Veľké poverenie
Evanjelium nespočíva len v Slove, ale v sile a manifestácii Svätého Ducha. Pretože jediná cesta, akou to mohlo byť urobené, aby tieto znaky nasledovali, bolo, aby Slovo vzalo Život. Tak to by musel byť Svätý Duch, ktorý by dal Život do Slova, aby priniesol tieto znaky. Vy tomu veríte, bratia. Boh stále žije, bratia. A my hľadáme niečo tam v diaľke, keď my to máme práve teraz. To je to. Nedovoľte, aby to prešlo ponad vás, ako to bolo cez tie veky, ako to urobili vo dňoch Jána Krstiteľa. Oni nevedeli kto on bol. Ľudia nevedia, aký je tento Svätý Duch. To nie je niečo, aby sa to organizovalo a preorganizovalo...
Pričom ja to nekritizujem, bratia. To nie je niečo okolo čoho by sme sa mali hádať; to je niečo , čo máme milovať a uctievať. Nie aby ste boli oddelení od druhých; to je to, aby to prinieslo jeden druhého pospolu. My to používame ako nástroj, nie pre dobro Kráľovstva Božieho, keď robíme samých seba odlišnými od každého, my máme urobiť seba pospolu s týmto. Potom skutočný Svätý Duch nám to prinesie, bratia. To presne musí; To je Kristova vlastná láska za nás.
1 Vďaka Ti, brat Vayle. A chcem povedať, dobré ráno, všetkým a každému z vás tu. A je to určite veľké privilégium byť znovu tu v tejto oblasti Chattanooga a dať moju časť služby na pomoc vám, bratom, aby ste pokračovali v práci, ktorá už bola založená našim Pánom Ježišom, stavať na tomto princípe. A my sa tak tešíme z tohoto zhromaždenia. Dlho to žilo v mojom srdci, od posledného zhromaždenia - ako sme tu boli spolu. A odvtedy prešlo veľa vody dolu riekou; veľa vecí bolo vykonaných; veľa bojov bolo bojovaných a vyhraných pre nášho Pána.
2 A v toto ráno je to taká nádherná vec byť tu za stolom s vami - mužmi a ženami, vami, spoluobčanmi Kráľovstva Božieho, bratmi a sestrami rovnocennej viery. A vy ste si vedomí, že ja nie som rečník. Ja len rád hovorím čo môžem - na Jeho Slávu, vediac, že keď mám hlas, chcem použiť to, čo mám, na Jeho slávu. A prajem si, aby som bol taký rečník ako brat Vayle, a ako mnohí z vás ľudí; ale Boh ma na to nikdy nepovolal. Bol som povolaný pre iný druh služby. A my sme… Nesnažil by som sa zaujať miesto brata Vayle alebo vaše miesto. To by bolo pre mňa práve také ťažké - vziať jeho miesto, pravdepodobne, tak ako pre neho - vziať moje miesto. Tak my len zotrvávame v našom povolaní a robíme čo môžeme pre veľké Kráľovstvo Božie.
3 Tak, som šťastný, že som znova na dobrom starom juhu, znovu. Viete, je niečo na tých južných štátoch, čo mám rád. Bol som narodený na tejto pôde tu dole, viete, takže je na tom niečo, ako sa vraciame domov. A keď sa dostanem cestou hore na sever, oni hovoria, “Hej, povedz, chlapče, ty musíš byť z juhu.”
Myslel som si, že hovorím anglicky, až dokiaľ som neprišiel do Anglicka. V Anglicku som potreboval som prekladateľa viac, než kdekoľvek som kedy bol. Kedykoľvek som prehovoril, oni povedali: “Z ktorej časti Texasu pochádzaš?” Nemohol som sa tomu vyhnúť. Ale keď oni hovorili: “Cestou dole, tu”, viete, skutočne ďaleko…
4 Raz som odišiel na koniec Londýna. Šiel som dolu, aby som našiel Westminster Abbey [Westminsterské opátstvo - historická kultúrna pamiatka - pozn.prekl]. Nie som žiaden imitátor, ale pokúsim sa teraz niečo napodobniť. Stál tam na rohu jeden pán s paličkou na jeho ramene, taký typický anglický Londýnčan. A ja som povedal: “Dobrý deň, pane.” On sa pozrel cez okuliare a prehovoril ku mne. A ja som povedal: “Mohli by ste mi povedať ako sa môžem dostať do Westmisterského Opátstva? Trochu sa zamračil, pozrel na mňa; povedal, “Iste chlapče,” povedal, “choď tri bloky tadeto, zaboč po troch blokoch tam a choď priamo vpred,” povedal, “nemôžeš to prehliadnuť.” [brat Branham napodobňuje londýnsky prízvuk – pozn.prekl.]
5Brat David duPlessis je asi jediný z nás tu dnes ráno, ktorý by tamto mohol rozumieť, tak sa mi zdá. Och, vedel som, že som nebol - nebol som veľmi dobrý v angličtine. Ale mal som radosť, keď som mohol byť s ľuďmi kdekoľvek, pretože oni sú stvorenia Božie.
A teraz, snažiac sa, ako zvyčajne na raňajkách Kresťanských Obchodníkov, zvyčajne trochu tým ľuďom kážem. A ja… Ale teraz, pred kazateľmi by som sa o to nepokúšal. Chápete? Ale ja len chcem čítať nejaké Písmo. Pretože na každom zhromaždení by sme mali čítať Písmo atď. Myslím že…
6A tam späť v tých skorých dňoch, keď sa oni zvykli stretnúť, oni lámali chlieb, brali Večeru Pánovu zakaždým, keď sa stretli. A ja to mám rád tiež. Samozrejme, že sme mimo toho zvyku. Ale ja mám rád prečítať aspoň kúsok Jeho Slova, kde ak nedostaneme nič iné len toto, bude to v poriadku. To je základ posledného poverenia nášho Pána. A posledná vôľa človeka by mala byť taká, ktorá je dostatočná. A tu je to, čo On povedal Jeho Cirkvi, posledné slová ako opúšťal svet; nachádzame to v Markovi, 16.kapitole, začínajúc 14. veršom.
Naposledy sa ukázal tým jedonástim, keď sedeli za stolom, a karhal ich neveru a tvrdosť ich srdca, že neuverili tým, ktorí ho videli vstalého z mŕtvych.
A povedal im: Iďte po celom svete a kážte evanjelium každému stvoreniu!
Ten, kto uverí a pokrstí sa, bude spasený; a kto neuverí, bude odsúdený.
A uverivších budú sprevádzať tieto znamenia: v mojom mene budú vyháňať démonov, budú hovoriť novými jazyky,
hadov budú brať, a keby vypili niečo smrťonosné, neuškodí im; na chorých budú vzkladať ruky, a budú sa mať dobre.
A tak Pán Ježiš, keď dohovoril s nimi, vzatý bol hore do neba, a sadol si po pravici Božej.
A oni vyšli a kázali všade a Pán spoluúčinkoval a potvrdzoval slovo tým, že ho sprevádzaly divy. Amen.
7 Toto je známe ako VEĽKÉ POVERENIE. To boli posledné slová, ktoré náš Pán vypovedal. A po prvýkrát ako On poslal svojich učeníkov v Matúšovi 10.kap., vidíme, že im dal poverenie ísť uzdravovať nemocných, očisťovať malomocných, kriesiť mŕtvych, vyháňať démonov: “zadarmo ste dostali, zadarmo dávajte.” A posledné poverenie, ktoré On dal, ísť do sveta, len pokračovať ako to robili na počiatku: uzdravovať nemocných, klásť ruky na chorých, a vyháňať démonov.
A to je pre mňa privilégium, bratia, stáť s mužmi ako ste vy, rameno pri ramene, v tomto veľkom boji. [Prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] …svet nazvaný Kresťanstvom, a že môžem zaujať svoju pozíciu po vašej strane ako ten, kto verí, že to poverenie je stále práve také dôležité, ako to bolo v tú hodinu, v ktorú bolo dané. A na tomto veľkom poli, v ktorom sme, my nachádzame veľakrát, že prichádzame s poriadkom rôznych denominácií, a nie s úsekmi Písma. Niektoré z nich budú… Kristove poverenie tu bolo ísť do celého sveta a kázať Evanjelium.
8No, Evanjelium nespočíva len v Slove, ale v sile a manifestácii Svätého Ducha. Pretože jediná cesta, akou to mohlo byť urobené, aby tieto znaky nasledovali, bolo, aby Slovo vzalo Život. Tak to by musel byť Svätý Duch, ktorý by dal Život do Slova, aby priniesol tieto znaky. Vy tomu veríte, bratia.
Potom ako sme opustili Baptistickú cirkev, stretli sme sa s mojimi letničnými bratmi, pretože som videl, že niečo mali, oni toto veria. Ale našiel som rôzne denominácie. Prvá, prvá skupina, ktorú som našiel, bola taká ako mnohí z vás, bratia, možno z tej istej denominácie tu dnes ráno, Jednotári. Nuž, to je to, čo som si myslel, prečo ich oni volajú leniční. Nuž, potom, som stretol niekoľkých skutočne skvelých ľudí.
9To nebolo dlho potom, kým som zistil, že tam bola ešte iná skupina. A oni sa nazývali Trojičiari. Potom som objavil iné zoskupenie, nazvané Jedine Ježiš (Jesus Only). Potom oni zorganizovali rôzne kliky (frakcie), ako napríklad Zbory Božie (Assemblies of God), a Cirkev Božiu (Church of God), a Cirkev v Proroctve (Church in Prophecy), všetky tieto.
A teraz, tu je to, čo vám chcem vysvetliť, bratia. Dobre? Neodvážil by som sa, na akýkoľvek spôsob, začať niečo nové. Ja verím, že vy bratia, a vaši otcovia, pred 40 rokmi, keď som bol dojča na rukách svojej matky… vy ste nikdy nevyšli dopredu pod nejakým malým emocionálno-mentálnym vypracovaním sa; vy ste kráčali vpred s krstom Svätého Ducha. A vy ste niečo založili; vy ste položili základ. Nech Boh nedopustí, aby som ja bol človek, ktorý sa snaží budovať na nejakom inom základe. Ak Boh položil ten základ, my staviame na tom základe, pretože ja verím, že to je založené na Božom Slove.
10 Preto, to je ten dôvod, že ja dnes nepatrím do tých rôznych skupín, alebo že nestojím na strane jedných ani druhých. Nie som tu na to, aby som stál na strane nejakej skupiny; ja som tu z dôvodu princípu, za ktorým stojím. A tým princípom je Kráľovstvo Božie. Cirkev Božia (Church of Gid) buduje na tomto princípe tu, Zbory Božie (Assemblies of God) tamto, a Jednotári (Oneness) tuto, a ďalší, tak ako sa skupiny usporiadali okolo medzidenominacionalizmu. Ale to je všetko, malo by byť, a verím, že je vybudované v podstate na Kristovi. A teda to je dôvod, prečo ja nestojím na strane nejakej skupiny. Takpovediac, “Ja budem Cirkev Božia.” To by bolo fajn. Ja by som len patril Cirkvi Božej, ako aj Zborom Božím. A ja by som patril Zborom, ako by som patril aj Jednárom, alebo čokoľvek to je. Na tom mi nezáleží. Ale je jedna veľká zásobáreň, jeden základ; to je Kristus.
11 A to je dôvod, prečo som stál s vami, bratia, takto, že som mohol byť s vami rameno vedľa ramena, a pomôcť vám nosiť bremená, a znášať potupu s vami, s radosťou v mojom srdci, vediac, že som stál na strane toho, čo myslím že je správne, založené na Písme. A keď som prišiel do mesta, to je ten dôvod prečo mám rád prísť v takom medzidenominačnom rozsahu, že každý je vítaný, každá osoba a každý-každý jeden, my… To je postup, akým to máme radi.
A ak človek musí pracovať, ak on je-ak on je denomináciou alebo nezávislý, pokiaľ on stavia na Kristovi, ja som rameno ku ramenu s ním. Ak on je Metodista, alebo Baptista, budem… alebo Presbyterián, alebo Luterán, čokoľvek to je, ja chcem byť tesne s ním, akokoľvek.
12 A keď vám môžem predložiť tieto malé veci, bratia, ako viem ste z rôznych denominácií. Myslím, že som takto nikdy nehovoril k nejakej skupine ľudí, ale v tejto lokalite tu, vy… a začína sa to tak diať po celom národe. Ak nás diabol dokáže držať oddelených, my potom strieľame jeden na druhého, tak on má otvorený terč kdekoľvek chce strieľať. A aký je úžitok strieľania, keď my strieľame jeden na druhého? Chápete? Tak on môže len sedieť vzadu a relaxovať.
Ale či ste voľakedy… Dovoľte mi len dať vám… Ak som skrze Boha našiel priazeň vo vašich očiach, vezmite si k tomuto moje slová, bratia. Ak chcete byť požehnaním a dostať požehnanie, keď vám niekto urobil zle, a on má absolútne právo, on… Mám na mysli; on vám urobil zle a vy viete, že vám urobil zle; urobil vám niečo zlé. Nezmieňujte sa o tom; modlite sa za neho pred Bohom. A neberte to tak sebecky, hovoriac, “Nuž, mal by som robiť toto.” Ale postavte sa vašim ramenom ku jeho ramenu, a stojte v Prítomnosti Božej, v Prítomnosti nášho Otca, spôsobom akým by modlitba mala byť podaná v Prítomnosti Božej, hovoriac, ”Otče, tu je môj brat; a on-on zaslúžene; on si zaslúži trest, pretože on-on mi urobil zle. A ja nechápem prečo to urobil.”
13Potom dovoľte Bohu, aby hovoril ku vám. A vy možno budete vidieť, cez čo ten človek prechádzal. Diabol ho niekde zatočil a spôsobil, aby to on urobil. Aj keď on je úplne vinný, prv ako opustíte trón Boží, bude vám toho človeka ľúto. Budete mať s tým bratom súcit. A keď sa dostanete naspäť dole tam - na zem znovu, potrasieš si s ním ruku, lebo vieš cez čo prechádzal. Vy nemôžete stáť s nejakým smrteľníkom v blízkosti Božej a odsudzovať niekoho, ja neverím, nie veru, dokonca ak on je aj hriešnik najhrubšieho zrna.
A čo tak brat, ktorý urobil chybu? I keď, ako som povedal, že nemá pravdu. Niekedy on je obvinený že nemá pravdu, a pritom ju má. Ale ak on je vinný, nuž, ak my ho prednesieme pred trón Boží, postavíme sa tam rameno vedľa ramena s našim bratom, vediac, že on je smrteľník, a možno jeho miesto určenia tkvie na našom postoji voči nemu, keď sa vrátime naspäť od trónu Božieho, my si uvedomíme, že my všetci sme vinní, a my všetci potrebujeme pomoc jeden od druhého. A najlepší spôsob ako to robiť, je modlitba.
14Teda, tieto vznešené zásady, nádherná Cirkev Živého Boha, ak by to nebolo, ak…ak by sa nemuselo povedať, “A teraz, my všetci patríme do tejto organizácie alebo tamtej.” Ak by sa oni zjednotili v srdci, v jednom súlade, tam by prebudenie zasiahlo tento svet, ako to nikdy nebolo vidieť. Ak ľudia, ktorí majú Letničné prežitie by sa len zjednotili spolu v srdci, nech ich denominácie bežia ktoroukoľvek cestou chcú… Aký rozdiel robia tieto malé trenice atď., to je len diabol snažiaci sa udržovať Slávnu Cirkev v zmätku po celý čas. Potom, v Skutkoch 10:35 je napísané, Boh neberie ohľad na žiadnu osobu alebo národ, ale On si ctí tých, ktorí slúžia Bohu a robia spravodlivo. Chápete? My vieme, že to je Pravda. Boh si cenní osobu, ktorá má…
15 V tej službe, myslím dnes ráno, že by to bolo dobré pre mňa povedať toto, ukázať vám, aký efekt to má. Američania, vy bratia, ste v najťažšom poli aké je kdekoľvek. Bol som v Afrike, Indii, cez, ó, prakticky cez celý svet. Ale ja-ja, som nikdy nevidel pole tak ťažké na boj, ako je tu, Amerika. Toto potrebuje misionárov viac než kdekoľvek inde som vo svojom živote bol. Lebo so vzdelaným pohanom je ťažšie zaobchádzať než s nevzdelaným pohanom. Pohan je neveriaci. A vy to máte. A vy tu máte boj… Misionár musí s mnohými záležitosťami zápasiť - malária, a améba, atď tomu podobné. Ale on nemá démonské duchy, s ktorými treba konať, myslím tých démonov, ktorí sa dostali do kultúrou ovládaných ľudí. Oh, hovoríš o niečom ťažkom, s čím máš do činenia.
16 Nedávno, som mal raňajky so skupinou kazateľov. A hovorím toto v úcte, bratia. Radšej by som mal raňajky so skupinou čarodejníkov (Jasne, to znie desivo povedať to.) než s týmito mužmi. Mal by som lepšie vnímanie, mal by som viac súhlasiaceho ducha, so skupinou čarodejníkov, mnohokrát, než s tou skupinou kazateľov. Taká strašná vec, Boh nás od toho oslobodzuje.
My sme takí intelektuálni. Všetko je posunuté preč od Ducha; to je Slovo; to je Slovo; to je Slovo. Boh, ja… Iste, ja verím vo Slovo. Ale ak Duch nesúhlasí so Slovom, potom máte niečo niekde pomiešané.
17 Pozrite sa, keď Kain, on bol celkom taký pobožný a práve rovnako so Slovom ako bol Ábel. To bolo vlastne zjavenie, ktoré urobilo rozdiel. Oni obaja uctievali, oni obaja priniesli obete. Oni obidvaja postavili oltár. Oni obidvaja patrili do cirkvi. Oni obaja boli úprimní. Oni sa obidvaja klaňali. Tak ak by mal Boh brať ohľad na úprimnosť a fundamentalizmus, prečo on neuznal Kaina? Ale cez zjavenie Ábel, súc spravodlivý, skrze zjavenie, žiadne Písma v ich dňoch, Boh to zjavil jemu, že to nebolo ovocie, jablká a pomaranče, ktoré nás vzali zo záhrady Eden; bola to krv, život.
18 Na ich ceste, deti Izraela prišli hore oproti deťom Moába. Moáb, zem Moábova nebola zem neveriacich; oni verili v toho istého Boha, v ktorého veril Izrael. A oni boli všetci pevne zorganizovaní dokopy, mocný národ. Izrael býval v stánoch, ako to nemal žiadny národ. Nehovorím toto, aby som bol teraz hrubý; hovorím to za určitým cieľom. Izrael viacmenej medzidenominačný, nemal žiadnu vlastnú zem, až doteraz. A to sa posúvalo ďalej.
Oni si žiadali povolenie prejsť cez územie ich bratov. A čo dostali? Odmietnutie. A oni mali Baláma vystupujúceho a stavajúceho vlastný oltár, sedem oltárov. On… Pozorujte, on tam položil sedem čistých obetí, býkov, tiež tam dal sedem baránkov, hovoriacich o Kristovom príchode. A dole v tábore Izraelovom bola práve táto istá obeť.
19 Tak fundamentálne bol Moáb práve taký fundamentálny ako bol Izrael. Ale vec, ktorú oni nedokázali uvidieť, čo svet zlyháva vidieť dnes. Aj ich prorok tam hore zlyhal vidieť to. Balám si myslel, iste, že Svätý Boh by odsúdil ľud ako tento. Ale jemu sa nepodarilo vidieť, že tam bola udretá Skala, ten mosadzný had, a Ohnivý stĺp, znamenia a zázraky. Boh vždy prebýval s ľuďmi. Kde bol Boh, diali sa znaky a znamenia. To tak vždy bolo.
To je spôsob, ako sa oni pozerajú na Letničnú cirkev dnes. Oni sú všetci pospájaní do zväzkov; oni sú títo, tamtí a ďalší. Ale kto nie je? Povedzte mi jednu cirkev, ktorá nie je. Pozrime sa na našu Baptistickú cirkev; pozrime sa na denominácie, a potomkovia Slobodných Baptistov (Free Baptist), Baptistov tvdej škrupiny (Hard Shell Baptist), Pôvodných Baptistov (Primitive Baptist), 30 nejakých zvláštnych rôznych častí z nich, práve tak chybní ako Letniční. A oni sa hádajú a zápasia jeden s druhým tak isto. Pozrite sa na Metodistickú cirkev, dokonca Katolícku cirkev, ktorúkoľvek z nich.
20 Ale oni nedokázali vidieť… Oni sa po vás šplhajú, bratia, veľakrát, kvôli novinám. Vy urobíte chybu. Nech jeden z našich bratov urobí chybu a koná niečo nemorálne. Sledujte, noviny po celej krajine to rozšíria tak kruto ako len môžu. To je diabol. Ale nech jeden z týchto iných kazateľov to urobí, oni to umlčia.
Ale v Nebeských Knihách to je práve také isté. To je pravda. Dôvod prečo ja beriem moje plecia s vami, bratia, to je volanie Kráľa v tábore. To sú znamenia a zázraky nasledujúce týchto ľudí. Oni robia svoje chyby, a oni nadobúdajú mnoho „izmov“, a veľa nezmyslov. Vy viete, že bratia, vy... My tomu jednako musíme čeliť, tiež. To je pravda. My máme veľa vecí, ktoré idú ďalej do napodobenín atď., to nie je správne, ale je tam tiež skutočná vec. To je pravda.
21Keď Ježiš prišiel, on bol práve tak fundamentálny ako Farizeji. Farizeji tomu nemohli veriť. Ale Ježiš bol fundamentálny. Ale boli znamenia a zázraky, ktoré nasledovali Jeho službu. Kde Farizeji mali Slovo práve také isté ako On mal, to isté Slovo. Ale to je duchovné zjavenie. Ježiš svedčil o tom, keď zišiel z vrchu, a povedal, „Čo hovoria ľudia o mne, že som Syn človeka? Jeden vravel Eliáš, a jeden povedal, že on bol prorok atď. On povedal, „Ale kto vy hovoríte?
A Peter povedal, „Ty si Kristus, Syn živého Boha“. Ale Katolícka cirkev hovorí, že Peter bol skalou, a na tej skale je postavená cirkev. Protestantská cirkev hovorí, že to bolo na Ježišovi, Skale. Nie byť rozdielny, dovoľte im veriť čo si prajú, pokiaľ je to na Kristovi, ale ja-ja som odlišný od obidvoch pohľadov. Ja verím, že to nebolo na Petrovi, na ktorom Cirkev bola postavená, ani to nebolo na Kristovi, na ktorom bola Cirkev postavená, ale to bolo na duchovnom zjavení, že On bol Kristus. Vidíte? Chápete?
22Telo a krv ti to nezjavili (nejaký seminár, nejaká škola, nejaká teológia, nejaký vzdelanec)... „Telo a krv ti to nezjavili, ale Môj Otec, ktorý je v nebesiach; na tejto Skale postavím Moju Cirkev,“ duchovné zjavenie, nie Slovom, nie denomináciou, nie vyznaním, nie týmto atď., ale na duchovnom zjavení, že Ježiš je Kristus, „Ja vystavím Moju Cirkev.“
A teraz, môžete veriť, že vo vašej mysli, keď veríte, že vo vašom srdci mate Večný Život. Ježiš povedal vo sv. Jánovi 5:24, “On, ktorý počuje moje Slovo a verí Tomu, ktorý ma poslal, má Večný Život.” Vezmite to slovo Večný, a pozrite sa čo to znamená. Spracujte to v zastaralej gréčtine; nájdete to ZOE – Boží vlastný Život. Vy máte nesmrteľný Život vo vás, pretože, prečo? Vy ste uverili v Jeho život jediného splodeného Syna Božieho a prijali ste Ho ako svojho osobného Spasiteľa. Nie rozumom, ale narodením, ako to Boh priniesol dolu a zjavil vám to cez duchovné zjavenie.
23Viera prichádza počutím. Viera je počutie, keď to počujete. Ale viera nie je tá vec. Napríklad, ja som tu; ja umieram od hladu, a ja vás žiadam o bochník chleba, a vy mi dávate 25 centov. To je cenová sila bochníka chleba. A teraz, ja sa môžem tešiť práve tak veľa s 25 centami, ako by som mohol s bochníkom chleba. To nie je bochník chleba. Ale ja s tým môžem byť šťastný. Ja budem držať tých 25 centov, vediac, “Vďaka vám, pane, môj život bude teraz zachránený.” Ale ja nemám chlieb. Porozumeli ste, čo tým myslím? Chápete? Vierou ste zachránení, ale to je zjavenie Krista, ktoré prináša výsledky. Rozumiete, čo tým mám v úmysle? Vidíte? To je to, o čom hovorím.
24 To je to, po čom je svet hladný. A dôvod, prečo zbytok sveta neprichádza do Letničnej viery ako tu máme, je pretože to je náš vlastný postoj naproti jeden druhému. To je pravda, bratia. To je z dôvodu našej ľahostajnosti navzájom. Oni vidia ako jeden rozpráva proti druhému, jeden proti druhému, a tento proti tamtomu, a proti tejto denominácii. Sú z toho vystrašení.
Ja neviem čo je riešenie. Ja som to skúšal. Jeden chce… Ak táto skupina to bude sponzorovať, nuž, ostatní s tým nechcú mať nič spoločné. Vy si môžete predstaviť do akej do akej pozície ma to kladie. A ja hovorím: “Nuž, ak ja pustím tohoto jedného, ostatní nepôjdu. Potom oni nepôjdu spolu. Tak som si myslel, “Dobre, ja len pôjdem bez ktoréhokoľvek z nich. Ja pôjdem akokoľvek. To je nesprávne. Ja som to zistil, že je to nesprávne. Pretože v Indii som mal tú istú vec, kde bolo hádam dvakrát toľko obrátených, ako sa stalo v Afrike, počas jedného oltárneho volania. Ale tam nebolo nikoho, kto by to sponzoroval, tak kde oni išli? Naspäť do chrámov Budhu atď. Musíte rozpoznať tieto organizácie, a tieto miesta, kde majú misie atď., kde by ste priviedli svojich obrátených, a tieto cirkvi po celej krajine.
25 Tak vidíte do akej nepríjemnej situácie, dilemy ma to vedie, keď sa snažím stáť nezávisle? Oral Roberts mi to povedal jedného času. Vidíte? On patrí do Letničnej Cirkvi Božej, myslím, alebo Letničnej Svätej Cirkvi Božej, také niečo, jedna z tých. Akokoľvek, vidíte, on je reprezentovaný s cirkvou, pričom ja stojím slobodný od cirkvi, a predsa však s Cirkvou. Ja som s Cirkvou, skutočnou, Telo Kristovo prostredníctvom všetkých denominácií, pokúšajúci sa spolu vás potiahnuť. Ja som vám to chcel vysvetliť tak, aby ste to vy bratia, rozumeli.
A tak, ak idete na nejaké miesto, a máte skupinu obrátených, len choďte a pripravte stretnutie, hovoriac, „Tu som“. Ľudia prídu. To je v poriadku. „Kde je telo, tam sa zhromaždia orly.“ Ale čo ak sa oni stanú obrátení, potom kto ich vezme, kto sa ich ujme? Kto je tam aby udržiaval alebo uschoval to, čo ste chytili do siete Evanjelia? Kto ide vyzdvihnúť tie ryby? Ak oni ležia na brehu, oni zahynú. Niekto to tam musí urobiť. Preto vy práve... Nemôžem pracovať bez vás, bratia.
26Oh, ak by oni mohli byť všetci jedno v srdci, a pre ten istý princíp, a len zbaviť sa tých malých rozdielov. Práve tu v tomto meste dnes, Billy Graham môže prísť do tohoto mesta, a on začne v tejto malej modlitebni naplnenej na 15, 20 tisíc, možno, alebo tak nejak, v tom čase, keď som tu bol. Prečo? Pretože oni sa dávajú dokopy; oni sú v súhlase.
Ak oni to môžu robiť literou, o koľko viac mali by sme to my robiť Duchom? Vidíte? Ak-ak brat... ako Oral Roberts, ak nejaký z iných bratov by prišiel do mesta, poďme za tým. To je naša povinnosť stáť pri našich bratoch. Vidíte? To je pravda. A potom, čo to robí? To niečo ukazuje verejnosti.
Ak to nerobíme, potom čo to robí voči verejnosti? Vidíte, tam... „Pozrite na nich, tu, oni majú toho chlapíka tu.“ Vidíte? Chápete, čo to znamená? To je to, čo sa deje.
27A teda, efekty prebudenia môžu byť dlho citeľné. A to bude – to bude úžitok Cirkvi Božej. Ak sme mali sto obrátení dnes, a odišli by sme do každej jednej z vašich bratských cirkví (Chápete?), čokoľvek to bolo, to neovplyvňuje len tvoju cirkev, tvoj zbor, a tvoju cirkev, ale to ovplyvňuje Kráľovstvo Božie v každom jednom z týchto miest.
To je to, kde sa snažím budovať, to je tu. Tu dole, tu mi to nezáleží čo... ak oni chcú byť pokrstení takto alebo takto, ako... Aký rozdiel to robí, akokoľvek? Boh Ti dáva Svätého Ducha s vašimi zvláštnosťami; On mi dáva Svätého Ducha, s mojimi zvláštnosťami, a Boh dáva Ducha Svätého tým, ktorí Ho poslúchajú. Nuž, kto Ho poslúchol? Vidíte? Tam ste. Vidíte?
28My len poťahujeme tieto malé slamky a veci, a to je to, čo chce diabol. Ale ja verím, moji bratia, že prichádza hodina, že keď nás skutočné rany prenasledovania zoženú dokopy. Potom budeme jedno. Cirkev príde spolu. Ja verím, je to všetko v práci Božej, po tom ako som vám nakreslil tento obraz.
Keď bol postavený Šalamúnov chrám, bolo to pripravované po celom svete. A jeden blok bol odpílený takto a iný takto. Ale keď oni prišli dokopy, každý kameň odišiel na svoje miesto bez zvuku kladiva a hučania píly. A to bola Cirkev živého Boha.
29 A ja verím, že cez Cirkev Božiu Prorockú (The Church of God of Prophecy) a inú veľkú cirkev, Lee Kolégium (The Lee College), alebo ktorákoľvek to je, a cez vás bratov zo Zborov Božích, cez vás nezávislí bratia, a cez vás Jednotárski bratia, a cez všetkých vás, že Boh okresáva tie kamene. A jedného dňa ten Hlavný Kameň, ten odmietnutý kameň... Keď sa Cirkev dostane tak ďaleko hore, oni zistili že tam majú nejaký nezvyčajný kameň; oni nemohli nájsť žiadne miesto, kde by to pasovalo. Ale oni prichádzajú zistiť, čo bol ten Hlavný Uholný Kameň. A myslím si, bratia, že v jednom z týchto dní, my si ideme uvedomiť, že ten Hlavný Uholný Kameň je láska Božia, Kristus, v našich srdciach, to spojí každého jedného z nás dokopy ako jedného. Potom tá veľká Cirkev bude zaštítená a Boh ju vezme do slávy.
