little legs about that big around come normal, and measure them and so forth. And little twisted, drawed children just normally come out and walk off the platform; people would faint and everything looking at it, and so forth; crippled, and even to the dead, raised right up after being dead and laying on the roadsides and so forth...

25 Now, that wasn't nothing I had anything to do with it. I guess tonight, if Jesus would walk into the tent, and would call for us all to answer in the judgment, the weakest of saints would have a greater reward than I would. Now, that's--that's from the bottom of my heart. I'm not saying that to be humble; I'm saying that from my heart, because that I was... I haven't suffered like you people have, many of you in the way that's been coming along for a long time.

I was reared up in the Baptist church when my ministry... And when this gift was ministered to me, why, they told me that they thought I'd lost my mind; and they asked me what I'd eat, did I have a nightmare? And I didn't appreciate that, and they didn't believe it, and said, "You, grammar school education, preach to people around the world?" Said, "You better run on back over home," like that.

26 Well, they did not want me, and the full gospel people said, "We've been praying for that gift to come to our church." They received me. I've always been a black sheep till that time. And I finally found people where I belonged.

All my life, I seemed like that I--I couldn't find the class that I belonged in. When I was a boy, I didn't smoke and drink, and the--the young folks had nothing to do with me, so... And the girls all, when I got going with girls, they went to dances, and I didn't go to dances. So I was a wallflower. And when I got saved, I believe in an old fashion heartfelt religion. And so the church didn't. They thought I was a fanatic, and... Well, I... Birds of a feather... I guess I finally got into the right place. And I'm so thankful. So I'm very happy to be with the groups that I believe that we'll be in glory together.

27 Now, this into the discernment of it, the person comes; I know nothing of them, and It begins to tell them. If they come with the right faith, there's nothing to be done. It's just right up there then.

But now, I'll take a meeting: For instance, one night... I'll just kind of, of a way of meeting... I'll--I'll take the meeting at Beaumont. You was there, Brother Richey, was you at Beaumont and Houston? All right, I'll take the last meeting of the Beaumont meeting, so you kind of have an idea how the meeting works. Just before we went overseas, by the way...

28 We come in. Had been several nights of the service going on; we was in Houston. Brother Richey there, which I guess all of you know of him. We'd had a glorious meeting in Houston. And we come to Beaumont to finish up, because we could get no room no more. The stampede, or something, was going to take up the coliseum, and we had no room for the people at Houston. And they sponsored a train to bring train loads, many coaches from Houston over to--to Beaumont.

In the meeting, we walked in; there was a prayer line formed the way we do it in the regular meetings. We give out so many cards each day. The hard part of it is, just after a few cases, the life is gone from me, and they have to take me from the line. And then my brothers and those who around, the managers, take care of that.

And we give out cards. And then we just choose a certain number from them--those cards and start calling to the platform.

And two or three people had come from the platform. And you don't necessarily have to have a card. And they were coming up to the platform being--to be prayed for. And I just happened to look, and they were bringing a--an ambulance stretcher down like this. And the man was covered over, and I seen just his face.

29 And now, it's all seen by vision. Everything is by vision. When I see what you've done in life, I just see--just see it. But it's like I'm looking at you now. And it's been that way in a measure since I was a little boy.

Therefore, I believe that gifts and callings are without repentance, that you're borned in this world with gifts. I believe you have to be born to be a musician. You take children sometimes and give them all kinds of an education in music, they never make a musician. And some of them that can't even read their ABC's through, or say their ABC's, can play music of any type. You're born that way. You can't help it.

30 So therefore, it wasn't my righteousness, my family's goodness; it was the grace of God that brought the gift down to the people. See? And it just happened to be that God chose it for that purpose. Then as it goes on, it gradually grows greater and greater all the time, getting more and more.

And then in this night, two or three people had come, had been prayed for and was healed at the platform. And I looked out, and I seen that man. And I noticed as I looked at him, I seen he was covered over. And coming there, his face looked very red. And just above him, I seen a pulpit like this, and a man preaching. And I looked down again, and it was the same man. And I said, "Sir, you're a minister."

Said, "Yes sir."

Then I begin to see something unfold just in front of me, and I seen him. I said, "Yes, you're a minister. And about four years ago, God told you to do something that you did not do. And you failed to do it. And since then, it's been nothing but trouble, and you're just from the hospital now with a bone graft in your leg."

He begin to screaming and crying. And there God healed him there.

