Why Some People Can't Keep The Victory

1 And we were discussing about my leaving on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning to begin down in Wichita, Kansas, for Friday. I told them I couldn't get through the north because of the snow. And we was thinking hearing that song start, "Only Believe." And I looked over at him and I said, "Nation after nation, tongues and people has that song called me to the platform for the past ten years or more." And I said, "When... If I'd go before the Lord Jesus comes, it is fixed that when they're putting me into the ground, they're going to stand and sing "Only Believe" while I'm going into the ground." I said, "I hope when, if I get to come to heaven that we'll be singing it when we get there, those who's passed on." For that's truly what I believe, is the Lord Jesus.

2 Now, we're... The handkerchiefs and things to be prayed over... That is such a--a great expression of--of faith of the people. There's so many things that I could say would be... A bigger part of my ministry, almost, is sending out these handkerchiefs and things because I contact more people. And I have... It's been said many times, "Brother Branham, Brother Roberts, or Brother Allen, or some of those other men will pray for five hundred while you're getting three or four." Well, that's perhaps true. But you know, they're doing what God tells them to do, and I'm doing what God tells me to do. So I... My ministry is a little different. But I contact a lot of people in this a way, by the--the handkerchiefs, and aprons, and little cloths. And you're welcome to send to my home any time, if you wish for them, just: Jeffersonville, Indiana, Post Office Box 325. But if just Jeffersonville, it'll come to me. And then... So we're happy, and we send it out to, oh, thousands of them weekly, all over the world. And a great success has been done of people believing and having faith in God for their healing.

3 And now, we will pray over these before leaving this afternoon, and you can get them. But if you happened not to put one up here, just write to my place. It'll be sent to you absolutely free. There's no--there's no charges on nothing that we have, not a thing. No services is charged, no charges for anything. We got some books. The boys told me a few minutes ago, there's just about a half a box left for Monday... We won't sell them on Sunday. And the pictures, just a few of those left, for Monday and Tuesday. And then... We buy those from the ones who print them. And we give them out for what we buy them at forty cents less. Bring them... People hasn't got the money and they want them anyhow, we give them to them anyhow. God makes it up some way. So there's no prices on nothing. Just feel free to send for anything, or anything we can help you to make life a little better for you, make trials a little easier, that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to do it.

4 Wish that I could personally go home with each one of you and talk with you awhile. I--I'd like to do that, but I can't do it. I just can't. But I'm sure you understand that. So there's one thing you--you can all do for me: that's pray for me. 'Cause that's the thing that I need more than anything I know of, is prayer.

I'm very hoarse. And I've been going so long, as I say, for four months now hardly without a night off, just going all the time, with preaching, praying for the sick. And it's... Certainly you can tell a difference after you've preached that long. You can imagine, then the healing services is twice as hard on me as what the preaching is.

5 So this afternoon, the Lord willing, we have chose a little text just to talk to the people awhile. And then, tomorrow the healing services and so forth will start on again. We don't know what our Lord will do. He might just come right down this afternoon and have the greatest healing service we ever had. We don't know. He just--He does it His own way. We just try to follow His leading.

6 And now, before we open His blessed Word in the way that we place...?... to read, let us just talk to Him just a little bit by prayer as we bow our heads. Our blessed heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the privilege that we have of coming into this lovely, big arena this afternoon, a shelter over our head, and to be assembled in the Name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. And to know that in this dark and dreadful hours that we're living, at the end of the age, that there's still thousands of people who believe on You and are looking for Your soon coming. And we feel today, that this is the Elect, the cream of the crop, at Oakland and it's round about that's gathered here this afternoon. They have come for one purpose: to hear the Word of God and to fellowship around It.

7 And we humbly pray, our Father, that Thou will take over this service into Your own hands, Your own control, and will get glory to Thyself. Sanctify the voice that's to speak. It's truly all of it Yours; it's all I have, Father, but it's given to You. And sanctify the ears that will hear, and may every heart receive. And may it not be thought of as a Message of man, but may it be as one from God. For we are listening and waiting to hear everything that we can for instructions, that we might stand before Thee, holy and without blemish in that hour that's swiftly approaching. We ask this blessing in Christ's Name. Amen.

8 In the book of Ezekiel, the 36th chapter and the 26th verse, I'll read a... this portion. [A prophecy is given--Ed.] Amen. Thanks be to God for this Word. And it always makes us take courage. Now, we used to sing a song: "Let Us All Take Courage, For We're Not Left Alone." That's right. The Lord is here. We believe that.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and... you shall walk in my statutes, and... keep my judgments,...

May the Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word. Ezekiel the 36th chapter and the 26th and 27th verses.

Now, we wish to speak this afternoon on this great, mighty prophet, Ezekiel, and his prophecy. And now, you know the prophets of the Bible was thought of as God's eagles.

9 Now, in study of nature, as I have been preaching, because it was my first Bible to lead me to Christ. We never had a Bible in our home. And I was twenty years old, we never seen a Bible, as far as I know in our home. We wasn't religious at all. My people formerly were Catholic. And they had left the church, married out of the church and was gone. And they didn't have any religion at all. And then, the Lord just by His grace picked me up. And it makes me love Him. Oh, I could never... There's something within me that holds: the love of God.

And now, in studying nature it--I see where God's great wisdom was, was to let me understand the natural things, so without an education, I could then be able to understand maybe the supernatural. For all of the things in the supernatural, or the natural, are types of things in supernatural. I don't know whether you get that or not, but that--that is true. Everything in earth is made of something above. And types and so forth, it's shadows. Our own shadow here on this earth is... What we are now is just a--a type of what we will be in that glorious resurrection, when all of the sin and sickness and sorrows and death has finished.

10 And the eagle was a type of the prophet. Now, the eagle is a mighty bird. And one of the saddest sights I ever seen in my life was one day at the Cincinnati Zoo. My boy was telling me a few moments ago, they've got one just across the lake here, and some kind of a--a little place where they got some animals over there, like a little zoo. And I don't even want to see. If anything I hate to see, is anything caged up. And I hate to see Christians caged up. If you give your canary bird all the orthodox food you could give him, and then keep him in a cage, what good's it going to do him, give him good food, make him strong wings, if you won't give him room to fly? So that's what I think the Christian has been as caged up. We ought to be free. If we study the Word, and believe the Word, give us room. Sure. Let's get out and get moving; exercising our faith.

11 Then I noticed this great, mighty bird, the eagle, and how he would take his great wings and he'd beat against the--the cage; and he'd fall backwards, and he'd look up towards the sky. And he would beat again till all of the feathers was off of his wings, and--and his head was all beat up, and he would lay on his back. When he hit them great bars and fly back, he would look up; and his eyes, weary, would look at the skies, because he's a heavenly bird. He can fly higher than any other bird there is. Why, the hawk's not a match for him in no manner. Not a bird on earth can fly with the eagle. He goes way in the air. No other bird could stand it; he's not built for that kind of an altitude. He would die if he went up there. The air's so thin, he couldn't breathe it; he'd perish and drop to the earth. But the eagle is made a heaven soaring bird.

12 Now, if you'll get what I mean this afternoon, I intend it to be a lesson to the people, as the Lord will let me speak. You see, gifts and callings are without repentance. We have need of a mockingbird. We have need of the wrens. We have need of all the other birds and of the eagles. But the eagle can't help it because he's an eagle; God made him an eagle. And there's no need of any other bird trying to come up with him, because they just can't go that far. And neither could the eagle be quick and sharp like the little hummingbird. But everything has its place. And every gift of the church has its place. Just because one's an eagle, and one's something else, and one's something else, it's all working together in God's great economy for the good, everything. But now, if the hummingbird tried to be an eagle, he would ruin himself. And if the eagle tried to be a hummingbird, he would ruin himself. See? And if the dove tried to be a crow, he would die. See? And the crow can't be a dove. So there you are. We just different, and God makes us this way.

13 But the eagle... We're talking about him now. God likened His prophets to eagles. Now, the reason He likened that, because higher you go the further you can see. If you could get up so high above the earth, you could see the entire earth as it's round. And higher you get the further you can see. And God had His prophets of the Old Testament, which, "God in sundry times, divers manners spake to the fathers by the prophets. But in this last day has spoke to us through His son, Jesus Christ." And I... As the Old Testament prophets would raise way up in the Spirit, way high, they could look far off and would see things that were coming. God would raise them up.