30 V tých službách som vám mohol dať len malý pohľad na nejaké z vecí, ktoré sa dejú, tak že môžete vidieť kde náš Pán Boh, ten veľký Pastier stáda, ako sa On zázračným spôsobom pohybuje. Ja som povedal dnes ráno, že vy bratia môžete rozumieť. Ak niekto povie: „Je brat Branham zo Zborov Božích? Je on Jednotár?“ Áno, ja som Zbory Božie. Ja som Jednotár. Ja som Cirkev Božia. Ja som Pútnik Svätosti. Ja som Nazarén. Ja patrím Kristovi, ktorému všetci vy patríte. Chápete? A tak, ja patrím každému jednému z vás bratia. My sme bratia spolu. Chápete? A teraz, to je spôsob, akým my chceme žiť; to je spôsob ako chceme postupovať. To je...
31Vo vašej rodine, vaše vlastné deti, tam sa ťažko nájdu dvaja z nich, ktorí by súhlasili jeden s druhým, ale oni sú tá istá rodina; iste, oni sú. Oni môžu byť rozliční vo funkciách; oni môžu byť rozliční v chuti do jedla; oni môžu byť rozliční na každý spôsob, ale predsa len oni sú jedna rodina. A my sme rodina Kristova. Nesnažím sa povedať: „Jakub, ja som s Tebou. Ján, ja som proti Tebe.“ Ja hovorím: „Jakub a Ján, my sme obaja v tej istej rodine.“ Vidíte, čo tým myslím? My všetci pracujeme spoločne na tejto farme zarábajúc na živobytie pre tú rodinu.
Teda, to je cesta, na ktorej stojím. Ak by sa komukoľvek stalo, že by sa ťa opýtal, kedykoľvek, len dovoľte, aby to bolo známe, bratia. Mám strašný čas, strašne zápasím; to je isté. Ale mám nádej, že jedného dňa náš požehnaný Pán príde.
A trúba Pánova zazneje;
A času viacej nebude;
A to ráno sa prelomí do večnosti;
Jasné a pekné;
A keď tí Jeho vyvolení;
(Cirkev Božia, Zbory Božie a všetci…)
Keď sa tí vyvolení zhromaždia,
do ich Domu za oblohou;
Keď bude listina povolaná,
tam v diaľke, ja tam budem.
32A ja budem tam s tebou, brat, jedno srdce, v jednom súlade, nikdy nebyť rozdelení, nikdy viac. To je deň, pre ktorý pracujeme.
Koľko času máme? [Niekto odpovedá, „Akokoľvek veľa chceš zabrať – pozn.prekl.] ja len… Dovoľte mi zabrať týchto ďalších 10 minút. [Nejaký brat hovorí, „Len pokračuj.“ – pozn.prekl.] Len na svedectvo. To je v poriadku, bratia, všetci sa ponáhľate? [Bratia potvrdzujú bratovi Branhamovi, aby pokračoval – pozn.prekl.]
Rád by som vám povedal trochu z nejakých skúsenosti, niečoho čo sa deje. To je zaberie veľa času na zhromaždení, ja to nerád robím – rozprávať tieto veci na zhromaždení, lebo to môže znieť osobne. Vy bratia vy ste – vy ste tu muži; vy rozumiete. Chápete?
33Zhromaždenia v Indii pred nedávnom, chcem vám povedať o neomylnosti tých vízií. A mal som nedávno víziu ohľadne cesty do Indie a do Afriky najprv, a Pán mi ukázal, povedal mi; “Pôjdeš najprv do Afriky a potom do Indie.” A cez nejaký zmätok atď., manažér mi povedal… Ja to nechcem pripisovať manažérovi. Nikdy som to nepovedal bratovi Vayle, on je mojim manažérom. My máme jedného manažéra; to je Svätý Duch. Chápete? Brat Vayle je môj spolupracovník; on je môj brat. Tak sa to práve prihodilo, že on uskutočňuje opatrenia pre zhromaždenia a pomáha mi okolo toho. A on nie je viac manažérom stretnutí, než ja som vaším, alebo vy… Zbytok vás tak isto. My sme vlastne všetci jedna slávna veľká rodina a jedno veľké Telo. My nie sme jeden nad druhým; my sme všetci celkom rovnakí; my sme jednotka Božia pracujúca spoločne.
34A ja som hneď potom zapísal víziu, ako som ju mal ráno, a potom, keď manažér, ako ho voláme na ten čas tohoto bytia; urobil plány cesty do Indie. A on nemal veľmi rád Afriku. Tak on mi povedal v Chicagu; on povedal, “Brat Branham, jednoducho vynechajme Afriku a poďme do Indie.”
Ja som povedal, “Je to na tebe, brat; kdekoľvek Pán chce, aby som bol nástrojom, dobre.”
Cítim to bratia a tak podobne tu. Či máme… Radšej by som bol dole tu na tomto zhromaždení s piatimi ľuďmi zúčastnenými v tej 6-tisícovej posluchárni, a byť vo vôli Božej, než mať miesto, kde by sa otočilo 5-tisíc ľudí každý večer, a byť mimo vôli Božej. Základná vec je konať vôľu Božiu, či je to skromné alebo či je to významné, čokoľvek to je.
35Práve som mal zhromaždenie v cirkvi, ktorá mala 20 ľudí, prebudenecké zhromaždenie. Nemám žiadny televízor; nemám žiadne programy na sponzorovanie alebo čokoľvek. Ľudia len platia výdavky, a to je všetko čo tam je. Vidíte, vidíte? A tak ja nechcem žiadnu z týchto vecí. Ak áno, tak som zaviazaný.
Pomyslite, náš drahý brat Oral Roberts, ktorý je môj dôverný priateľ a skutočný muž Boží, myslíte, že Oral Roberts by mohol prísť na nejaké miesto a konať zhromaždenie dva alebo tri dni, v cirkvi, ktorá ma 20 ľudí, keď to vyžaduje okolo 7 alebo 8 tisíc dolárov na deň pre neho, aby to zvládol? Určite, nemohol by. On by rád, ale on to nemôže robiť. On je pod takou zaviazanosťou. Nuž, ja nemám taký mozog, aby som robil to, čo on robí, a Boh to vie, tak On nechá Orala, aby to robil. On ma podporuje touto cestou, kde ja môžem… Vidíte, ja... ak my len... ak si my len uvedomíme aké sú naše... sú obmedzené, to čo my môžeme urobiť. Tak potom, ja nemusím mať peniaze, tak to je… Tam ste. Chápete? Ja môžem ísť kdekoľvek ma On pošle.
36 Ak On chce, aby som išiel do Afriky a kázal stotisícom ľudí, On vyprodukuje peniaze. On má všetko z toho, akokoľvek, takže ja nemusím o to žiadať, teda On mi to len dáva. Ak On chce, aby som išiel dolu ku tým starodávnym svätým v Timbuktu, Gravel Switch, alebo niekde inde, viete, a kázať desiatim ľuďom, amen. Ja tam proste pôjdem a zostanem, pokiaľ mi on povie, že je to skončené. A tak, to je spôsob… ja sa snažím žiť takým spôsobom. A ja nemám nič, žiadne programy na podporovanie, nič. Vidíte?
A teraz, ja nehovorím… Pozrite sa, nuž to je moja časť. Ale Brat Oral Roberts, Boh mu dáva niečo druhé, aby robil. A Brat A. A. Alen, a mnohí z tých ostatných bratov, ktorí maju veľké rádio vysielanie a také veci, oni musia mať peniaze. Ja sám im pomáham podporovať ich. Chápete? Ja robím všetko to, čo môžem, pretože si uvedomujem, že to je môj brat. Ja nemôžem zaujať jeho miesto, a ja-ja som trochu rád, že to nemusím. Vidíte? Pretože ja nemám také mentálne schopnosti, aby som vypracoval tie veci, a tak ja len pevne stojím na ceste, na ktorej som. Vy… Ako ten člen kongresu Upshaw zvykne povedať “Vy nemôžete byť niečím, čím nie ste.” Nuž, to je pravda. A čím rýchlejšie si to uvedomíme, tým na tom budeme lepšie. Len buďte tým, čím ste. Boh vás chce takých, ako vás stvoril. A len to uchovávajte vo svojej mysli, a buďte práve čo… Ak je to rohožka, buďte rohožka. Ja chcem byť najlepšou rohožkou, akú On kedykoľvek mal, ak musím byť tou rohožkou. Alebo čokoľvek to je v Dome Božom, dovoľte mi plniť moju službu najlepšie ako môžem pre Neho.
37Nuž, a tak v Afrike, On nechcel ísť. A ja som povedal, “V poriadku, nepôjdeme.” Potom, cestou späť som odišiel do mojej izby. A keď som odišiel, na dverách bolo vznášajúce sa Svetlo. On povedal, “Choď do Afriky, ako som povedal.” O niekoľko minút som opakovane telefonoval bratovi a povedal som, “Ideme do Afriky.”
Čakal som rok, a nakoniec ako som to urobil, neviem, ale vynorila sa iná cesta. Ja som sa našiel na svojej ceste tam do Indie. Keď som-keď som prišiel do Lisbonu, Portugalsko, kde som bol, aby som tam mal zhromaždenia a pokračoval a mal uzdravovacie zhromaždenia priamo v šere Vatikánu, veľkomesta v Ríme… Ale kým som bol v Portugalsku, cítil som sa chorý; nevedel som prečo. Vyrazili sme s tým guvernérom, a ja som mal nejakú rybu. A oni to varili na olivovom oleji, a, ja, bol som veľmi chorý. Snažil som sa byť džentlmen a jesť to, ale poviem vám, okolo úst som bol biely; ja som bol taký chorý, tá stará ryba, a varená v olivovom oleji. A tak on povedal, “Brat Branham, vyzeráš trochu chorý.
A ja som povedal, “Cítim sa tak.”
38 A tak keď som odišiel dolu do mojej hotelovej izby, po chvíli vstúpil doktor. Úprimne, nesnažím sa upútavať pozornosť, ale on tam mal takú veľkú tabletku ako škatuľka, to bol vrchol tej veci, a chcel odo mňa, aby som to prehltol. Ja som povedal: “Doktor, ja-ja by som to nedal môjmu osedlanému koňovi.” Povedal som, “Je to tak… No, nemohli by ste to dostať dolu hrdlom.” Nikdy v živote som nevidel takú tabletku. A povedal som, “Môžem to zlomiť napoly?”
On povedal, “Nie, prehltni to.”
A ja som povedal, “Nuž, len minútku, kým sa táto choroba vytratí.” Čakal som, kým odišiel von, a zahodil som tú vec preč. Tak potom, ale on bol milý človek. A rozprávali sme sa veľa o Pánovi Ježišovi, on bol Katolík. Tak, ale my sme sa rozprávali o Pánovi.
39A potom, kým som bol tú noc taký chorý, Billy stál vedľa mňa, a ostatní z nich ma nechali tam. A ja som povedal, “Billy, nemyslím, že to môžem vydržať do rána”. A bol som taký chorý. Ja som vôbec-vôbec som nemohol-nemohol viac dýchať. Bol som tak chorý, môj dych by ani ťažšie nepracoval, musel som sa nútiť do dýchania, a tak celú noc.
A nasledujúce ráno, začal som vo vani… aby som podnikol… v kúpeľni... dostal som jednu z tých veľkých vaní, a uterák dvojitej veľkosti týchto stolov. A tak ja som si išiel obsadiť vaňu. A tam sa vznášalo to Svetlo visiace tam. A povedalo, “Či som Ti nepovedal najprv ísť do Afriky?” Padol som na svoju tvár a začal som roniť slzy. Potom som povedal, “Pane, ja-ja len mi dovoľ ísť niekde, aby som mal nejakú malú chatrč vonku v horách a chytať do pasce a poľovať, ako som vždy chcel. Ja-ja by som nemohol byť Tvoj sluha; ja-ja nemám dokonca mentálne schopnosti, aby som Ti slúžil.” Ja som povedal, “Všetko som o tom zabudol.” A zapísal som si to a prečítal. Myslel som, že to mám teraz vo svojom vreckovom diári, ale nemám, ale mám to na nejakom papieri.
40Nuž, pokračoval som. On mi povedal ísť ďalej hore do Indie, čo som urobil. A teda, keď som sa vrátil a rozmýšľal, je to teraz 4 roky, že som neposlúchol Pána. A keď som sa díval na tú napísanú víziu, ktorú som čítal stovky krát. Vízia hovorila, že som mal ísť najprv do Indie, a potom späť do Afriky. Ale On mi povedal ísť najprv do Afriky a potom do Indie, ukazujúc, že Boh vedel, že Ho sklamem, ale Jeho Slovo, ktoré On povedal, nemôže zlyhať. Vízia v skutočnosti znela, že pôjdem najprv do Afriky, alebo do Indie najprv, a potom späť do Afriky. To je to, kde som na mojej dráhe teraz, vlastne hneď ako sa môžem dostať cez okolo 23 alebo 30 zhromaždení, ktoré mám odteraz až do júla, a my ideme do Afriky. Jeden brat, náš drahý brat Dávid duPlessis tam, on skončil, a rozprával tam bratom a tak ďalej, aby sa zhromaždili.
41Rád by som predsa len povedal o tých zhromaždeniach v Indii, čo sa tam dialo. Keď sme tam odišli, nebola tam žiadna jednota, všetci bratia boli oddelení. Jedna cirkev mala sponzora, a ostatok z nich by neprišlo kvôli tomu, pretože oni nemali radi tú cirkev. Vidíte, tam ste.
A doslovne, tam je 470 miliónov ľudí v Indii. A Kresťanstvo je najslabšie náboženstvo, ktoré majú, Kresťanstvo. S Katolíkmi a všetkými, určujeme tretie alebo štvrté miesto. Mohamedámi sú 2x alebo 3x našej kapacity. To je vrátane celého Kresťanstva.
42 A keď som sa tam dostal, pretože ten jeden zbor, ich zásadou bolo, “Obchoduj s Indiou v Indii; my nepotrebujeme misionárov; my nepotrebujeme Američanov.” Keď som pristál v Bombay, stál tam metodistický biskup a stálo tam veľa tých veľkých mužov. Povedal, “pán Branham, vy prichádzate do Indie; neprichádzajte tu ako misionár.” Hovorili, “My vieme viac o Biblii než vy Američania ste kedykoľvek vedeli.” Teraz, nie kriticky, nie kriticky, ale to je pravda. Toto je orientálna Kniha; toto nie je západná kniha; to je východná kniha. Keď nadobudnete na To východný pohľad, nájdete novú knihu. To je pravda.
Hovorili, “My sme mali Bibliu 2 tisíc rokov skôr než ste vy boli národom.” To je pravda. Svätý Tomáš odišiel tam dole. Cirkev Sv. Tomáša, bol som v nej, keď sme boli tam. Iste, oni mali Bibliu takmer 2000 rokov prv než se my boli národom. A my máme západné myslenie, snažiac sa porovnať to s východným, ktoré je práve v protiklade jedno ku druhému. Všetky podobenstvá a veci z Biblie… Ak ste niekedy… vstúpili tam a len spozorovali ich spôsob ako oni žijú, môžete pre vás vidieť Bibliu ako práve otvorenú novú Knihu. Pretože to je východná Kniha napísaná východným spôsobom života. A my sme západní ľudia so západným spôsobom myslenia.
43 Ak bude Pánova vôľa, tento týždeň, keď začnem kázanie, chcem kázať, “Keď sa stretol Východ a Západ.” Nuž, nie oni by to nerobili, pretože oni nemajú radi túto druhú cirkev, pretože to by nesúhlasilo podľa našich bratov. A teraz, pozrite sa na to, povedal som, “Teda, to je pravda. Predávajme Ameriku v Amerike.”
Títo Indickí ľudia povedali, “My chceme vlastniť náš vlastný majetok. My nechceme aby Metodistickí a Baptistickí a Letniční ľudia po celej Amerike vlastnili náš majetok. Chceme to vlastniť my sami, práve tu; dovoľte nám to mať.” Hovorili, “Vy bratia prichádzate a navštevujete nás.” To znelo všetko v poriadku. Vidíte?
Ale pre mňa byť tam takto, to nebolo v poriadku. Tí misionári sa tam roky do krvi potili, za to, na čom stáli. Zomierali s chorobou améba a so žltou zimnicou a so zimnicou čiernej vody, a všetkým ďalším tam, aby priniesli Evanjelium. Mal by som otočiť svoj chrbát na veci ako tieto, ktoré niekto založil pre Kráľovstvo Božie? Ja som jeho brat. Určite nie. A čo sa týka ich majetku komu to v každom prípade patrí? Bohu, to je úplne správne.
44 Ale tam, to som urobil, a oni mi povedali, že nemohli spolupracovať. Tú noc oni… Toho dňa starší toho mesta ma zobral dolu do chrámu džinistov. A Džinisti,... zabudol som, Džinisti. A oni sú podivná sekta. Oni sú väčšinou podľa poriadku Katolíkov. Oni ma vzali ku ich pápežovi ktorý sedel na vankúši. A to vám práve ukazuje muky, cez ktoré oni prechádzajú. Muž a žena sedia a vyrábajú male zmetáky, mopy. Oni by nezabili mravca; oni-oni nemôžu pracovať. Oni musia žobrať o všetko čo dostávajú. Štyristo miliónov týchto Indov sú takmer… Je okolo sedemdesiat miliónov z nich, sa mi zdá, ktorí pracujú, a ostatní, štyristo miliónov je žobrákov. A ako oni idú, zametajú podlahu alebo terén, aby nestúpili na mravca, pretože oni veria vo prevtelenie; a to by mohol byť niekto z ich ľudu. Oni nič nezabijú, ani muchu ani blchu. Človek, ktorý bol operovaný na prste, a potom zomrel, pretože on nemohol nechať sterilizovať ten rezný nástroj, ktorým bol operovaný, lebo sa obával, že by tým zabil baktériu; a to by mohol byť nejaký z jeho praotcov na ceste späť.
45 A teraz môžete vidieť, svet žije v neznalosti ako toto, a my s pravým Evanjeliom a našimi zbraňami jeden na druhého. Chápete čo myslím, bratia? My sa hádame, či by som mal byť Cirkev Božia alebo Zbory Božie, ja chcem byť dieťa Božie. To je to. Nuž, a služobník Boží…
Všimnite si, potom v tom… Títo muži umiestnení v tej situácii. Oni sa nemohli holiť. To bol hriech holiť sa. Tak oni si museli nechať svoje brady narásť a ich vlasy narásť. A ó, veci ktoré oni museli robiť, to bolo strašné.
Tento pápež ako tam bol usadený... A počul som, že je tam sedemnásť, myslím, že sedem alebo osem rôznych ľudí, ktorí to reprezentovali, a ja som tam prišiel. Každý jeden z nich mi povedal, aký som malý. No, tamtí Džinisti, oni povedali prečo oni začali ešte skôr než kedy začal Genesis. A oni boli doposiaľ nadradení nad Kresťanstvom. A oni majú veľa argumentov.
A tu je to, čo mi ten ich pápež povedal, on hovoril, “Vy ľudia nazývate seba zbožnými? A používate všetkých svojich vedcov – a vašich vedcov tam, nie aby ste sa snažili pomôcť niekomu, ale vytvoriť atómové bomby roztrhať jeden druhého na kúsky.” Mal pravdu, alebo nie?
46Pozrite sa, každá nepravda má v sebe veľa pravdy. To je tak. Nuž, ak je to naozajstné klamstvo, tak to čo my voláme čierne klamstvo, alebo malé biele klamstvo… Malé biele klamstvo je skutočné klamstvo. Môžete vidieť veľké čierne klamstvo, ale to je to malé biele, ktoré má celú… Ako to, čo diabol povedal Eve… Chápete? Len jedna malá vec mimo poriadku, to je to čo naše cirkvi počúvajú dnes. Oni hovoria, “Oh, vy máte pravdu vo vašej zásade krstu; máte pravdu v tomto; máte pravdu v tamtom.” Ale on vám zlyhal dať vedieť, že musíte milovať toho brata. Hoci má pravdu alebo nemá, stojte ramenami s ním, v Kráľovstve Božom, v Prítomnosti Božej.
47Potom, pozorujte toto, ako Boh pracuje. A títo spoločníci [tam v Indii - pozn.prekl.] ako tam sedeli, a potom som sa cítil ako, potom ako to oni všetci povedali, alebo niekoľko z nich to povedalo, ja som sa cítil, ako by som bol zradca Kristov, ak by som niečo nepovedal. A postavil som sa; povedal som, “Pánovia…” Nemohol som ich nazvať bratmi, oni neboli. Povedal som, “Ako by ste niekedy mohli prijať krv obete za vaše hriechy a nezabiť blchu?” Povedal som, “Ako ste to mohli urobiť? Povedal som, “Krv je protilátka. Krv bola jediná, ktorá nás previedla zo záhrady Eden. V krvných bunkách je život.”
To bol život, prevrátený život, ktorý nás priviedol na smrť. A to vezme tú istú krvnú bunku rozloženú, aby nás to znova priviedlo do života. Toto je zvrátený život. A chcem, aby ste vy… Bratia, nezáleží na tom ako dobre sa snažíte opraviť to, a ako dobre sa snažíte robiť toto, a ako čisto sa snažíte žiť, a ako spravodlivo sa snažíte žiť, to nikdy nebude fungovať. Tento život bol na počiatku odsúdený Bohom. To nebude opravené; to je zomrieť a byť narodený znova. Ide o to byť narodený. Nie je žiadna iná cesta okolo toho. Rozumiete?
48 Nie byť lepší, pripojiť sa do cirkvi, ukončiť vašu ničomnosť, vy môžete robiť všetko to a stále nemať Večný Život. Vidíte? Vy sa môžete pripojiť do cirkvi; môžete patriť do denominácie, môžete žiť práve tak úprimne až zomrieť, tamtí farizejovia to robili, a Ježiš povedal, “Vy ste z vášho otca diabla. Vidíte?
Celý čas sa snažíme položiť to tak, aby to fungovalo, niekedy my môžeme robiť, niečo si môžeme postaviť, nejaké… Boh nepotrebuje naše budovy, Boh potrebuje našu dušu.
A tam v tom čase, ten večer keď… Povedal som, “Nech Boh prehovorí, ten Jediný, ktorý je Bohom dnes večer.” A na pódiu… Nuž, vy… Robím toto, hovoriac to tak, aby ste vy bratia videli dôveru, ktorú môžete mať v Bohu.
49Na tom zhromaždení v ten večer, keď oni začali, tam boli Rahaji [nábož. skupina – pozn.prekl.] na vankúšoch, a boli tam Mohamedáni, a Budhisti, a vzalo mi to viac než 2,5 hodiny len sa tam dostať, aby som sa postavil, kde som mal kázať. Primátor odhadoval, že ak by som zostal 3 dni, alebo 5 dní, ako som mal zostať, že to by bolo 500.000 ľudí zovšadiaľ v Bombaji. Oni by sa dopočuli; oni by prišli.
A tak som myslel, “Nuž, ak títo kazatelia nechcú spolupracovať, potom ich nechám na pokoji.” Ale urobil som chybu. Mal som sa otočiť a ísť naspäť, až kým by som nezískal spoluprácu. Pretože ten večer, keď sme odišli na zhromaždenia… nemohli ste rozdávať modlitebné karty; nie je spôsob ako to robiť. A tak mali sme milíciu, aby ich nejako privádzali po jednom. A potom oni…
50Tam je tisíce krát tisíce a tisíce tisícov ľudí, ktorí idú byť prví v modlitebnej línii, ľudia, ku ktorým dokonca nemôžete prehovoriť. Ale potom keď Duch Svätý im začal zjavovať, a začal im hovoriť, mohol som vidieť, kto-čo to bolo, vyhláskovať ich mená, ja som to nemohol ani vysloviť. Miesto..
Potom som mohol cítiť vstupovať Ducha Svätého, že to bolo – oni si mysleli, že to bola telepatia. A tak som si pomyslel, “Pane, ak by si len dal milosť.” Asi trom alebo štyrom chýbali určité časti tela, z malomocenstva, nemali ruky, a jedného som vzal do náručia a začal som ho milovať. On len plakal, keď videl, že niekto sa o neho stará. Svet umiera po láske, bratia. Určite vezmite svojho brata do vášho náručia, zistite či to nerobí veci trocha inými. Chápete? Tá istá láska, ktorá účinkovala na malomocenstve, bude pracovať na vašom bratovi, o ktorom si myslíte, že nemá pravdu. To je tak, určite.
51A on… Ja som ho vzal na ramená. A on-on plakal. A asi druhý potom, to bol nevidiaci muž. Tam bol iný nevidiaci muž, ktorý prišiel cez, bolo mu povedané kto on bol, odkiaľ pochádzal, a všetko. Povedal som: “Pán Boh Ťa uzdravil, brat. Pred rokmi On zomrel za Teba a Tvoje uzdravenie je zaistené. Ak len veríš tomu teraz, choď a buď uzdravený.” Dvaja alebo traja malomocní prešli; jediná vec, ktorú som videl bola kto oni boli a akí boli-boli… Nepovedal som nič viac. To je všetko, čo som povedal, je čo môžem vidieť, a len som prestal hovoriť.
Potom tento jeden prešiel, nevidiaci muž. Bolo mu povedané kto on bol, hovoriac, “Ty si žobrák. Ty máš dve deti, más manželku; ona je chudá žena,” bolo povedané aké bolo jej priezvisko, aj jej meno. To bolo správne. A potom, keď som začal s ním cez to prechádzať, vízia bola prerušená. Nuž, to je keď Pán rozpráva. Druhé je čo robil samotný človek. To je to, čo vidíte na pódiu. To ste vy, ktorí to odohrávate, nie ja. Je to vaša vlastná viera, ktorá to činí.
52 Nuž, v tom čase, keď sa to prerušilo, ja som pozrel a videl som človeka stojaceho predo mnou. Vyzeral trochu šedivší než bol tam, a on mohol vidieť; jeho oči boli otvorené, a on bol rozradostený a hovoril s ľuďmi. To je ten hlavný princíp. Tam to bolo. Pomyslel som si, “Ó, Bože, tu to je.”
No nie je spôsob, bratia… My sme večne zviazaný ľudia, a my ideme stáť v Jeho Prítomnosti spolu v jednom z týchto dní. Myslím tvárou v tvár s Ním. Nie je žiaden spôsob, ako to vysvetliť. Keď viete čo sa ide stať, tam je to. Nikdy ani jediného času som to nevidel zlyhať. Nedávno, Waterloo, potom ako tá skupina kazateľov bola tak proti mne, a ja som sa modlil. Myslel som si, “Pane, tu som v takej nepríjemnej situácii, a neviem čo robiť,” stovky ľudí tam sedelo, a bolo tak chladno ako len mohlo byť a stál som tam. A znenazdajky som počul niečo. Myslel som, že to bolo lietadlo vstupujúce strechou. Pozrel som sa naokolo na doktora Vayle, a on sa pozeral na varhany, on si myslel, že tá žena prehodila vzduch na organe. Ale zistili sme, že tam bol elektrický organ. A tu To bolo, prichádzalo to zhora ako burácanie. A prišlo To dolu, môj kabát sa začal triasť. Pohybovalo sa To oblúkom cez budovu; ľudia sa obeleli a spadli dozadu takto s hlavami dozadu. Rútenie sa ako vietor, lenže To nebol vietor, to bol zvuk: Svätý Duch pohybujúci sa budovou otriasal, a my to máme na páske.
53A pomyslel som si, “Veľký Svätý Duch sa jednako nechová neslušne.” Pomyslel som si, “Nikdy som Ho nevidel robiť nič, len čo bolo v Písme.” A keď som išiel domov, začal som modliac sa, “Pane, kde to je, kde Svätý Duch postupoval ako tamto?” Vo Svätom Jánovi 12 vidíme, kde sa náš Pán modlil a niektorí z nich povedali, keď Otec hovoril späť ku Nemu, hovoriac, “zahrmelo”.
Boh stále žije, bratia. A my hľadáme niečo tam v diaľke, keď my to máme práve teraz. To je to. Nedovoľte, aby to prešlo ponad vás, ako to bolo cez tie veky, ako to urobili vo dňoch Jána Krstiteľa. Oni nevedeli kto on bol. Ľudia nevedia, aký je tento Svätý Duch. To nie je niečo, aby sa to organizovalo a preorganizovalo. Pričom ja to nekritizujem, bratia. To nie je niečo okolo čoho by sme sa mali hádať; to je niečo , čo máme milovať a uctievať. Nie aby ste boli oddelení od druhých; to je to, aby to prinieslo jeden druhého pospolu. My to používame ako nástroj, nie pre dobro Kráľovstva Božieho, keď robíme samých seba odlišnými od každého, my máme urobiť seba pospolu s týmto. Potom skutočný Svätý Duch nám to prinesie, bratia. To presne musí; To je Kristova vlastná láska za nás.
54A pozorujte, to Indické zhromaždenie. Bol tam človek. Videl som ho stáť tam ako modrý oblak. A keď ma to videnie opustila, ó, aký pocit, aký pocit. Ja som potom vedel, že to sa musí stať. To sa musí stať; Boh tak povedal. Potom som mohol vystúpiť dopredu. Potom som mohol byť šéf, ako to bolo (Prepáčte ten výraz, nie ja, ale Svätý Duch pôsobiaci, bol Šéfom.) Ak by Boh prišiel dnes a ukázal mi videnie že George Washington ide byť vzkriesený z prezidentského cintorína, ja by som pozval svet, aby prišiel pozorovať ako sa to stane. To je úplne správne. To sa stane, ak to Boh povedal. Ako to môže zlyhať. Mám 48 rokov; vídavam videnia odvtedy ako som bol len malý dvojročný chlapec, a nikdy ani jedenkrát to nezlyhalo. Pre mňa je To Boh.
55Ak by som nemohol získať svet, aby to videl, aký je v tom rozdiel, oni to nikdy nevideli v žiadnom veku. Ale Boh je práve; On to aj tak zosiela. Že On… Potom keď je to všetko skončené, oni hovoria, “Nuž, my sme to nevedeli. Určite sa to stalo? Ja som to nevedel.” Ó, áno, to vždy tak bolo. To je tak dnes, bratia, počúvajte. Toto je tá hodina, toto je ten deň. Vy hľadáte niečo mimo tam v diaľke a diabol sa vám snaží umiestniť niečo do ďalekého času; a prv ako sa nazdáte, bude Milénium; to je teraz v čase konca.
Tak potom, keď prišlo toto videnie a ten nevidiaci muž bol vidiacim, potom on tam stále stál. Ja som povedal, “A teraz, vám pánovia dnes, s ktorými sme boli v chráme Džinistov. “A vy všetci ste hovorili, že ste začali pred Genezis, a aký nespôsobilý bol tento Boh, a ako tamtí všetci Jeho učeníci urobili toto, tamto a ďalšie,” atď. Ja som povedal, “Poznávam vaše myšlienky. Myslíte si, že čítam telepatiu, pretože toto je všetko, čo ste kedy videli, práve tu. Nuž, to je to, čo je vo vašich myšlienkach.” Ale povedal som “Tu je slepý človek. A tento človek práve svedčil, že bol slepý, ktorému Duch povedal, že pred 20 rokmi [prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] pozoroval slnko; on uctieval slnko. A on bol slepý; jeho oči sú také biele ako moja košeľa.” Povedal som, “On sľúbil, že keď dostane naspäť svoj zrak, bude slúžiť Bohu, ktorý mu dá jeho zrak. On je ochotný sa zmeniť.” A povedal som, “Vy mohamedáni tu, vy ste najväčší v počte, [prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] … príďte tu a dajte tomuto mužovi naspäť jeho zrak.” Tam ste.