31 And as I started to turn back to see my patient coming, they were bringing a young lady to the platform.

I looked down and there was a man on a stretcher laying here. And I looked just above him here, standing in the midst of the air, and I seen a fellow working, a rigger. You know what a rigger is? Many of you does. See? And he was tying a double sheepshank on a something, a knot to--to raise... I looked, and I seen the man. I kept watching. And I looked to see where--and there laid the same man on the cot. I looked back again; that come before me again. I seen the man fall. And I said, "Sir, you're a rigger, aren't you."

He said, "Yes sir." And begin to...

I said, "About so long ago (I forget how long it was now.) you fell. They taken you to a hospital, and a tall dark headed man with glasses on was your doctor."

Said, "That's right."

I said, "Your wife is a blond-headed woman. You got two little children."

"That is exactly right."

I said, "You been paralyzed in your back now for three, or four, five years or more."

Said, "That's exactly right." And--and he said--he said, "Well, I don't understand how you know that." He said, "What must I do?"

I said, "Sir, I do not know."

And I started to turn. And I looked again, and I seen the man, just like same size, wearing a brown suit, walking right up just above the people's head, going down through the building, saying, "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

And I said, "Sir, Jesus Christ has healed you. Stand on your feet." Paralyzed from his waist down, up he got and down through the building he went, praising the Lord.

32 And--and then, turning this a way, I looked, and I seen a lady setting in a wheelchair, and I seen a woman standing near her and a little spastic baby in her arms with a blue blanket and a little white fringe hanging around it. Why, I turned to look to the patient again, coming this a way to me. And I looked back and I seen again, seeing if the vision was still there. And I looked, and I seen the lady holding a little baby. And then it vanished away. And the la--lady was setting with her hands like this, and she was crying.

I said, "Young lady, wasn't you born a spastic?"

She said, "Yes, sir."

And I said, "I seen a vision of your mother holding you in a little blue blanket with a white fringe around it." I just looked around like this; I said... It was just standing just a... And I said, "Right over here sets your mother. Been about twenty-five years ago, but I still see the features on her. Isn't this your daughter?"

She said, "Yes, sir."

I said, "Come stand by her." I said, "There it is, just right."

She said, "What must I do, sir? Am I healed?"

I said, "Sister, only thing I know that that was all I seen. It's gone from me. I can't say nothing but what He tells me to say. No one... No true prophet can ever speak without first God puts it in. If he does, it'll be a failure, and it won't be right. So you just only bring disgrace. See, only speak what God says speak. No matter if it be my own mother, I can only say what He said say."

33 And looking at the lady again, I started to pray for this other lady. And just then she walked up, the lady did, a fine looking young lady, and she had dark hair way down low on her shoulder. And I said, "Good evening."

And she said, "Good evening."

And I took a hold of her hand, well, it seemed strange. There was a--a--a vibration coming of a deafness. I said, "You hear me?"

She said, "Yes, sir."

I said, "Why, you... It's--it's a deaf..."

She said, "I'm deaf in one ear."

I said, "I knew it was a deaf spirit. I couldn't tell just how much."

And she said... She said, "Yes, sir. I've been deaf in my ear for many years."

And I said, "You believe that Jesus will heal you if I ask Him?"

She said, "With all my heart, I believe it." And very saintly looking little girl. And I... Young lady about in her twenties, I suppose... I bowed my head to pray for the girl. And when I did, I raised up and took a hold of her hand, the vibration would not stop. Just kind of worked up over what was going on, 'cause it--it feels just like something pulling on you like that. Just... When you're under the anointing, you can just tell it. It just feels everywhere. It just coming like something pulling like that.

34 And now, tonight I'm just opening up my heart to you, because I'm tired and on a travel, and wanted kind of give you the backgrounds of--of the meetings, so that you will see. And then if these things are not true, then--through this meeting, well, you tell... You walk right and say Brother Branham's a false prophet. See? And if it is true, then you glorify Jesus Christ for His greatness and His goodness.

And then when the... I started to pray for the girl again, and it did not leave her. Well, that was by touching it by my hands.

35 The patient puts their right hand on it, takes... What... It's a discernment of some type. Christian friends, I do not know. I--I can't say. All I know; I can tell it what it is. You can see it on my hand. My hand will swell up real big, and you can just notice it, them little white things will run right over my hand, just paralyzes right at my heart, right through like that till I can't hardly move my hands. And that's the effect of a germ disease in a person. It never fails to get them.

And I know when it's there. I know when it leaves, but I can't make it go. Your faith in God has to make it go. I can't make it go myself. It's your faith.