And now, if the eagle could go ever so high, and his eye wasn't according to his---his ability of his flying, then it wouldn't do him any good to fly up there if he was blind when he got there. But he--his eye is made to compare with the rest of his body. And when he gets up, he sees, and he can look way off.

14 And the Old Testament prophet would rise in the Spirit, and go way up, and would see things that were coming to pass. And Ezekiel was one of God's eagles, His prophets. And he would go way off, and he could see far off, and even seen all the way down to our age now. About twenty-five hundred years away he could see, as he raised up in the Spirit of God. And he seen the day that we're living in, and that's why he could write it. And we can watch it as it comes to pass. What the Bible prophets has said, every Word will be fulfilled. Sometimes we... It's hard for us to believe it, but God will do it anyhow, because it's His Word. And He--He's all wisdom; He's infinite; He understands; He knows just what was and what will be. Therefore, He could predestinate to make everything work for His good.

15 Now, a man's on the basis of free moral--free moral agency. And he cannot... God could not take a man and say, "Now, I'm going to make you do this. I'm going to make you be--to be a lost man. I'm going to make you be a saved man." That wouldn't be the nature of God. No. He's not willing that any should perish, but He wants all to repent. But if He was... Being infinite as He is, He knew from the beginning who would perish and who would not perish, because He knew what would be. Now, He's not willing that it would be that way; He want's all to come back to Him, but He knows who will and who won't. So therefore, He could by foreknowledge, He can make everything work right according to His plan. Oh, aren't you happy for a Father like that?

16 Just think, of every one of you in here today that's got your name on the Lamb's Book of Life, you never put it there; and your preacher never put it there; neither your church put it there; but God put it there. And when did God do it? It's written in the Blood of the Lamb. How many believes that? There isn't enough ink remover, or whatever it is, in the world to get it out of there. Look. God put your name on the Book of Life at the foundation of the world, the Bible said. We're just nothing. You never had nothing to do with it; I never had nothing to do with it; God, Himself, did it at the foundation of the world when He slew the Lamb. By foreknowledge He knew that Christ would be here, and He was called the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. And the beast will deceive all that dwells upon the earth whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world.

17 I wished you Pentecostal people could see that. That's one thing you're short in. That's what brings fear and trouble to you. Oh, you say, "Brother Branham, I'm afraid you'll go off on the deep end of eternal security, and all this." Oh, no, you don't have to worry about that if you keep your heart in the Bible, it won't. That's right. It's the--it's the Word of God.

And a man say, "Well, I'm saved. I just do what..." I always do what I want to do. And if I know my motives is wrong, then I better go back to the altar. Because if God's in me, I only want to do those things that please God. It's the nature of the--of the person that makes him do what he does. That's the nature.

18 And God in the beginning knew every person that would ever be on the earth at the beginning. He knew every fly, every flea, everything that would ever be. He's infinite, and He knew everything. And so therefore, the day that our name's on the Lamb's Book of Life, they were placed there before the foundation of the world.

And the Gospel to be preached is nothing in the world but the seining all of the fish out of the lake, as Jesus said. The Kingdom of heaven is... You say what's the used of preaching then? A preacher's got his part to do. He's got... The Kingdom of heaven's like one that's cast the net in and pulled it. Now, there's so many fish in that lake, and when the last one's brought out, that's the end of it. Now, a--a preacher he just throws in the net; he pulls. In that great net, the Bible teaches, he brings in everything. He brings in water spiders, frogs, snakes, lizards, terrapins, tadpoles, and fish. Now, it's not for me to determine or to judge, to say which is fish and which is tadpoles. But if you'll just watch them--if you'll just watch them, the nature that's in them will prove what they are. That's right. That's exactly right.

19 You watch a Gospel message go forth. Many will come up around the altar. Sure, the net's got them. Just a little bit they'll be an old Brother Terrapin will stick his head up to say, "I just didn't believe it in the beginning." He was a terrapin to start with; that's all.

And the snake will say, "You know, there's just something about that old holy-roller stuff I can't stand." Snake to begin with... That's right. And the old water spider starts plop, plop, plop, clung, clung, going back. It was that to start with. When the net went over them, they were that. That's exactly right. But the fish was fish when the net went over it too. We are seining for fish. God's the One to determine.

20 And that's... If this--this Christian religion is to take its firm stand upon the ability of intellectuals, then we'll not need the Holy Spirit. That's right. If the Christian faith exists upon educational programs, upon denominations, and so forth, and the building of big buildings, and whatever what we have today, then we do not need the Holy Spirit to run God's church. That's right. Then the best thing for us to do, if that be it, we're in the right program. Let's have every person that can get a denomination started, let's do it. Let's build the biggest churches we can have. And let's have the most smartest preachers we can get. Let's have the best degree'd man that we can. Let's oust the poor, and the--so forth in the street, and get the best dressed, and the best mental position people that we can, the best in intellectuals, if that's what the church is to be run by: intellectuals.

21 But, brother, this great new Spirit that we're speaking about, this great, new church that Ezekiel saw here, was not to be run upon intellectuals. It was to be run by the Holy Spirit. And then, if the Holy Spirit is to run the church, we don't need so much fussing about denominations, and about the intellectuals, and who can say, "Amen" the prettiest, and dress the best. We don't need that.

Then let's do what Jesus told us to do. Go into the streets and the byways, and get the lame, halt, blind, poor, and whatevermore, and bring them in. For the great supper's going to be set one of these days. We need that. That's the type of religion that we need. Then we wonder how we get it.

22 Now, we never was commanded to produce fruit. No, sir. God never said anywhere to produce fruit. We are to bear fruit. And there's quite a difference in producing and bearing. Now, we produce education. We produce psychology. We produce intellectuals, the outside form. But to bear the fruit, it must be from the inside coming out. We're trying to smear it on the outside. But God's church isn't built like that; it's from the inside coming out. The apple don't come from the outside of the tree; it comes from the inside out. The life of the tree shows what it is. And the fruits it bears is what it's known by.

And the church is known today... It's got an outside intellectual seminary experience, the best polished scholars we ever had. And the church has got the weakest pulpits it ever had in any age. That's right. Is because we're trying to control it by intellectuals. That's not God's program. God didn't intend it.

Now, look. You say, "What can we do, Brother Branham? What makes it?" I said this afternoon I was going to speak on "Why Some People Can't Keep The Victory."

23 Now, notice. Now, the church doesn't need a polishing. It doesn't need a facelifting. It needs a birth. It needs a conversion. Something's got to happen. Not just to strengthen our borders, not to bring in new members: a revival is not to get new members. A revival is to revive what we got. That's what we so badly need.

24 Not long ago in Chicago, I was standing out by the great, famous Lake Michigan. And I noticed how those waves were leaping and jumping. And I thought, "Oh, my. The lake's got a revival today." And I stood there; there was someone standing with me.

They said, "Pardon me, Brother Branham?"

I said, "The lake has a revival."

"Why," he said, "what do you mean by a revival?"

I said, "Look how it's a leaping and jumping, pounding its waves back and forth, and dashing against each other, just frolicking."

And he said, "Well, what do you mean, a revival?"

I said, "It's having a rejoicing time." And I said, "But remember, there's not one more drop of water in it in its jumping, as it is when it's quiet." That's right.

Now, our jumping and shouting and praising God is wonderful if we can still have the same amount of water when we come down to earth again. That's right. The church is not built upon rejoicing and upon bubble dancing, but it's built upon the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the love of God.

25 "Well," you say, "what good does a revival do then?" If you notice, every time the sea has a revival, or the lake (it just churns back and forth), is to knock all the trash out of it. After you get the revival over, the trash is laying on the bank. It cleans itself in a revival. And God knows the church of the living God needs a revival, for a lot of its nonsense needs to be churned out of it. That's right.