56Ja by som to za žiadnu cenu nepovedal, bratia, ak by mi to Boh nepovedal najprv, vidíte, videnie. Povedal som, “Nuž, prídite, a dajte mu jeho zrak.” A ja som povedal, “Vy uctievači Budhu, vyzývam Budhovho kňaza, aby prišiel, a dal tomuto zrak. Alebo vy, Džinisti, s ktorými sme boli v chráme dnes, vyzývam ktoréhokoľvek z vašich kňazov, aby prišli, dať mu jeho zrak. A on bude uctievať Boha, ktorý mu dá jeho zrak.”
Ó, bratia, to bol tichý dav, istotne. Ja som povedal, “Čo by ste mohli robiť?” Povedali by ste mu, že sa mýlil v uctievaní slnka. On uctieval...“ A ja som povedal, „Verím, že on sa mýli. On uctieva stvorenie namiesto Stvoriteľa.“ Vidíte? Tvrdil som, „Verím, že sa mýli.“ Povedal som, “Čo by ste vy Mohamedáni robili, ak by ste ho zmenili? Vy by ste len zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania. Čo ak by ste ho vzali vy, Džinisti? Vy by ste zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania.” Čo ak by ste ho vzali vy, Budhisti? Vy by ste zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania.” To je pravda: psychológia.
57Ale, bratia, chcem sa vás opýtať niečo, čo viac by pre neho urobili Metodisti než by mohli urobiť Baptisti? My máme tú istú vec v Amerike; len my máme jedného Boha, ktorého uctievame. Ale všetci Baptisti chcú ich všetkých, aby boli Meto.. Baptistami, a chcú všetkých Metodistami. A Letniční ich chcú všetkých urobiť Letničnými. Cirkev Božia ich chce všetkých na svojej strane. Zjednotení ich chcú všetkých na ich strane.
Čo to je? Och, oni musia byť pokrstení, takto, alebo takto, a tak, alebo oni musia povedať určité veci, oni musia.. Čo je to? Psychológia. Nie som práve ten, aby som ranil pocity, ale, brat, musím byť čestný. Toto môže byť náš posledný čas kedy budeme… [Prázdne miesto na páske. - pozn.prekl.]…To je Pravda. A tvrdím, “My máme tú istú vec v Amerike, jednoducho z tejto cirkvi do tamtej cirkvi. “Ak Cirkev Božia nezaobchádza so mnou poriadne, pripojím sa ku Zborom Božím. Zbory Božie so mnou nenakladajú správne, budem Jednotár.” A tam ste. Čo to je? Tá istá vec, ako pohania, pohania, to je pravda. Zakotvi raz na Kristovi, zostaň tam. To je to pravé.
58 A potom, keď som povedal, “Určite, vy by ste nemohli urobiť nič viac pre neho, jeden od druhého, nezáleží kto by to bol.” Ale ja som tvrdil, “Vy mu nemôžete dať jeho zrak, vy Mohamedáni, tiež nie vy Džinisti, a vôbec nemôžete vy Budhisti, alebo ktorýkoľvek z vás, môcť mu dať jeho zrak. A tiež ja mu nemôžem dať jeho zrak.” Ale povedal som, “Boh neba, Ktorý pozdvihol Jeho Syna Ježiša, že si myslíte, že je to telepatia, ukázal mi videnie, že ten človek dostane svoj zrak. A ak to On neurobí, som falošný prorok.”
“A teraz, ak to urobí, koľkí z vás pozdvihnete svoje ruky, že zanecháte svojich pohanských bohov. Vidíte kde váš kňaz stojí? Každý jeden z nich, tam sú mlčiaci ľudia, nečudo, že mlčia. Ja by som bol mlčiaci tiež, ak by mi Boh neba neukázal niečo práve teraz.” Povedal som, “Nuž, zistíme či je to pravda alebo nie.”
59A každý bol ticho. Ja som vzal toho biedneho starého muža a pritiahol som ho na moju hruď. Povedal som, “Pane, Ktorý si učinil nebesia I zem, ako to bolo v Biblických časoch, to sa navracia znova. Nech je to známe dnes, že Ty si Boh, a Tvoja Cirkev bude mať prevahu oproti každej bráne pekla; tak bude. A mnohí z týchto ľudí sediacich tu, ktorí tu pracujú, mysliac si, že tieto veci patria inému veku, nech im je známe, že ich práca nie je márna. Oni kážu najlepšie, ako vedeli podľa okolností, a veci, ktoré museli kázať. Ale teraz Ty si prišiel na scénu…” (Oni neprekladajú modlitbu, samozrejme.)
60 A modliac sa ku Pánovi, mal som ho na svojej hrudi. Keď som ho oddialil, takto, on z celej sily zakričal; utekal a uchopil primátora Durbanu a pobozkal ho. Jeho zrak bol tak dobrý ako zrak hociktorého človeka, ktorý je tu. Potom čo sa stalo? Oni tam stáli; on padol na svoje kolená; vrhol svoje ruky do vzduchu; ronil slzy, tisíce ho pozorovali. Ten človek svedčil dokonca prezidentovi Indie, ktorý je hore v New Delhi, tento nastávajúci október ak si budem priať, oni majú amfiteáter tam hore, do ktorého by sa mohlo zmestiť milión ľudí pre spojené úsilie po celej Indii.
61Potom som povedal, “Koľkí z vás tu príjmu Ježiša ako osobného Spasiteľa, vy Mohamedáni, a Budhisti atď?” Ich ruky stúpali hore všade, všade. A oni robili ruch; oni brali-zobúvali mi topánky. Roztrhli mi .. Ja som sa viac ako hodinu dostával odtiaľ preč, otrhané oblečenie, päť alebo šesťkrát, nemohli ich držať vzadu. Oni tam bežali a všetko možné. Indovia sú poverčiví; oni sa vás chcú dotknúť alebo niečo tomu podobné, snažiaci sa do toho dostať. Matky dokonca odkladali svoje deti, snažiaci sa dovolať sa dotyku. Musel som opustiť mesto na ďalší deň, pretože oni ich nemohli dlhšie udržať, nebolo žiadne miesto kde ich zmestiť.
62 Ježiš povedal, “Choďte a kážte Evanjelium.” To je správne. My budujeme školy, organizácie, vzdelávanie. Nič proti tomu, to je všetko v poriadku, nič proti tomu, ale On povedal, “Kážte Evanjelium.” On nikdy nepovedal, budujte kostoly. On nikdy nepovedal, “budujte organizácie”. On nikdy nepovedal, “budujte školy”. Oni nikdy nepovedal, “majte semináre”. On povedal, “Kážte Evanjelium.” My sme sa otočili a robili sme niečo iné. To je dôvod prečo sú pohania v stave v akom sú dnes. To je dôvod prečo sú tieto veci. Ale, moji bratia, ale Boh Abrahámov, Izákov a Jakobov dnes stále žije. To je pravda. On je ten istý Boh. To mi pripomína jednu malú vec, ktorú vám poviem. Potom musím ísť, ak máte len pár minút.
63Ako každý vie, rád poľujem. Tu sedí brat zo severnej Britskej Kolumbie; jedného dňa som vyšiel na hory, bol som poriadne zarastený, a už šediviem. A mal som na sebe starý ovisnutý klobúk a montérky, a nekúpal som sa viac ako 2 týždne, mal som tam 21 koní, a tuším, že som páchol viac ako tie kone, tým že som sa nekúpal, a bol som špinavý a spotený. A ja som bol poľovať na medveďa vysoko v horách. Tie skúsenosti, ktoré mám s Bohom, zostanú vo mne žiť až kým zomriem, byť sám.
Bol som na malom mieste, kde mali nejaký obchod, o veľkosti približne polovica tejto izby; oni tam však mali všetko. Jedna mladá žena tam, okolo tridsaťročná, ona nikdy vo svojom živote nevidela veľkomesto, nikdy v jej živote, doposiaľ. Odhadujem, že prvá skutočná cesta s tvrdým povrchom bola Edmonton, okolo Edmontonu. To bolo štyristo, päťsto míľ vzdialené. [Niekto hovorí bratovi Branhamovi-pozn.prekl.] Áno. Je to okolo dvesto míl, hádam. Dvesto míľ ku tvrdej ceste. A potom to opúšťate, potom mate inú, dlhú tiahnúcu sa z toho, cestu hore na East Pines, severná Britská Kolumbia.
64Stojac tu vzadu, snažil som sa potiahnuť …na koňoch a utiahnuť sa… Nejaký človek prišiel tam dole, povediac, “Ahoj, brat Branham.” To bol on, farmár. Pán dal videnie, povolal ho do práce, a teraz on sa práve navracia z Kuby a je na svojej ceste znovu naspäť teraz na pole.
Bol som dolu, cestou na severné miesto, a nejaká pani kráčala hore, ja s mojou neoholenou bradou, nejaká pani kráčala hore a dotkla sa ma zboku a povedala, “Nie ste vy brat Branham?”
Povedal som, “Áno, pani. Ako ma poznáte?”
Povedala, “Mám vašu knihu.”
Ja som odvetil, “Ako ste sa kedy mohla dostať ku knihe tam vzadu?”
Prichádzalo to dvakrát ročne, pošta na sánkach ťahaných psom. Ó, oni prídu z východu a zo západu v tom veľkom čase.
65Cestou hore do hôr v Colorado, jedného času, bol som poľovať na losa. Nie je to hra na zabíjanie, ale len aby som bol sám s Bohom. Vy môžete mať všetku vašu “ostrohrannú” Floridu akú chcete; to je to čo človek tomu urobil. Ja to mám rád tak, ako to Boh urobil (Chápete?), len vo svojej čistej prírode.
Šplhal som sa cestou hore do hôr, cestou hore, pretože los ešte dolu neprišiel; nie je tam dosť snehu, aby bežali dolu. Bol som aspoň tridsaťpäť alebo štyridsať míľ od ľudských bytostí, cestou naspäť medzi Berthoud Pass a Rabbit Ear Pass, cestou naspäť na rieku Troublesome, kde som zvykol hnať dobytok, keď som bol chlapcom.
66 Mám takú malú vec, o ktorej by som chcel povedať práve tu. Zvykol som chodiť, keď oni mali zhromaždený dobytok na jar, keď sme nasadili statok do lesa Arapaho, Herefordskej asociácie, aby sa pásli v údolí. A ak vyrobíte tonu sena, a máte značku od Obchodnej Komory, môžete zohnať do stáda kravy v lese Arapaho, v lete.
A tak sme tam zháňali do stáda. A naša značka bol kosoštvorec, A hneď vedľa nás bol diamant, a to bol Grimes. A všetci z vás poznáte Grimesa, človeka, ktorý robí preteky koní, on pracoval-mal okolo 20 mužov po celý čas. A my sme mali… My… Naša výstroj bola malá; my sme mali posledné miesto na zavlažovanie východného rozvetvenia rieky Troublesome, cestou nahor. Tak potom, viete, rieka sa takto rozdeľuje, a prichádza dole zo severného, východného a západného svahu, nuž, potom my sme pásli tam, stopäťdesiat, dvesto míľ, cez to; sme tam pásli.
67No a oni mali posunutú ohradu od súkromného vlastníctva až do štátneho majetku. Veľakrát, cez deň som sa tam usadil, a pozoroval som ich, keď brali cez to tamtie kravy. Sedel som nohami okolo rohov na sedadle, ako to všetci poznáte, a pozoroval. A lesný správca tam stál a rátal tamten dobytok ako tak cez to išli. On skúmal ten statok.
Bratia, on sa nepozeral príliš veľa na značku; ale čo to bolo za plemeno dobytka. Značka mohla ísť tam; to malo niečo do toho; ale bola to krv kravy. Nezáležalo aká značka bola na tom, ak ona-ak tá krava nebola plnokrvný Hereford, ona do toho lesa nemohla ísť.
68Rozmýšľam, že to je spôsob ako to bude na súde. To nebude či si Ty Cirkev Božia alebo Zbory Božie, to bude Krvné označenie, ktoré bude vyjadrovať odlišnosť. Nezáleží akú značku nosíte, to budú len tí, ktorí sú narodení znovu, tí pôjdu dovnútra.
Pozoroval som hore v tamtých horách. Prišla búrka a ja som sa dostal za strom a stál som tam chvíľu, kým prechádzala búrka. A náhle, potom ako prešla búrka, skryl som sa za strom. To bude chvíľku burácať, potom bude pršať, potom snežiť a potom slnko vyjde a roztaví to, a možno bude pršať znovu.
69 A keď som vyšiel von, ochladilo sa, počas toho času za tým stromom, a slnko zachádzalo na západ. A veľké oko pozeralo od jedného konca ku druhému takto, a dúha prešla cez údolie, kde stála zeleň zamrzla s dažďom. Viete ako mrzne na strome. A slnko oproti tomu, to robí dúhu. A pozeral som sa na ten dážď…
Moja matka… Mojej matky matka vyšla z tejto rezervácie tam hore. A moje obrátenie odo mňa neodobralo tú hlbinu, milujem lesy. A tak som tam stál a začal som plakať. Pomyslel som si, “O, veľký Jehova,” ako som povedal poslednú noc, On viedol moje kroky Jeho okom. Tak potom, tam On sa pozerá. Tam som si pomyslel, “Áno, slnko zomiera na západe; deň sa pominul; dúha predstavuje zmluvu; sme na konci času.” Pozrite sa kdekoľvek, a môžete vidieť Boha, ak sa len pozriete trochu dookola. Môžete Ho vidieť v bratovi, ktorého nemáte tak príliš radi, ak sa len pozriete. Môžete Ho vidieť v organizácii, ktorú nemáte radi, ak sa len poobzeráte dookola. To je všetko. On tam bude, len sa neznepokojujte.
70A potom som to pozoroval a začal som plakať. Za niekoľko chvíľ som počul starého sivého vlka zavýjajúceho na vrchole hory. Jeho družka odpovedala dolu na úpätí. Viete, Dávid povedal, „Keď hlbina volá hlbinu...“ Hlbina začína volať hlbinu. Počul som starého býka trúbiť. Búrka ich oddelila. Cez veľké množstvo vetra, padajúce drevo, črieda sa musela rozísť. Oni trúbili jeden druhému, aby sa dostavili znovu pospolu.
Družka volala vlka, „Poďme znovu spolu.“ Oko volalo na dúhu, „Poďme znovu pospolu.“ Duch volá Cirkev, „Poďme znovu pospolu. Spojme sa.“ Boh bol tam.
71A pokiaľ som tam stál v uctievaní, ó, behal som okolo a okolo toho stromu tak rýchlo ako som len mohol, uľaviť moje pocity, kričiaci z plného hrdla, kymácajúc mojou rukou. Oni si mohli myslieť, že som náboženský fanatik („holy-roller“), určite, ak by ma niekto videl. Ale... Alebo možno som bol pomätený, bežiac okolo a okolo toho stromu. Ale ja som uctieval Boha. Vidím Ho, všetko volá, hlbina volá z hlbiny, ako Duch teraz, volajúci do Cirkvi, volajúci do Tela, „Poďme spolu. Buďme spolu. Slnko zapadá. Je neskoršie než si myslíte, poďme spolu.“ [Proroctvo je dané - pozn.prekl.] Amen?
Kde Duch hovoril? Keď dúha, slnko volalo dúhu, keď vlk volal svoju družku, keď los volal svoju družku. Ježiš volá svoju manželku, Cirkev. Boh vás žehnaj, bratia. Som tu plece ku plecu s vami na tróne Božom pomôcť vám ako len môžem. Som váš brat.
1 Thank you, Brother Vayle. And I want to say, good morning, to each and every one of you here. And it's certainly a--a grand privilege of being here in this Chattanooga area again to place my a part of my ministry in the help of you brethren to continue the work that's already been established by our Lord Jesus, to build upon this principle. And we're enjoying this meeting. Long has it lived in my heart, the last meeting that we were here together. And much water's went down the river since then; many things has been done; many battles has been fought and won for our Lord.
2 And this morning it's such a wonderful thing to be here at the table with you men and women, you, fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, brothers and sisters of like precious faith. And you're aware that I'm not a speaker. I just love to say what I can for His glory, knowing if I have a voice, I want to use what I have got for His glory. And I wish I was a speaker as Brother Vayle, and many of you people; but God never called me for that. I was called for another type of ministry. And we are... I wouldn't try to take Brother Vayle's place or your place. It'd be just as hard for me to take his place, probably, as for him to take my place. So we just abide in our calling and do what we can for the great Kingdom of God.
3 Now, I'm glad to be back down in the good old south again. You know, there's something about the southern states that I like. I was borned on this soil down here, you know, so there's something about it, like coming back home. And I get way up in the north, they say, "Hey, say, fellow, you must be from the south."
I thought I spoke English until I went to England. I needed an interpreter in England worse than anywhere I ever was at. Every time I'd speak they'd say, "What part of Texas you from?" I just couldn't make out. But when they talked, "Way down here," you know, that real far...
4 I went to the corner one time in London. I was going down to find the Westminster Abbey. I'm not a mimic by a long ways, but I'm going to try to impersonate something. There was a gentleman standing on the corner with a cane over his arm, a regular English Cockney. And I said, "How do you do, sir?" He, looking over his glasses, spoke to me. And I said, "Could you tell me how to get to the Westminster Abbey?"
Frowned a little bit, looked at me; he said, "Certainly, ole chappie," he said, "you go three blowks this way, you turn three blowks that way, go straight ahead," said, "you cawn't miss it."
5 Brother David duPlessis is about the only one would understand that here, I guess, this morning. Oh, I knew I wasn't a--wasn't very much on the English. But I enjoyed being with men everywhere because they're creatures of God.
And now, to try to, as usually on a Christian Business Men's breakfast, I usually kind of preach a little bit to those fellows. And I... But now, before ministers I wouldn't try that. See? But I just want to read some Scripture. Because every gathering we are supposed to read the Scriptures and so forth. I think that the...
6 And back in the early days when they used to meet, they broke bread, took the communion every time they met. And I like that too. 'Course, we're out of that practice. But I like to read just a portion of His Word, where that if we don't get nothing else but this, this will be fine. It's found last commission of our Lord. And a man's last will should be the--the one that's sufficient. And here's what He said to His Church, the last words as He left the world, found in Mark the 16th chapter, 14th verse beginning.
After He appeared unto the eleven as they set at meat, and upbraided them of their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;... he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
If they... take up serpents; or if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So... after--after the Lord had--had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and set on the right hand of God.
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them,... confirming the Word with signs following. Amen.
7 This is known as the--the great commission. It was the last words that our Lord spoke. And the first time He sent out His disciples in Matthew 10, we find that He gave them a commission to go heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: as freely as you have received, freely give. And the last commission He give, to go into all the world, just continue as they did at the first: heal the sick, and lay hands on the sick, and cast out devils.
And it's a privilege for me, brethren, to stand with men like you, shoulder-to-shoulder, in this great fight.
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]...?... world called Christianity, and take my position by your side as a one who believes that that commission is still just as essential as it was the hour it was given. And in this great field that we're in, we find many times, that we come with the order of different denomination, no, phases of--of the Scripture. Some of them will... Christ's commission here was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
8 Now, the Gospel doesn't only consist of the Word only, but through the power and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. 'Cause the only way that it could be done, for these signs to follow, would be the Word to take Life. So it would have to be the Holy Spirit that would give Life in the Word to produce these signs. You brethren believe that.
Then after leaving the Baptist church and coming over with my Pentecostal brethren, because I seen that they had something, they believe this. And--but I found different denominations. First, first group I found was what many 'termines as, as many of you brethren, perhaps of the same denomination here this morning, Oneness. Well, that's what I thought they called them Pentecost for. Well then, I met some fine men.
9 It wasn't long after that till I found there was another group. And they were called the Trinitarian. Then I found another group called the Jesus Only. Then they found the different factions like the Assemblies of God, and the Church of God, and the Church in Prophecy, all these.
Now, here's what I want to explain to you brethren. See? I would not dare, in any means, to try to start something new. I believe that you brethren, and your father, back in the early days when they went forth with this blessing forty years ago when I was a baby in my mother's arms... You never went forth under some little emotional mental work-up; you went forth with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And you founded something; you've laid down a foundation. God forbid that I'd be one man to try to build on any other foundation. If God laid that foundation, we build on that foundation because I believe it's founded in the Word of God.
10 Therefore, that's the reason today that I don't belong to the different groups or take sides with either one. I'm not here to take sides with groups; I'm here for on a principle I'm standing for. And that principle is the Kingdom of God. The Church of God building on this principle of it here, here's Assemblies of God over here, and the Oneness in here, and different ones, how the groups are arranged around the interdenominationals. But it's all, should be, and I believe it is, built principally upon Christ. So that's the reason I don't take sides with the groups. Is to say, "I will be a Church of God." That would be fine. I'd just as soon belong to the Church of God, as the Assemblies. And I'd as soon belong to the Assemblies, as I would the Oneness, or whatever it is. It doesn't matter to me. But there's one great storehouse, one great principle; that's Christ.
11 And that's why I stood with you brethren in this manner, that I could shoulder side-by-side with you, and help you bear the burden, and stand the reproach with you with a joy in my heart to know that I took sides with what I think is right, based upon the Scripture. And when I come to the city, that's the reason I like to come on the interdenominational scale, that everybody's welcome, every person and every--every one, we... That's the way we like it.
And if a man's got to work, if he's--if he's a denomination or independent, as long as he's building on Christ I'm shoulder-to-shoulder with him. If he's a Methodist, or a Baptist, I'll... or a Presbyterian, or a Lutheran, whatever it is, I want to shoulder with him anyhow.
12 And may I drop this little thing to you brethren, as I know you're different denominations. I think, I've never talked like this to a group of people, but in this locality here, you... And--and throughout the--the nation it's becoming now. If the devil can keep us separated, he--he's got us shooting at one another, so he--he--he's got a open target anywhere he wants to shoot. And what's the use of shooting, we're shooting one another? See, see? So he can just set back and relax.
But did you ever... Let me just give you... If I have found grace in your sight through God, you take my word for this, brethren. If you want to be a blessing, and get a blessing, when a man has done you wrong, and he has absolutely justly, he... I mean he has done you wrong and you know that he's done you wrong; he's done you evil. Don't mention that; you take him to prayer before God. And don't take it in a way of just a selfish and say, "Well, I'm supposed to do this." But stand with your shoulder to his shoulder, and stand in the Presence of God our Father, way a prayer should be made in the Presence of God, say, "Father, here's my brother, and he--he is justly; he deserves punishment because he has--he's done me evil. And I don't see why he did it."
13 Then let God go to talking to you. And you'll see maybe, what that man's been through. The devil has twisted him up somewhere and caused him to do that. Though he's absolutely wrong, before you leave the throne of God you'll be feeling sorry for that man. You'll be sympathizing with that brother. And when you get back down to where--earth again, you'll go over to that brother and shake his hand, 'cause you know what he's been through. You can't stand with a mortal in the Presence of God and condemn anybody, I don't believe, no, sir, even if he is a rank sinner.
And what about a brother that has made a mistake? Though I say he's wrong. Sometimes he's accused wrong when he's not wrong. But if he is wrong, well, if we will take him to the throne of God, stand there shoulder-to-shoulder with our brother, knowing he's a mortal, and maybe his destination rests upon our attitude towards him, when we come back from the throne of God, we'll realize that we're every one guilty, and we all need help one from the other. And the best way to do is pray.
14 Now, these great principles, the great Church of the living God, if it wouldn't, if... It wouldn't have to say, "Now, we'll all belong to this organization or that one." If they would unite in heart, one accord, there'd be a revival strike this world like it's never seen. If the people who has the Pentecostal experience would just unite in heart together, let their denominations run any way they want to... What difference does these little frictions and so forth, it's just the devil trying to keep the great Church in a turmoil all the time. After all, in Acts 10:35 it's written that God's no respect of person or nation, but He--He has honor for those who serve God and do righteous. See? We--we know that's true. God respects the person that's got...
15 In the ministry I--I think this morning, that it would be good for me to say this, to show you what an effect it has. The American people, you brethren, are in the hardest field there is anywhere. I've been in Africa, India, through, oh, practically the world over. But I--I have never seen a field so hard to battle as here, America. This needs missionaries worse than anywhere I ever seen in all my life. For an educated heathen is harder to deal with than an uneducated heathen. Heathen is an unbeliever. And you have that. And you've got a battle here... The missionary may have a lot of stuff to contend with, malaria, and ameba, and so forth like that. But he don't have the demon spirits to deal with, I mean those demons that's got into culture-minded men. Oh, you talk about something hard to deal with.
16 Recently I had a breakfast with a bunch of ministers. And I say this with respect, brethren. I would've rather had a breakfast with a bunch of witch doctors (Now, that sounds horrible to say.) than these men. I would've had a better reception, I'd have had a more an agreeing spirit with a bunch of witch doctors, many times, than I would with that bunch of ministers. Such a horrible thing, God deliver us from such.
We are so intellectual. Everything is moved away from the Spirit; it's the Word; it's Word; it's Word. God, I... Sure, I believe in the Word. But if the Spirit don't agree with the Word, then you got something mixed up somewhere.
17 Look at when Cain, he was just as religious as and just as much with the Word as Abel was. It was a revelation that made the difference. They both worshipped; they both brought sacrifices. They both built a altar. They both belonged to church. They both were sincere. They both worshipped. So if God ought to respect sincerity and fundamentalism, why didn't He respect Cain? But through revelation Abel, being just, by revelation, no Scriptures in them days, God had revealed it to him that it wasn't fruit, apples and oranges taken us out of the garden of Eden; it was blood, the life.
18 On their journey, the children of Israel, they come up against the children of Moab. Moab, the land of Moab was not infidelic; they believed in the same God that Israel believed in. And they were all organized together, tightly, great nation. Israel dwelt in tents that had no nation. I don't say this to be rude now; I say it for a point. Israel more like a interdenominational, it had no land of its own, as yet. And it was moving up.
They asked permission to pass through their brother's land. And what did they get? Turned down. And they had Balaam come out and build his altar, seven altars. He... You notice he put seven clean sacrifices on it, bullocks. And he also put seven rams, speaking of Christ's coming. And down in the camp of Israel was just this same sacrifice.
19 So fundamentally Moab was just as fundamental as Israel was. But the thing that they failed to see is what the world's failing to see today. And their prophet up there failed to see it. Balaam thought, surely, that a holy God would condemn a people like that. But he failed to see that smitten Rock, that brass serpent, and the Pillar of Fire, the signs and wonders. God has always dwelt with people. Where God was, signs and wonders taken place. It's always been.
That's the way they look at the Pentecostal church today. Oh, they're all bunched up; they're this, that, and the other. But who isn't? Tell me one church that isn't. Look at our Baptist church; look at the denominations, and offsprings the Free Baptist, a hard shell Baptist, Primitive Baptist, thirty some odd different sections of them, just as bad as Pentecostal. And they fuss and fight with one another the same way. Look at the Methodist church, even the Catholic church, any of them.
20 But what they failed to see... They climb onto you brethren a lot of time, because the newspapers. You make a mistake. Let one of our brother make a mistake and do something immorally. Watch; the newspapers across the country will spread it just as hard as they can. That's the devil. But let one of these other ministers do it, it hushed down.
But on the books of Heaven it's just the same. That's right. The reason I take my shoulders with you brethren, there's a shout of the King in the camp. There's signs and wonders following these people. They make their mistakes, and they get a lot of isms, and a lot of nonsense. You know that brethren, you... We might as well face it. That's right. We got a lot of things that goes on of impersonations and so forth, that isn't right, but there's a real thing there too. That's right.
21 When Jesus came, He was just as fundamental as the Pharisees. The Pharisees couldn't believe it. But Jesus was fundamental. But there was signs and wonders following His ministry. Where the Pharisees had the Word just the same as He had, the same Word. But it's a spiritual revelation. Jesus witnessed to it when He come off the mountain, and He said, "Who does men say I, the Son of man am?" One said Elisha, and one said it was a prophet, and so forth. He said, "But who do you say?"
And Peter said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
Now, the Catholic church says that Peter was the rock, and upon this rock the church is built. The Protestant church says it was upon Jesus, the Rock. Not to be different, let them believe what they wish to, as long as it's on Christ, but I--I different from both views. I believe that it was not upon Peter that the Church was built, neither was it upon Christ the Church was built, but it was upon the spiritual revelation that He was the Christ. See, see?
22 "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you (some seminary, some school, some theology, some intellectual)... "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven; upon this Rock I'll build My Church," the spiritual revelation, not by Word, not by denomination, not by creed, not by so forth, but upon spiritual revelation that Jesus is the Christ, "I'll build My Church."
Now, you might believe that in your mind, when you believe that in the heart you got Eternal Life. Jesus said in Saint John 5:24: "He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me, has Eternal Life." Take that word Eternal and see what it means. Run it back in the Greek; you will find it Zoe, God's own Life. You got Immortal Life in you, because why? You have believed on Him being the only begotten Son of God and accepted Him as your personal Saviour. Not by intellectual, but by a birth, how God has brought it down and revealed it to you by spiritual revelation.
23 Faith cometh by hearing. Faith is hearing, when you hear it. But faith isn't the thing. For instance, I'm here; I'm starving to death, and I ask you for--for a loaf of bread, and you give me twenty-five cents. That's the purchase power of a loaf of bread. Now, I can rejoice just as much with the twenty-five cents as I could with a loaf of bread. But yet, it's not the loaf of bread. It's not the loaf of bread. But I can be happy with it. I'll keep the twenty-five cents, knowing, "Thank you, sir, my life shall now be saved." But I haven't got the bread. You get what I mean? See? By faith you are saved, but it's a revelation of Christ that brings the results. You get what I mean? See? That's what I'm speaking of.
24 That's what the world's hungering for. And the reason that the rest of the world isn't coming into the Pentecostal belief as we have it, is because it's our own attitude towards one another. That's truth, brethren. It's because of our indifference to each other. They see one talking against the other one, one against the other one, and this against that, and this denomination. They're scared of it.
I don't know what the solution is. I've tried it. One wants... If this group will sponsor it, well, the rest of them have nothing to do with it. You can imagine what a--what a position it puts me in. And I say, "Well, if I let this one, the other one won't. Then they won't come together." So I thought, "Well, I'll just go without any of them. I'll go anyhow." That's wrong. I found that to be wrong. Because in--in India I had the same thing, where I guess twice the conversions that happened in Africa, at one altar call. But there was no one there to sponsor it, so where did they go? Back to the temples of Buddha and so forth. You've got to recognize these organizations, and these places where they got the missions and so forth, to bring your convert to, and these churches throughout the country.
25 So you see what a predicament it puts me in when I try to stand independent? Oral Roberts told me that one time. See? He belongs to the Pentecostal Church of God, I believe, or Pentecostal Holiness Church of God, something, one of those. Anyhow, see, he's represented with a church, where I stand free from the church, and yet with the Church. I'm with the Church, the real, the Body of Christ through every denomination, trying to pull us together. I wanted to explain that to you so that you brethren would understand.
And now, if you go into a place and have a group of converts, just go and set a meeting up, say, "Here I am." The people will come. That's right. "Where the carcass is, the eagles will be gathered." But what if the--they become converts, then who's going to take them, who's there to catch it? Who's there to conserve that, or reserve that what you have already caught with the Gospel net? Who's going to pick up the fish? If they're laying on the bank, they'll perish. Somebody's got to be there to do that. So you just... I can't work without you, brethren.