36 And then I looked at the girl, and I said, "Well, it's strange." And I gave... I asked Jesus again to heal her, and it just held right on. Well, I said, "There's something wrong. It will not go." And I said... I looked at her like that. And just as I looked at the girl, she was, oh, probably five foot two or three inches tall, and she... I seen that girl go right back across the stage. That's the way it went, went right across the stage. And I seen the little girl, fourteen years old standing there. She had long plaits hanging down her back, with little checkered ribbons.

I said, "You, when you was about fourteen years old, you wore long plaits, didn't you."

She said, "Yes, sir."

37 And I seen that girl take the road that's wrong, and here it started. And I just started telling just what I seen. I said, "When you was fourteen years old, you took a road that's wrong. And you had a baby by a man before you were married to him."

Now, remember friends, if you've got open sin, you confess it before you come up here if--if you don't want the public to know about it, because it certainly tells everything right out.

So the girl said... started crying. Said, "That's right."

I said, "You married a man that you didn't love."

She said, "That's right."

I said, "You left him."

"That's right."

I said, "Then you got with some religious cult, and they had you to marry another man."

"That's right."

I said, "You didn't love him and you left him."

"That's right."

I said, "You're married to another man."

"That's it."

And that time I said, "You was a Christian once, and you've gone back and backslidden on God."

"That's right."

And she staggered like she was going to faint to fall to the floor. And when she did, she screamed, and God forgave her; her hearing come back, and she received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, standing on the platform like that, standing there just at--just all at once.

38 And I turned around. And as I did, I seen that crippled girl setting in that chair just as plain as I'm looking at this gentleman setting here, rise up out of the chair, only she was dressed different than what she was setting there, and she went walking down the--through the aisle it looked like, just a waving her hands like that, and saying, "Thank God. Thank God." And I watched her till it faded out.

I turned back around. I said, "Sister dear..."

Oh, it... Friends, you don't... You'll never know how it feels to know... When you know where you're standing, there's no... There's nothing... All demons out of torment can't stop it then. No, sir. I've seen when doctors would stand at the bed and say, "He can't come in. That fanaticism. Well, we can't let in here."

I said, "Will you just step aside and watch the patient a few minutes?" My, when they're... Watch them perfectly normal just in a few moments. It's never failed. God is my Judge.

39 And looked at the little girl; I said, "Sister, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has heard your prayers and healed you. Stand on your feet."

And that girl hadn't walked since she was eight years old. And up she got out of that wheelchair, and there she stood. Brother Richey, you was standing there. There she went through the building, glorifying God. They moved the wheelchair back. The glory of God swept over the building everywhere, and people begin to rise and throw their crutches and canes, and walking.

What is it? That doesn't heal the people, to tell you what's wrong with you. But here's what it does, friends. It brings the realization of the supernatural God working in our midst. Just exactly.

40 And what I believe... Now, I'm... I--I know it's God. But what I think, friends, it's a repeat of the apostolic days. Because if...

Do not try to class it now, as many people, as fanaticism, hypnotism, spiritualism, or whatever. They want to bring it out. But did not the Saint Paul stand preaching one time, and said, "I perceive you have faith to be healed; stand on your feet, that Jesus Christ..." But of course, Satan is going to tack some kind of a name on it. Now, we know that.

But I believe that the coming of Jesus Christ is drawing nigh. I--I believe it with... You--you... If you want to call that fanaticism, just go ahead and mark me a fanatic then. Because I believe in the literal, physical coming of Jesus the second time, and I believe it's drawing nigh and now. I believe we have just a short time to work.

41 And I believe that this universal revival that's sweeping the lands today is a indication of the Message like it was in the days of Noah, while men and women are rioting in sin. And Noah had a fanatic Gospel that he preached. But he called people to an ark of safety.

And I believe that the glorious Gospel of the Son of God, manifested by the Holy Ghost, is sweeping the country today, and bringing people into the Ark which is Christ Jesus, safely secured from all the judgments that's going to come. And when the judgment strikes the earth, and the atomic powers rock the nations, we'll ride above the waves into Glory. I believe it.

And I believe that there's been a little Church that's been called fanatics for a long time.

42 Now, I do realize there is fanatics. Certainly there is. There's plenty of them. But a little Church that's tried to struggle, not be any certain denomination or any certain name, but I mean peoples who love God, and has held out for the Supernatural, and for God being living in our midst today as He promised He would by the Holy Spirit... And they've been called holy roller, fanatics, and Divine healers, and they've been pushed back in the alleys and been called everything.