What makes the revival? What makes the lake churn? Is because there's a wind comes. That's right. The wind comes down from heaven and gives it a revival. That's what makes the church. When a rushing, mighty wind come from heaven, one day, a Pentecostal revival broke out. That's what we need today, is another rushing, mighty wind on the Pentecostal church to get the little isms and little differences out of it, so the love of God can have the right of way. Throw all the trash out on the banks and clean her out, and let's get started again.

26 In the Bible time when the gold beater used to be... They used to take the gold before they had the smelters, and the beater would beat the gold, turn it over, beat it, and beat it till they beat all the dross out of it. And how he knew that it got down to really good gold, all the pyrite and fool's gold and so forth was beat out of it, the beater could see the reflection of himself in it. Then he knowed he had it clean. Listen, my dear friends, today when the Holy Spirit (which is the Beater) will beat the church with the Gospel till the reflection of Jesus Christ shines into the church, then she's pure again. That's right. But we got too much pyrite, and copper, and other things in us yet. It must be brought out and only the beater can do it. A revival is what we need.

27 Now, you cannot bring a message of this brand new Holy Spirit baptism into a dry, formal, creedy church. You just can't do it. And now... Now, remember, I love you with all my heart, and I hope that God will let you know. But I've got a little boy at home, going on two years old. If I seen him doing wrong and I didn't correct him, I wouldn't love him. That's right. You your children...

And I want to say this: that our great move of the church of the living God in this nation has become in two factions: One of them is going so stiff and starchy and intellectual; and the other one's went plumb off at the deep end on the other side. That's exactly the truth, brother. That's right. Went plumb to the fanatic side... There's no middle of the road.

28 I made that remark some time ago, and a good friend of mine, Roy Weed, the--the state presbyter of Indiana, of the Assemblies of God, he said, "I heard someone say that you should drive in the middle of the road." He said, "You know that's not good ethics. A man in the middle of the road would get run over." I met him; I said, "But look, my dear brother, you just think so much of the things of the world till that's the only way you can judge things by the way it looks."

This is a one way road. There's nobody coming back; you're going on or going off. That's right. Either one way or the other, you'll go either starch, formal, go off the deep end this way, or go on with Christ. You don't turn and come back; there's no coming back. You just move on. You don't have any of them coming back.

29 Now, notice, friend, we need a--a new bunch of real consecrated people. That's what we need. Now, the message today, perhaps if we would... If the president would come to this city, he could say five words about something, "You ought to tear out this lake out here" and something another like that, and they'd start draining that lake because the president said so. "They ought to make a subway over here or something another." They would do it just because the president said so.

But, brother, we're reading today from a Book which is greater than any president's word. It is... That our president takes care... I love our president, think he's a wonderful man. He does them kind of things, but--of a national affair. But what I'm speaking about; I'm talking not to the--the city officials in the way of taking care of their city; I'm talking to the church of God by the Word of God. Here's where we need to change.

30 Now, you can't hardly get the message to the old form of believing. Jesus spoke of that long time ago in the Bible. He said, "You can't put new wine in old bottles." I often wondered what that meant. What did our Lord mean when He said, "Put new wine in old bottles?" Well, I thought what difference does it make. Because, today, we only have glass bottles. And whether it is new or old it doesn't make any difference. But when I visit the eastern countries, the orient, I find out that the water bottles of that day was made out of animal skin. And then, when the animal skin was fresh and a new skin... Or when it got old and dry and set, to take new, unfermented wine and put it in there with that new wine, unfermented, still had the germ of life in it. And when it begins to ferment, why, the old bottles that were so set and stiff, why, there was a explosion. It could not hold it, and it would just burst open. And you'd... The wine would perish and the bottle would perish.

31 Now, that's the way it is today. You can't take this brand new, heaven-born, Pentecostal wine and mix it up with them old time creed of some sort, some old set-in-the-way, dyed-in-the-wool. Why, if you do, you go to preaching about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Divine healing, and signs and wonders, that old skin will try to stretch and it'll blow: "The days of miracles is past. I can't stand it no more. I can't even stand through this sermon." Blowie, out the door it goes. That's right. You can't do it. But to put new Pentecostal wine, you have to have new bottles. Right. And new bottles is new skin; it's still got animal oil in it. And that new skin will stretch. And when you begin to preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the love of God, Divine healing, signs and wonders, a new skin... When the Bible said, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever," the new skin will say, "Amen." That's right. It'll stretch out.

The old skin will say, "Dr. Jones don't--don't teach it like that." See? There you are. That's the difference. What we need today is a brand new set of Pentecostal hides. That's right. To preach a Pentecostal message...

32 Now, Pentecost is not at your denomination now. Pentecost is an experience. It's not a denomination. Pentecost is what you receive. That's right. It's for the Methodists, the Baptists, the Lutheran, the Catholic; just as much Pentecost, and sometimes a whole lot more, than those who call themselves Pentecost. That's right. It's an experience, when you can take it. Oh, and when that new life begins to work, and you read in the Bible, said, "I'm the Lord that heals all thy diseases."

Then the new skin, as that life begins to enter in, stretches it out and says, "Amen, I believe it, Lord."

33 But now, what if you're all indoctrinated with all of this here embalming fluid that's been pumped into you, then the first thing you know, why... You know, I always felt sorry for a dead man. I go around to some of them morgues and look at that. I think the man's dead when you take him in there, and then they shoot a lot of fluid into him to be sure he stays dead. And that's about the way it is with some of these churches today around over America. They're dead to begin with. And when you go in there, they'll pump you full of some of their old, intellectual embalming fluid to be sure that you stay that way.

What we need today is a resurrection of the old fashioned, Pentecostal power of the Holy Ghost. That's right. We need to get growing pains where we can stretch out in the Lord. Oh, I just hate to be all cramped up (yes, sir) to a place where you can't say, "Amen" or you... [Brother Branham grunts twice--Ed.] Oh, that just gets on my nerves to do that.

34 Here not long ago up in Kentucky, a little old Methodist church up there that really had the Spirit... And a young couple got married out of that church, and they took their letter down into Louisville. And they were having them put in a great, big city church where they was just as (oh, I don't know), so starchy and ritual.

And one day that little, Kentucky mammy come down to--to visit her--her boy and--and her daughter-in-law. And, of course, they just went to church now and then. They stayed home and looked at television like the rest of them does, and stay away from prayer meeting, just a normal, nominal Christian, like too much of our America is today. That's Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal and all too. It's true. It's exactly right. We stay home to watch this, or do that, or take a little ride; it's too hot to go to church, or something like that. I don't feel just good. You're going to feel worse than that some of these days when you're condemned at the judgment bar. That's right.

35 And there... This little old mammy, you know, she--she wanted to go to church. She said, "Well, honey, where do you go to church at?"

Well, they said, "Mother, we go down to the great Trinity Methodist Church down here at the corner."

"Oh," she said, "I just got to go to church in the morning." She said, "It's the Sabbath and I must go."

And then, when Sunday morning came, they taken little mama down there, and her little dress all up over her neck this way, and the long sleeves. And when she walked in, the ushers dropped back as if to say, "Well, what did, where'd this fall out from? What antique shop did you bring this from?" And she walked in there; her little hair combed on the back of her head and her little face just as slick as a peeled onion. And she walks down through there and sets down.

36 The minister got up with his flock-tailed coat on, you know, and his round-to-round collar. And--and he got up there and he said, "Now," he said, "my beloved congregation, we shall now enter into worship."

And the little lady said, "Well, glory." Everybody looked around, stretched their neck like a bunch of Canadian ganders, and looked around to see what had taken place. They wondered what happened.

And the minister said... [Brother Branham clears his throat--Ed.] He said, "I shall try it again." And he said, "Well, now," he said, "now, ladies and gentlemen, today we believe that Jesus Christ is the great Oneness in our midst."

She said, "Well, glory to God. Amen." And the boy set there with his head down, the girl with her head down. They didn't know what had happened.

And he said... The usher come around and he said, "Madam, you're interrupting the minister. He just can't preach."