26 Oh, if they could all be one in heart, and for the same principle, and just tear down the little differences... Right here in this city today, Billy Graham can come to this city, and he will start off down at this little tabernacle full of fifteen, twenty thousand, perhaps, or around, within the amount of time that I been here. Why? Because they get themselves together; they're in one accord.
If they can do that by the letter, how much more should we do it by the Spirit? See? If a--if a brother... If Oral Roberts, if some of the other brethren, would come to the city, let's go behind it. It's our duties to stand by our brethren. See? It's right. And then what does that do? It shows to the public.
If we don't, then what does it do to the public? You see, there... "Look at them, here, they got this guy in here." See? See what I mean? That's what takes place.
27 Now, the effects of a revival can long be felt if... And it'll-- it'll benefit the whole Church of God. If--if we had hundred converts tonight, and one went to each one of you brother's churches (See?), whatever it was, that's not just affecting only your church, your church, and your church, but it's affecting the Kingdom of God through each one of these places.
There's where I'm trying to build for, is here. Down here it doesn't matter to me what... If they want to be baptized this a way and that way, how the... What difference does that make anyhow? God give you the Holy Ghost with your peculiarities; He give me the Holy Ghost with my peculiarities. And God gives those the Holy Ghost who obeyed Him. Now, who obeyed Him? See? There you are. See?
28 We just draw these little straws and things, and that's just what the devil wants. But I believe, my brethren, that there is coming an hour that when a real rank persecution will run us together. Then we will be one, the Church will come together. I believe it's all in the making of God, after painting this picture to you.
When--when Solomon's temple was built, it was cut out all over the world. And one block was sawed this way and one that way. But when they come together, every stone went to its place without a sound of a hammer or the buzz of a saw. And it was the Church of the living God.
29 And I believe that through the Church of God of Prophecy and the other great church, the Lee College, or whichever it is here, and through you Assembly brethren, through you independent brethren, and through you Oneness brethren, and through all of you, that God's cutting out stones. And someday that Master Stone, that rejected Stone... When the Church got so far up, they found out they'd cut--had a freak stone; they couldn't find no place it'd fit. But they come to find out that was the Chief Cornerstone. And I think, brethren, that one of these days, we're going to realize that Chief Cornerstone is the love of God, Christ, in our hearts, that'll bind every one of us together as one. Then the great Church will be capped over and God will take It to glory.
30 In the services I might give you just a little view of some things a happening so that you can see where our Lord God, the great Shepherd of the flock, how He does move in miraculous ways. I said this this morning so that you brethren could understand. If someone says, "Is Brother Branham Assembly? Is he a Oneness?" Yeah, I'm Assembly. I'm a Oneness. I'm a Church of God. I'm a Pilgrim Holiness. I'm a Nazarene. I--I--I--I belong to Christ, which all of you belong to. You see? And so, I--I do belong to each one of your--of you brethren. We're--we're brothers together. See? And now, that's the way we want to live; that's the way we want to act. That's..
31 In your family, your own children, there's hardly two of them that'll agree with one another, but they are the same family; sure, they are. They might different in features; they might different in appetite; they might different in every way, but yet they're one family. And we're the family of Christ. I'm not trying to say, "Jimmy, I'm with you. John, I'm against you." I'm saying, "Jimmy and John, we're both in the same family." You see what I mean? We're all working together on this farm to make a living for the family.
Now, that's the way I stand. If anybody happened to ask you, any time, you just let that be known, brethren. I'm having an awful time, awful struggle; it sure is. But I've got a hope that someday our blessed Lord will come.
And the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair;
And when His chosen Ones (Church of God, Assemblies, and all...)
When the chosen ones shall gather to their Home beyond the skies,
When the roll's called up yonder, I'll be there.
32 And--and I--I'll--I'll be there with you brethren, one heart, one accord, never to be apart no more. That's the day we're laboring for.
How much time we got? [Someone answers, "However much you want to take."--Ed.] I just... Let me have this other ten minutes. [A brother says, "You go right ahead."--Ed.] just for a testimony. Is it all right, brethren, you all in too big a hurry? [They confirm for Brother Branham to go ahead--Ed.]
I like to tell you a little experience somewhere, of something happening. Just along in the meeting, I--I don't not like to make the--tell these things in the meeting, because it might sound personally. You brethren are--are men here; you--you understand. See?
33 The meeting in India not long ago, I want to tell you the infallibility of visions. And in... I'd had a vision recently of going over to India and into Africa. And the Lord had told me; He said, "You go to Africa first, then up to India." And through some mix-ups and so forth, the manager said to me... I don't want to refer as manager. I never say to Brother Vayle, being manager. We've got one manager; that's the Holy Spirit. See? Brother Vayle's my associate; he's my brother. He just happens to be making the arrangements for the meetings and helping me along. And he's no more manager of my meetings than I am of yours or you... The rest of you are the same. We're just all one great big family and one big Body. We're not one above the other one; we're all just the same; we're a unit of God working together.
34 And I wrote the vision immediately after I'd--I had the vision that morning. And then when the manager, as we call him that for the time being, had made an arrangements to go into India. And he--he didn't kinda like Africa very much. So he said to me in Chicago; he said, "Brother Branham, let's just bypass Africa and go on to India."
I said, "That is up to you, brother; wherever the Lord wants me to labor, all right."
I feel that, brethren, and like in here. Whether we have... I would rather be down here in this meeting with five people attending in that six thousand auditorium, and be in the will of God, than to have the place turning away five thousand every night, and be out of the will of God. See? The main thing is do the will of God, whether it's small, or whether it's great, whatever it is.
35 I just held a revival in a church that held twenty people, a revival. I don't have any television; I don't have any programs to sponsor or anything. People just pay the expense, and that's all there is to it. See, see? And so I don't want any of those things. If I do, I am obligated.
You think our dear Brother Oral Roberts, which is my bosom friend and a real man of God, do you think that Oral Roberts could come to a place and hold a meeting for two or three days in a church that held twenty people, when it takes about seven or eight thousand dollars a day for him to thrive? Certainly, he couldn't. He would like to, but he can't do it. He's under such an obligation. Now, I haven't got the brains to do what he's doing, and God knows that, so He lets Oral do that. He just keeps me this way where I can... See, i--i--if we just--if we just realize what--what our--are limited what we can do. So then, I don't have to have money, so that's... There you are. See? I can go anywhere He sends me.
36 If He wants me to go to Africa and preach to a hundred thousand people, He will produce the money. He's got all of it anyhow, so I don't have to ask for it, so He just gives it to me. If He wants me to go down to--to the old saint of Timbuktu, Gravel Switch, or somewhere, you know, and preach to ten people, amen. I'll just go and stay till He tells me it's over. So that's the way... I--I try to live that way. And I don't not have nothing, no programs to support, nor nothing. See?
Now, I am not saying... See, now that is my part. Now, Brother Oral Roberts, God give him something else to do. And Brother A. A. Allen, and many of those other brethren, who has great radio broadcast and things, they've got to have money. I help support them myself. See? I do all that I can, because I realize that's my brother. I couldn't fwil--fill his place, and I--I'm kind of glad that I don't not have to. See? Because I haven't got the mental powers to work those things out, and so I just stay the way I am. You... As Congressman Upshaw used to say, "You can't be nothing that you haint." So that's right. And the quicker we realize that, the better off we'll be.
You just be what you are. God wants you the way He made you. And just keep that in mind, and be just what... If it's a doormat, be a doormat. I want to be the best doormat He ever had, if--if I have to be the doormat. Or whatever it is in the House of God, let me serve my office the best that I can for Him.
37 Now, so in Africa, He didn't want to go. And I said, "All right, we won't go." Then, on the road back I went to my room. And when I did, there was a Light hanging there at the door. He said, "You go to Africa like I said." I called brother back in a few minutes and said, "We're going to Africa."
I waited for a year, and finally how I done it I don't know, but another way come up. I found my road on my way back to India. When I--I meet--met Lisbon, Portuguese, where I was to have a meeting there and go on over and had a healing service right in the shadows of the Vatican city in Rome... But while I was in Portuguese, I fell sick; I didn't know why. I was out with the Governor, and I was having some fish. And they cook it in olive oil, and, my, I was really sick. I was trying to be gentleman to eat it, but I tell you, I was white around the mouth; I was so sick, that old fish, and it cooked in olive oil. So and he said, "Brother Branham, you look a bit ill."
And I said, "I feel the same way."
38 So when I went down to my hotel room, a doctor come up after while. Honest, I--I'm not trying to make remarks, but he had a pill there as big as the box, top of that thing, and wanted me to swallow it. I said, "Doctor, I--I wouldn't give that to my saddle horse." I said, "It's so... Why, you couldn't get it down your throat." I never seen such a pill in my life. And I said, "Can I break it apart?"
He said, "No, swallow it."
And I said, "Well, just a minute till this sickness wears off." I waited till he got out and throwed the thing away. So then, but he was a--a nice man. And--and we talked a lot on the Lord Jesus, him being a Catholic. So, but we talked about the Lord.
39 And then, while I was--got so sick that night, Billy stood by me, and the rest of them had left me there. And I said, "Billy, I don't think I can make it till morning." And I was just so sick. I just--just couldn't--I couldn't breathe no more. I was so sick, my breath would not even come hardly, had to force my breath, and that way all night.
And the next morning I started into the bathtub to take a... bathroom to get in one of those big tubs, a towel twice size of these tables. And--and so I was going to take a--a bath. There hung that Light hanging there. And it said, "Didn't I tell you to go to Africa first?" I fell on my face and begin weeping. Then I said, "Lord, I--I just let me go somewhere and get me a little cabin out in the mountains, and trap, and hunt like I've always wanted to. I--I couldn't be Your servant; I--I haven't not even got the--the mental powers to serve You." I said, "I--I forgot all about that." And I wrote it down and got it. I thought I had it in my pocketbook now, but I haven't, but I've got it on paper.
40 Well, I went on. He told me to go on up to India, which I did. And then when I come back thinking, for four years now, that I disobeyed the Lord. And when I... Looking on that vision wrote out, which I've read it hundreds of times. The vision said that I would go to India first, and then back to Africa. But He told me to go to Africa first and then to India, showing that God knew that I would fail Him, but His Word, what He said, can't fail. The vision actually reads that I would go to Africa first, or to India first and then back to Africa. That's where I'm on my road to now, just as soon as I can get through with about twenty or thirty meetings I got between now and July, and we go to Africa. Brother, our dear Brother David duPlessis there, has been over, and talking to the brethren and so forth, to get together.
41 In India, I'd like to quote the meeting though, just how--what taken place. When we went in there, there was no unity, brethren all separated. One church had sponsored me, and the rest of them wouldn't come in with it 'cause they didn't like that church. See, there you are.
And literally, there's four hundred and seventy million people in India. And Christianity is the weakest religion they got, Christianity. With Catholic and all, we rate about third or fourth place. The Mohammedan is twice or three times our size. That's including all Christianity.
42 And when I got there, because this one church, their principle was, "Sell India to India; we need not the missionary; we need not the Americans." When I landed at Bombay, there stood the Methodist bishop and many of the--the great men standing there. Said, "Mr. Branham, you coming to India; don't you come here as a missionary." Said, "We know more about the Bible than you Yankees ever did know." Now no critical, not critical, but that's the truth. This is an oriental Book; it's not a western Book; it's an eastern book. When you get the eastern view of It, you found a new Book. That's right.
Said, "We had the Bible two thousand years before you was a nation." That's right. Saint Thomas went down there. Saint Thomas church, I was at it when we was there. Sure, they've had the Bible two thousand years nearly before we was a nation. And we got a--a western thought, trying to make it compare with an, eastern, which is just contrary one to another. All the parables and things the Bible... If you ever come in there and just find their--the way they live, you can see the Bible just open up a new Book to you. Because It's an eastern Book wrote in an eastern way of living. And we're a western people in a western way of living.
43 If the Lord willing, this week when I start preaching, I want to preach, "When the East and West Meets." Now, no they wouldn't do it because they didn't like this other church because it wouldn't agree upon our--our brethren. Now, to look at it, I said, "Well, that's right. Let's sell America to America."
The... These the--the Indian people said, "We want to own our own property. We don't want the Methodists, and Baptists, and Pentecostal people over in America to own our property. We want to own it ourself, right here; let us have it." Said, "You brothers come over and visit us." That sounded all right. See?
But for me to be there like that, it wasn't all right. Those missionaries had sweated blood in there for years for the things that they stood for. They died with ameba, and with yellow fever, and black water fever, and everything else in there, to bring the Gospel. Should I turn my back on a thing that a man has established like that for the Kingdom of God? I'm his brother. Certainly not. About their property, who does it belong to anyhow? God, it's exactly right.
44 But in there, for which I did, and they told me that they couldn't cooperate. That night they... That day the mayor of the city took me down to the temple of the Jain. And Jain, Jan, I forget, Jain. And they're a funny sect. They're more on the order Catholic. They taken me in to their pope setting on a pillow. And just show you the tortures they go through. The men and the women set making little mops. They wouldn't kill an ant; they--they can't work; they have to beg everything they get. Four hundred million of those Indians are almost... There's about seventy million of them, I guess, that--that works, and the other, four hundred million is beggars. And they mop the floor as they go, or the ground, to keep from stepping on an ant, because they believe in reincarnation; it might be some of their people. They won't kill nothing, not a fly nor flea. A man operated on his own finger, and he died over it, 'cause he wouldn't not sterilize the knife that he operated on, afraid he would kill a germ; it might be some of his ancestors on the road back.
45 Now, you can see the world living in ignorance like that, and we with the real Gospel and our guns on one another. See what I mean, brethren? Us fussing, whether I should be a Church of God or Assembly of God, I want to be a child of God. That's it. Now, and a servant of God...
Notice, then in that... These men setting there in that condition. They couldn't--they couldn't shave. It was a sin to shave. So they had to pull their beards out and pull their hair out. And to... And oh, the things they had to do, it was terrible.
There this pope set there, as he was. And I heard there's seventeen, I believe there is seven, or eight different ones represented there, and me coming in. Each one of them told me how little I was. Why, those Jains, they said why, they begin before Genesis ever started. And they were so far superior to Christianity. And they have a lot of good points.
Here's what that pope said to me, he said, "You people call yourself religious? And you use all your scientist--all your scientist over there, not to try to help someone, but to create atomic bombs to blow one another to pieces." Was he right or wrong?
46 See, every lie has got a lot of truth in it. That's right. Now, if it's a real lie, just a right, what we call the black lie, or the little white lie... The little white lie is the real lie. You can see the big black lie, but it's that little white one that has got a whole... Like the one that the devil told Eve... See? Just one little thing off the cater, that's what the--our churches are listening to today. They're saying, "Oh, you're right in your principle of baptism; you're right in this; and you're right in that." But he fails to let you know you got to have love for that brother out there. Though he's right or wrong, stand shoulders with him, the Kingdom of God, in the Presence of God.
47 Now, watch this, how God works. And these fellows as they were setting there, and then I felt like, after they'd all spoke, or several of them had spoke, I felt like I'd be a traitor to Christ if I didn't say something. And I stood up; I said, "Gentlemen..." I couldn't call them brethren, they wasn't. I said, "How could you ever accept the Blood sacrifice for your sins and won't kill a flea?" I said, "How could you do it?" I said, "Blood is the antidote. Blood was the one what brought us from the garden of Eden. In the blood cell is life."
It was life, perverted life that brought us to death. It'll take that same blood cell breaking to bring us back to life again. This is a perverted life. And I want you to... Brethren, no matter how well you try to patch up, and how well you try to do this, and how clean you try to live, and how righteous you try to live, it'll never work. This life in the beginning was condemned by God. And it ain't to be patched up; it's to die and to be borned again. It's got to be a birth. There's no other way around it. See?
48 Not be better, join church, quit your meanness, you can do all of that and still not have Eternal Life. See? You can join church; you can belong to a denomination; you can live just as straight as a die; those Pharisees did, and Jesus said, "You're of your father, the devil." See?
We're trying to put it on works all the time, something we can do, something we can build, some... God don't need our buildings; God needs our soul.
And there in that time, that night when... I said, "Let God speak, the One that's God tonight." And in the platform... Now, that you... I'm doing this, saying this so that you brethren would see the confidence you can have in God.
49 In that meeting that night when they started, there was Rajahs on pillows, and there was the Mohammedans, and the Buddhas, and it taken me better than two and a half hours to even get to the stand where I was going to preach. The mayor estimated that if I stayed the three days, or the five days I was supposed to stay, that it to be five hundred thousand outside people in Bombay. They'd heard; they'd come.
And I thought, "Well, if these preachers don't want to cooperate, let them alone then." But I made a mistake. I should've turned and come back till I got cooperation. Because that night when we went to the meeting... You couldn't give out prayer cards; there's no way of doing it. So we had the militia to kind of bring up one at a time. And then they...
50 There's thousands times thousands and thousands of thousands of people, who's going to be the first in the prayer line, people that you can't even talk to? But then when the Holy Spirit begin to reveal to them, and begin to tell them, I'd see who--what there was, spell their name out, I couldn't even pronounce it. The place...
Then I could feel coming in by the Holy Spirit, that it was--they was thinking it was a telepathy. So I thought, "Lord, If You'll just give grace." About three or four had passed, a leper passed, had no arm, and--and I took him in my arms and begin to love him. He just wept when he seen that somebody cared for him. The world's dying for love, brothers. Now, you take your brother in your arms, see if it don't make things a little different. See? That same love that worked on a leper will work on your brother that you think is wrong. That's right, now.
51 And he... I took him in my arms, and he--he cried. And about the second after, that was a blind man. There'd been another blind man went through, told him who he was, where he come from, and everything. I said, "The Lord God has healed you, brother. Years ago He died for you and your healing is secured. If you just believe it now, go on and get well." Two or three of the lepers had passed through; only thing I saw was who they were and what was--was... I didn't say no more. That's all I say, is what I can see, and I just quit saying.
Then this one come through come through, a blind man. It told him who he was, said, "You're a beggar. You got two children, you got a wife; she's a thin woman," told what her name was, and her given name. That was all right. And then when I started to pass him on through, a vision broke. Now, that's when the Lord is speaking. The other is what the man was doing himself. That's what you see on the platform. It's you doing it, not me. It's your own faith's a doing it.
52 Now, then when that broke, I looked and I seen the man standing before me. He looked a little grayer than what he was there, and he could see; his eyes was open, and he was rejoicing and talking to people. That's the keynote. There it was. I thought, "O God, there it is."
How that there's no way, brethren... We're eternity bound people, and we're going to stand in His Presence together one of these days. I mean face to face with Him. There's no way to explain it. When you know that it's going to happen, there it is. I've never seen it one time ever fail.
The other day, Waterloo, after that bunch of ministers so against me, and I was praying. I thought, "Lord, here I am in a predicament I don't know what to do," hundreds of people setting there just as cold as it could be standing there. And of a sudden I heard something. I thought It was an airplane coming in the roof. I looked around at Doctor Vayle, and he was looking at the organ, he thought the--the woman had reversed the organ air. You come to find out, it was electric organ. And here It was coming from above like a roar. And It come down, my coat begin shaking. It swept out over the building; the people just turned white and fell backward with their heads back like that. A rushing like a wind, only It wasn't a wind, It was a sound: the Holy Spirit moving through the building shake, and we got It on tape.
53 And I thought, "The great Holy Spirit doesn't misbehave Himself anyway," I thought, "I've never seen Him do nothing but what was in the Scripture." And when I went home, I begin praying, "Lord, where--where would this be if the Holy Spirit acted like that?" In Saint John 12 we see where our Lord was praying and some of them said when the Father spoke back to Him, said, "It thundered."
God still lives, brethren. And we're looking for something a way out yonder, when we got it right now. This is it. Don't let it pass over you like it has through the ages, like it did in the days of John the Baptist. They didn't know who he was. People don't know what this Holy Ghost is. It's not something to organize an organization over. Which I'm not criticizing that, brethren, It's not something to fuss about; It's something to love and to worship. It's not to separate yourselves from one another; It's to bring one another together. We're using It as a tool, not to better the Kingdom of God, when we make ourselves different from each other, we got to make ourselves together with this. Then the real Holy Spirit will bring that to us brethren. It's just got to; It's--It's Christ's own love for us.
54 And notice, to that--to the Indian meeting. There was the man. I seen him standing there like a blue shadow. And when the vision left me, oh, what a feeling, what a feeling. I--I knew then that it would--had to happen. It's got to happen; God said so.
Then I could take the floor; I could be boss then, as it was (Pardon that expression, not me, but the Holy Spirit working, was the Boss.) If God would come today and show me a vision that George Washington is going to be raised from the presidential graveyard, I'd invite the world to come, watch it done. That's exactly right. It'll happen, if God said so. How can it fail. I'm forty-eight years old; I've seen visions since I was just a little boy of two, and never one time has It failed. To me It's God.
55 If I can't get the world to see it, what difference, they never seen it in any age. But God's just; He sends it anyhow. That He... Then when it's all over, they say, "Well, we didn't know that. Sure enough, did this happen? I didn't know it." Oh yeah, it's always been that way. It's that way today, brethren, you listen. This is the hour; this is the day. You're looking for something out yonder, and the devil trying to place something off out yonder at sometime; you're going to be in the Millennium before you know it; it's at the end time now.
So then when this vision come and the blind man was seeing, then he was still standing there. I said, "Now, to you gentlemen today, that we was in the Jains' temple. "And you all were saying that a--a--you started before Genesis, and how insufficient this God was, and how that all of His disciples did this, that, and the other," so forth. I said, "I know your thoughts. You're thinking that I'm reading telepathy, because this is all you have ever seen is right here. Now, that's what is in your mind." But I said, "Here is a blind man. And the man has just witnessed that he went blind, which the Spirit told him, twenty years ago [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] watching the sun; he worshipped the sun. And he had been blind; his eyes was as white as my shirt." I said, "He has promised to get his sight back again, he will serve the God that gives him his sight. He's willing to change." And I said, "You Mohammedan here, you are the greatest in number, [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... to come here and give this man back his sight." There you are.
56 I wouldn't have said that for nothing, brethren, if God hadn't said so first, you see, the vision. I said, "Now, come and give him his sight." And I said, "You Buddha worshippers, I challenge the priest of the Buddha to come, give him his sight. Or you Jains, that we was in the temple today, I challenge any of you priests to come, give him his sight. And he will worship the God that gives him his sight."
Oh, brother, it was a quiet bunch; certainly it was. I said, "What--what could you do? You'd tell him he was wrong in worshipping the sun. He's worship..." And I said, "I believe he's wrong. He's worshipping the creat--creation instead of the Creator." See? I said, "I believe he was wrong." I said, "What would you Mohammedans do if you changed him? You'd only change his way of thinking. What if you Jains took him? You'd change his way of thinking. What if you Buddhas took him? You'd change his way of thinking." That's right: psychology.
57 But, brethren, I want to ask you something, what more would the Methodist do for him than the Baptist could do? We got the same thing in America; only we got one God we worship. But all the Baptist wants them all to be Meth... Baptists, and wants all the Methodist. And the Pentecostal wants to make them all Pentecostals. Church of God wants them all on their side. The Assemblies wants them all on their side.
What is it? Oh, they got to be baptized, thus, or this, and that, or they got to say certain things, they got... What is it? Psychology. I'm not one to hurt feelings, but, brother, I must be honest. This may be our last time we'll ever... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... It's true. And I said, "We got the same thing in America, just from this church to that church. 'If the Church of God don't treat me right, I'll join the Assemblies. Assemblies don't not treat me right, I'll be a Oneness.'" And there you are. What is it? The same thing, like pagans, heathen; it's true. Anchor yourself in Christ once; stay there. that's right.
58 Then, when I said, "Certainly, you could do no more for him, one from the other, no matter who it would be." But I said, "You can't give him his sight, you Mohammedans, neither can you Jains, and neither can you Buddhas, or any of you, can give him his sight. And neither can I give him his sight." But I said, "The God of heaven, Who raised up His Son Jesus, that you thinking is telepathy, has showed me a vision that the man will receive his sight. And if he doesn't, I'm a false prophet."
"And now if he does, how many of you will raise your hands that you'll forsake your pagan god. You see where your priest is standing? Every one of them, there's silent people, no wonder they're silent. I'd be silent too, if the God of heaven hadn't showed me something just now." I said, "Now, we'll find out whether it's right or not."
59 And everybody was quiet. I got the poor old fellow and pulled him to my bosom. I said, "Lord God, Who made the heavens and earth, as it was in the Bible times, it has returned again. Let it be known today that You're God, and Your Church shall prevail against every gate of hell; it shall be. And many of these men setting here who's labored out here, thinking that these things belonged in another age, let them know that their labors are not in vain. They preached the best that they knowed how under the circumstances, and the things they had to preach by. But now Thou has come on the scene..." (They don't interpret the prayer, of course.)
60 And praying to the Lord, I had him leaning against my bosom. When I took him away, like that, he let out a scream with all of his might; he run and grabbed the mayor of Durban and kissed him. His sight was as good as any man that's in here.
Then what happened? There they was standing there; he fell on his knees; he throwed his hands in the air; he wept, thousands watching him. That man has testified even to the President of India, which up at New Delhi, this coming October if I wish, they got a--a amphitheater up there that I could put a million people in for a united effort all over India.
61 Then I said, "How many of you here will receive Jesus as personal Saviour, you Mohammedans and Buddhas and so forth?" Their hands went up everywhere, everywhere. And they made a rush; they took--pulled my shoes off. They tore my... I was over an hour getting out of it, shredded clothes, five or six lines, could not hold them back. They'd run under their legs and everything. Indians are superstitious; they want to touch you or something like that, a trying to get in. Mother's even throwing their babies to try to get through to touch. I had to leave the city the next day because they couldn't hold them any longer, was no place to put them.
62 Jesus said, "Go, preach the Gospel." That's right. We built around schools, organization, education. Nothing against it, that's all right, nothing against it, but He said, "Preach the Gospel." He never said, build churches. He never said, build organizations. He never said, build schools. He never said, have seminaries. He said, "Preach the Gospel." We turn around and done something else. That's the reason the heathen's in the shape they are today. That's the reason these things are. But, my brethren, or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob, still lives today. That's right. He's the same God.
It reminds me of one little thing I'll tell you. I've got to go then, if you have just--just a couple of minutes.
63 As everybody knows, I like to hunt. There's brother setting here from northern British Columbia; one day I come out of the mountains, with whiskers about that long, and they're turning gray. There was big old slouch hat pulled down, overalls, and hadn't had a bath for over two weeks, and--and had twenty-one head of horses. And I guess I smelt worse than the horses did, been not taking a bath, and dirty, and sweating. And I'd been bear hunting up in the mountains. How the experiences that I had with God there will live with me till I die, be alone.
I was in a little place where they had a--a store, just about the size of half of this room; they had everything there though. A young woman there, about thirty years old, had never seen a city in her life, in her life, so far back. I guess the first real hardtop road would be Edmonton, about Edmonton. That'd be four, five hundred miles away. [Someone speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.] Yes. Be about two hundred miles, I guess. Two hundred miles to a hardtop road. And then you leave that, then you got another one, a long stretch of it, way up at East Pines, northern British Columbia.
64 Standing back there, I was trying to pull the...?... on the horses and tighten up the... A man come down through there, said, "Hello, Brother Branham." That was him, a farmer. The Lord gave a vision, called him to the work, and now he's just returning from Cuba and on his road back again now in the field.
I was down, in a way northern place, and a lady walked up, all that beard and stuff, the lady walked up and touched me on the back, said, "Aren't you Brother Branham?"
And I said, "Yes, ma'am. How'd you know me?"
Said, "I got your book."
I said, "How'd you ever get a book back there?"
It come twice a year, mail on a dogsled. Oh, they'll come from the east and the west at that great time.
65 Way up in the mountains one time in Colorado, I was hunting elk. Not to kill the game, just to be alone with God. You can have all your featheredged Florida you want to; that's what man done to it. I like it the way God made it (See?), just in its raw nature.
I climbed way high in the mountains, way high, 'cause the elk had not come down yet; there's not enough snow to run them down. I was at least thirty-five or forty miles from a human being, way back between Berthoud Pass and Rabbit Ear Pass, way back on the Troublesome River where I used to herd cattle when a boy.
66 I got a little thing I want to say right here about that. I used to go when they had the roundup in the spring when we putting the cattle up on the Arapaho Forest. The Hereford Association grazes the valley. And if you can raise a ton of hay and got a--a brand from the Chamber of Commerce, you can herd a cow on the Arapaho Forest in the summer.
So we herded down there. And our brand was a tripod. A big diamond a--a--dia--a Bar Diamond was next to us, which was Grimes. And all of you know Grimes, the racehorse man, he has--he works about twenty men all the time. And we had... We... Ours was a small outfit; we had the last place of irrigation off of east fork of the Troublesome River, way up. So then, you know, the river is divided like this, and comes down from the north, east and west slope, well, then we graze that in there, a hundred and fifty, two hundred miles, through there; we graze it.
67 So they had a drift fence from the private owned property until the government property. Many time, have I set there of a day, and watch them when they was taking those cattle through. I set with my leg around horn on saddle, as you all know, watching. And the ranger stood there counting those cattle as they went through. He examined those cattle.
Brethren, he did not look so much about the brand; it was the breed of the cattle. The brand could go in; it had something to do with it; but it was the blood of the cow. No matter what brand was on, if she--if that cow wasn't a thoroughbred Hereford, she couldn't go on that forest.
68 I think that's the way it will be at judgment. It will not be whether you're Church of God or Assembly of God, it will be the Blood mark that will tell the difference. No matter what kind of a brand you're wearing, it will only be those who are borned again will go in.
Up on those mountains I watched. Come up a storm and I got behind a tree and stood there for a little bit while the storm was going on. And all of a sudden, after the storm was over, I come out behind a tree. It will storm awhile, rain, then it will snow awhile, and then the sun will come out and melt it off, and maybe it will rain again.
69 And when I come out, it turned cold, during the time behind this tree, and the sun was going down into the west. And the great eye peeping across this way, and there the rainbow come across the valley where the--the evergreens had froze with the rain. You know how the freeze on the tree. And the sun against it made a--a rainbow. And I looked at that rain...
My mother... My mother's mother come off this reservation up here. And my conversion didn't take the call of the deep out of me; I love the woods. So I stood there and I started crying. I thought, "O great Jehovah," as I said last night, He guides my steps by His eye. So then, there He is looking. There I thought, "Yes, the sun is dying in the west; the day is over; the rainbow represents a covenant; we're at the end time." You look anywhere, and you can see God, if you just look around a little bit. You can see Him in the brother that you don't like so well, if you just look. You can see Him in the organization that you don't like, if you just look around. That's all. He--He will there, so do not worry.
70 And then I watched that and I started weeping. In a few moments I heard the old gray wolf call up on top the mountain, the mate answer down in the bottom. You know David said, "When the deep calls to the deep..." Deep begin calling to the deep. I heard the old bull elk, bugle. The storm separated them. Through the mass of blowing, the timber falling, the herd had got broke up. They were bugling one to another to come back together.
The mate of the wolf was calling, "Let's come back together." The eye was calling to the rainbow, "Let's come back together." The Spirit's calling to the Church, "Let's come back together. Let's unite." God was there.