But every great picture, before it can be hung in a hall of fame, it has to go through the hall of critics. And I believe the little Church has went through the hall of critics. And now soon, there'll come a scream from the heavens, and God is going to hang It in the hall of fame, to take It out by the rapture, to take It up into glory. And we're seeing signs and wonders, like we are today, to stimulate the faith, to believe that when He comes, that we'll be raptured and caught up together to meet Him in the air with those who've went on before.

43 Now, and I believe that many of them has fell away, and backslid, and got away... I use that word, "Backslid." That's kind of hard for a Baptist, isn't it. But I--I believe you can backslide all right. That--that's true. So I--I know that you can.

And I believe It's calling those who was once wayfaring men, and has got away from God. I believe It's calling them back, calling the Church together just before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, when God shall send Jesus the second time to the earth to gather the ransomed, that's been redeemed by His death at Calvary, to take them home to Glory.

44 And now, friends, now for tonight. I won't take much time longer. I think we want to pray for some sick people tonight, and to get the--the people to where we can have our--ourselves settled. But for a night or so, to more or less be--get acquainted with each other while I'm in prayer. And will you promise me now... Just to be called out like this once right into the meeting, it's kind of a little shock to me. Would you pray with me that God will grant it?

Now, I cannot do a thing about it until He comes to me. You see? I'm just as helpless as any creature in the world until He comes. He may come in tonight right while we're in the prayer. I trust that He will. It never did so quickly. Usually I fast and pray two or three days, then I begin to feel it off from me, and then It comes near me. After while It's on me, and then that... I... It just changes everything then. In the services, I--I don't talk, I just come in, and they start the prayer line, then I pray for the sick. And so, you pray with me.

45 Now, the... While we're praying tonight, and the people here, some of them probably are emergency cases, maybe very sick that cannot come back maybe for tomorrow night, or some other night... But if you'll bind yourselves together, and start a prayer meeting at home... Now, all you Methodists, Baptist, Lutheran, whatever you are, let's all put ourselves together. And now we represent no denomination; we represent Jesus Christ (See?), not any denomination.

Frankly, right now, I do not belong to any denomination of church at all. I--I don't belong to anything. I was ordained in the Baptist church. And by their desire, I--I'm not a Baptist no more. I...

46 Someone said not long ago... I was at Little Rock, Arkansas. And a man had been badly crippled, almost lifetime. He's walking on crutches. And he got a prayer card, and was called, and got into the number on the platform and was healed. And when he went out, he met me in a few days on the street. And he walked up-and-down the streets with his crutches in his hands, screaming, and going on. And he said, "Brother Branham." He said, "You know," said, "when..." He was a Nazarene, and he said, "You know, when--when you first started preaching," said, "I thought sure you was a Nazarene." He said, "And then I seen so many Pentecostal people along," said, "somebody told me you went Pentecost." And said, "Now," said, "I heard you say that--that you was a Baptist. So, I--I don't understand this."

I said, "That's easy." I said, "I'm a Pentecostal, Nazarene, Baptist." So that's the way we are. We just represent the Lord Jesus Christ in His mercy. That's right. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body and become one people. And that...

47 Jesus is not going to ask me if I was Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, or Pentecost; He's going to judge me to what I was in my heart. That's right. And that's what He will judge us all by.

So now, don't think it's just one church. We represent all the churches. And many of the people that come into the line are Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, they, all kinds, every kind of... And I've never seen one yet that come, but what was healed when they come upon the basis of faith. That's right. For by faith are ye healed, not how good you are.

I've seen people come that were renowned Christians, and stand there and be told the reason that they couldn't be healed. And see streetwalkers, prostitutes, people of ill-fame come off the streets and be healed, of cripples, and blindness, and everything, sinners.

Now, you don't have to be a Christian to be healed. But you have to be a Christian to stay healed. For the Bible said, "Go and sin no more, or a worse thing than this will come upon you." Is that right?

48 What is sin? What is sin? Not drinking, not smoking, not gambling, not rejecting church. Sin is unbelief. Is that right? He that believeth not is condemned already. See? You're not... You do not... You're not destroyed or separated from God because you're a sinner. You're separated to God--from God because you refuse to walk with Him, to walk in His provided way.

You've got death and life before you. Just like Adam and Eve, every man's a free moral agent. And the Tree of Life and tree of death is before us all. You can take either one you wish to. It depends on what tree you eat off of is what you are. That's right. And God is... God created you a free moral agent to do whatever you want to do about it. He can't make you love Him, and He don't force you to love Him.