37 There's quite a difference between him and I. If they're not hollering "Amen," I can't preach. That's the only thing I know. I don't know where I'm standing. I believe I like to hear... "Amen," means "So be it." The Word's taking hold and going into the heart. And, you know, I just wonder... She might not have... Her name might not have been so great in this earth that it was on "Who's Who?," but, I'd imagine it's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I'd rather have mine there than on all the "Who's Who?" there is in the world. Right. Yes. I'd rather have it on the Lamb's Book of Life. Yes. That's the place to get it.

38 Some time ago I was up into northern British Columbia, and a scene came before me that just thrilled me. First, I'd been chasing an old grizzly bear on a horse. And the old fellow was determined I wasn't going to take his picture. But I thought I could. But I couldn't get close enough to him. And on a little, oh, about three year old horse, had just been broke, and he was trying his best to throw me. And over the gulches we went, me trying to head this old bear off. And I got turned around. I thought I couldn't, but I did.

So I got turned around, and it got night on me. And I got up high on a hill, and I begin to look around. And I thought, "Which way did I come?" Now, you know, you're just don't want to get turned around up there, because you'll go five hundred miles without a road or anything. So I said, "Wonder which way..." And it was kind of cloudy, had been a little foggy, and that's the reason I had to get close up to the old fellow to get a picture of him. And I looked around; I thought, "Well, I'm sure this is the right direction." I rode a little while, and the fog cleared away, and the--the moon came out. And I thought, "Well, I can see my way to ride pretty good. Gets too bad, I'll just build up a fire and make the night of it."

39 So then after going a little while, and my little horse was lathering pretty well. I tied him up, come to an old blow-down, a burn-over, rather. And it was a blow-down too, because the trees after they'd burned, the life went out of them, many of them just lap over each other when the winds blow. Then I stopped there and I was letting him rest. And I got off and set down there a little bit, and kind of what I call "buttermilk skies," kind of big, white clouds, and the moon was shining through as it was going along.

And I thought, "Well, this is some place to stop." And the winds were blowing, as it had blowed away the fog. And--and I begin to hear the most mournful noise I ever heard. And I thought, "What is that noise?" And after while I heard it again. [Brother Branham illustrates--Ed.] "M-m-m-m" And I thought, "What a spooky place." And just then, the moon came out, and those great, big, old, dead pine trees standing there, and they were just bleached white. And that moon shining down on them, looked like tombstones. And it was the most weary sound I ever heard. And I thought, "What a place for me to stop." Well, I thought, "Lord, do you want me to stay here?"

40 I had my little horse tied up. And I set down and begin to wonder. I thought, "Well, what makes them old trees moan like that, makes it so weary for a person passing through here?" Thought, "My, any traveler passing through this would be scared." And I sit there a little while and watched this little old scene take place. And I noticed after while, down come the wind again with a great gush. And those old trees just moaned and groaned. I thought, "Well, what does this mean?" And a little text over in Joel come to my mind. "What the palmerworm has left, has the caterpillar eaten; what the caterpillar has left, has the locust eaten," and all these little insects. I was thinking on that, that each of those insects are the same insect; it's just a different sphere. It goes away as one and comes back as another. The palmerworm, caterpillar, and locust is all the same insect, and then, just a different stage of its life.

41 And I thought, "Yes, that's right. Well, then I see why the Lord has stopped me here." These great big, old trees once were real trees. And that reminds me of some of these great big, starchy churches, you know. They stand way up high like that. Oh, my, they build their spearals--spire until it's so high it sticks all over the city, and my, just about as dead as the tree was. Oh, they were once trees sure. They were once filled with the Spirit way back under the Lutheran and Methodist age, and so forth. But what the Lutheran left, the Methodist eaten; what the Methodists left, the Baptists got; and what the Baptists left the Pentecostal got. And oh, the poor tree's eat down. That's just about all there was to it.

42 Back in the beginning, that tree, God's heritage back there which was His vine, His tree, it--it was a new church; they had fellowship, love. They had Bible doctrine. They had everything just right. And along come one insect to eat this out, and another to eat that out, till it's become nothing but a great, big, old, empty spooky-looking place. That's about right.

And then, every time the wind would blow they'd just moan. And I said, "That's right. Every time God repeats the Pentecostal experience, the only thing these big, old morgues can do is stand there and go, 'M-m-m-m days of miracles is past. M-m-m-m there's no such a thing as that,'" just as spooky as it can be, to try to drive the people away from it.

43 I thought, "Well, then, why do You send the wind, Lord? Why do You send it anyhow?" They're done; they're finished; they'll never receive it. Just like them old cowhides was done dried and set. There's no way of trying to tell them anything 'cause they'll never believe it. They done got set, and calloused, and dried out, and that's all of it. But I thought, "Why do You send the wind then?"

But then I remembered Job--Joel said, "But, I will restore, saith the Lord. I will give back to you all the years the caterpillar eaten, and the locust eaten."

I thought, "Where would it be, Lord?" And I noticed, down underneath these trees come up a bunch of undergrowth, a little bunch of trees. They were green; that's true. The church might act a little green. But, brother, it's flexible to the winds of God when it blows. Every time the wind would blow those little trees would just laugh, and jump, and joy. Boy, I said, "If that ain't an old fashion Pentecostal meeting, I never seen one." That's right. Right. Certainly.

44 Oh, them little trees, when the wind blows, they are flexible.

They'll say, "I can't go to that meeting. I'm the Presbyterian. I belong to the Assemblies. I... Oh, I wouldn't cooperate with that at all." You old stiff, starched, half dead... What's the matter? What we need today is a restoration of the genuine Pentecostal breaking-down experience in the churches of the living God. I thought, "Lord, will You do it?"

And I seen that little bunch of backwash, they called us, you know, but...?... or offcast, or whatever it is. But they... You say, "Well, they were green." They might be green, but they're flexible to the wind. They can give, but then they got Life in them anyhow. That's one good thing.

I thought, "What do you shake them so hard for?" Every time you shake a tree, it loosens up the roots around so it can grow down and get a better hold. And every time we open up our hearts and let the Holy Spirit come into us, it only shakes the roots loose so that we can grow down and get a better hold on Christ Jesus:

Anchored on the Rock that cannot fail,

Grounded safe at last in the Saviour's love.

45 What the church needs today is a opening up and get green. Don't try to be... "I'm Doctor Ph.D.. My pastor is a..." What does that mean, anyhow? "D.D." you say... In the Bible D.D. means "dumb dog" And I don't think it's changed very much since then. That's right. Brother, what--we don't need D.D. We need a Holy Ghost experience in the church of the living God. You know that is true. We need to be greened up, livened up. If Life makes you act green, then go ahead and get Life. That's right.

The Lifeline hasn't been cut. The caterpillars hasn't been eating. Oh, brother, one of these days God's going to come down with His insect powder; He's going to spray that old stump. And she's going to growing just as sure as the world, she's going to do it. Yes, sir. And God will restore all the years that the locust and the caterpillars eat up.

46 Now, on the day of Pentecost they had one hundred and twenty brand new sheepskin bottles. That's right. Not goat skin, but sheepskin, it makes the best. Yes, sir. And one hundred and twenty green bottles was set in a upper room, all plenty of them stretching and growing pains. They had their hearts open to catch everything God would pour down. Yes, sir. Today we say, "I'll go over there, but I'll tell you what; I don't believe. I don't care how much he brings it out of the Bible; I'll never believe it." Well, you old cowhide and goat skin. What's the matter anyhow?

47 We need something to work on. Before the Holy Ghost can ever go to work, He's got to have something to work with. You know that's right. Oh, this Pharisaic age that we're living in: "I tell you, I'll never let a seventh grade dummy tell me. I come from so-and-so; I got a college education." But you haven't got gumption enough to know how to control it maybe. That might mean a whole lot different, brother. I tell you; Paul had one too, but he said he forgot everything he ever knew in order to find Christ. The trouble of it, the church needs today, we need to dump out a whole lot of stuff so we can be filled up again.

Here was that hundred and twenty green bottles setting up there. And all of a sudden there came New Wine from heaven like a rushing, mighty wind. It filled those little old green bottles until they got growing pains, and they just bounced all over the country saying, "This is that." Brother, if this ain't that, I'm going to keep this till that comes. That's one thing sure.