71 And while I was standing there worshipping, oh, I run around and around that tree as hard as I could go, just to give vent to my feeling, screaming to the top of my voice, shaking my hand. They'd thought I was a holy-roller, sure enough, if somebody'd had seen me. But... Or maybe I was insane, running around and around that tree. But I was worshipping God. I see Him, everything's calling, the deep calling from the deep, like the Spirit is now, calling to the Church, calling to the Body, "Let's come together. Let's be together. The sun's setting. It's later than you think, come together." [A prophecy is given--Ed.] Amen?
Where did the Spirit speak? When the rainbow, the sun had called the rainbow, when the wolf called his mate, when the elk called its mate. Jesus is calling His mate, the Church. God bless you, brethren. I'm here shoulder-to-shoulder with you at the throne of God to help you every way that I can. I'm your brother.
1 Vďaka Ti, brat Vayle. A chcem povedať, dobré ráno, všetkým a každému z vás tu. A je to určite veľké privilégium byť znovu tu v tejto oblasti Chattanooga a dať moju časť služby na pomoc vám, bratom, aby ste pokračovali v práci, ktorá už bola založená našim Pánom Ježišom, stavať na tomto princípe. A my sa tak tešíme z tohoto zhromaždenia. Dlho to žilo v mojom srdci, od posledného zhromaždenia - ako sme tu boli spolu. A odvtedy prešlo veľa vody dolu riekou; veľa vecí bolo vykonaných; veľa bojov bolo bojovaných a vyhraných pre nášho Pána.
2 A v toto ráno je to taká nádherná vec byť tu za stolom s vami - mužmi a ženami, vami, spoluobčanmi Kráľovstva Božieho, bratmi a sestrami rovnocennej viery. A vy ste si vedomí, že ja nie som rečník. Ja len rád hovorím čo môžem - na Jeho Slávu, vediac, že keď mám hlas, chcem použiť to, čo mám, na Jeho slávu. A prajem si, aby som bol taký rečník ako brat Vayle, a ako mnohí z vás ľudí; ale Boh ma na to nikdy nepovolal. Bol som povolaný pre iný druh služby. A my sme… Nesnažil by som sa zaujať miesto brata Vayle alebo vaše miesto. To by bolo pre mňa práve také ťažké - vziať jeho miesto, pravdepodobne, tak ako pre neho - vziať moje miesto. Tak my len zotrvávame v našom povolaní a robíme čo môžeme pre veľké Kráľovstvo Božie.
3 Tak, som šťastný, že som znova na dobrom starom juhu, znovu. Viete, je niečo na tých južných štátoch, čo mám rád. Bol som narodený na tejto pôde tu dole, viete, takže je na tom niečo, ako sa vraciame domov. A keď sa dostanem cestou hore na sever, oni hovoria, “Hej, povedz, chlapče, ty musíš byť z juhu.”
Myslel som si, že hovorím anglicky, až dokiaľ som neprišiel do Anglicka. V Anglicku som potreboval som prekladateľa viac, než kdekoľvek som kedy bol. Kedykoľvek som prehovoril, oni povedali: “Z ktorej časti Texasu pochádzaš?” Nemohol som sa tomu vyhnúť. Ale keď oni hovorili: “Cestou dole, tu”, viete, skutočne ďaleko…
4 Raz som odišiel na koniec Londýna. Šiel som dolu, aby som našiel Westminster Abbey [Westminsterské opátstvo - historická kultúrna pamiatka - pozn.prekl]. Nie som žiaden imitátor, ale pokúsim sa teraz niečo napodobniť. Stál tam na rohu jeden pán s paličkou na jeho ramene, taký typický anglický Londýnčan. A ja som povedal: “Dobrý deň, pane.” On sa pozrel cez okuliare a prehovoril ku mne. A ja som povedal: “Mohli by ste mi povedať ako sa môžem dostať do Westmisterského Opátstva? Trochu sa zamračil, pozrel na mňa; povedal, “Iste chlapče,” povedal, “choď tri bloky tadeto, zaboč po troch blokoch tam a choď priamo vpred,” povedal, “nemôžeš to prehliadnuť.” [brat Branham napodobňuje londýnsky prízvuk – pozn.prekl.]
5Brat David duPlessis je asi jediný z nás tu dnes ráno, ktorý by tamto mohol rozumieť, tak sa mi zdá. Och, vedel som, že som nebol - nebol som veľmi dobrý v angličtine. Ale mal som radosť, keď som mohol byť s ľuďmi kdekoľvek, pretože oni sú stvorenia Božie.
A teraz, snažiac sa, ako zvyčajne na raňajkách Kresťanských Obchodníkov, zvyčajne trochu tým ľuďom kážem. A ja… Ale teraz, pred kazateľmi by som sa o to nepokúšal. Chápete? Ale ja len chcem čítať nejaké Písmo. Pretože na každom zhromaždení by sme mali čítať Písmo atď. Myslím že…
6A tam späť v tých skorých dňoch, keď sa oni zvykli stretnúť, oni lámali chlieb, brali Večeru Pánovu zakaždým, keď sa stretli. A ja to mám rád tiež. Samozrejme, že sme mimo toho zvyku. Ale ja mám rád prečítať aspoň kúsok Jeho Slova, kde ak nedostaneme nič iné len toto, bude to v poriadku. To je základ posledného poverenia nášho Pána. A posledná vôľa človeka by mala byť taká, ktorá je dostatočná. A tu je to, čo On povedal Jeho Cirkvi, posledné slová ako opúšťal svet; nachádzame to v Markovi, 16.kapitole, začínajúc 14. veršom.
Naposledy sa ukázal tým jedonástim, keď sedeli za stolom, a karhal ich neveru a tvrdosť ich srdca, že neuverili tým, ktorí ho videli vstalého z mŕtvych.
A povedal im: Iďte po celom svete a kážte evanjelium každému stvoreniu!
Ten, kto uverí a pokrstí sa, bude spasený; a kto neuverí, bude odsúdený.
A uverivších budú sprevádzať tieto znamenia: v mojom mene budú vyháňať démonov, budú hovoriť novými jazyky,
hadov budú brať, a keby vypili niečo smrťonosné, neuškodí im; na chorých budú vzkladať ruky, a budú sa mať dobre.
A tak Pán Ježiš, keď dohovoril s nimi, vzatý bol hore do neba, a sadol si po pravici Božej.
A oni vyšli a kázali všade a Pán spoluúčinkoval a potvrdzoval slovo tým, že ho sprevádzaly divy. Amen.
7 Toto je známe ako VEĽKÉ POVERENIE. To boli posledné slová, ktoré náš Pán vypovedal. A po prvýkrát ako On poslal svojich učeníkov v Matúšovi 10.kap., vidíme, že im dal poverenie ísť uzdravovať nemocných, očisťovať malomocných, kriesiť mŕtvych, vyháňať démonov: “zadarmo ste dostali, zadarmo dávajte.” A posledné poverenie, ktoré On dal, ísť do sveta, len pokračovať ako to robili na počiatku: uzdravovať nemocných, klásť ruky na chorých, a vyháňať démonov.
A to je pre mňa privilégium, bratia, stáť s mužmi ako ste vy, rameno pri ramene, v tomto veľkom boji. [Prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] …svet nazvaný Kresťanstvom, a že môžem zaujať svoju pozíciu po vašej strane ako ten, kto verí, že to poverenie je stále práve také dôležité, ako to bolo v tú hodinu, v ktorú bolo dané. A na tomto veľkom poli, v ktorom sme, my nachádzame veľakrát, že prichádzame s poriadkom rôznych denominácií, a nie s úsekmi Písma. Niektoré z nich budú… Kristove poverenie tu bolo ísť do celého sveta a kázať Evanjelium.
8No, Evanjelium nespočíva len v Slove, ale v sile a manifestácii Svätého Ducha. Pretože jediná cesta, akou to mohlo byť urobené, aby tieto znaky nasledovali, bolo, aby Slovo vzalo Život. Tak to by musel byť Svätý Duch, ktorý by dal Život do Slova, aby priniesol tieto znaky. Vy tomu veríte, bratia.
Potom ako sme opustili Baptistickú cirkev, stretli sme sa s mojimi letničnými bratmi, pretože som videl, že niečo mali, oni toto veria. Ale našiel som rôzne denominácie. Prvá, prvá skupina, ktorú som našiel, bola taká ako mnohí z vás, bratia, možno z tej istej denominácie tu dnes ráno, Jednotári. Nuž, to je to, čo som si myslel, prečo ich oni volajú leniční. Nuž, potom, som stretol niekoľkých skutočne skvelých ľudí.
9To nebolo dlho potom, kým som zistil, že tam bola ešte iná skupina. A oni sa nazývali Trojičiari. Potom som objavil iné zoskupenie, nazvané Jedine Ježiš (Jesus Only). Potom oni zorganizovali rôzne kliky (frakcie), ako napríklad Zbory Božie (Assemblies of God), a Cirkev Božiu (Church of God), a Cirkev v Proroctve (Church in Prophecy), všetky tieto.
A teraz, tu je to, čo vám chcem vysvetliť, bratia. Dobre? Neodvážil by som sa, na akýkoľvek spôsob, začať niečo nové. Ja verím, že vy bratia, a vaši otcovia, pred 40 rokmi, keď som bol dojča na rukách svojej matky… vy ste nikdy nevyšli dopredu pod nejakým malým emocionálno-mentálnym vypracovaním sa; vy ste kráčali vpred s krstom Svätého Ducha. A vy ste niečo založili; vy ste položili základ. Nech Boh nedopustí, aby som ja bol človek, ktorý sa snaží budovať na nejakom inom základe. Ak Boh položil ten základ, my staviame na tom základe, pretože ja verím, že to je založené na Božom Slove.
10 Preto, to je ten dôvod, že ja dnes nepatrím do tých rôznych skupín, alebo že nestojím na strane jedných ani druhých. Nie som tu na to, aby som stál na strane nejakej skupiny; ja som tu z dôvodu princípu, za ktorým stojím. A tým princípom je Kráľovstvo Božie. Cirkev Božia (Church of Gid) buduje na tomto princípe tu, Zbory Božie (Assemblies of God) tamto, a Jednotári (Oneness) tuto, a ďalší, tak ako sa skupiny usporiadali okolo medzidenominacionalizmu. Ale to je všetko, malo by byť, a verím, že je vybudované v podstate na Kristovi. A teda to je dôvod, prečo ja nestojím na strane nejakej skupiny. Takpovediac, “Ja budem Cirkev Božia.” To by bolo fajn. Ja by som len patril Cirkvi Božej, ako aj Zborom Božím. A ja by som patril Zborom, ako by som patril aj Jednárom, alebo čokoľvek to je. Na tom mi nezáleží. Ale je jedna veľká zásobáreň, jeden základ; to je Kristus.
11 A to je dôvod, prečo som stál s vami, bratia, takto, že som mohol byť s vami rameno vedľa ramena, a pomôcť vám nosiť bremená, a znášať potupu s vami, s radosťou v mojom srdci, vediac, že som stál na strane toho, čo myslím že je správne, založené na Písme. A keď som prišiel do mesta, to je ten dôvod prečo mám rád prísť v takom medzidenominačnom rozsahu, že každý je vítaný, každá osoba a každý-každý jeden, my… To je postup, akým to máme radi.
A ak človek musí pracovať, ak on je-ak on je denomináciou alebo nezávislý, pokiaľ on stavia na Kristovi, ja som rameno ku ramenu s ním. Ak on je Metodista, alebo Baptista, budem… alebo Presbyterián, alebo Luterán, čokoľvek to je, ja chcem byť tesne s ním, akokoľvek.
12 A keď vám môžem predložiť tieto malé veci, bratia, ako viem ste z rôznych denominácií. Myslím, že som takto nikdy nehovoril k nejakej skupine ľudí, ale v tejto lokalite tu, vy… a začína sa to tak diať po celom národe. Ak nás diabol dokáže držať oddelených, my potom strieľame jeden na druhého, tak on má otvorený terč kdekoľvek chce strieľať. A aký je úžitok strieľania, keď my strieľame jeden na druhého? Chápete? Tak on môže len sedieť vzadu a relaxovať.
Ale či ste voľakedy… Dovoľte mi len dať vám… Ak som skrze Boha našiel priazeň vo vašich očiach, vezmite si k tomuto moje slová, bratia. Ak chcete byť požehnaním a dostať požehnanie, keď vám niekto urobil zle, a on má absolútne právo, on… Mám na mysli; on vám urobil zle a vy viete, že vám urobil zle; urobil vám niečo zlé. Nezmieňujte sa o tom; modlite sa za neho pred Bohom. A neberte to tak sebecky, hovoriac, “Nuž, mal by som robiť toto.” Ale postavte sa vašim ramenom ku jeho ramenu, a stojte v Prítomnosti Božej, v Prítomnosti nášho Otca, spôsobom akým by modlitba mala byť podaná v Prítomnosti Božej, hovoriac, ”Otče, tu je môj brat; a on-on zaslúžene; on si zaslúži trest, pretože on-on mi urobil zle. A ja nechápem prečo to urobil.”
13Potom dovoľte Bohu, aby hovoril ku vám. A vy možno budete vidieť, cez čo ten človek prechádzal. Diabol ho niekde zatočil a spôsobil, aby to on urobil. Aj keď on je úplne vinný, prv ako opustíte trón Boží, bude vám toho človeka ľúto. Budete mať s tým bratom súcit. A keď sa dostanete naspäť dole tam - na zem znovu, potrasieš si s ním ruku, lebo vieš cez čo prechádzal. Vy nemôžete stáť s nejakým smrteľníkom v blízkosti Božej a odsudzovať niekoho, ja neverím, nie veru, dokonca ak on je aj hriešnik najhrubšieho zrna.
A čo tak brat, ktorý urobil chybu? I keď, ako som povedal, že nemá pravdu. Niekedy on je obvinený že nemá pravdu, a pritom ju má. Ale ak on je vinný, nuž, ak my ho prednesieme pred trón Boží, postavíme sa tam rameno vedľa ramena s našim bratom, vediac, že on je smrteľník, a možno jeho miesto určenia tkvie na našom postoji voči nemu, keď sa vrátime naspäť od trónu Božieho, my si uvedomíme, že my všetci sme vinní, a my všetci potrebujeme pomoc jeden od druhého. A najlepší spôsob ako to robiť, je modlitba.
14Teda, tieto vznešené zásady, nádherná Cirkev Živého Boha, ak by to nebolo, ak…ak by sa nemuselo povedať, “A teraz, my všetci patríme do tejto organizácie alebo tamtej.” Ak by sa oni zjednotili v srdci, v jednom súlade, tam by prebudenie zasiahlo tento svet, ako to nikdy nebolo vidieť. Ak ľudia, ktorí majú Letničné prežitie by sa len zjednotili spolu v srdci, nech ich denominácie bežia ktoroukoľvek cestou chcú… Aký rozdiel robia tieto malé trenice atď., to je len diabol snažiaci sa udržovať Slávnu Cirkev v zmätku po celý čas. Potom, v Skutkoch 10:35 je napísané, Boh neberie ohľad na žiadnu osobu alebo národ, ale On si ctí tých, ktorí slúžia Bohu a robia spravodlivo. Chápete? My vieme, že to je Pravda. Boh si cenní osobu, ktorá má…
15 V tej službe, myslím dnes ráno, že by to bolo dobré pre mňa povedať toto, ukázať vám, aký efekt to má. Američania, vy bratia, ste v najťažšom poli aké je kdekoľvek. Bol som v Afrike, Indii, cez, ó, prakticky cez celý svet. Ale ja-ja, som nikdy nevidel pole tak ťažké na boj, ako je tu, Amerika. Toto potrebuje misionárov viac než kdekoľvek inde som vo svojom živote bol. Lebo so vzdelaným pohanom je ťažšie zaobchádzať než s nevzdelaným pohanom. Pohan je neveriaci. A vy to máte. A vy tu máte boj… Misionár musí s mnohými záležitosťami zápasiť - malária, a améba, atď tomu podobné. Ale on nemá démonské duchy, s ktorými treba konať, myslím tých démonov, ktorí sa dostali do kultúrou ovládaných ľudí. Oh, hovoríš o niečom ťažkom, s čím máš do činenia.
16 Nedávno, som mal raňajky so skupinou kazateľov. A hovorím toto v úcte, bratia. Radšej by som mal raňajky so skupinou čarodejníkov (Jasne, to znie desivo povedať to.) než s týmito mužmi. Mal by som lepšie vnímanie, mal by som viac súhlasiaceho ducha, so skupinou čarodejníkov, mnohokrát, než s tou skupinou kazateľov. Taká strašná vec, Boh nás od toho oslobodzuje.
My sme takí intelektuálni. Všetko je posunuté preč od Ducha; to je Slovo; to je Slovo; to je Slovo. Boh, ja… Iste, ja verím vo Slovo. Ale ak Duch nesúhlasí so Slovom, potom máte niečo niekde pomiešané.
17 Pozrite sa, keď Kain, on bol celkom taký pobožný a práve rovnako so Slovom ako bol Ábel. To bolo vlastne zjavenie, ktoré urobilo rozdiel. Oni obaja uctievali, oni obaja priniesli obete. Oni obidvaja postavili oltár. Oni obidvaja patrili do cirkvi. Oni obaja boli úprimní. Oni sa obidvaja klaňali. Tak ak by mal Boh brať ohľad na úprimnosť a fundamentalizmus, prečo on neuznal Kaina? Ale cez zjavenie Ábel, súc spravodlivý, skrze zjavenie, žiadne Písma v ich dňoch, Boh to zjavil jemu, že to nebolo ovocie, jablká a pomaranče, ktoré nás vzali zo záhrady Eden; bola to krv, život.
18 Na ich ceste, deti Izraela prišli hore oproti deťom Moába. Moáb, zem Moábova nebola zem neveriacich; oni verili v toho istého Boha, v ktorého veril Izrael. A oni boli všetci pevne zorganizovaní dokopy, mocný národ. Izrael býval v stánoch, ako to nemal žiadny národ. Nehovorím toto, aby som bol teraz hrubý; hovorím to za určitým cieľom. Izrael viacmenej medzidenominačný, nemal žiadnu vlastnú zem, až doteraz. A to sa posúvalo ďalej.
Oni si žiadali povolenie prejsť cez územie ich bratov. A čo dostali? Odmietnutie. A oni mali Baláma vystupujúceho a stavajúceho vlastný oltár, sedem oltárov. On… Pozorujte, on tam položil sedem čistých obetí, býkov, tiež tam dal sedem baránkov, hovoriacich o Kristovom príchode. A dole v tábore Izraelovom bola práve táto istá obeť.
19 Tak fundamentálne bol Moáb práve taký fundamentálny ako bol Izrael. Ale vec, ktorú oni nedokázali uvidieť, čo svet zlyháva vidieť dnes. Aj ich prorok tam hore zlyhal vidieť to. Balám si myslel, iste, že Svätý Boh by odsúdil ľud ako tento. Ale jemu sa nepodarilo vidieť, že tam bola udretá Skala, ten mosadzný had, a Ohnivý stĺp, znamenia a zázraky. Boh vždy prebýval s ľuďmi. Kde bol Boh, diali sa znaky a znamenia. To tak vždy bolo.
To je spôsob, ako sa oni pozerajú na Letničnú cirkev dnes. Oni sú všetci pospájaní do zväzkov; oni sú títo, tamtí a ďalší. Ale kto nie je? Povedzte mi jednu cirkev, ktorá nie je. Pozrime sa na našu Baptistickú cirkev; pozrime sa na denominácie, a potomkovia Slobodných Baptistov (Free Baptist), Baptistov tvdej škrupiny (Hard Shell Baptist), Pôvodných Baptistov (Primitive Baptist), 30 nejakých zvláštnych rôznych častí z nich, práve tak chybní ako Letniční. A oni sa hádajú a zápasia jeden s druhým tak isto. Pozrite sa na Metodistickú cirkev, dokonca Katolícku cirkev, ktorúkoľvek z nich.
20 Ale oni nedokázali vidieť… Oni sa po vás šplhajú, bratia, veľakrát, kvôli novinám. Vy urobíte chybu. Nech jeden z našich bratov urobí chybu a koná niečo nemorálne. Sledujte, noviny po celej krajine to rozšíria tak kruto ako len môžu. To je diabol. Ale nech jeden z týchto iných kazateľov to urobí, oni to umlčia.
Ale v Nebeských Knihách to je práve také isté. To je pravda. Dôvod prečo ja beriem moje plecia s vami, bratia, to je volanie Kráľa v tábore. To sú znamenia a zázraky nasledujúce týchto ľudí. Oni robia svoje chyby, a oni nadobúdajú mnoho „izmov“, a veľa nezmyslov. Vy viete, že bratia, vy... My tomu jednako musíme čeliť, tiež. To je pravda. My máme veľa vecí, ktoré idú ďalej do napodobenín atď., to nie je správne, ale je tam tiež skutočná vec. To je pravda.
21Keď Ježiš prišiel, on bol práve tak fundamentálny ako Farizeji. Farizeji tomu nemohli veriť. Ale Ježiš bol fundamentálny. Ale boli znamenia a zázraky, ktoré nasledovali Jeho službu. Kde Farizeji mali Slovo práve také isté ako On mal, to isté Slovo. Ale to je duchovné zjavenie. Ježiš svedčil o tom, keď zišiel z vrchu, a povedal, „Čo hovoria ľudia o mne, že som Syn človeka? Jeden vravel Eliáš, a jeden povedal, že on bol prorok atď. On povedal, „Ale kto vy hovoríte?
A Peter povedal, „Ty si Kristus, Syn živého Boha“. Ale Katolícka cirkev hovorí, že Peter bol skalou, a na tej skale je postavená cirkev. Protestantská cirkev hovorí, že to bolo na Ježišovi, Skale. Nie byť rozdielny, dovoľte im veriť čo si prajú, pokiaľ je to na Kristovi, ale ja-ja som odlišný od obidvoch pohľadov. Ja verím, že to nebolo na Petrovi, na ktorom Cirkev bola postavená, ani to nebolo na Kristovi, na ktorom bola Cirkev postavená, ale to bolo na duchovnom zjavení, že On bol Kristus. Vidíte? Chápete?
22Telo a krv ti to nezjavili (nejaký seminár, nejaká škola, nejaká teológia, nejaký vzdelanec)... „Telo a krv ti to nezjavili, ale Môj Otec, ktorý je v nebesiach; na tejto Skale postavím Moju Cirkev,“ duchovné zjavenie, nie Slovom, nie denomináciou, nie vyznaním, nie týmto atď., ale na duchovnom zjavení, že Ježiš je Kristus, „Ja vystavím Moju Cirkev.“
A teraz, môžete veriť, že vo vašej mysli, keď veríte, že vo vašom srdci mate Večný Život. Ježiš povedal vo sv. Jánovi 5:24, “On, ktorý počuje moje Slovo a verí Tomu, ktorý ma poslal, má Večný Život.” Vezmite to slovo Večný, a pozrite sa čo to znamená. Spracujte to v zastaralej gréčtine; nájdete to ZOE – Boží vlastný Život. Vy máte nesmrteľný Život vo vás, pretože, prečo? Vy ste uverili v Jeho život jediného splodeného Syna Božieho a prijali ste Ho ako svojho osobného Spasiteľa. Nie rozumom, ale narodením, ako to Boh priniesol dolu a zjavil vám to cez duchovné zjavenie.
23Viera prichádza počutím. Viera je počutie, keď to počujete. Ale viera nie je tá vec. Napríklad, ja som tu; ja umieram od hladu, a ja vás žiadam o bochník chleba, a vy mi dávate 25 centov. To je cenová sila bochníka chleba. A teraz, ja sa môžem tešiť práve tak veľa s 25 centami, ako by som mohol s bochníkom chleba. To nie je bochník chleba. Ale ja s tým môžem byť šťastný. Ja budem držať tých 25 centov, vediac, “Vďaka vám, pane, môj život bude teraz zachránený.” Ale ja nemám chlieb. Porozumeli ste, čo tým myslím? Chápete? Vierou ste zachránení, ale to je zjavenie Krista, ktoré prináša výsledky. Rozumiete, čo tým mám v úmysle? Vidíte? To je to, o čom hovorím.
24 To je to, po čom je svet hladný. A dôvod, prečo zbytok sveta neprichádza do Letničnej viery ako tu máme, je pretože to je náš vlastný postoj naproti jeden druhému. To je pravda, bratia. To je z dôvodu našej ľahostajnosti navzájom. Oni vidia ako jeden rozpráva proti druhému, jeden proti druhému, a tento proti tamtomu, a proti tejto denominácii. Sú z toho vystrašení.
Ja neviem čo je riešenie. Ja som to skúšal. Jeden chce… Ak táto skupina to bude sponzorovať, nuž, ostatní s tým nechcú mať nič spoločné. Vy si môžete predstaviť do akej do akej pozície ma to kladie. A ja hovorím: “Nuž, ak ja pustím tohoto jedného, ostatní nepôjdu. Potom oni nepôjdu spolu. Tak som si myslel, “Dobre, ja len pôjdem bez ktoréhokoľvek z nich. Ja pôjdem akokoľvek. To je nesprávne. Ja som to zistil, že je to nesprávne. Pretože v Indii som mal tú istú vec, kde bolo hádam dvakrát toľko obrátených, ako sa stalo v Afrike, počas jedného oltárneho volania. Ale tam nebolo nikoho, kto by to sponzoroval, tak kde oni išli? Naspäť do chrámov Budhu atď. Musíte rozpoznať tieto organizácie, a tieto miesta, kde majú misie atď., kde by ste priviedli svojich obrátených, a tieto cirkvi po celej krajine.
25 Tak vidíte do akej nepríjemnej situácie, dilemy ma to vedie, keď sa snažím stáť nezávisle? Oral Roberts mi to povedal jedného času. Vidíte? On patrí do Letničnej Cirkvi Božej, myslím, alebo Letničnej Svätej Cirkvi Božej, také niečo, jedna z tých. Akokoľvek, vidíte, on je reprezentovaný s cirkvou, pričom ja stojím slobodný od cirkvi, a predsa však s Cirkvou. Ja som s Cirkvou, skutočnou, Telo Kristovo prostredníctvom všetkých denominácií, pokúšajúci sa spolu vás potiahnuť. Ja som vám to chcel vysvetliť tak, aby ste to vy bratia, rozumeli.
A tak, ak idete na nejaké miesto, a máte skupinu obrátených, len choďte a pripravte stretnutie, hovoriac, „Tu som“. Ľudia prídu. To je v poriadku. „Kde je telo, tam sa zhromaždia orly.“ Ale čo ak sa oni stanú obrátení, potom kto ich vezme, kto sa ich ujme? Kto je tam aby udržiaval alebo uschoval to, čo ste chytili do siete Evanjelia? Kto ide vyzdvihnúť tie ryby? Ak oni ležia na brehu, oni zahynú. Niekto to tam musí urobiť. Preto vy práve... Nemôžem pracovať bez vás, bratia.
26Oh, ak by oni mohli byť všetci jedno v srdci, a pre ten istý princíp, a len zbaviť sa tých malých rozdielov. Práve tu v tomto meste dnes, Billy Graham môže prísť do tohoto mesta, a on začne v tejto malej modlitebni naplnenej na 15, 20 tisíc, možno, alebo tak nejak, v tom čase, keď som tu bol. Prečo? Pretože oni sa dávajú dokopy; oni sú v súhlase.
Ak oni to môžu robiť literou, o koľko viac mali by sme to my robiť Duchom? Vidíte? Ak-ak brat... ako Oral Roberts, ak nejaký z iných bratov by prišiel do mesta, poďme za tým. To je naša povinnosť stáť pri našich bratoch. Vidíte? To je pravda. A potom, čo to robí? To niečo ukazuje verejnosti.
Ak to nerobíme, potom čo to robí voči verejnosti? Vidíte, tam... „Pozrite na nich, tu, oni majú toho chlapíka tu.“ Vidíte? Chápete, čo to znamená? To je to, čo sa deje.
27A teda, efekty prebudenia môžu byť dlho citeľné. A to bude – to bude úžitok Cirkvi Božej. Ak sme mali sto obrátení dnes, a odišli by sme do každej jednej z vašich bratských cirkví (Chápete?), čokoľvek to bolo, to neovplyvňuje len tvoju cirkev, tvoj zbor, a tvoju cirkev, ale to ovplyvňuje Kráľovstvo Božie v každom jednom z týchto miest.
To je to, kde sa snažím budovať, to je tu. Tu dole, tu mi to nezáleží čo... ak oni chcú byť pokrstení takto alebo takto, ako... Aký rozdiel to robí, akokoľvek? Boh Ti dáva Svätého Ducha s vašimi zvláštnosťami; On mi dáva Svätého Ducha, s mojimi zvláštnosťami, a Boh dáva Ducha Svätého tým, ktorí Ho poslúchajú. Nuž, kto Ho poslúchol? Vidíte? Tam ste. Vidíte?
28My len poťahujeme tieto malé slamky a veci, a to je to, čo chce diabol. Ale ja verím, moji bratia, že prichádza hodina, že keď nás skutočné rany prenasledovania zoženú dokopy. Potom budeme jedno. Cirkev príde spolu. Ja verím, je to všetko v práci Božej, po tom ako som vám nakreslil tento obraz.
Keď bol postavený Šalamúnov chrám, bolo to pripravované po celom svete. A jeden blok bol odpílený takto a iný takto. Ale keď oni prišli dokopy, každý kameň odišiel na svoje miesto bez zvuku kladiva a hučania píly. A to bola Cirkev živého Boha.
29 A ja verím, že cez Cirkev Božiu Prorockú (The Church of God of Prophecy) a inú veľkú cirkev, Lee Kolégium (The Lee College), alebo ktorákoľvek to je, a cez vás bratov zo Zborov Božích, cez vás nezávislí bratia, a cez vás Jednotárski bratia, a cez všetkých vás, že Boh okresáva tie kamene. A jedného dňa ten Hlavný Kameň, ten odmietnutý kameň... Keď sa Cirkev dostane tak ďaleko hore, oni zistili že tam majú nejaký nezvyčajný kameň; oni nemohli nájsť žiadne miesto, kde by to pasovalo. Ale oni prichádzajú zistiť, čo bol ten Hlavný Uholný Kameň. A myslím si, bratia, že v jednom z týchto dní, my si ideme uvedomiť, že ten Hlavný Uholný Kameň je láska Božia, Kristus, v našich srdciach, to spojí každého jedného z nás dokopy ako jedného. Potom tá veľká Cirkev bude zaštítená a Boh ju vezme do slávy.
30 V tých službách som vám mohol dať len malý pohľad na nejaké z vecí, ktoré sa dejú, tak že môžete vidieť kde náš Pán Boh, ten veľký Pastier stáda, ako sa On zázračným spôsobom pohybuje. Ja som povedal dnes ráno, že vy bratia môžete rozumieť. Ak niekto povie: „Je brat Branham zo Zborov Božích? Je on Jednotár?“ Áno, ja som Zbory Božie. Ja som Jednotár. Ja som Cirkev Božia. Ja som Pútnik Svätosti. Ja som Nazarén. Ja patrím Kristovi, ktorému všetci vy patríte. Chápete? A tak, ja patrím každému jednému z vás bratia. My sme bratia spolu. Chápete? A teraz, to je spôsob, akým my chceme žiť; to je spôsob ako chceme postupovať. To je...