49 If I forced my wife to love me, I'd be afraid to marry her. But she come upon--accepted me for what I was and married me. That's right. And she loved me and she accepted me that way. And that's the way we got to come to God. He wants us to love Him, and come, and believe His Word. And God's Word teaches Divine healing. How many believes that? Let's see your hands. That's fine. That's fine. The Word teaches it; that settles it. How many believes in gifts and callings? Let's see your... That's fine.

Now, gifts and callings does not heal you. Gifts and callings stimulates faith to... Faith is what heals you.

50 Now, the person at the platform, if they do not have faith, they'll be told immediately they do not have faith. And then, maybe here now here it illustrates: Here's Mr. Jones comes up, and he walks up here. He says, "Good evening, brother."

"You have faith, Brother Jones?"

"Yes, I have faith," and here he is down here.

Here's a... I will use it, my own expressions, vibration running up here. And Brother Jones is down here. All right. He says, "I got faith." He'd--he'll never be healed down here. He would in a--in amount of time, 'cause just the least little speck of faith, if you'll hold on to it, it'll bring you out.

51 But I mean for a spontaneous healing like you expect on the platform, when you make a statement that everything's healed on the platform. There's critics, hundreds setting watching, the newspapers and everything else to criticize that. So... Now, I'm not responsible after they get off of here and get away from the gift. I'm not responsible.

But any power that'll open blinded eyes on the platform till they can read a Bible, they can read it all the time if they keep believing. It's faith. When you lose faith... You get out with a bunch of unbelievers, and they say, "There's nothing in it," and Satan begins to lie to you, then you'll fall right back down in the category where you was the first place. It's... You're...

52 Somebody says, "How does Divine healing... Is it... Does it last all the time?" It lasts just as long as faith lasts. And salvation lasts the same way, just as long as faith lasts. When you feel that you're not saved any more, you're not saved. For it's by faith are you saved through grace. Is that right?

When you come to the altar, what do you do? You confess your sins and ask God to forgive you. And then, in your heart... Now get it! In your heart, you have to believe that He has forgiven you. Is that right? You have to believe that.

Then you walk away from the platform. And then you have to confess it first, that you are saved. You can't just keep it under a bushel; you'll lose it right now. You've got to confess it and tell everyone that you're glad. Now, what if you walk outside and somebody says, "There's nothing to it; you just got excited at the altar."

53 How many Christians is in here? Let's see your hands. All right. Oh, my. A hundred percent I believe. All right.

Each one of you, God saved in the same way, by faith. You could come here, and cry, and pray, and pray, and cry all this week, and next week, and a month, and you'd still be a sinner until you accept Him by faith. Is that right? It's not your crying that saves you. It's your faith that saves you. All right.

Then when you accept it, you believe it and somebody say, "Let's see if you look any different. Why, you still got brown eyes, you--you're just the same as you was." You can't show nothing that you are saved, only you're testifying of the unseen. Your faith says you're saved. Then you...?... what you do. You believe you're saved; then you say you're saved; then you act like you're saved; then you associate with those that are saved; and it works righteousness. Isn't that right? And after while everybody knows that you're saved. Isn't that right?

54 Well, He was wounded for our transgressions, and by His stripes we're healed. Jesus, Hebrews 3:1, is a High Priest of our confession. Now, any of you scholars know that word "profession" is translated the same as pro--as "confession." He's the High Priest.

Now, here it is, get it now, and you won't even have to come here to be healed! You'll be healed right where you're setting. I believe it's possible right now, for people in this building to be healed right, here right now. I've seen it. I've seen the time when there wasn't a wheelchair left in the building, and not a crutch, or a blind, or a deaf person of where thousands were setting.

55 One night while speaking, and they seen a miracle performed by God, just they accept it right there, and there wasn't a cot, wheelchair, nor nothing but what was emptied, and they walked out: Vandalia, Illinois (That's right.), in a big tent meeting.

Now, here's what it is, friends. It's... See, if you get It, you're a Christian because you believe that you're a Christian. And it's all settled because He's a High Priest.

Now, notice. He's the High Priest of your confession. You get what I mean? What you confess you are, that's what you are. Any man will never live any farther, or any higher, than what he believes he's a living.

You take a man that's talking about drinking all the time. He talks about drinking; he thinks about drinking; he drops right down into that category, becomes a drunkard. A man that's always thinking about vulgar things; he looks at vulgar things; he thinks of vulgar things; he reads vulgarity...