48 This marvelous grand Holy Ghost experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Person and Being working in us, through us, all around, but what a thing it is; what a wonderful thing it is. It's got Life in it. The church of the living God is full of Life. It's the unfermented wine. It's still got the bacteria germ in it that's filling it, and growing it, and pushing it, and shoving it. That's what God's a doing. The experience of Christ...

49 As a game warden, I used to walk by a little place where I--I thought was the happiest spring I ever saw in my life. That little old spring was just a bubbling and a jumping all the time. So one day when I was passing by, I set down. I said, "Little spring, what makes you so happy? Why are you always a bubbling and going on?" I said, "Maybe it's because deers drink from you."

If he could speak back, he'd say, "No, Brother Branham. Huh-uh."

I'd say, "Maybe because bears drink from you, make you happy."

Say, "No, Brother Branham, it isn't that."

I say, "Well, maybe because that I drink from you."

It would say, "No. That isn't it."

"Well, what makes you bubble?"

If he could speak back, he'd say, "Brother Branham, it isn't me bubbling. It's something behind me pushing me and making me bubble." And that's the way with every borned again son and daughter of God. It's not your emotions; it's something pushing in you, giving you the bubbling. Right. True.

50 Yes. That's what we need today is experiences of the new birth. Now, I want you to watch the order that Ezekiel brought it in. He said, "I will give you a new heart, and I'll give you a new spirit, and I'll put My Spirit in you." I want you to watch; there's three of it. A new heart. "I'll take the old stony heart away." That's that old different heart you have. "And I'll give you a new spirit." Now, many times, and there's been a terrible mistake, the people has thought sometimes that that new spirit was the Holy Spirit. But it isn't; it's a new spirit. God gives you a new... Why, you couldn't even get along with yourself with your old spirit; how you going to get along with the Holy Ghost? God had to give you a new spirit so you could get along with His Spirit. And sometimes people...?... "A new heart, a heart of flesh, so you will receive it; then a new spirit in that heart, and then I'll put My Spirit in that." You see? New heart, new spirit, "and My Spirit," three things He spoke of.

51 Now, many times we try to make that thing just say... Well, as soon as you get the new spirit, you quit your stealing, you quit your lying, things like that. You say, "Oh, hallelujah, I got it." And you find out the first time anyone crosses your path a little bit, oh mercy, what a difference. Sure. You blow up like a frog eating buckshot. But let me tell you, brother. That's the reason you never got God's Spirit. That's true. "Oh," you say, "he stepped on my toe; I'll just not put up with that." All right. That shows what you got in you. That's true. "I'll put a new spirit in you, and then I'll put My Spirit in you."

Now, the heart is in the center of the emotions of the human being. Your heart is the middle of you. That's exactly right. So God puts a new heart in the middle of the old man, then He puts a new spirit in the middle of the new spirit, or heart, and puts His Spirit in the middle of the new spirit.

52 Now, it's all just exactly like the mainspring in a--in a--a famous watch. You see? They got a little click over here working, a little click over here working. It's little wheels a turning. But it's all controlled by the mainspring. Now, you could have...

The trouble of it today, we've left off the Mainspring, brother. We've tried to make ourselves Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, build great churches, say, "Looky here what a fine watch I got. Look at what a fine stem it's got on it. Look at the face out of it; why, it's got rubies in it; it's got jewels in it." It isn't worth a dime if it don't keep time. Right.

That's what's the matter today. We try to make Methodists, and Baptists, and Presbyterian, and Pentecostals. And we try to get the prettiest church, the best pastor, the smartest man, and everything. And our church just don't keep time with God's Bible. That's what's the matter. See? You left off His Spirit.

53 Hasn't Jesus said, "Have you heard that the Stone that the builders rejected has become the Chief of the corner?" Certainly, the Mainspring...

Now, when the mainspring is in the watch, and this watch is a--not a self-winding, it's a God-winding watch. And the only thing you do to--to a self-winding watch, the only way you do, is your emotions with the watch is what winds it. And your emotions towards the Word of God is what winds you up with the Holy Ghost, if you're taking God's Word. There it is, the new watch.

54 Now, you know, Ezekiel saw it again. And he, this same prophet, he saw it as a wheel in the middle of a wheel, turning up in the air. Now, the wheel... First there's a--is a rim. The tire, then the rim, then the spokes, and then the hub.

Now, when Luther started, "the just shall live by faith," justification, he put the tire around it. Yes. All right. Wasn't much of a wheel yet. All right. Then here along come Methodists with sanctification, put the tire on it--the rim around it. And then along come Pentecost. And they taught sanctification, the Luther, or the Methodists. The Luther taught justification, which was a tire on the outside. And the rim then was the Methodists with--with sanctification. And the Pentecostals come along, and they put a spoke in it: speaking in tongues.

55 Well, let me tell you, brother, it don't consist just of that. That's the reason we're lumping, bumping down the road the way we are. There's not one spoke in there, but there's nine spiritual gifts in that church, not just one. Them's all right. The tire's all right; the rim's all right; the spoke's all right; but like the colored man eating the watermelon, "There's more of it." And that's what I mean today. There's more of it. There's nine spiritual spokes in this wheel. And it's turned by the wheel in the middle of the wheel, all connected with the hub. Oh, I feel religious. I sure do.

Yes, brother. The good thing, no matter what we're doing, how you're doing it, you're fighting the air, because God done said, "I will restore saith the Lord." It's got to come.

Now, the hub is where it all turns from. And the mainspring is where all the watch works from. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] That mainspring, it ticks it right up, keeps every blessing just exactly.

56 Now, these gifts... Your gift of tongues, wonderful; justification by faith, wonderful; sanctification, fine; speaking in tongues, wonderful; interpretation, fine; messages from God, wonderful; prophecy, fine... Brother, if it hasn't got no hub in it, what's it going to amount to? Your spokes will get across one another. They'll cross up, fuss, fight, isolate, and chaw, and tear on up each another. That's what's the matter.

We need the Mainspring. What good does it do to have the little bitty springs, and the little bitty gadgets in here, and the winding springs, and the alarms, and the faces, and the big hands, and all this thing, if there isn't something in there to make it operate?

57 I believe the Pentecostal church has got the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I believe the rest of you do too, that claim it. I believe your speaking in tongues is right. I believe that your prophecy's right. I'd go with you on...?... being a Baptist. I believe it. Sure I do. But here's one thing, brother. It's not keeping the right kind of time. That's what I'm trying to say. So it takes the baptism of the Holy Ghost to come into that human heart there to make the thing run right.

The love of God, God is love. And unless each one of these gifts is put right in the center of love, it'll become selfish and indifferent, and pull itself off, and isolate itself, and cross over, and fuss and stew. But when it's anchored right into the middle of love, it'll fellowship everywhere. And that's right. That's exactly what we need. The church is dying for love, brother.

58 Our gifts are all right. Our denominations is all right; nothing against them. But we're centering our whole hopes on our denomination. You're centering your whole hopes on gifts. As Jesus said, "Many will come to Me that day and say, 'Lord, haven't I prophesied in Your Name, cast out devils in Your Name, done great works?'"

He said, "I'll say, 'depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never even knew you.'"

Paul said, "Though I speak with tongues like men and angels and have not love, I'm nothing." Though I understand the Bible, I got a Ph.D.D., double L.D., I understand all the mysteries of God, and if it isn't stuck in that hub down there of love, the thing won't keep time. It...?... See? It just won't do it.

59 So, doctor, I have nothing... I wish I had a doctor's degree. Somebody wanted to give me one the other day. I said, "I'm too smart for that." Yes, sir. I said, "I'm just--I'm growing too smart to be a doctor." I said, "My old Kentucky, sassafras, southern-talking of 'his, hain'ts, totes, fetch, tarry,' like that..." People's too intelligent. I wouldn't be a hypocrite. If I had one, I'd be glad, but not take one on them terms. I'd rather be what I am and serve the Lord, sure, certainly, and be honest with people and with God. If you won't be honest with the people, you won't be honest with God.

60 We need the love of God. That controls the whole thing. Now, your watch is all right; your mains and your organ springs is all right. Your little second-hands is all right; all your little gifts and everything is all right. But, brother, let's get the Mainspring back in it. Oh, my. That's what makes every little thing...