31Vo vašej rodine, vaše vlastné deti, tam sa ťažko nájdu dvaja z nich, ktorí by súhlasili jeden s druhým, ale oni sú tá istá rodina; iste, oni sú. Oni môžu byť rozliční vo funkciách; oni môžu byť rozliční v chuti do jedla; oni môžu byť rozliční na každý spôsob, ale predsa len oni sú jedna rodina. A my sme rodina Kristova. Nesnažím sa povedať: „Jakub, ja som s Tebou. Ján, ja som proti Tebe.“ Ja hovorím: „Jakub a Ján, my sme obaja v tej istej rodine.“ Vidíte, čo tým myslím? My všetci pracujeme spoločne na tejto farme zarábajúc na živobytie pre tú rodinu.
Teda, to je cesta, na ktorej stojím. Ak by sa komukoľvek stalo, že by sa ťa opýtal, kedykoľvek, len dovoľte, aby to bolo známe, bratia. Mám strašný čas, strašne zápasím; to je isté. Ale mám nádej, že jedného dňa náš požehnaný Pán príde.
A trúba Pánova zazneje;
A času viacej nebude;
A to ráno sa prelomí do večnosti;
Jasné a pekné;
A keď tí Jeho vyvolení;
(Cirkev Božia, Zbory Božie a všetci…)
Keď sa tí vyvolení zhromaždia,
do ich Domu za oblohou;
Keď bude listina povolaná,
tam v diaľke, ja tam budem.
32A ja budem tam s tebou, brat, jedno srdce, v jednom súlade, nikdy nebyť rozdelení, nikdy viac. To je deň, pre ktorý pracujeme.
Koľko času máme? [Niekto odpovedá, „Akokoľvek veľa chceš zabrať – pozn.prekl.] ja len… Dovoľte mi zabrať týchto ďalších 10 minút. [Nejaký brat hovorí, „Len pokračuj.“ – pozn.prekl.] Len na svedectvo. To je v poriadku, bratia, všetci sa ponáhľate? [Bratia potvrdzujú bratovi Branhamovi, aby pokračoval – pozn.prekl.]
Rád by som vám povedal trochu z nejakých skúsenosti, niečoho čo sa deje. To je zaberie veľa času na zhromaždení, ja to nerád robím – rozprávať tieto veci na zhromaždení, lebo to môže znieť osobne. Vy bratia vy ste – vy ste tu muži; vy rozumiete. Chápete?
33Zhromaždenia v Indii pred nedávnom, chcem vám povedať o neomylnosti tých vízií. A mal som nedávno víziu ohľadne cesty do Indie a do Afriky najprv, a Pán mi ukázal, povedal mi; “Pôjdeš najprv do Afriky a potom do Indie.” A cez nejaký zmätok atď., manažér mi povedal… Ja to nechcem pripisovať manažérovi. Nikdy som to nepovedal bratovi Vayle, on je mojim manažérom. My máme jedného manažéra; to je Svätý Duch. Chápete? Brat Vayle je môj spolupracovník; on je môj brat. Tak sa to práve prihodilo, že on uskutočňuje opatrenia pre zhromaždenia a pomáha mi okolo toho. A on nie je viac manažérom stretnutí, než ja som vaším, alebo vy… Zbytok vás tak isto. My sme vlastne všetci jedna slávna veľká rodina a jedno veľké Telo. My nie sme jeden nad druhým; my sme všetci celkom rovnakí; my sme jednotka Božia pracujúca spoločne.
34A ja som hneď potom zapísal víziu, ako som ju mal ráno, a potom, keď manažér, ako ho voláme na ten čas tohoto bytia; urobil plány cesty do Indie. A on nemal veľmi rád Afriku. Tak on mi povedal v Chicagu; on povedal, “Brat Branham, jednoducho vynechajme Afriku a poďme do Indie.”
Ja som povedal, “Je to na tebe, brat; kdekoľvek Pán chce, aby som bol nástrojom, dobre.”
Cítim to bratia a tak podobne tu. Či máme… Radšej by som bol dole tu na tomto zhromaždení s piatimi ľuďmi zúčastnenými v tej 6-tisícovej posluchárni, a byť vo vôli Božej, než mať miesto, kde by sa otočilo 5-tisíc ľudí každý večer, a byť mimo vôli Božej. Základná vec je konať vôľu Božiu, či je to skromné alebo či je to významné, čokoľvek to je.
35Práve som mal zhromaždenie v cirkvi, ktorá mala 20 ľudí, prebudenecké zhromaždenie. Nemám žiadny televízor; nemám žiadne programy na sponzorovanie alebo čokoľvek. Ľudia len platia výdavky, a to je všetko čo tam je. Vidíte, vidíte? A tak ja nechcem žiadnu z týchto vecí. Ak áno, tak som zaviazaný.
Pomyslite, náš drahý brat Oral Roberts, ktorý je môj dôverný priateľ a skutočný muž Boží, myslíte, že Oral Roberts by mohol prísť na nejaké miesto a konať zhromaždenie dva alebo tri dni, v cirkvi, ktorá ma 20 ľudí, keď to vyžaduje okolo 7 alebo 8 tisíc dolárov na deň pre neho, aby to zvládol? Určite, nemohol by. On by rád, ale on to nemôže robiť. On je pod takou zaviazanosťou. Nuž, ja nemám taký mozog, aby som robil to, čo on robí, a Boh to vie, tak On nechá Orala, aby to robil. On ma podporuje touto cestou, kde ja môžem… Vidíte, ja... ak my len... ak si my len uvedomíme aké sú naše... sú obmedzené, to čo my môžeme urobiť. Tak potom, ja nemusím mať peniaze, tak to je… Tam ste. Chápete? Ja môžem ísť kdekoľvek ma On pošle.
36 Ak On chce, aby som išiel do Afriky a kázal stotisícom ľudí, On vyprodukuje peniaze. On má všetko z toho, akokoľvek, takže ja nemusím o to žiadať, teda On mi to len dáva. Ak On chce, aby som išiel dolu ku tým starodávnym svätým v Timbuktu, Gravel Switch, alebo niekde inde, viete, a kázať desiatim ľuďom, amen. Ja tam proste pôjdem a zostanem, pokiaľ mi on povie, že je to skončené. A tak, to je spôsob… ja sa snažím žiť takým spôsobom. A ja nemám nič, žiadne programy na podporovanie, nič. Vidíte?
A teraz, ja nehovorím… Pozrite sa, nuž to je moja časť. Ale Brat Oral Roberts, Boh mu dáva niečo druhé, aby robil. A Brat A. A. Alen, a mnohí z tých ostatných bratov, ktorí maju veľké rádio vysielanie a také veci, oni musia mať peniaze. Ja sám im pomáham podporovať ich. Chápete? Ja robím všetko to, čo môžem, pretože si uvedomujem, že to je môj brat. Ja nemôžem zaujať jeho miesto, a ja-ja som trochu rád, že to nemusím. Vidíte? Pretože ja nemám také mentálne schopnosti, aby som vypracoval tie veci, a tak ja len pevne stojím na ceste, na ktorej som. Vy… Ako ten člen kongresu Upshaw zvykne povedať “Vy nemôžete byť niečím, čím nie ste.” Nuž, to je pravda. A čím rýchlejšie si to uvedomíme, tým na tom budeme lepšie. Len buďte tým, čím ste. Boh vás chce takých, ako vás stvoril. A len to uchovávajte vo svojej mysli, a buďte práve čo… Ak je to rohožka, buďte rohožka. Ja chcem byť najlepšou rohožkou, akú On kedykoľvek mal, ak musím byť tou rohožkou. Alebo čokoľvek to je v Dome Božom, dovoľte mi plniť moju službu najlepšie ako môžem pre Neho.
37Nuž, a tak v Afrike, On nechcel ísť. A ja som povedal, “V poriadku, nepôjdeme.” Potom, cestou späť som odišiel do mojej izby. A keď som odišiel, na dverách bolo vznášajúce sa Svetlo. On povedal, “Choď do Afriky, ako som povedal.” O niekoľko minút som opakovane telefonoval bratovi a povedal som, “Ideme do Afriky.”
Čakal som rok, a nakoniec ako som to urobil, neviem, ale vynorila sa iná cesta. Ja som sa našiel na svojej ceste tam do Indie. Keď som-keď som prišiel do Lisbonu, Portugalsko, kde som bol, aby som tam mal zhromaždenia a pokračoval a mal uzdravovacie zhromaždenia priamo v šere Vatikánu, veľkomesta v Ríme… Ale kým som bol v Portugalsku, cítil som sa chorý; nevedel som prečo. Vyrazili sme s tým guvernérom, a ja som mal nejakú rybu. A oni to varili na olivovom oleji, a, ja, bol som veľmi chorý. Snažil som sa byť džentlmen a jesť to, ale poviem vám, okolo úst som bol biely; ja som bol taký chorý, tá stará ryba, a varená v olivovom oleji. A tak on povedal, “Brat Branham, vyzeráš trochu chorý.
A ja som povedal, “Cítim sa tak.”
38 A tak keď som odišiel dolu do mojej hotelovej izby, po chvíli vstúpil doktor. Úprimne, nesnažím sa upútavať pozornosť, ale on tam mal takú veľkú tabletku ako škatuľka, to bol vrchol tej veci, a chcel odo mňa, aby som to prehltol. Ja som povedal: “Doktor, ja-ja by som to nedal môjmu osedlanému koňovi.” Povedal som, “Je to tak… No, nemohli by ste to dostať dolu hrdlom.” Nikdy v živote som nevidel takú tabletku. A povedal som, “Môžem to zlomiť napoly?”
On povedal, “Nie, prehltni to.”
A ja som povedal, “Nuž, len minútku, kým sa táto choroba vytratí.” Čakal som, kým odišiel von, a zahodil som tú vec preč. Tak potom, ale on bol milý človek. A rozprávali sme sa veľa o Pánovi Ježišovi, on bol Katolík. Tak, ale my sme sa rozprávali o Pánovi.
39A potom, kým som bol tú noc taký chorý, Billy stál vedľa mňa, a ostatní z nich ma nechali tam. A ja som povedal, “Billy, nemyslím, že to môžem vydržať do rána”. A bol som taký chorý. Ja som vôbec-vôbec som nemohol-nemohol viac dýchať. Bol som tak chorý, môj dych by ani ťažšie nepracoval, musel som sa nútiť do dýchania, a tak celú noc.
A nasledujúce ráno, začal som vo vani… aby som podnikol… v kúpeľni... dostal som jednu z tých veľkých vaní, a uterák dvojitej veľkosti týchto stolov. A tak ja som si išiel obsadiť vaňu. A tam sa vznášalo to Svetlo visiace tam. A povedalo, “Či som Ti nepovedal najprv ísť do Afriky?” Padol som na svoju tvár a začal som roniť slzy. Potom som povedal, “Pane, ja-ja len mi dovoľ ísť niekde, aby som mal nejakú malú chatrč vonku v horách a chytať do pasce a poľovať, ako som vždy chcel. Ja-ja by som nemohol byť Tvoj sluha; ja-ja nemám dokonca mentálne schopnosti, aby som Ti slúžil.” Ja som povedal, “Všetko som o tom zabudol.” A zapísal som si to a prečítal. Myslel som, že to mám teraz vo svojom vreckovom diári, ale nemám, ale mám to na nejakom papieri.
40Nuž, pokračoval som. On mi povedal ísť ďalej hore do Indie, čo som urobil. A teda, keď som sa vrátil a rozmýšľal, je to teraz 4 roky, že som neposlúchol Pána. A keď som sa díval na tú napísanú víziu, ktorú som čítal stovky krát. Vízia hovorila, že som mal ísť najprv do Indie, a potom späť do Afriky. Ale On mi povedal ísť najprv do Afriky a potom do Indie, ukazujúc, že Boh vedel, že Ho sklamem, ale Jeho Slovo, ktoré On povedal, nemôže zlyhať. Vízia v skutočnosti znela, že pôjdem najprv do Afriky, alebo do Indie najprv, a potom späť do Afriky. To je to, kde som na mojej dráhe teraz, vlastne hneď ako sa môžem dostať cez okolo 23 alebo 30 zhromaždení, ktoré mám odteraz až do júla, a my ideme do Afriky. Jeden brat, náš drahý brat Dávid duPlessis tam, on skončil, a rozprával tam bratom a tak ďalej, aby sa zhromaždili.
41Rád by som predsa len povedal o tých zhromaždeniach v Indii, čo sa tam dialo. Keď sme tam odišli, nebola tam žiadna jednota, všetci bratia boli oddelení. Jedna cirkev mala sponzora, a ostatok z nich by neprišlo kvôli tomu, pretože oni nemali radi tú cirkev. Vidíte, tam ste.
A doslovne, tam je 470 miliónov ľudí v Indii. A Kresťanstvo je najslabšie náboženstvo, ktoré majú, Kresťanstvo. S Katolíkmi a všetkými, určujeme tretie alebo štvrté miesto. Mohamedámi sú 2x alebo 3x našej kapacity. To je vrátane celého Kresťanstva.
42 A keď som sa tam dostal, pretože ten jeden zbor, ich zásadou bolo, “Obchoduj s Indiou v Indii; my nepotrebujeme misionárov; my nepotrebujeme Američanov.” Keď som pristál v Bombay, stál tam metodistický biskup a stálo tam veľa tých veľkých mužov. Povedal, “pán Branham, vy prichádzate do Indie; neprichádzajte tu ako misionár.” Hovorili, “My vieme viac o Biblii než vy Američania ste kedykoľvek vedeli.” Teraz, nie kriticky, nie kriticky, ale to je pravda. Toto je orientálna Kniha; toto nie je západná kniha; to je východná kniha. Keď nadobudnete na To východný pohľad, nájdete novú knihu. To je pravda.
Hovorili, “My sme mali Bibliu 2 tisíc rokov skôr než ste vy boli národom.” To je pravda. Svätý Tomáš odišiel tam dole. Cirkev Sv. Tomáša, bol som v nej, keď sme boli tam. Iste, oni mali Bibliu takmer 2000 rokov prv než se my boli národom. A my máme západné myslenie, snažiac sa porovnať to s východným, ktoré je práve v protiklade jedno ku druhému. Všetky podobenstvá a veci z Biblie… Ak ste niekedy… vstúpili tam a len spozorovali ich spôsob ako oni žijú, môžete pre vás vidieť Bibliu ako práve otvorenú novú Knihu. Pretože to je východná Kniha napísaná východným spôsobom života. A my sme západní ľudia so západným spôsobom myslenia.
43 Ak bude Pánova vôľa, tento týždeň, keď začnem kázanie, chcem kázať, “Keď sa stretol Východ a Západ.” Nuž, nie oni by to nerobili, pretože oni nemajú radi túto druhú cirkev, pretože to by nesúhlasilo podľa našich bratov. A teraz, pozrite sa na to, povedal som, “Teda, to je pravda. Predávajme Ameriku v Amerike.”
Títo Indickí ľudia povedali, “My chceme vlastniť náš vlastný majetok. My nechceme aby Metodistickí a Baptistickí a Letniční ľudia po celej Amerike vlastnili náš majetok. Chceme to vlastniť my sami, práve tu; dovoľte nám to mať.” Hovorili, “Vy bratia prichádzate a navštevujete nás.” To znelo všetko v poriadku. Vidíte?
Ale pre mňa byť tam takto, to nebolo v poriadku. Tí misionári sa tam roky do krvi potili, za to, na čom stáli. Zomierali s chorobou améba a so žltou zimnicou a so zimnicou čiernej vody, a všetkým ďalším tam, aby priniesli Evanjelium. Mal by som otočiť svoj chrbát na veci ako tieto, ktoré niekto založil pre Kráľovstvo Božie? Ja som jeho brat. Určite nie. A čo sa týka ich majetku komu to v každom prípade patrí? Bohu, to je úplne správne.
44 Ale tam, to som urobil, a oni mi povedali, že nemohli spolupracovať. Tú noc oni… Toho dňa starší toho mesta ma zobral dolu do chrámu džinistov. A Džinisti,... zabudol som, Džinisti. A oni sú podivná sekta. Oni sú väčšinou podľa poriadku Katolíkov. Oni ma vzali ku ich pápežovi ktorý sedel na vankúši. A to vám práve ukazuje muky, cez ktoré oni prechádzajú. Muž a žena sedia a vyrábajú male zmetáky, mopy. Oni by nezabili mravca; oni-oni nemôžu pracovať. Oni musia žobrať o všetko čo dostávajú. Štyristo miliónov týchto Indov sú takmer… Je okolo sedemdesiat miliónov z nich, sa mi zdá, ktorí pracujú, a ostatní, štyristo miliónov je žobrákov. A ako oni idú, zametajú podlahu alebo terén, aby nestúpili na mravca, pretože oni veria vo prevtelenie; a to by mohol byť niekto z ich ľudu. Oni nič nezabijú, ani muchu ani blchu. Človek, ktorý bol operovaný na prste, a potom zomrel, pretože on nemohol nechať sterilizovať ten rezný nástroj, ktorým bol operovaný, lebo sa obával, že by tým zabil baktériu; a to by mohol byť nejaký z jeho praotcov na ceste späť.
45 A teraz môžete vidieť, svet žije v neznalosti ako toto, a my s pravým Evanjeliom a našimi zbraňami jeden na druhého. Chápete čo myslím, bratia? My sa hádame, či by som mal byť Cirkev Božia alebo Zbory Božie, ja chcem byť dieťa Božie. To je to. Nuž, a služobník Boží…
Všimnite si, potom v tom… Títo muži umiestnení v tej situácii. Oni sa nemohli holiť. To bol hriech holiť sa. Tak oni si museli nechať svoje brady narásť a ich vlasy narásť. A ó, veci ktoré oni museli robiť, to bolo strašné.
Tento pápež ako tam bol usadený... A počul som, že je tam sedemnásť, myslím, že sedem alebo osem rôznych ľudí, ktorí to reprezentovali, a ja som tam prišiel. Každý jeden z nich mi povedal, aký som malý. No, tamtí Džinisti, oni povedali prečo oni začali ešte skôr než kedy začal Genesis. A oni boli doposiaľ nadradení nad Kresťanstvom. A oni majú veľa argumentov.
A tu je to, čo mi ten ich pápež povedal, on hovoril, “Vy ľudia nazývate seba zbožnými? A používate všetkých svojich vedcov – a vašich vedcov tam, nie aby ste sa snažili pomôcť niekomu, ale vytvoriť atómové bomby roztrhať jeden druhého na kúsky.” Mal pravdu, alebo nie?
46Pozrite sa, každá nepravda má v sebe veľa pravdy. To je tak. Nuž, ak je to naozajstné klamstvo, tak to čo my voláme čierne klamstvo, alebo malé biele klamstvo… Malé biele klamstvo je skutočné klamstvo. Môžete vidieť veľké čierne klamstvo, ale to je to malé biele, ktoré má celú… Ako to, čo diabol povedal Eve… Chápete? Len jedna malá vec mimo poriadku, to je to čo naše cirkvi počúvajú dnes. Oni hovoria, “Oh, vy máte pravdu vo vašej zásade krstu; máte pravdu v tomto; máte pravdu v tamtom.” Ale on vám zlyhal dať vedieť, že musíte milovať toho brata. Hoci má pravdu alebo nemá, stojte ramenami s ním, v Kráľovstve Božom, v Prítomnosti Božej.
47Potom, pozorujte toto, ako Boh pracuje. A títo spoločníci [tam v Indii - pozn.prekl.] ako tam sedeli, a potom som sa cítil ako, potom ako to oni všetci povedali, alebo niekoľko z nich to povedalo, ja som sa cítil, ako by som bol zradca Kristov, ak by som niečo nepovedal. A postavil som sa; povedal som, “Pánovia…” Nemohol som ich nazvať bratmi, oni neboli. Povedal som, “Ako by ste niekedy mohli prijať krv obete za vaše hriechy a nezabiť blchu?” Povedal som, “Ako ste to mohli urobiť? Povedal som, “Krv je protilátka. Krv bola jediná, ktorá nás previedla zo záhrady Eden. V krvných bunkách je život.”
To bol život, prevrátený život, ktorý nás priviedol na smrť. A to vezme tú istú krvnú bunku rozloženú, aby nás to znova priviedlo do života. Toto je zvrátený život. A chcem, aby ste vy… Bratia, nezáleží na tom ako dobre sa snažíte opraviť to, a ako dobre sa snažíte robiť toto, a ako čisto sa snažíte žiť, a ako spravodlivo sa snažíte žiť, to nikdy nebude fungovať. Tento život bol na počiatku odsúdený Bohom. To nebude opravené; to je zomrieť a byť narodený znova. Ide o to byť narodený. Nie je žiadna iná cesta okolo toho. Rozumiete?
48 Nie byť lepší, pripojiť sa do cirkvi, ukončiť vašu ničomnosť, vy môžete robiť všetko to a stále nemať Večný Život. Vidíte? Vy sa môžete pripojiť do cirkvi; môžete patriť do denominácie, môžete žiť práve tak úprimne až zomrieť, tamtí farizejovia to robili, a Ježiš povedal, “Vy ste z vášho otca diabla. Vidíte?
Celý čas sa snažíme položiť to tak, aby to fungovalo, niekedy my môžeme robiť, niečo si môžeme postaviť, nejaké… Boh nepotrebuje naše budovy, Boh potrebuje našu dušu.
A tam v tom čase, ten večer keď… Povedal som, “Nech Boh prehovorí, ten Jediný, ktorý je Bohom dnes večer.” A na pódiu… Nuž, vy… Robím toto, hovoriac to tak, aby ste vy bratia videli dôveru, ktorú môžete mať v Bohu.
49Na tom zhromaždení v ten večer, keď oni začali, tam boli Rahaji [nábož. skupina – pozn.prekl.] na vankúšoch, a boli tam Mohamedáni, a Budhisti, a vzalo mi to viac než 2,5 hodiny len sa tam dostať, aby som sa postavil, kde som mal kázať. Primátor odhadoval, že ak by som zostal 3 dni, alebo 5 dní, ako som mal zostať, že to by bolo 500.000 ľudí zovšadiaľ v Bombaji. Oni by sa dopočuli; oni by prišli.
A tak som myslel, “Nuž, ak títo kazatelia nechcú spolupracovať, potom ich nechám na pokoji.” Ale urobil som chybu. Mal som sa otočiť a ísť naspäť, až kým by som nezískal spoluprácu. Pretože ten večer, keď sme odišli na zhromaždenia… nemohli ste rozdávať modlitebné karty; nie je spôsob ako to robiť. A tak mali sme milíciu, aby ich nejako privádzali po jednom. A potom oni…
50Tam je tisíce krát tisíce a tisíce tisícov ľudí, ktorí idú byť prví v modlitebnej línii, ľudia, ku ktorým dokonca nemôžete prehovoriť. Ale potom keď Duch Svätý im začal zjavovať, a začal im hovoriť, mohol som vidieť, kto-čo to bolo, vyhláskovať ich mená, ja som to nemohol ani vysloviť. Miesto..
Potom som mohol cítiť vstupovať Ducha Svätého, že to bolo – oni si mysleli, že to bola telepatia. A tak som si pomyslel, “Pane, ak by si len dal milosť.” Asi trom alebo štyrom chýbali určité časti tela, z malomocenstva, nemali ruky, a jedného som vzal do náručia a začal som ho milovať. On len plakal, keď videl, že niekto sa o neho stará. Svet umiera po láske, bratia. Určite vezmite svojho brata do vášho náručia, zistite či to nerobí veci trocha inými. Chápete? Tá istá láska, ktorá účinkovala na malomocenstve, bude pracovať na vašom bratovi, o ktorom si myslíte, že nemá pravdu. To je tak, určite.
51A on… Ja som ho vzal na ramená. A on-on plakal. A asi druhý potom, to bol nevidiaci muž. Tam bol iný nevidiaci muž, ktorý prišiel cez, bolo mu povedané kto on bol, odkiaľ pochádzal, a všetko. Povedal som: “Pán Boh Ťa uzdravil, brat. Pred rokmi On zomrel za Teba a Tvoje uzdravenie je zaistené. Ak len veríš tomu teraz, choď a buď uzdravený.” Dvaja alebo traja malomocní prešli; jediná vec, ktorú som videl bola kto oni boli a akí boli-boli… Nepovedal som nič viac. To je všetko, čo som povedal, je čo môžem vidieť, a len som prestal hovoriť.
Potom tento jeden prešiel, nevidiaci muž. Bolo mu povedané kto on bol, hovoriac, “Ty si žobrák. Ty máš dve deti, más manželku; ona je chudá žena,” bolo povedané aké bolo jej priezvisko, aj jej meno. To bolo správne. A potom, keď som začal s ním cez to prechádzať, vízia bola prerušená. Nuž, to je keď Pán rozpráva. Druhé je čo robil samotný človek. To je to, čo vidíte na pódiu. To ste vy, ktorí to odohrávate, nie ja. Je to vaša vlastná viera, ktorá to činí.
52 Nuž, v tom čase, keď sa to prerušilo, ja som pozrel a videl som človeka stojaceho predo mnou. Vyzeral trochu šedivší než bol tam, a on mohol vidieť; jeho oči boli otvorené, a on bol rozradostený a hovoril s ľuďmi. To je ten hlavný princíp. Tam to bolo. Pomyslel som si, “Ó, Bože, tu to je.”
No nie je spôsob, bratia… My sme večne zviazaný ľudia, a my ideme stáť v Jeho Prítomnosti spolu v jednom z týchto dní. Myslím tvárou v tvár s Ním. Nie je žiaden spôsob, ako to vysvetliť. Keď viete čo sa ide stať, tam je to. Nikdy ani jediného času som to nevidel zlyhať. Nedávno, Waterloo, potom ako tá skupina kazateľov bola tak proti mne, a ja som sa modlil. Myslel som si, “Pane, tu som v takej nepríjemnej situácii, a neviem čo robiť,” stovky ľudí tam sedelo, a bolo tak chladno ako len mohlo byť a stál som tam. A znenazdajky som počul niečo. Myslel som, že to bolo lietadlo vstupujúce strechou. Pozrel som sa naokolo na doktora Vayle, a on sa pozeral na varhany, on si myslel, že tá žena prehodila vzduch na organe. Ale zistili sme, že tam bol elektrický organ. A tu To bolo, prichádzalo to zhora ako burácanie. A prišlo To dolu, môj kabát sa začal triasť. Pohybovalo sa To oblúkom cez budovu; ľudia sa obeleli a spadli dozadu takto s hlavami dozadu. Rútenie sa ako vietor, lenže To nebol vietor, to bol zvuk: Svätý Duch pohybujúci sa budovou otriasal, a my to máme na páske.
53A pomyslel som si, “Veľký Svätý Duch sa jednako nechová neslušne.” Pomyslel som si, “Nikdy som Ho nevidel robiť nič, len čo bolo v Písme.” A keď som išiel domov, začal som modliac sa, “Pane, kde to je, kde Svätý Duch postupoval ako tamto?” Vo Svätom Jánovi 12 vidíme, kde sa náš Pán modlil a niektorí z nich povedali, keď Otec hovoril späť ku Nemu, hovoriac, “zahrmelo”.
Boh stále žije, bratia. A my hľadáme niečo tam v diaľke, keď my to máme práve teraz. To je to. Nedovoľte, aby to prešlo ponad vás, ako to bolo cez tie veky, ako to urobili vo dňoch Jána Krstiteľa. Oni nevedeli kto on bol. Ľudia nevedia, aký je tento Svätý Duch. To nie je niečo, aby sa to organizovalo a preorganizovalo. Pričom ja to nekritizujem, bratia. To nie je niečo okolo čoho by sme sa mali hádať; to je niečo , čo máme milovať a uctievať. Nie aby ste boli oddelení od druhých; to je to, aby to prinieslo jeden druhého pospolu. My to používame ako nástroj, nie pre dobro Kráľovstva Božieho, keď robíme samých seba odlišnými od každého, my máme urobiť seba pospolu s týmto. Potom skutočný Svätý Duch nám to prinesie, bratia. To presne musí; To je Kristova vlastná láska za nás.
54A pozorujte, to Indické zhromaždenie. Bol tam človek. Videl som ho stáť tam ako modrý oblak. A keď ma to videnie opustila, ó, aký pocit, aký pocit. Ja som potom vedel, že to sa musí stať. To sa musí stať; Boh tak povedal. Potom som mohol vystúpiť dopredu. Potom som mohol byť šéf, ako to bolo (Prepáčte ten výraz, nie ja, ale Svätý Duch pôsobiaci, bol Šéfom.) Ak by Boh prišiel dnes a ukázal mi videnie že George Washington ide byť vzkriesený z prezidentského cintorína, ja by som pozval svet, aby prišiel pozorovať ako sa to stane. To je úplne správne. To sa stane, ak to Boh povedal. Ako to môže zlyhať. Mám 48 rokov; vídavam videnia odvtedy ako som bol len malý dvojročný chlapec, a nikdy ani jedenkrát to nezlyhalo. Pre mňa je To Boh.
55Ak by som nemohol získať svet, aby to videl, aký je v tom rozdiel, oni to nikdy nevideli v žiadnom veku. Ale Boh je práve; On to aj tak zosiela. Že On… Potom keď je to všetko skončené, oni hovoria, “Nuž, my sme to nevedeli. Určite sa to stalo? Ja som to nevedel.” Ó, áno, to vždy tak bolo. To je tak dnes, bratia, počúvajte. Toto je tá hodina, toto je ten deň. Vy hľadáte niečo mimo tam v diaľke a diabol sa vám snaží umiestniť niečo do ďalekého času; a prv ako sa nazdáte, bude Milénium; to je teraz v čase konca.
Tak potom, keď prišlo toto videnie a ten nevidiaci muž bol vidiacim, potom on tam stále stál. Ja som povedal, “A teraz, vám pánovia dnes, s ktorými sme boli v chráme Džinistov. “A vy všetci ste hovorili, že ste začali pred Genezis, a aký nespôsobilý bol tento Boh, a ako tamtí všetci Jeho učeníci urobili toto, tamto a ďalšie,” atď. Ja som povedal, “Poznávam vaše myšlienky. Myslíte si, že čítam telepatiu, pretože toto je všetko, čo ste kedy videli, práve tu. Nuž, to je to, čo je vo vašich myšlienkach.” Ale povedal som “Tu je slepý človek. A tento človek práve svedčil, že bol slepý, ktorému Duch povedal, že pred 20 rokmi [prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] pozoroval slnko; on uctieval slnko. A on bol slepý; jeho oči sú také biele ako moja košeľa.” Povedal som, “On sľúbil, že keď dostane naspäť svoj zrak, bude slúžiť Bohu, ktorý mu dá jeho zrak. On je ochotný sa zmeniť.” A povedal som, “Vy mohamedáni tu, vy ste najväčší v počte, [prázdne miesto na páske – pozn.prekl.] … príďte tu a dajte tomuto mužovi naspäť jeho zrak.” Tam ste.
56Ja by som to za žiadnu cenu nepovedal, bratia, ak by mi to Boh nepovedal najprv, vidíte, videnie. Povedal som, “Nuž, prídite, a dajte mu jeho zrak.” A ja som povedal, “Vy uctievači Budhu, vyzývam Budhovho kňaza, aby prišiel, a dal tomuto zrak. Alebo vy, Džinisti, s ktorými sme boli v chráme dnes, vyzývam ktoréhokoľvek z vašich kňazov, aby prišli, dať mu jeho zrak. A on bude uctievať Boha, ktorý mu dá jeho zrak.”