Now, watch, the Mainspring works when the--when love goes to work. You know what happens? The Methodists said, "Come on, Baptists, let's rock together." All right. "Come on Presbyterians, you Pentecostals, let's all join together and have a real city-wide revival." There you are. Then the Spring's beginning to control. The Holy Spirit's begin moving. Then the Baptists won't fuss at you for speaking in tongues, and neither will you get out of order with it. And the Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, all together, will all operate in one great big unit of the church of the living God. And she'll keep exactly time with the Bible. Absolutely.

Oh, the signs of the time. We're living in the last day. She's got to keep time with this Bible. This is... And you know every once in a while, if that talk happens to be getting just a little bit dry, God will give you a drop of oil from heaven. And He will just oil it all up, and she'll run just fine after that. Yes, sir. If you'll do it.

61 Now, notice. A new heart, a new spirit, and then I'll put My Spirit within you. Now, and you'll keep all my statutes and all my judgments. When that mainspring begins to tick, when the Stone that's rejected, when the love of God is brought back amongst the people of God, then you're going to see the church of God all fellowshipping with one another without any friction at all.

Now, you remember when the servants in the Bible, they said, "Our Lord delays his coming." They begin to devour one another and bite and fuss and stew. And the Lord come and caught them that way. They had lamps but no oil in them. See? And when they did, they were cast out into outer darkness.

Brother, why take a substitute, when the genuine's here at hand? Why would you take something different when the real thing is here at hand?

Then when you get that Mainspring working within you, Christ, the love of God, in your heart, working within you, then it will begin to express these kind of a tick: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience, faith, mercy. Oh, my. It'll just tick right with those.

62 Then you know what? The yoke that you're yoked with with Christ doesn't chaff your necks any more. It isn't a burden to bear. Then you just go on... It's all got feathers on it then. It's light. The burdens are few. And you know what you do with it. When somebody turns over, say, "Hey, wasn't you down to that holy-roller meeting? I thought I seen you go up there."

"Well, m-m-m-m, I'll tell you..." See? It--it kind of chafes you a little bit because the mainspring's not working. That's right. But when the mainspring goes to working... When that person says, "I heared, Liddy, you become a holy-roller. So you're not going to join our little cigarette party any more."

Now, if you haven't got the Mainspring, you say, "John, I'll tell you. I throwed away them old cigarettes. I knew it. I heard on the radio, that..."

63 I heard the other day that there'll be more people die in America this year from smoking cigarettes with throat cancer (causing throat cancer), than was killed in fours years of the last world war. More will die in the United States than killed on both sides. You heard that radio cast yesterday that said about the cancer? It's absolutely proven that smoking cigarettes cause cancer. And no more... Why don't they stop it? What's the matter? The television and everything else is full of that gaum and all kinds of stuff like that, filth. Is because the buzzards want it. That's exactly right. Just exactly. You can't talk to a buzzard about anything dead, because that's all he eats on. That's right. Change his nature one time. He will certainly keep off it. That's exactly.

Oh, you think I'm hard. I don't mean to be hard; I love you. But, brother, you got to get broke up 'fore you can be molded again. That's exactly right. We've got to know what's the truth. I'm quoting to you the Scripture. Certainly.

64 God then... Then that old yoke that you was yoked up with with Christ, if that Mainspring's a working, the love of God's a flowing from your heart, and somebody says, "Hey, I heard you was a holy-roller. You don't drink any more; you don't smoke any more."

"That's right, sister. Oh, I have found the Treasure. It's so sweet in my heart. I wished I could tell you about it." Oh, yes, it just puts feathers all over the cross. It just makes it...

You know what you do? Those burdens that's throwed upon you, you carry them all... It seems like Samson with the brazen gates of--of--of Gaza. Why, he just packed it up to a certain hill and laid them down. And when you've really got the Mainspring working in your heart, the love of God flowing out, and they call you any kind of a name they want to, that won't do a bit of good for them to say that. You'll pack it to a certain hill called Calvary and there you'll it lay down and pray for that person. That's right. You won't fuss and stew with the people about this, that, or the other. A...

65 Why, if you've become a real child of God, why, the old things is passed away. You're yoked up, and, oh, it's such a pleasure to pack the yoke of Christ with Him, know that you're yoked together as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, and you're joint-heirs with Him in heaven. It's easy.

Now, what do we do when this comes into us, when this love comes in? I believe I was preaching here the other night how that that love is projected, how that the burdens seem light, how that love casteth out fear. You won't be scared if you got that love in you. And the--the Bible said you can be healed, you'll take God at His Word. You won't care about nothing as long as love's there, making all of these things move around. If things don't go right, that doesn't matter; you still got love. See? It holds you.

66 The apostle wanted to show us the power that comes by this love, this Mainspring. Look at Jesus; he took us over to the tomb. Look at Jesus laying there. His face was scarred, was deathly pale; all of the Blood was run out of His body; His hands was all drove through with spikes and tore, and His feet's tore. There He is laying there, cold, dead three days. Then watch. All of a sudden I see a bunch of soldiers running like frantic over each other. What's that? Then I notice the color begins to come back into His lips. What's God doing? He's showing the power of that Love. He raised Him up. Here He stands at the tomb singing, "All hail, and all the power."

Watch Him as He goes about. A few days later when He's gathering His disciples on the bank, He's preaching to them. And the last beautiful lips of His working here, bringing forth words, and it's falling, "Go ye into all the world. Preach the Gospel to every creature. These signs shall follow them that believe."

67 And as He begins to speak, I begin to see daylight coming under His feet. What's the matter? God showing His power. He's raising up. What is He? He's--He's just defying every law of gravitation. He's being lifted up. Why is it? He is the Creator of gravitation. And here He is. He ascends on up, till He gets up on high. And He sets down quietly at the feet of the Majesty on High. Glory to God. There He is with all power in heavens and earth is in His hands. Not even one little wave can move on the ocean without He permits it. There's His power. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]

Hallelujah. And that power of that same thing working in us to make us new creatures in Christ Jesus... Oh, brother, there's where power comes, as our faith brings down, our faith which is love, it casteth away all fear that we--we think God wouldn't keep His Word When I saw the very love and grace is Christ, then it brings Him right down to us. That mighty power of God begins to work into the church, love that conquers, I'll tell you, love is the most powerful thing there is in the world. There's nothing will take its place: love.

68 Sometime ago a little girl went off to college and she come back bringing a little girl with her, a little feist. And when she got back, she was getting off the train, and there her old mother was standing out there. And the little girl that she had with her said, "Who is that old miserable-looking wretch?"

And the girl was ashamed. "Oh," she said, "I don't know."

And when she got off the train, the little, old mother run up said, "Darling, I'm so glad to see..." Said... Turned her back.

And the conductor was standing there. He said, "Mary, I'm going to ask you a question." Said, "How can you get so indifferent since you've been away to the college? Is that what you learn in your intellectuals?"

69 And I'm afraid that's what we've learned in all of our substituting intellectuals in the stead of love. Right. Said, "Mary, it is true." Said, "I'm an old man too. I know how your mother's ugly today. The reason your mother is ugly, one day you were up in a upper room, and she was hanging clothes in the back yard." And said, "While she was hanging clothes back there, fire caught the house, and somebody run and told her. And you were in a little room penned off in the blazes. Everyone hollered, 'Stay out, stay out!' But she wouldn't do it. She jerked her apron from her, and through the flames she went, and she grabbed you and wrapped you up in her clothing. And she come through, and she was burned and scarred, and that's what makes her ugly today. And the reason you're pretty is because that she's ugly. She become ugly so you could become pretty. And you mean to tell me that you'd be ashamed of your own mother?"

70 And I think today, brother, when it taken one thing, not an intellectual being, but it taken the love of God to send Christ to the cross and to die there in disgrace and shame. And you mean to tell me that the Pentecostal church or any other church will turn down the real love of God. "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the power of God to salvation." If you're rather say, "Holy-roller." Let us act like that as long as the love of God's down in my heart. Certainly, doesn't matter.

Oh, brother, God gave the Holy Spirit, God's Love to control the church, not smart, educated, but love. Gifts goes in the church, but it don't control the church. Love controls the church. "God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son." His love constrained Him to do it. And when a love is constrained, then sovereign grace projects its object. May I say that again: When Divine love is projected, grace produces its object. And God loved the world so much till sovereign grace projected a Saviour to the world. Yes, indeed. And when you love God so much, sovereign grace will project to you the baptism of the Holy Ghost to make you live, and love, and to be a real Christian.

71 And someday... Just a thought here. Many thousands of years ago when this old earth here was nothing but a big volcanic eruption, there wasn't a speck of life on it, never had been nothing but just volcanic eruption. God, the great Holy Spirit, the Logos went out of God. We call It the Holy Spirit. And when It went out from God, It came to the earth.

Listen and set quiet just a minute, will you now, while I close just a minute. And I want you to think, sincerely, now. If intellectuals is to do it? Think. Is your denomination going to do it? Is your personality going to do it? Or is the Holy Spirit going to do it?

72 I want to ask you something? When this great chaos was here, there was nothing here, just nothing but bare rocks, in this volcanic had cooled off. And there she lay. And the Holy Ghost came forth like a hen to her nest, and she begin to brood over the earth. And she begin to brood, or... The word "brood" is the word "coo, or make love, cluck like the hen to her--her chicks," her brood." As It begin to speak, "Let there be. Let there be"... And I can notice, all over the earth there wasn't nothing but our bodies laying there.

We're taught that our bodies come from the earth. We're made of sixteen different elements. That's petroleum, cosmic light, and oh, potash, and calcium, and so forth, sixteen different elements. That's the body. How do we get it built up like this? We eat food. Every day when we put in food, something died. If you eat today, something had to die so you could live. Every time... Because you're living, something dies because you live. If you eat beef, the cow died. If you eat mutton, the sheep died. If you eat fish, the fish died. If you eat bread, the wheat died. If you eat potatoes, potato died. If you eat beans, the beans died. Whatever it is, it's a life. And we can only live by dead substance.

73 And now, listen, my brother, I want to ask you something. If it takes--if it takes death to make life here, how much more did something have to die so we could live again, immortal? How much more did it do it. Not the way of smart preachers, not a Catholic priest, not a Rabbi, but it's taken the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ to give His Life as a...?... send back the Holy Spirit so we can live again. Christ said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." I want you to think of it. Notice. Something has to die for you to live daily. Something has to die for you to live eternally. Not your intellectuals, nothing that you can do about it, but it's accepting the Eternal Life that God gave.

74 Watch the Holy Spirit now, as It is brooding, oh, cooing like a dove. Here It is cooing over the earth now. First thing you know, I begin to notice a little petroleum coming together out yonder. What is it? Let us look. Petroleum, a few calc--a little calcium comes together, some iron. What's happening? A beautiful, little Easter lily raises itself up out of the earth. What was it? The Holy Spirit brooding, cooing, "All ye that labor..." The little lily, it...

The Father looked over and said, "That's beautiful; just keep brooding." And after while grass come up. After while trees come up. After while birds flew out of the dust. After while animals come out of the dust. Then what happened? Up come a man. What was it? Brooding, the Holy Spirit, not a church, the Holy Spirit.

And here come the man up. God said, "He don't look right." So... The woman is not in the original creation; she's a by-product of man. So God laid His things down on the table of operation and takes a rib from his side and makes a little sweetheart. And Eve and Adam with their arms locked to--around each other, walking down through. And the first thing you know a great wind blows. And Eve says, "Oh, darling, that wind..."

He said, "Peace." And it obeyed him; he was a son of God. Oh, hallelujah.

75 Oh, I may act crazy; I don't think I am. But look, brother, something within me, when I think of these things... Oh, my. When I think of it, what difference does old age mean now? What difference does anything mean now?

Notice. In a few minutes up come a great roar. She couldn't be scared. Who was it? Leo the lion. He said, "Come here, Leo." And he patted him like he would a kitten. Sheetah come up, the tiger. They knew down through the... Oh, then this is a great paradise.

After while little Adam said, "It's not time to turn a television on, but darling, the sun's going down. It's time for us to go worship." Oh, God. "It's time for us to go worship." Not, "We're going down to hear Dr. Jones, and we're going down to hear Bill Branham or anybody else." But, "We're going up to worship." And up, not in a great, big, spirally place, but they went under the trees. And there come a real soft Light down, the Logos, the Holy Spirit, the Christ, the Anointing came down. And You said, "Children, have you enjoyed your stay on the earth that the Lord thy God has put thee on?"

"Yes, Father, we're giving all praise to Thee." And He comes down, and He kisses them on the cheek, and He lays them down to sleep after they prayed.

76 You notice how beautiful it is to go into your bedroom at night... I do to my little boy, and stand there with little Joseph and with my wife, and we'll kiss him from one side of the cheek to the other one as we're laying him to bed. And I'll say, "Mama, you know he's got eyes something like yours."

And she said, "Yes, and he--he kind of puts it in mind of you, way his mouth's shaped and so forth." It's the resemblance of the holy wedlock.

And when God looked upon Adam and Eve, and seen it was they resembled Him, for they was made in His image, how he kissed them and how His great heart must have felt.

77 There was no harm could come. The tiger laid down; Leo, the lion, laid down. Nothing would harm. Then along come sin, brother. It spoiled that beautiful picture. Eve would've never needed Max Factor to fix her cosmetic face. No, sir. It was God, the very blush of Eternal Life in her made her beautiful. She would never have to have manicures and everything like they do today. Sin is what brought you to that place.

Brother, I'm telling you, every man and woman... Why is it when we eat, we renew our life. And then when we get to be... I asked the doctor; I said, "Doctor, every time I eat, do I renew my life?"

He said, "That's correct, Brother Branham."

I said, "Why is it, I eat the same thing now I eat when I was sixteen years old; when I was sixteen I'd eat, I'd get big and stronger all the time; I eat the same food now and get older and weaker all the time? Tell me why it is." I said, "If I'm pouring water out of a jug into a glass and it's filling up, and all at once the more I'm pouring in the lower it gets. Explain it to me scientifically."

He said, "Reverend Branham, that cannot be done."

I said, "Yes, it can, doctor. I beg your pardon, but the Bible said so. 'It's appointed unto man,' and man's going to meet that appointment." But, brother, in the blessed resurrection every wrinkle and every old age mark will be done away. That's the mark of sin and all these...?... of sin will be done away with. Hallelujah! There we'll be young there forever.

78 My wife said the other day to me; I was combing what few hair I had left. She said to me, "Billy, you're getting bald-headed."

I said, "My sweetheart, I haven't lost a one of them."

She said, "What's that, dear?"

I said, "I haven't lost a one of them."

She said, "Where are they at?"

I said, "Sweetheart, let me ask you one thing; you answer me, and then I will you."

She said, "All right, dear."

I said, "Where were they before I got them? They were somewhere. Ever where they was 'fore I got them, they are there waiting for me in the resurrection." Hallelujah. Only... Yes, brother. Yes, brother.

79 Now, look. I want to ask you something. If it took the Holy Ghost to brood you out of the earth, and out of the earth you have come, and here you are now to a--up to an intelligent person; and now, if you, without any choice, the Holy Spirit made you what you are today, then how much more can He Who brought you from the earth in the first place, raise you up in the last days, though your body be scattered from the east to the west?

Remember your bodies was laying here when the Holy Ghost begin to brood in the first place. If It didn't, where did it come from? You're calcium, potash, and cosmic light, and petroleum, the life here on the earth... God has put you together. And no else could do it. You can't get potash and calcium and pull it together and make a man. It takes the Spirit of the Life of God to come into the man to make him what he is.

80 My friends, don't you be deceived. God doesn't run His church upon intellectuals. It's the brooding of the Holy Ghost, trying to say, "Do you love Me? Do you believe Me?" And if He brought me what I am, without me having any more--any choice, how much more will He give me back my life with Eternal Life with it. If I brood back to Him, say, "Yes, Holy Spirit, I don't care what the world says. I love You. I love You. I love You." How much more will He watch the calcium and potash in that great day. He will speak and that body of flash back again: every hair on the head, every bit of the strength that was in my body when the Immortal Life will come forth again. Yes, brother. God gave the Holy Ghost the job of taking care of the church.