Ó, bratia, to bol tichý dav, istotne. Ja som povedal, “Čo by ste mohli robiť?” Povedali by ste mu, že sa mýlil v uctievaní slnka. On uctieval...“ A ja som povedal, „Verím, že on sa mýli. On uctieva stvorenie namiesto Stvoriteľa.“ Vidíte? Tvrdil som, „Verím, že sa mýli.“ Povedal som, “Čo by ste vy Mohamedáni robili, ak by ste ho zmenili? Vy by ste len zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania. Čo ak by ste ho vzali vy, Džinisti? Vy by ste zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania.” Čo ak by ste ho vzali vy, Budhisti? Vy by ste zmenili jeho spôsob rozmýšľania.” To je pravda: psychológia.
57Ale, bratia, chcem sa vás opýtať niečo, čo viac by pre neho urobili Metodisti než by mohli urobiť Baptisti? My máme tú istú vec v Amerike; len my máme jedného Boha, ktorého uctievame. Ale všetci Baptisti chcú ich všetkých, aby boli Meto.. Baptistami, a chcú všetkých Metodistami. A Letniční ich chcú všetkých urobiť Letničnými. Cirkev Božia ich chce všetkých na svojej strane. Zjednotení ich chcú všetkých na ich strane.
Čo to je? Och, oni musia byť pokrstení, takto, alebo takto, a tak, alebo oni musia povedať určité veci, oni musia.. Čo je to? Psychológia. Nie som práve ten, aby som ranil pocity, ale, brat, musím byť čestný. Toto môže byť náš posledný čas kedy budeme… [Prázdne miesto na páske. - pozn.prekl.]…To je Pravda. A tvrdím, “My máme tú istú vec v Amerike, jednoducho z tejto cirkvi do tamtej cirkvi. “Ak Cirkev Božia nezaobchádza so mnou poriadne, pripojím sa ku Zborom Božím. Zbory Božie so mnou nenakladajú správne, budem Jednotár.” A tam ste. Čo to je? Tá istá vec, ako pohania, pohania, to je pravda. Zakotvi raz na Kristovi, zostaň tam. To je to pravé.
58 A potom, keď som povedal, “Určite, vy by ste nemohli urobiť nič viac pre neho, jeden od druhého, nezáleží kto by to bol.” Ale ja som tvrdil, “Vy mu nemôžete dať jeho zrak, vy Mohamedáni, tiež nie vy Džinisti, a vôbec nemôžete vy Budhisti, alebo ktorýkoľvek z vás, môcť mu dať jeho zrak. A tiež ja mu nemôžem dať jeho zrak.” Ale povedal som, “Boh neba, Ktorý pozdvihol Jeho Syna Ježiša, že si myslíte, že je to telepatia, ukázal mi videnie, že ten človek dostane svoj zrak. A ak to On neurobí, som falošný prorok.”
“A teraz, ak to urobí, koľkí z vás pozdvihnete svoje ruky, že zanecháte svojich pohanských bohov. Vidíte kde váš kňaz stojí? Každý jeden z nich, tam sú mlčiaci ľudia, nečudo, že mlčia. Ja by som bol mlčiaci tiež, ak by mi Boh neba neukázal niečo práve teraz.” Povedal som, “Nuž, zistíme či je to pravda alebo nie.”
59A každý bol ticho. Ja som vzal toho biedneho starého muža a pritiahol som ho na moju hruď. Povedal som, “Pane, Ktorý si učinil nebesia I zem, ako to bolo v Biblických časoch, to sa navracia znova. Nech je to známe dnes, že Ty si Boh, a Tvoja Cirkev bude mať prevahu oproti každej bráne pekla; tak bude. A mnohí z týchto ľudí sediacich tu, ktorí tu pracujú, mysliac si, že tieto veci patria inému veku, nech im je známe, že ich práca nie je márna. Oni kážu najlepšie, ako vedeli podľa okolností, a veci, ktoré museli kázať. Ale teraz Ty si prišiel na scénu…” (Oni neprekladajú modlitbu, samozrejme.)
60 A modliac sa ku Pánovi, mal som ho na svojej hrudi. Keď som ho oddialil, takto, on z celej sily zakričal; utekal a uchopil primátora Durbanu a pobozkal ho. Jeho zrak bol tak dobrý ako zrak hociktorého človeka, ktorý je tu. Potom čo sa stalo? Oni tam stáli; on padol na svoje kolená; vrhol svoje ruky do vzduchu; ronil slzy, tisíce ho pozorovali. Ten človek svedčil dokonca prezidentovi Indie, ktorý je hore v New Delhi, tento nastávajúci október ak si budem priať, oni majú amfiteáter tam hore, do ktorého by sa mohlo zmestiť milión ľudí pre spojené úsilie po celej Indii.
61Potom som povedal, “Koľkí z vás tu príjmu Ježiša ako osobného Spasiteľa, vy Mohamedáni, a Budhisti atď?” Ich ruky stúpali hore všade, všade. A oni robili ruch; oni brali-zobúvali mi topánky. Roztrhli mi .. Ja som sa viac ako hodinu dostával odtiaľ preč, otrhané oblečenie, päť alebo šesťkrát, nemohli ich držať vzadu. Oni tam bežali a všetko možné. Indovia sú poverčiví; oni sa vás chcú dotknúť alebo niečo tomu podobné, snažiaci sa do toho dostať. Matky dokonca odkladali svoje deti, snažiaci sa dovolať sa dotyku. Musel som opustiť mesto na ďalší deň, pretože oni ich nemohli dlhšie udržať, nebolo žiadne miesto kde ich zmestiť.
62 Ježiš povedal, “Choďte a kážte Evanjelium.” To je správne. My budujeme školy, organizácie, vzdelávanie. Nič proti tomu, to je všetko v poriadku, nič proti tomu, ale On povedal, “Kážte Evanjelium.” On nikdy nepovedal, budujte kostoly. On nikdy nepovedal, “budujte organizácie”. On nikdy nepovedal, “budujte školy”. Oni nikdy nepovedal, “majte semináre”. On povedal, “Kážte Evanjelium.” My sme sa otočili a robili sme niečo iné. To je dôvod prečo sú pohania v stave v akom sú dnes. To je dôvod prečo sú tieto veci. Ale, moji bratia, ale Boh Abrahámov, Izákov a Jakobov dnes stále žije. To je pravda. On je ten istý Boh. To mi pripomína jednu malú vec, ktorú vám poviem. Potom musím ísť, ak máte len pár minút.
63Ako každý vie, rád poľujem. Tu sedí brat zo severnej Britskej Kolumbie; jedného dňa som vyšiel na hory, bol som poriadne zarastený, a už šediviem. A mal som na sebe starý ovisnutý klobúk a montérky, a nekúpal som sa viac ako 2 týždne, mal som tam 21 koní, a tuším, že som páchol viac ako tie kone, tým že som sa nekúpal, a bol som špinavý a spotený. A ja som bol poľovať na medveďa vysoko v horách. Tie skúsenosti, ktoré mám s Bohom, zostanú vo mne žiť až kým zomriem, byť sám.
Bol som na malom mieste, kde mali nejaký obchod, o veľkosti približne polovica tejto izby; oni tam však mali všetko. Jedna mladá žena tam, okolo tridsaťročná, ona nikdy vo svojom živote nevidela veľkomesto, nikdy v jej živote, doposiaľ. Odhadujem, že prvá skutočná cesta s tvrdým povrchom bola Edmonton, okolo Edmontonu. To bolo štyristo, päťsto míľ vzdialené. [Niekto hovorí bratovi Branhamovi-pozn.prekl.] Áno. Je to okolo dvesto míl, hádam. Dvesto míľ ku tvrdej ceste. A potom to opúšťate, potom mate inú, dlhú tiahnúcu sa z toho, cestu hore na East Pines, severná Britská Kolumbia.
64Stojac tu vzadu, snažil som sa potiahnuť …na koňoch a utiahnuť sa… Nejaký človek prišiel tam dole, povediac, “Ahoj, brat Branham.” To bol on, farmár. Pán dal videnie, povolal ho do práce, a teraz on sa práve navracia z Kuby a je na svojej ceste znovu naspäť teraz na pole.
Bol som dolu, cestou na severné miesto, a nejaká pani kráčala hore, ja s mojou neoholenou bradou, nejaká pani kráčala hore a dotkla sa ma zboku a povedala, “Nie ste vy brat Branham?”
Povedal som, “Áno, pani. Ako ma poznáte?”
Povedala, “Mám vašu knihu.”
Ja som odvetil, “Ako ste sa kedy mohla dostať ku knihe tam vzadu?”
Prichádzalo to dvakrát ročne, pošta na sánkach ťahaných psom. Ó, oni prídu z východu a zo západu v tom veľkom čase.
65Cestou hore do hôr v Colorado, jedného času, bol som poľovať na losa. Nie je to hra na zabíjanie, ale len aby som bol sám s Bohom. Vy môžete mať všetku vašu “ostrohrannú” Floridu akú chcete; to je to čo človek tomu urobil. Ja to mám rád tak, ako to Boh urobil (Chápete?), len vo svojej čistej prírode.
Šplhal som sa cestou hore do hôr, cestou hore, pretože los ešte dolu neprišiel; nie je tam dosť snehu, aby bežali dolu. Bol som aspoň tridsaťpäť alebo štyridsať míľ od ľudských bytostí, cestou naspäť medzi Berthoud Pass a Rabbit Ear Pass, cestou naspäť na rieku Troublesome, kde som zvykol hnať dobytok, keď som bol chlapcom.
66 Mám takú malú vec, o ktorej by som chcel povedať práve tu. Zvykol som chodiť, keď oni mali zhromaždený dobytok na jar, keď sme nasadili statok do lesa Arapaho, Herefordskej asociácie, aby sa pásli v údolí. A ak vyrobíte tonu sena, a máte značku od Obchodnej Komory, môžete zohnať do stáda kravy v lese Arapaho, v lete.
A tak sme tam zháňali do stáda. A naša značka bol kosoštvorec, A hneď vedľa nás bol diamant, a to bol Grimes. A všetci z vás poznáte Grimesa, človeka, ktorý robí preteky koní, on pracoval-mal okolo 20 mužov po celý čas. A my sme mali… My… Naša výstroj bola malá; my sme mali posledné miesto na zavlažovanie východného rozvetvenia rieky Troublesome, cestou nahor. Tak potom, viete, rieka sa takto rozdeľuje, a prichádza dole zo severného, východného a západného svahu, nuž, potom my sme pásli tam, stopäťdesiat, dvesto míľ, cez to; sme tam pásli.
67No a oni mali posunutú ohradu od súkromného vlastníctva až do štátneho majetku. Veľakrát, cez deň som sa tam usadil, a pozoroval som ich, keď brali cez to tamtie kravy. Sedel som nohami okolo rohov na sedadle, ako to všetci poznáte, a pozoroval. A lesný správca tam stál a rátal tamten dobytok ako tak cez to išli. On skúmal ten statok.
Bratia, on sa nepozeral príliš veľa na značku; ale čo to bolo za plemeno dobytka. Značka mohla ísť tam; to malo niečo do toho; ale bola to krv kravy. Nezáležalo aká značka bola na tom, ak ona-ak tá krava nebola plnokrvný Hereford, ona do toho lesa nemohla ísť.
68Rozmýšľam, že to je spôsob ako to bude na súde. To nebude či si Ty Cirkev Božia alebo Zbory Božie, to bude Krvné označenie, ktoré bude vyjadrovať odlišnosť. Nezáleží akú značku nosíte, to budú len tí, ktorí sú narodení znovu, tí pôjdu dovnútra.
Pozoroval som hore v tamtých horách. Prišla búrka a ja som sa dostal za strom a stál som tam chvíľu, kým prechádzala búrka. A náhle, potom ako prešla búrka, skryl som sa za strom. To bude chvíľku burácať, potom bude pršať, potom snežiť a potom slnko vyjde a roztaví to, a možno bude pršať znovu.
69 A keď som vyšiel von, ochladilo sa, počas toho času za tým stromom, a slnko zachádzalo na západ. A veľké oko pozeralo od jedného konca ku druhému takto, a dúha prešla cez údolie, kde stála zeleň zamrzla s dažďom. Viete ako mrzne na strome. A slnko oproti tomu, to robí dúhu. A pozeral som sa na ten dážď…
Moja matka… Mojej matky matka vyšla z tejto rezervácie tam hore. A moje obrátenie odo mňa neodobralo tú hlbinu, milujem lesy. A tak som tam stál a začal som plakať. Pomyslel som si, “O, veľký Jehova,” ako som povedal poslednú noc, On viedol moje kroky Jeho okom. Tak potom, tam On sa pozerá. Tam som si pomyslel, “Áno, slnko zomiera na západe; deň sa pominul; dúha predstavuje zmluvu; sme na konci času.” Pozrite sa kdekoľvek, a môžete vidieť Boha, ak sa len pozriete trochu dookola. Môžete Ho vidieť v bratovi, ktorého nemáte tak príliš radi, ak sa len pozriete. Môžete Ho vidieť v organizácii, ktorú nemáte radi, ak sa len poobzeráte dookola. To je všetko. On tam bude, len sa neznepokojujte.
70A potom som to pozoroval a začal som plakať. Za niekoľko chvíľ som počul starého sivého vlka zavýjajúceho na vrchole hory. Jeho družka odpovedala dolu na úpätí. Viete, Dávid povedal, „Keď hlbina volá hlbinu...“ Hlbina začína volať hlbinu. Počul som starého býka trúbiť. Búrka ich oddelila. Cez veľké množstvo vetra, padajúce drevo, črieda sa musela rozísť. Oni trúbili jeden druhému, aby sa dostavili znovu pospolu.
Družka volala vlka, „Poďme znovu spolu.“ Oko volalo na dúhu, „Poďme znovu pospolu.“ Duch volá Cirkev, „Poďme znovu pospolu. Spojme sa.“ Boh bol tam.
71A pokiaľ som tam stál v uctievaní, ó, behal som okolo a okolo toho stromu tak rýchlo ako som len mohol, uľaviť moje pocity, kričiaci z plného hrdla, kymácajúc mojou rukou. Oni si mohli myslieť, že som náboženský fanatik („holy-roller“), určite, ak by ma niekto videl. Ale... Alebo možno som bol pomätený, bežiac okolo a okolo toho stromu. Ale ja som uctieval Boha. Vidím Ho, všetko volá, hlbina volá z hlbiny, ako Duch teraz, volajúci do Cirkvi, volajúci do Tela, „Poďme spolu. Buďme spolu. Slnko zapadá. Je neskoršie než si myslíte, poďme spolu.“ [Proroctvo je dané - pozn.prekl.] Amen?
Kde Duch hovoril? Keď dúha, slnko volalo dúhu, keď vlk volal svoju družku, keď los volal svoju družku. Ježiš volá svoju manželku, Cirkev. Boh vás žehnaj, bratia. Som tu plece ku plecu s vami na tróne Božom pomôcť vám ako len môžem. Som váš brat.
1 Thank you, Brother Vayle. And I want to say, good morning, to each and every one of you here. And it's certainly a--a grand privilege of being here in this Chattanooga area again to place my a part of my ministry in the help of you brethren to continue the work that's already been established by our Lord Jesus, to build upon this principle. And we're enjoying this meeting. Long has it lived in my heart, the last meeting that we were here together. And much water's went down the river since then; many things has been done; many battles has been fought and won for our Lord.
2 And this morning it's such a wonderful thing to be here at the table with you men and women, you, fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, brothers and sisters of like precious faith. And you're aware that I'm not a speaker. I just love to say what I can for His glory, knowing if I have a voice, I want to use what I have got for His glory. And I wish I was a speaker as Brother Vayle, and many of you people; but God never called me for that. I was called for another type of ministry. And we are... I wouldn't try to take Brother Vayle's place or your place. It'd be just as hard for me to take his place, probably, as for him to take my place. So we just abide in our calling and do what we can for the great Kingdom of God.
3 Now, I'm glad to be back down in the good old south again. You know, there's something about the southern states that I like. I was borned on this soil down here, you know, so there's something about it, like coming back home. And I get way up in the north, they say, "Hey, say, fellow, you must be from the south."
I thought I spoke English until I went to England. I needed an interpreter in England worse than anywhere I ever was at. Every time I'd speak they'd say, "What part of Texas you from?" I just couldn't make out. But when they talked, "Way down here," you know, that real far...
4 I went to the corner one time in London. I was going down to find the Westminster Abbey. I'm not a mimic by a long ways, but I'm going to try to impersonate something. There was a gentleman standing on the corner with a cane over his arm, a regular English Cockney. And I said, "How do you do, sir?" He, looking over his glasses, spoke to me. And I said, "Could you tell me how to get to the Westminster Abbey?"
Frowned a little bit, looked at me; he said, "Certainly, ole chappie," he said, "you go three blowks this way, you turn three blowks that way, go straight ahead," said, "you cawn't miss it."
5 Brother David duPlessis is about the only one would understand that here, I guess, this morning. Oh, I knew I wasn't a--wasn't very much on the English. But I enjoyed being with men everywhere because they're creatures of God.
And now, to try to, as usually on a Christian Business Men's breakfast, I usually kind of preach a little bit to those fellows. And I... But now, before ministers I wouldn't try that. See? But I just want to read some Scripture. Because every gathering we are supposed to read the Scriptures and so forth. I think that the...
6 And back in the early days when they used to meet, they broke bread, took the communion every time they met. And I like that too. 'Course, we're out of that practice. But I like to read just a portion of His Word, where that if we don't get nothing else but this, this will be fine. It's found last commission of our Lord. And a man's last will should be the--the one that's sufficient. And here's what He said to His Church, the last words as He left the world, found in Mark the 16th chapter, 14th verse beginning.
After He appeared unto the eleven as they set at meat, and upbraided them of their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen.
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;... he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
If they... take up serpents; or if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So... after--after the Lord had--had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and set on the right hand of God.
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them,... confirming the Word with signs following. Amen.
7 This is known as the--the great commission. It was the last words that our Lord spoke. And the first time He sent out His disciples in Matthew 10, we find that He gave them a commission to go heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: as freely as you have received, freely give. And the last commission He give, to go into all the world, just continue as they did at the first: heal the sick, and lay hands on the sick, and cast out devils.
And it's a privilege for me, brethren, to stand with men like you, shoulder-to-shoulder, in this great fight.
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]...?... world called Christianity, and take my position by your side as a one who believes that that commission is still just as essential as it was the hour it was given. And in this great field that we're in, we find many times, that we come with the order of different denomination, no, phases of--of the Scripture. Some of them will... Christ's commission here was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel.
8 Now, the Gospel doesn't only consist of the Word only, but through the power and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. 'Cause the only way that it could be done, for these signs to follow, would be the Word to take Life. So it would have to be the Holy Spirit that would give Life in the Word to produce these signs. You brethren believe that.
Then after leaving the Baptist church and coming over with my Pentecostal brethren, because I seen that they had something, they believe this. And--but I found different denominations. First, first group I found was what many 'termines as, as many of you brethren, perhaps of the same denomination here this morning, Oneness. Well, that's what I thought they called them Pentecost for. Well then, I met some fine men.
9 It wasn't long after that till I found there was another group. And they were called the Trinitarian. Then I found another group called the Jesus Only. Then they found the different factions like the Assemblies of God, and the Church of God, and the Church in Prophecy, all these.
Now, here's what I want to explain to you brethren. See? I would not dare, in any means, to try to start something new. I believe that you brethren, and your father, back in the early days when they went forth with this blessing forty years ago when I was a baby in my mother's arms... You never went forth under some little emotional mental work-up; you went forth with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And you founded something; you've laid down a foundation. God forbid that I'd be one man to try to build on any other foundation. If God laid that foundation, we build on that foundation because I believe it's founded in the Word of God.
10 Therefore, that's the reason today that I don't belong to the different groups or take sides with either one. I'm not here to take sides with groups; I'm here for on a principle I'm standing for. And that principle is the Kingdom of God. The Church of God building on this principle of it here, here's Assemblies of God over here, and the Oneness in here, and different ones, how the groups are arranged around the interdenominationals. But it's all, should be, and I believe it is, built principally upon Christ. So that's the reason I don't take sides with the groups. Is to say, "I will be a Church of God." That would be fine. I'd just as soon belong to the Church of God, as the Assemblies. And I'd as soon belong to the Assemblies, as I would the Oneness, or whatever it is. It doesn't matter to me. But there's one great storehouse, one great principle; that's Christ.
11 And that's why I stood with you brethren in this manner, that I could shoulder side-by-side with you, and help you bear the burden, and stand the reproach with you with a joy in my heart to know that I took sides with what I think is right, based upon the Scripture. And when I come to the city, that's the reason I like to come on the interdenominational scale, that everybody's welcome, every person and every--every one, we... That's the way we like it.
And if a man's got to work, if he's--if he's a denomination or independent, as long as he's building on Christ I'm shoulder-to-shoulder with him. If he's a Methodist, or a Baptist, I'll... or a Presbyterian, or a Lutheran, whatever it is, I want to shoulder with him anyhow.
12 And may I drop this little thing to you brethren, as I know you're different denominations. I think, I've never talked like this to a group of people, but in this locality here, you... And--and throughout the--the nation it's becoming now. If the devil can keep us separated, he--he's got us shooting at one another, so he--he--he's got a open target anywhere he wants to shoot. And what's the use of shooting, we're shooting one another? See, see? So he can just set back and relax.
But did you ever... Let me just give you... If I have found grace in your sight through God, you take my word for this, brethren. If you want to be a blessing, and get a blessing, when a man has done you wrong, and he has absolutely justly, he... I mean he has done you wrong and you know that he's done you wrong; he's done you evil. Don't mention that; you take him to prayer before God. And don't take it in a way of just a selfish and say, "Well, I'm supposed to do this." But stand with your shoulder to his shoulder, and stand in the Presence of God our Father, way a prayer should be made in the Presence of God, say, "Father, here's my brother, and he--he is justly; he deserves punishment because he has--he's done me evil. And I don't see why he did it."
13 Then let God go to talking to you. And you'll see maybe, what that man's been through. The devil has twisted him up somewhere and caused him to do that. Though he's absolutely wrong, before you leave the throne of God you'll be feeling sorry for that man. You'll be sympathizing with that brother. And when you get back down to where--earth again, you'll go over to that brother and shake his hand, 'cause you know what he's been through. You can't stand with a mortal in the Presence of God and condemn anybody, I don't believe, no, sir, even if he is a rank sinner.
And what about a brother that has made a mistake? Though I say he's wrong. Sometimes he's accused wrong when he's not wrong. But if he is wrong, well, if we will take him to the throne of God, stand there shoulder-to-shoulder with our brother, knowing he's a mortal, and maybe his destination rests upon our attitude towards him, when we come back from the throne of God, we'll realize that we're every one guilty, and we all need help one from the other. And the best way to do is pray.
14 Now, these great principles, the great Church of the living God, if it wouldn't, if... It wouldn't have to say, "Now, we'll all belong to this organization or that one." If they would unite in heart, one accord, there'd be a revival strike this world like it's never seen. If the people who has the Pentecostal experience would just unite in heart together, let their denominations run any way they want to... What difference does these little frictions and so forth, it's just the devil trying to keep the great Church in a turmoil all the time. After all, in Acts 10:35 it's written that God's no respect of person or nation, but He--He has honor for those who serve God and do righteous. See? We--we know that's true. God respects the person that's got...
15 In the ministry I--I think this morning, that it would be good for me to say this, to show you what an effect it has. The American people, you brethren, are in the hardest field there is anywhere. I've been in Africa, India, through, oh, practically the world over. But I--I have never seen a field so hard to battle as here, America. This needs missionaries worse than anywhere I ever seen in all my life. For an educated heathen is harder to deal with than an uneducated heathen. Heathen is an unbeliever. And you have that. And you've got a battle here... The missionary may have a lot of stuff to contend with, malaria, and ameba, and so forth like that. But he don't have the demon spirits to deal with, I mean those demons that's got into culture-minded men. Oh, you talk about something hard to deal with.
16 Recently I had a breakfast with a bunch of ministers. And I say this with respect, brethren. I would've rather had a breakfast with a bunch of witch doctors (Now, that sounds horrible to say.) than these men. I would've had a better reception, I'd have had a more an agreeing spirit with a bunch of witch doctors, many times, than I would with that bunch of ministers. Such a horrible thing, God deliver us from such.
We are so intellectual. Everything is moved away from the Spirit; it's the Word; it's Word; it's Word. God, I... Sure, I believe in the Word. But if the Spirit don't agree with the Word, then you got something mixed up somewhere.
17 Look at when Cain, he was just as religious as and just as much with the Word as Abel was. It was a revelation that made the difference. They both worshipped; they both brought sacrifices. They both built a altar. They both belonged to church. They both were sincere. They both worshipped. So if God ought to respect sincerity and fundamentalism, why didn't He respect Cain? But through revelation Abel, being just, by revelation, no Scriptures in them days, God had revealed it to him that it wasn't fruit, apples and oranges taken us out of the garden of Eden; it was blood, the life.
18 On their journey, the children of Israel, they come up against the children of Moab. Moab, the land of Moab was not infidelic; they believed in the same God that Israel believed in. And they were all organized together, tightly, great nation. Israel dwelt in tents that had no nation. I don't say this to be rude now; I say it for a point. Israel more like a interdenominational, it had no land of its own, as yet. And it was moving up.
They asked permission to pass through their brother's land. And what did they get? Turned down. And they had Balaam come out and build his altar, seven altars. He... You notice he put seven clean sacrifices on it, bullocks. And he also put seven rams, speaking of Christ's coming. And down in the camp of Israel was just this same sacrifice.
19 So fundamentally Moab was just as fundamental as Israel was. But the thing that they failed to see is what the world's failing to see today. And their prophet up there failed to see it. Balaam thought, surely, that a holy God would condemn a people like that. But he failed to see that smitten Rock, that brass serpent, and the Pillar of Fire, the signs and wonders. God has always dwelt with people. Where God was, signs and wonders taken place. It's always been.
That's the way they look at the Pentecostal church today. Oh, they're all bunched up; they're this, that, and the other. But who isn't? Tell me one church that isn't. Look at our Baptist church; look at the denominations, and offsprings the Free Baptist, a hard shell Baptist, Primitive Baptist, thirty some odd different sections of them, just as bad as Pentecostal. And they fuss and fight with one another the same way. Look at the Methodist church, even the Catholic church, any of them.
20 But what they failed to see... They climb onto you brethren a lot of time, because the newspapers. You make a mistake. Let one of our brother make a mistake and do something immorally. Watch; the newspapers across the country will spread it just as hard as they can. That's the devil. But let one of these other ministers do it, it hushed down.
But on the books of Heaven it's just the same. That's right. The reason I take my shoulders with you brethren, there's a shout of the King in the camp. There's signs and wonders following these people. They make their mistakes, and they get a lot of isms, and a lot of nonsense. You know that brethren, you... We might as well face it. That's right. We got a lot of things that goes on of impersonations and so forth, that isn't right, but there's a real thing there too. That's right.
21 When Jesus came, He was just as fundamental as the Pharisees. The Pharisees couldn't believe it. But Jesus was fundamental. But there was signs and wonders following His ministry. Where the Pharisees had the Word just the same as He had, the same Word. But it's a spiritual revelation. Jesus witnessed to it when He come off the mountain, and He said, "Who does men say I, the Son of man am?" One said Elisha, and one said it was a prophet, and so forth. He said, "But who do you say?"
And Peter said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
Now, the Catholic church says that Peter was the rock, and upon this rock the church is built. The Protestant church says it was upon Jesus, the Rock. Not to be different, let them believe what they wish to, as long as it's on Christ, but I--I different from both views. I believe that it was not upon Peter that the Church was built, neither was it upon Christ the Church was built, but it was upon the spiritual revelation that He was the Christ. See, see?
22 "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you (some seminary, some school, some theology, some intellectual)... "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven; upon this Rock I'll build My Church," the spiritual revelation, not by Word, not by denomination, not by creed, not by so forth, but upon spiritual revelation that Jesus is the Christ, "I'll build My Church."
Now, you might believe that in your mind, when you believe that in the heart you got Eternal Life. Jesus said in Saint John 5:24: "He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me, has Eternal Life." Take that word Eternal and see what it means. Run it back in the Greek; you will find it Zoe, God's own Life. You got Immortal Life in you, because why? You have believed on Him being the only begotten Son of God and accepted Him as your personal Saviour. Not by intellectual, but by a birth, how God has brought it down and revealed it to you by spiritual revelation.
23 Faith cometh by hearing. Faith is hearing, when you hear it. But faith isn't the thing. For instance, I'm here; I'm starving to death, and I ask you for--for a loaf of bread, and you give me twenty-five cents. That's the purchase power of a loaf of bread. Now, I can rejoice just as much with the twenty-five cents as I could with a loaf of bread. But yet, it's not the loaf of bread. It's not the loaf of bread. But I can be happy with it. I'll keep the twenty-five cents, knowing, "Thank you, sir, my life shall now be saved." But I haven't got the bread. You get what I mean? See? By faith you are saved, but it's a revelation of Christ that brings the results. You get what I mean? See? That's what I'm speaking of.
24 That's what the world's hungering for. And the reason that the rest of the world isn't coming into the Pentecostal belief as we have it, is because it's our own attitude towards one another. That's truth, brethren. It's because of our indifference to each other. They see one talking against the other one, one against the other one, and this against that, and this denomination. They're scared of it.
I don't know what the solution is. I've tried it. One wants... If this group will sponsor it, well, the rest of them have nothing to do with it. You can imagine what a--what a position it puts me in. And I say, "Well, if I let this one, the other one won't. Then they won't come together." So I thought, "Well, I'll just go without any of them. I'll go anyhow." That's wrong. I found that to be wrong. Because in--in India I had the same thing, where I guess twice the conversions that happened in Africa, at one altar call. But there was no one there to sponsor it, so where did they go? Back to the temples of Buddha and so forth. You've got to recognize these organizations, and these places where they got the missions and so forth, to bring your convert to, and these churches throughout the country.
25 So you see what a predicament it puts me in when I try to stand independent? Oral Roberts told me that one time. See? He belongs to the Pentecostal Church of God, I believe, or Pentecostal Holiness Church of God, something, one of those. Anyhow, see, he's represented with a church, where I stand free from the church, and yet with the Church. I'm with the Church, the real, the Body of Christ through every denomination, trying to pull us together. I wanted to explain that to you so that you brethren would understand.
And now, if you go into a place and have a group of converts, just go and set a meeting up, say, "Here I am." The people will come. That's right. "Where the carcass is, the eagles will be gathered." But what if the--they become converts, then who's going to take them, who's there to catch it? Who's there to conserve that, or reserve that what you have already caught with the Gospel net? Who's going to pick up the fish? If they're laying on the bank, they'll perish. Somebody's got to be there to do that. So you just... I can't work without you, brethren.
26 Oh, if they could all be one in heart, and for the same principle, and just tear down the little differences... Right here in this city today, Billy Graham can come to this city, and he will start off down at this little tabernacle full of fifteen, twenty thousand, perhaps, or around, within the amount of time that I been here. Why? Because they get themselves together; they're in one accord.
If they can do that by the letter, how much more should we do it by the Spirit? See? If a--if a brother... If Oral Roberts, if some of the other brethren, would come to the city, let's go behind it. It's our duties to stand by our brethren. See? It's right. And then what does that do? It shows to the public.
If we don't, then what does it do to the public? You see, there... "Look at them, here, they got this guy in here." See? See what I mean? That's what takes place.
27 Now, the effects of a revival can long be felt if... And it'll-- it'll benefit the whole Church of God. If--if we had hundred converts tonight, and one went to each one of you brother's churches (See?), whatever it was, that's not just affecting only your church, your church, and your church, but it's affecting the Kingdom of God through each one of these places.
There's where I'm trying to build for, is here. Down here it doesn't matter to me what... If they want to be baptized this a way and that way, how the... What difference does that make anyhow? God give you the Holy Ghost with your peculiarities; He give me the Holy Ghost with my peculiarities. And God gives those the Holy Ghost who obeyed Him. Now, who obeyed Him? See? There you are. See?
28 We just draw these little straws and things, and that's just what the devil wants. But I believe, my brethren, that there is coming an hour that when a real rank persecution will run us together. Then we will be one, the Church will come together. I believe it's all in the making of God, after painting this picture to you.
When--when Solomon's temple was built, it was cut out all over the world. And one block was sawed this way and one that way. But when they come together, every stone went to its place without a sound of a hammer or the buzz of a saw. And it was the Church of the living God.
29 And I believe that through the Church of God of Prophecy and the other great church, the Lee College, or whichever it is here, and through you Assembly brethren, through you independent brethren, and through you Oneness brethren, and through all of you, that God's cutting out stones. And someday that Master Stone, that rejected Stone... When the Church got so far up, they found out they'd cut--had a freak stone; they couldn't find no place it'd fit. But they come to find out that was the Chief Cornerstone. And I think, brethren, that one of these days, we're going to realize that Chief Cornerstone is the love of God, Christ, in our hearts, that'll bind every one of us together as one. Then the great Church will be capped over and God will take It to glory.
30 In the services I might give you just a little view of some things a happening so that you can see where our Lord God, the great Shepherd of the flock, how He does move in miraculous ways. I said this this morning so that you brethren could understand. If someone says, "Is Brother Branham Assembly? Is he a Oneness?" Yeah, I'm Assembly. I'm a Oneness. I'm a Church of God. I'm a Pilgrim Holiness. I'm a Nazarene. I--I--I--I belong to Christ, which all of you belong to. You see? And so, I--I do belong to each one of your--of you brethren. We're--we're brothers together. See? And now, that's the way we want to live; that's the way we want to act. That's..
31 In your family, your own children, there's hardly two of them that'll agree with one another, but they are the same family; sure, they are. They might different in features; they might different in appetite; they might different in every way, but yet they're one family. And we're the family of Christ. I'm not trying to say, "Jimmy, I'm with you. John, I'm against you." I'm saying, "Jimmy and John, we're both in the same family." You see what I mean? We're all working together on this farm to make a living for the family.
Now, that's the way I stand. If anybody happened to ask you, any time, you just let that be known, brethren. I'm having an awful time, awful struggle; it sure is. But I've got a hope that someday our blessed Lord will come.
And the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair;
And when His chosen Ones (Church of God, Assemblies, and all...)
When the chosen ones shall gather to their Home beyond the skies,
When the roll's called up yonder, I'll be there.
32 And--and I--I'll--I'll be there with you brethren, one heart, one accord, never to be apart no more. That's the day we're laboring for.
How much time we got? [Someone answers, "However much you want to take."--Ed.] I just... Let me have this other ten minutes. [A brother says, "You go right ahead."--Ed.] just for a testimony. Is it all right, brethren, you all in too big a hurry? [They confirm for Brother Branham to go ahead--Ed.]
I like to tell you a little experience somewhere, of something happening. Just along in the meeting, I--I don't not like to make the--tell these things in the meeting, because it might sound personally. You brethren are--are men here; you--you understand. See?
33 The meeting in India not long ago, I want to tell you the infallibility of visions. And in... I'd had a vision recently of going over to India and into Africa. And the Lord had told me; He said, "You go to Africa first, then up to India." And through some mix-ups and so forth, the manager said to me... I don't want to refer as manager. I never say to Brother Vayle, being manager. We've got one manager; that's the Holy Spirit. See? Brother Vayle's my associate; he's my brother. He just happens to be making the arrangements for the meetings and helping me along. And he's no more manager of my meetings than I am of yours or you... The rest of you are the same. We're just all one great big family and one big Body. We're not one above the other one; we're all just the same; we're a unit of God working together.
34 And I wrote the vision immediately after I'd--I had the vision that morning. And then when the manager, as we call him that for the time being, had made an arrangements to go into India. And he--he didn't kinda like Africa very much. So he said to me in Chicago; he said, "Brother Branham, let's just bypass Africa and go on to India."
I said, "That is up to you, brother; wherever the Lord wants me to labor, all right."
I feel that, brethren, and like in here. Whether we have... I would rather be down here in this meeting with five people attending in that six thousand auditorium, and be in the will of God, than to have the place turning away five thousand every night, and be out of the will of God. See? The main thing is do the will of God, whether it's small, or whether it's great, whatever it is.
35 I just held a revival in a church that held twenty people, a revival. I don't have any television; I don't have any programs to sponsor or anything. People just pay the expense, and that's all there is to it. See, see? And so I don't want any of those things. If I do, I am obligated.
You think our dear Brother Oral Roberts, which is my bosom friend and a real man of God, do you think that Oral Roberts could come to a place and hold a meeting for two or three days in a church that held twenty people, when it takes about seven or eight thousand dollars a day for him to thrive? Certainly, he couldn't. He would like to, but he can't do it. He's under such an obligation. Now, I haven't got the brains to do what he's doing, and God knows that, so He lets Oral do that. He just keeps me this way where I can... See, i--i--if we just--if we just realize what--what our--are limited what we can do. So then, I don't have to have money, so that's... There you are. See? I can go anywhere He sends me.
36 If He wants me to go to Africa and preach to a hundred thousand people, He will produce the money. He's got all of it anyhow, so I don't have to ask for it, so He just gives it to me. If He wants me to go down to--to the old saint of Timbuktu, Gravel Switch, or somewhere, you know, and preach to ten people, amen. I'll just go and stay till He tells me it's over. So that's the way... I--I try to live that way. And I don't not have nothing, no programs to support, nor nothing. See?
Now, I am not saying... See, now that is my part. Now, Brother Oral Roberts, God give him something else to do. And Brother A. A. Allen, and many of those other brethren, who has great radio broadcast and things, they've got to have money. I help support them myself. See? I do all that I can, because I realize that's my brother. I couldn't fwil--fill his place, and I--I'm kind of glad that I don't not have to. See? Because I haven't got the mental powers to work those things out, and so I just stay the way I am. You... As Congressman Upshaw used to say, "You can't be nothing that you haint." So that's right. And the quicker we realize that, the better off we'll be.
You just be what you are. God wants you the way He made you. And just keep that in mind, and be just what... If it's a doormat, be a doormat. I want to be the best doormat He ever had, if--if I have to be the doormat. Or whatever it is in the House of God, let me serve my office the best that I can for Him.
37 Now, so in Africa, He didn't want to go. And I said, "All right, we won't go." Then, on the road back I went to my room. And when I did, there was a Light hanging there at the door. He said, "You go to Africa like I said." I called brother back in a few minutes and said, "We're going to Africa."
I waited for a year, and finally how I done it I don't know, but another way come up. I found my road on my way back to India. When I--I meet--met Lisbon, Portuguese, where I was to have a meeting there and go on over and had a healing service right in the shadows of the Vatican city in Rome... But while I was in Portuguese, I fell sick; I didn't know why. I was out with the Governor, and I was having some fish. And they cook it in olive oil, and, my, I was really sick. I was trying to be gentleman to eat it, but I tell you, I was white around the mouth; I was so sick, that old fish, and it cooked in olive oil. So and he said, "Brother Branham, you look a bit ill."
And I said, "I feel the same way."
38 So when I went down to my hotel room, a doctor come up after while. Honest, I--I'm not trying to make remarks, but he had a pill there as big as the box, top of that thing, and wanted me to swallow it. I said, "Doctor, I--I wouldn't give that to my saddle horse." I said, "It's so... Why, you couldn't get it down your throat." I never seen such a pill in my life. And I said, "Can I break it apart?"
He said, "No, swallow it."
And I said, "Well, just a minute till this sickness wears off." I waited till he got out and throwed the thing away. So then, but he was a--a nice man. And--and we talked a lot on the Lord Jesus, him being a Catholic. So, but we talked about the Lord.
39 And then, while I was--got so sick that night, Billy stood by me, and the rest of them had left me there. And I said, "Billy, I don't think I can make it till morning." And I was just so sick. I just--just couldn't--I couldn't breathe no more. I was so sick, my breath would not even come hardly, had to force my breath, and that way all night.
And the next morning I started into the bathtub to take a... bathroom to get in one of those big tubs, a towel twice size of these tables. And--and so I was going to take a--a bath. There hung that Light hanging there. And it said, "Didn't I tell you to go to Africa first?" I fell on my face and begin weeping. Then I said, "Lord, I--I just let me go somewhere and get me a little cabin out in the mountains, and trap, and hunt like I've always wanted to. I--I couldn't be Your servant; I--I haven't not even got the--the mental powers to serve You." I said, "I--I forgot all about that." And I wrote it down and got it. I thought I had it in my pocketbook now, but I haven't, but I've got it on paper.
40 Well, I went on. He told me to go on up to India, which I did. And then when I come back thinking, for four years now, that I disobeyed the Lord. And when I... Looking on that vision wrote out, which I've read it hundreds of times. The vision said that I would go to India first, and then back to Africa. But He told me to go to Africa first and then to India, showing that God knew that I would fail Him, but His Word, what He said, can't fail. The vision actually reads that I would go to Africa first, or to India first and then back to Africa. That's where I'm on my road to now, just as soon as I can get through with about twenty or thirty meetings I got between now and July, and we go to Africa. Brother, our dear Brother David duPlessis there, has been over, and talking to the brethren and so forth, to get together.
41 In India, I'd like to quote the meeting though, just how--what taken place. When we went in there, there was no unity, brethren all separated. One church had sponsored me, and the rest of them wouldn't come in with it 'cause they didn't like that church. See, there you are.
And literally, there's four hundred and seventy million people in India. And Christianity is the weakest religion they got, Christianity. With Catholic and all, we rate about third or fourth place. The Mohammedan is twice or three times our size. That's including all Christianity.
42 And when I got there, because this one church, their principle was, "Sell India to India; we need not the missionary; we need not the Americans." When I landed at Bombay, there stood the Methodist bishop and many of the--the great men standing there. Said, "Mr. Branham, you coming to India; don't you come here as a missionary." Said, "We know more about the Bible than you Yankees ever did know." Now no critical, not critical, but that's the truth. This is an oriental Book; it's not a western Book; it's an eastern book. When you get the eastern view of It, you found a new Book. That's right.
Said, "We had the Bible two thousand years before you was a nation." That's right. Saint Thomas went down there. Saint Thomas church, I was at it when we was there. Sure, they've had the Bible two thousand years nearly before we was a nation. And we got a--a western thought, trying to make it compare with an, eastern, which is just contrary one to another. All the parables and things the Bible... If you ever come in there and just find their--the way they live, you can see the Bible just open up a new Book to you. Because It's an eastern Book wrote in an eastern way of living. And we're a western people in a western way of living.
43 If the Lord willing, this week when I start preaching, I want to preach, "When the East and West Meets." Now, no they wouldn't do it because they didn't like this other church because it wouldn't agree upon our--our brethren. Now, to look at it, I said, "Well, that's right. Let's sell America to America."
The... These the--the Indian people said, "We want to own our own property. We don't want the Methodists, and Baptists, and Pentecostal people over in America to own our property. We want to own it ourself, right here; let us have it." Said, "You brothers come over and visit us." That sounded all right. See?
But for me to be there like that, it wasn't all right. Those missionaries had sweated blood in there for years for the things that they stood for. They died with ameba, and with yellow fever, and black water fever, and everything else in there, to bring the Gospel. Should I turn my back on a thing that a man has established like that for the Kingdom of God? I'm his brother. Certainly not. About their property, who does it belong to anyhow? God, it's exactly right.
44 But in there, for which I did, and they told me that they couldn't cooperate. That night they... That day the mayor of the city took me down to the temple of the Jain. And Jain, Jan, I forget, Jain. And they're a funny sect. They're more on the order Catholic. They taken me in to their pope setting on a pillow. And just show you the tortures they go through. The men and the women set making little mops. They wouldn't kill an ant; they--they can't work; they have to beg everything they get. Four hundred million of those Indians are almost... There's about seventy million of them, I guess, that--that works, and the other, four hundred million is beggars. And they mop the floor as they go, or the ground, to keep from stepping on an ant, because they believe in reincarnation; it might be some of their people. They won't kill nothing, not a fly nor flea. A man operated on his own finger, and he died over it, 'cause he wouldn't not sterilize the knife that he operated on, afraid he would kill a germ; it might be some of his ancestors on the road back.
45 Now, you can see the world living in ignorance like that, and we with the real Gospel and our guns on one another. See what I mean, brethren? Us fussing, whether I should be a Church of God or Assembly of God, I want to be a child of God. That's it. Now, and a servant of God...
Notice, then in that... These men setting there in that condition. They couldn't--they couldn't shave. It was a sin to shave. So they had to pull their beards out and pull their hair out. And to... And oh, the things they had to do, it was terrible.
There this pope set there, as he was. And I heard there's seventeen, I believe there is seven, or eight different ones represented there, and me coming in. Each one of them told me how little I was. Why, those Jains, they said why, they begin before Genesis ever started. And they were so far superior to Christianity. And they have a lot of good points.
Here's what that pope said to me, he said, "You people call yourself religious? And you use all your scientist--all your scientist over there, not to try to help someone, but to create atomic bombs to blow one another to pieces." Was he right or wrong?
46 See, every lie has got a lot of truth in it. That's right. Now, if it's a real lie, just a right, what we call the black lie, or the little white lie... The little white lie is the real lie. You can see the big black lie, but it's that little white one that has got a whole... Like the one that the devil told Eve... See? Just one little thing off the cater, that's what the--our churches are listening to today. They're saying, "Oh, you're right in your principle of baptism; you're right in this; and you're right in that." But he fails to let you know you got to have love for that brother out there. Though he's right or wrong, stand shoulders with him, the Kingdom of God, in the Presence of God.
47 Now, watch this, how God works. And these fellows as they were setting there, and then I felt like, after they'd all spoke, or several of them had spoke, I felt like I'd be a traitor to Christ if I didn't say something. And I stood up; I said, "Gentlemen..." I couldn't call them brethren, they wasn't. I said, "How could you ever accept the Blood sacrifice for your sins and won't kill a flea?" I said, "How could you do it?" I said, "Blood is the antidote. Blood was the one what brought us from the garden of Eden. In the blood cell is life."
It was life, perverted life that brought us to death. It'll take that same blood cell breaking to bring us back to life again. This is a perverted life. And I want you to... Brethren, no matter how well you try to patch up, and how well you try to do this, and how clean you try to live, and how righteous you try to live, it'll never work. This life in the beginning was condemned by God. And it ain't to be patched up; it's to die and to be borned again. It's got to be a birth. There's no other way around it. See?
48 Not be better, join church, quit your meanness, you can do all of that and still not have Eternal Life. See? You can join church; you can belong to a denomination; you can live just as straight as a die; those Pharisees did, and Jesus said, "You're of your father, the devil." See?
We're trying to put it on works all the time, something we can do, something we can build, some... God don't need our buildings; God needs our soul.
And there in that time, that night when... I said, "Let God speak, the One that's God tonight." And in the platform... Now, that you... I'm doing this, saying this so that you brethren would see the confidence you can have in God.
49 In that meeting that night when they started, there was Rajahs on pillows, and there was the Mohammedans, and the Buddhas, and it taken me better than two and a half hours to even get to the stand where I was going to preach. The mayor estimated that if I stayed the three days, or the five days I was supposed to stay, that it to be five hundred thousand outside people in Bombay. They'd heard; they'd come.
And I thought, "Well, if these preachers don't want to cooperate, let them alone then." But I made a mistake. I should've turned and come back till I got cooperation. Because that night when we went to the meeting... You couldn't give out prayer cards; there's no way of doing it. So we had the militia to kind of bring up one at a time. And then they...
50 There's thousands times thousands and thousands of thousands of people, who's going to be the first in the prayer line, people that you can't even talk to? But then when the Holy Spirit begin to reveal to them, and begin to tell them, I'd see who--what there was, spell their name out, I couldn't even pronounce it. The place...
Then I could feel coming in by the Holy Spirit, that it was--they was thinking it was a telepathy. So I thought, "Lord, If You'll just give grace." About three or four had passed, a leper passed, had no arm, and--and I took him in my arms and begin to love him. He just wept when he seen that somebody cared for him. The world's dying for love, brothers. Now, you take your brother in your arms, see if it don't make things a little different. See? That same love that worked on a leper will work on your brother that you think is wrong. That's right, now.
51 And he... I took him in my arms, and he--he cried. And about the second after, that was a blind man. There'd been another blind man went through, told him who he was, where he come from, and everything. I said, "The Lord God has healed you, brother. Years ago He died for you and your healing is secured. If you just believe it now, go on and get well." Two or three of the lepers had passed through; only thing I saw was who they were and what was--was... I didn't say no more. That's all I say, is what I can see, and I just quit saying.
Then this one come through come through, a blind man. It told him who he was, said, "You're a beggar. You got two children, you got a wife; she's a thin woman," told what her name was, and her given name. That was all right. And then when I started to pass him on through, a vision broke. Now, that's when the Lord is speaking. The other is what the man was doing himself. That's what you see on the platform. It's you doing it, not me. It's your own faith's a doing it.
52 Now, then when that broke, I looked and I seen the man standing before me. He looked a little grayer than what he was there, and he could see; his eyes was open, and he was rejoicing and talking to people. That's the keynote. There it was. I thought, "O God, there it is."
How that there's no way, brethren... We're eternity bound people, and we're going to stand in His Presence together one of these days. I mean face to face with Him. There's no way to explain it. When you know that it's going to happen, there it is. I've never seen it one time ever fail.
The other day, Waterloo, after that bunch of ministers so against me, and I was praying. I thought, "Lord, here I am in a predicament I don't know what to do," hundreds of people setting there just as cold as it could be standing there. And of a sudden I heard something. I thought It was an airplane coming in the roof. I looked around at Doctor Vayle, and he was looking at the organ, he thought the--the woman had reversed the organ air. You come to find out, it was electric organ. And here It was coming from above like a roar. And It come down, my coat begin shaking. It swept out over the building; the people just turned white and fell backward with their heads back like that. A rushing like a wind, only It wasn't a wind, It was a sound: the Holy Spirit moving through the building shake, and we got It on tape.
53 And I thought, "The great Holy Spirit doesn't misbehave Himself anyway," I thought, "I've never seen Him do nothing but what was in the Scripture." And when I went home, I begin praying, "Lord, where--where would this be if the Holy Spirit acted like that?" In Saint John 12 we see where our Lord was praying and some of them said when the Father spoke back to Him, said, "It thundered."
God still lives, brethren. And we're looking for something a way out yonder, when we got it right now. This is it. Don't let it pass over you like it has through the ages, like it did in the days of John the Baptist. They didn't know who he was. People don't know what this Holy Ghost is. It's not something to organize an organization over. Which I'm not criticizing that, brethren, It's not something to fuss about; It's something to love and to worship. It's not to separate yourselves from one another; It's to bring one another together. We're using It as a tool, not to better the Kingdom of God, when we make ourselves different from each other, we got to make ourselves together with this. Then the real Holy Spirit will bring that to us brethren. It's just got to; It's--It's Christ's own love for us.
54 And notice, to that--to the Indian meeting. There was the man. I seen him standing there like a blue shadow. And when the vision left me, oh, what a feeling, what a feeling. I--I knew then that it would--had to happen. It's got to happen; God said so.
Then I could take the floor; I could be boss then, as it was (Pardon that expression, not me, but the Holy Spirit working, was the Boss.) If God would come today and show me a vision that George Washington is going to be raised from the presidential graveyard, I'd invite the world to come, watch it done. That's exactly right. It'll happen, if God said so. How can it fail. I'm forty-eight years old; I've seen visions since I was just a little boy of two, and never one time has It failed. To me It's God.
55 If I can't get the world to see it, what difference, they never seen it in any age. But God's just; He sends it anyhow. That He... Then when it's all over, they say, "Well, we didn't know that. Sure enough, did this happen? I didn't know it." Oh yeah, it's always been that way. It's that way today, brethren, you listen. This is the hour; this is the day. You're looking for something out yonder, and the devil trying to place something off out yonder at sometime; you're going to be in the Millennium before you know it; it's at the end time now.
So then when this vision come and the blind man was seeing, then he was still standing there. I said, "Now, to you gentlemen today, that we was in the Jains' temple. "And you all were saying that a--a--you started before Genesis, and how insufficient this God was, and how that all of His disciples did this, that, and the other," so forth. I said, "I know your thoughts. You're thinking that I'm reading telepathy, because this is all you have ever seen is right here. Now, that's what is in your mind." But I said, "Here is a blind man. And the man has just witnessed that he went blind, which the Spirit told him, twenty years ago [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] watching the sun; he worshipped the sun. And he had been blind; his eyes was as white as my shirt." I said, "He has promised to get his sight back again, he will serve the God that gives him his sight. He's willing to change." And I said, "You Mohammedan here, you are the greatest in number, [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... to come here and give this man back his sight." There you are.
56 I wouldn't have said that for nothing, brethren, if God hadn't said so first, you see, the vision. I said, "Now, come and give him his sight." And I said, "You Buddha worshippers, I challenge the priest of the Buddha to come, give him his sight. Or you Jains, that we was in the temple today, I challenge any of you priests to come, give him his sight. And he will worship the God that gives him his sight."
Oh, brother, it was a quiet bunch; certainly it was. I said, "What--what could you do? You'd tell him he was wrong in worshipping the sun. He's worship..." And I said, "I believe he's wrong. He's worshipping the creat--creation instead of the Creator." See? I said, "I believe he was wrong." I said, "What would you Mohammedans do if you changed him? You'd only change his way of thinking. What if you Jains took him? You'd change his way of thinking. What if you Buddhas took him? You'd change his way of thinking." That's right: psychology.
57 But, brethren, I want to ask you something, what more would the Methodist do for him than the Baptist could do? We got the same thing in America; only we got one God we worship. But all the Baptist wants them all to be Meth... Baptists, and wants all the Methodist. And the Pentecostal wants to make them all Pentecostals. Church of God wants them all on their side. The Assemblies wants them all on their side.
What is it? Oh, they got to be baptized, thus, or this, and that, or they got to say certain things, they got... What is it? Psychology. I'm not one to hurt feelings, but, brother, I must be honest. This may be our last time we'll ever... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... It's true. And I said, "We got the same thing in America, just from this church to that church. 'If the Church of God don't treat me right, I'll join the Assemblies. Assemblies don't not treat me right, I'll be a Oneness.'" And there you are. What is it? The same thing, like pagans, heathen; it's true. Anchor yourself in Christ once; stay there. that's right.
58 Then, when I said, "Certainly, you could do no more for him, one from the other, no matter who it would be." But I said, "You can't give him his sight, you Mohammedans, neither can you Jains, and neither can you Buddhas, or any of you, can give him his sight. And neither can I give him his sight." But I said, "The God of heaven, Who raised up His Son Jesus, that you thinking is telepathy, has showed me a vision that the man will receive his sight. And if he doesn't, I'm a false prophet."
"And now if he does, how many of you will raise your hands that you'll forsake your pagan god. You see where your priest is standing? Every one of them, there's silent people, no wonder they're silent. I'd be silent too, if the God of heaven hadn't showed me something just now." I said, "Now, we'll find out whether it's right or not."
59 And everybody was quiet. I got the poor old fellow and pulled him to my bosom. I said, "Lord God, Who made the heavens and earth, as it was in the Bible times, it has returned again. Let it be known today that You're God, and Your Church shall prevail against every gate of hell; it shall be. And many of these men setting here who's labored out here, thinking that these things belonged in another age, let them know that their labors are not in vain. They preached the best that they knowed how under the circumstances, and the things they had to preach by. But now Thou has come on the scene..." (They don't interpret the prayer, of course.)
60 And praying to the Lord, I had him leaning against my bosom. When I took him away, like that, he let out a scream with all of his might; he run and grabbed the mayor of Durban and kissed him. His sight was as good as any man that's in here.
Then what happened? There they was standing there; he fell on his knees; he throwed his hands in the air; he wept, thousands watching him. That man has testified even to the President of India, which up at New Delhi, this coming October if I wish, they got a--a amphitheater up there that I could put a million people in for a united effort all over India.
61 Then I said, "How many of you here will receive Jesus as personal Saviour, you Mohammedans and Buddhas and so forth?" Their hands went up everywhere, everywhere. And they made a rush; they took--pulled my shoes off. They tore my... I was over an hour getting out of it, shredded clothes, five or six lines, could not hold them back. They'd run under their legs and everything. Indians are superstitious; they want to touch you or something like that, a trying to get in. Mother's even throwing their babies to try to get through to touch. I had to leave the city the next day because they couldn't hold them any longer, was no place to put them.
62 Jesus said, "Go, preach the Gospel." That's right. We built around schools, organization, education. Nothing against it, that's all right, nothing against it, but He said, "Preach the Gospel." He never said, build churches. He never said, build organizations. He never said, build schools. He never said, have seminaries. He said, "Preach the Gospel." We turn around and done something else. That's the reason the heathen's in the shape they are today. That's the reason these things are. But, my brethren, or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob, still lives today. That's right. He's the same God.
It reminds me of one little thing I'll tell you. I've got to go then, if you have just--just a couple of minutes.
63 As everybody knows, I like to hunt. There's brother setting here from northern British Columbia; one day I come out of the mountains, with whiskers about that long, and they're turning gray. There was big old slouch hat pulled down, overalls, and hadn't had a bath for over two weeks, and--and had twenty-one head of horses. And I guess I smelt worse than the horses did, been not taking a bath, and dirty, and sweating. And I'd been bear hunting up in the mountains. How the experiences that I had with God there will live with me till I die, be alone.
I was in a little place where they had a--a store, just about the size of half of this room; they had everything there though. A young woman there, about thirty years old, had never seen a city in her life, in her life, so far back. I guess the first real hardtop road would be Edmonton, about Edmonton. That'd be four, five hundred miles away. [Someone speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.] Yes. Be about two hundred miles, I guess. Two hundred miles to a hardtop road. And then you leave that, then you got another one, a long stretch of it, way up at East Pines, northern British Columbia.
64 Standing back there, I was trying to pull the...?... on the horses and tighten up the... A man come down through there, said, "Hello, Brother Branham." That was him, a farmer. The Lord gave a vision, called him to the work, and now he's just returning from Cuba and on his road back again now in the field.
I was down, in a way northern place, and a lady walked up, all that beard and stuff, the lady walked up and touched me on the back, said, "Aren't you Brother Branham?"
And I said, "Yes, ma'am. How'd you know me?"
Said, "I got your book."
I said, "How'd you ever get a book back there?"
It come twice a year, mail on a dogsled. Oh, they'll come from the east and the west at that great time.
65 Way up in the mountains one time in Colorado, I was hunting elk. Not to kill the game, just to be alone with God. You can have all your featheredged Florida you want to; that's what man done to it. I like it the way God made it (See?), just in its raw nature.
I climbed way high in the mountains, way high, 'cause the elk had not come down yet; there's not enough snow to run them down. I was at least thirty-five or forty miles from a human being, way back between Berthoud Pass and Rabbit Ear Pass, way back on the Troublesome River where I used to herd cattle when a boy.
66 I got a little thing I want to say right here about that. I used to go when they had the roundup in the spring when we putting the cattle up on the Arapaho Forest. The Hereford Association grazes the valley. And if you can raise a ton of hay and got a--a brand from the Chamber of Commerce, you can herd a cow on the Arapaho Forest in the summer.
So we herded down there. And our brand was a tripod. A big diamond a--a--dia--a Bar Diamond was next to us, which was Grimes. And all of you know Grimes, the racehorse man, he has--he works about twenty men all the time. And we had... We... Ours was a small outfit; we had the last place of irrigation off of east fork of the Troublesome River, way up. So then, you know, the river is divided like this, and comes down from the north, east and west slope, well, then we graze that in there, a hundred and fifty, two hundred miles, through there; we graze it.
67 So they had a drift fence from the private owned property until the government property. Many time, have I set there of a day, and watch them when they was taking those cattle through. I set with my leg around horn on saddle, as you all know, watching. And the ranger stood there counting those cattle as they went through. He examined those cattle.
Brethren, he did not look so much about the brand; it was the breed of the cattle. The brand could go in; it had something to do with it; but it was the blood of the cow. No matter what brand was on, if she--if that cow wasn't a thoroughbred Hereford, she couldn't go on that forest.
68 I think that's the way it will be at judgment. It will not be whether you're Church of God or Assembly of God, it will be the Blood mark that will tell the difference. No matter what kind of a brand you're wearing, it will only be those who are borned again will go in.
Up on those mountains I watched. Come up a storm and I got behind a tree and stood there for a little bit while the storm was going on. And all of a sudden, after the storm was over, I come out behind a tree. It will storm awhile, rain, then it will snow awhile, and then the sun will come out and melt it off, and maybe it will rain again.
69 And when I come out, it turned cold, during the time behind this tree, and the sun was going down into the west. And the great eye peeping across this way, and there the rainbow come across the valley where the--the evergreens had froze with the rain. You know how the freeze on the tree. And the sun against it made a--a rainbow. And I looked at that rain...
My mother... My mother's mother come off this reservation up here. And my conversion didn't take the call of the deep out of me; I love the woods. So I stood there and I started crying. I thought, "O great Jehovah," as I said last night, He guides my steps by His eye. So then, there He is looking. There I thought, "Yes, the sun is dying in the west; the day is over; the rainbow represents a covenant; we're at the end time." You look anywhere, and you can see God, if you just look around a little bit. You can see Him in the brother that you don't like so well, if you just look. You can see Him in the organization that you don't like, if you just look around. That's all. He--He will there, so do not worry.
70 And then I watched that and I started weeping. In a few moments I heard the old gray wolf call up on top the mountain, the mate answer down in the bottom. You know David said, "When the deep calls to the deep..." Deep begin calling to the deep. I heard the old bull elk, bugle. The storm separated them. Through the mass of blowing, the timber falling, the herd had got broke up. They were bugling one to another to come back together.
The mate of the wolf was calling, "Let's come back together." The eye was calling to the rainbow, "Let's come back together." The Spirit's calling to the Church, "Let's come back together. Let's unite." God was there.
71 And while I was standing there worshipping, oh, I run around and around that tree as hard as I could go, just to give vent to my feeling, screaming to the top of my voice, shaking my hand. They'd thought I was a holy-roller, sure enough, if somebody'd had seen me. But... Or maybe I was insane, running around and around that tree. But I was worshipping God. I see Him, everything's calling, the deep calling from the deep, like the Spirit is now, calling to the Church, calling to the Body, "Let's come together. Let's be together. The sun's setting. It's later than you think, come together." [A prophecy is given--Ed.] Amen?
Where did the Spirit speak? When the rainbow, the sun had called the rainbow, when the wolf called his mate, when the elk called its mate. Jesus is calling His mate, the Church. God bless you, brethren. I'm here shoulder-to-shoulder with you at the throne of God to help you every way that I can. I'm your brother.