81 Look. The Bible said, "When the unclean spirit's gone out of a man, he walks in dry places. When he comes back he finds it different." Here's what's the matter. When that unclean spirit comes back to the old place...

Listen, now. I may be just a little lengthy, but you got plenty of time yet. Listen. I want to ask you something. You used to go to dances and shows and sit all night. Listen. This is Eternal Life.

82 The reason that you have your ups-and-downs is when the unclean spirit goes out, that's just as far as you go; you get a new heart or something. You got a face to show. You got something you put-on, a little something outside. And when he comes back, he finds you still living in old tin can alley with all your temper and all your indifference and everything. But when the Holy Ghost moves in there, God sends His big bulldozer down from heaven, and He turns that thing upside down, scrapes it all off, and terraces it out. And you know, because He's there, there ain't no more tin cans there; there ain't no more hatred there; there ain't no more malice there. And he finds a great, big mansion that the Holy Ghost is living in. And because He's there, His Presence there, brings up beautiful flowers all around on the terrace, flowers of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness. That's not a pigpen any longer; it's a place where the Holy Ghost dwells. Hallelujah.

Oh, I got to stop, brother I feel like I--I'm just about getting right to preach now. I just feel good. That's right.

83 Brother, let me tell you something. What this church needs today, is to get back in that real place of God again, where the Holy Ghost can have control in bringing forth love and fellowship. Listen. The world needs that, I'm going to tell you. Just a second, then we will close, the Lord willing.

84 I'm a hunter. You know I love the nature. And I used to go up into a north woods to hunt, years ago. I still go once in a while. I met a fine friend up there, the man may be setting in this building today, Bert Call, a wonderful man. He was a good hunter. I liked to hunt with him, 'cause he was strong and sturdy. We could climb them mountains and run over places. He had a good, keen eye; he could watch game. And I enjoyed hunting with him. Not easy to get him lost, you couldn't turn him around. He knowed every tree and the marks and things, and where to go. And one time while we were up there, I went up... He was a good man, a good hunter, but a brutal-hearted person. Oh, he was so wicked in his heart. And he would just kill little fawns just to be--just for the fun, because he knowed I was a preacher. I said, "Bert, aren't you ashamed of yourself to do that?"

"Aw," he said, "get next yourself, preacher. You're just chicken-hearted."

I said, "Bert, don't do that."

Now, the Lord, if He'd permit you to have a fawn, that's all right. That's your business. Abraham went and eat a calf and fed it to God. That's right. And it's all right. But not just to kill a whole bunch of them...

85 And he was just mean. So one year when I went up there, he had him a little whistle. And he could toot that little whistle and cry just like a baby fawn. I never heard anything so to impersonate, or to mimic, in my life. And I said, "Bert, you're not going use that, are you?"

Said, "Aw, go on, preacher." Said, "That's what's the matter with you guys; you're too chicken-hearted."

I said, "Bert, shame on you; you wouldn't do that."

We went on into the woods, and we hunted practically half the day or more, hadn't seen tracks or nothing. And we stooped down; there was a little opening. And I noticed him reach in his pocket and get this little whistle. I thought, "Oh, no, you won't do that." And he let out a little scream, sounded like a little old baby fawn crying. And all of a sudden, right across the place, a great, big, beautiful doe raised up (that's a mother dear). She raised up, I seen those great big graceful ears, big brown eyes. She wasn't thirty yards from me. Bert looked up to me and smiled. And I thought, "Oh, Bert, don't do that. You're not going to do that."

86 And I could see her walking out there, her head up, pretty animal. What was it? What was making her walk out there? Something in her, a mother's love; a baby had cried. She walked out into the open. She wouldn't have done it for nothing, otherwise. But what was it? The strain was on. She was a mother. She couldn't help it. A baby was crying, and a mother instinct in her led her out. She was trying to find that baby. I seen Bert take and shove this lever back, turn the shell into the barrel, level up with his rifle. Oh, he was a dead shot. I thought, "O, God, don't let him do that." My, that mother out there, displaying that love like that, how can he do it? And when the--the lever had clicked down on there, the bolt action on the rifle went down, I seen him level that down, the cross hair of that scope, right across the heart of that mother. I knowed within seconds he'd blow her heart plumb out of her.

And I thought, "Oh, how can you do it? How can he do that?" And I thought, "Oh, I--I don't want to see it."

87 And after while, just in a second, the mother doe spotted the hunter. She startled. She throwed her big head up. Did she run? No. Why? There was a baby in trouble. She must find that baby. Though her heart would be blowed out, she must find that baby. It was in trouble. Why? It wasn't something she was putting on like the church is trying to do. It was something in her. She was a mother. She had to find that baby. She start walking out, her eyes on that hunter. And I seen that barrel come down. And I thought, "O, God..." I just turned my head a few minutes. I didn't hear the rifle fire. I thought, "What's the matter? Wonder what's happened." I turned to look. And when I did, I seen the rifle barrel going like this.

He turned around and he looked at me. He threw the rifle on the ground; he grabbed me by the hand, and said, "Billy, I've had enough of it. I can't stand it no more." He said, "Billy, pray that God will give me a Christian heart like you got. I don't want to be like this." And right there on that ground I led that cold-hearted man to a loving Spirit of Jesus Christ. Why? What happened? What happened? Because it's...?... He looked over it. What happened? Because he seen the display of the real genuine love.

And, brother, sister, what the church needs today is the display, not put-on, not an intellectual education, but a display, a display of the real love of God in our heart.

88 Let us bow our heads while we think of the other...?... What is it? Maybe you've been a church member for a long time, but do you really have... Do you say, "I've got to quit this? I've got to do this?" Is that the way you operate? That's intellectual. But is there something in you? Is there something in you, the real love of God in your heart? If it isn't, why don't you accept it today? Why would you accept a substitute? Have all that you got to know that you're a Christian, because you belong to a church? Is all you've got to know you're a Christian, is because you've shouted? All you got to know that you're a Christian, because you spoke with tongues? I believe in all these things, but I've seen witches and wizards speak with tongues. All that you've got to believe... Maybe you've got oil in your hands, or a bloody face, or something like that that will recognize you're a Christian. Is that all you got? Brother, you're miserable. Yes. Why not, you take the real... Why take a substitute when the Pentecostal skies are full of the real?

89 "Where there is tongues, they shall cease. Where there's miracles, they will be no more. Where there's knowledge, it'll fade away. Where there's prophecy, it'll fail. But when that which is perfect, which is love, comes It shall endure." It shall forevermore endure saints and angels song. Poets can't write about it. There's no way to explain it.

90 Now, while you're thinking it over, do you really want the real love of God in your heart, and you haven't got it? Now, be honest with God. And as God's servant, I--I bring you in Jesus Christ's Name in the Presence of Almighty God. And if there's one speck in you that's really sincere, I pray God will bring it out this afternoon. Do you really know that you're short of that experience? Would you raise your hand to God and say, "God, in Christ's Name, give me that in my heart." God bless you. That's wonderful. Oh, just all over everywhere.

"I want the Christian love to display like that deer had the mother's love to display. I want my Christian love to be displayed in such a way that it'll win others, not my emotions, but my Christian love."

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How fathomless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure,

... saints and angels songs.

91 Do you really want It? If you believed me to be God's servant, if you have... I don't care if you're in the balcony or wherever you are. Don't look at time, brother. Don't think because it's four o'clock or a little after; don't think of that. Think of what eternity is. If you haven't got that, and you believe that God hears my prayers to make the cripple walk and the blind to see. That's just a prayer; that's all. But if you believe me... Would it help you to believe that I am God's servant, and you want that kind of experience... I guess maybe two hundred hands or more went up. I want you come right down here and stand with me. I want to shake your hands and pray with you. Come down now while we sing, "Just As I Am," if you will. All right.

Just as I am (Oh, that's the way.) receive,

Wilt welcome pardon (Come right out of the balcony...?...) cleanse, relieve;

Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am,... waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot,

To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot...