1 ...from the very depths of our hearts, to know that You have given us the privilege of coming together again, to minister in the Name of that so beloved Son, that Thou did send to the earth, that He might redeem us from the life of sin, to a life of service for Him. We would ask You, dear God, to forgive us of our shortcomings, and all the things that we have did or said or even thought, that would be contrary to Thy will; we ask forgiveness.
And we would pray, Lord, that our hearts would be in condition now, to receive Christ into our lives by the preaching of the Word, giving to us faith to believe, tonight, for a great, extreme healing service, that all that are needy would be healed. Hear the prayers of Your people. And may we have fellowship around the Word. For we ask it in the Name of Jesus, Thy Son. Amen.
May be seated.
2 We're just a little late tonight, and the program was a little lengthy. Tomorrow night we'll try to be on time, if possible.
Now, tomorrow night is the closing service in the building. It's on the front, I read, coming up, that tonight was the last night, but tomorrow night is the last night. And if the Lord willing, tomorrow night I want to preach on the subject, The Doors Inside The Door. And perhaps the message will start about eight o'clock tomorrow night, giving about a half hour for the preliminaries, and so forth.
And now, I want to also announce that tonight will be the last time that you'll be able to get the books, pictures, or the tapes of the meeting. My friends and co-workers, Leo Mercier and Gene Goad are... be at the bookstand, with the books, and the picture, and also, the--the tapes. So remember, this is the last time. We don't sell on Sunday; we, I made that a practice. If you do, that's all right; that's between you and the Lord. But I don't sell nothing on Sunday.
And then also, I want to announce that tomorrow afternoon, at the afternoon services, will be the time that the prayer cards will be given out. The auditorium, here, will be rented by another party tomorrow afternoon; the services will be held in a theater down in the city, which I suppose they've already announced. I don't know the name of the place. But, there is where the prayer cards will be given out, from two-thirty until three-thirty tomorrow afternoon; because we'll just get back in time, when they clean out the place, that we can get back in here, at this auditorium, tomorrow night. Be sure to remember those things.
3 And now, course many of you, I suppose, will be out of... to your own services. Now, that's your post of duty. We never try to call a Christian from his church, when his church is open. But if you're sick and have need of healing, I'm sure if you would speak to your pastor, he would excuse you tomorrow night, if you're coming to be prayed for. I'm sure he would show that much courtesy to you, and to the cause.
And now tonight, I wish to read, for just a short message, a Scripture found in Saint Matthew's Gospel, the 17th chapter, and just a few verses for a text, or rather, for a context.
.. After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart,
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiments as white as the light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
4 And for a--a text, I want to take those last three words, Hear Ye Him. I had something else on my heart for the message this afternoon, but we, starting late; which I will just leave that for some other time. Hear Ye Him.
5 You know, maybe this Scripture has been read by tens of thousands of people since it has been written. And every time you read it, you learn something new, because it's the Word of the Eternal God.
I'd write you a letter, you would appreciate it. You'd write me one, I would appreciate it. But as soon as you had read it and the message of it to you, or I read yours, that would perhaps settle the value of the letter. If you should keep it for your children to read, or someone else, it would not mean much. And after you were gone, it would mean nothing, no more.
But it's not so with the Word of God. It wasn't given for any individual, but for every individual. My words are not inspired. God's Word is inspired.
And all down through the ages, every person that reads the Word of God, gets a blessing out of reading It, and It does something to you. It brings you in closer fellowship with God. Jesus said, "It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." The soul of a man lives on God's Word. It strengthens him, the inner man. And it makes us feel good, to know that our souls can feed upon the good things that God has written to us. It's His letter of... to His church. And It's so inspiring as we read; does something to us that nothing else does.
6 Now in this case that we're reading tonight, God was getting ready to do something. And usually, before God gets ready to do anything, or, I should said, before He does anything, He always makes it understood, or gives a warning, or gives a witness, of something He's fixing to do. And God meets in the council of man: one time with five hundred, once with seventy, three, and even to one person. That's why we can have such consolation, to know that no matter where we are, or what condition we are in, one Word will bring His Presence to us. "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'll be in their midst." That was the Divine promise of the Son of the Living God, meeting with us.
7 And now on this occasion, He was taking the official witness. He taken with Him, Peter, James, and John. And I always like to think of those three, as, usually, you find those three with Jesus. When He went to raise the daughter of Jairus, we find Him taking Peter, James and John. This may not be true, but it kind of makes me feel good to think this: Peter, "faith;" and James, "hope;" and John, "charity." "Hope, faith and charity."
And He was taking them up into what we are, call, "Mount Transfiguration," but Peter referred to it later on as being "the holy mountain." I do not believe that he meant that the mountain was holy; but it was the Holy God on the mountain, what made it holy. I do not believe there is a holy church; I believe it's the Holy Spirit in the church that's holy. It isn't a holy man; it's the Holy Ghost in the man, is the holy part.
And the mountain was just another heap of dirt that the Holy God had created. And He took them aside, and went up into the mountain, three men. And three is a confirmation in the Old Testament: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established."
And then there was three that came from Glory. There was Moses, Elisha, and Jesus. God... This event was going to be so great, until both Heaven and earth had to witness it. Oh, it must have been something outstanding.
8 You don't find God just gadding around like we do, His children, but every Word has a meaning. Every step that the Son of God took, had a meaning. "In all things," He said, He "pleased the Father."
Would it not be great if His church could say the same thing? "I do always, that, what pleases the Father."
I suppose if I'd ask this church tonight, or this portion of the church: "How many could hold their hands, and say, 'I always do that, what pleases the Father'?" If you'd be honest with yourself, there wouldn't be a hand in the building go up. Because we do not do that. But Jesus did. God was showing something here, to my way of thinking.
9 Now, I do know that these ministers behind me may be wondering, because in type, it was showing the second coming of Christ. That's the real way to approach it. For it showed, first, Jesus glorified; second, the message to the Jews, which will be the two prophets of Revelation of 11, Moses and Elijah. And when they looked back, they saw Jesus only.
But the Word of God is so inspiring, that the entire Bible ties together on every Word. You could preach the second coming, you can preach Divine healing, you can preach the resurrection, or anywhere in the Bible, from any place in the Bible; show me another book that can produce that. It isn't written.
But I'm going to take it on another phase of the Scripture.
10 God never asked a man to do anything that He would not do Himself. That's why when God pronounced death upon the human race because of transgressions, God had to become flesh, and dwelled among us, to die to pay that penalty. He could not die as the immortal God, because there's no death in His dwellings. So, God had to be made flesh in order to taste death. That's why He had to die, to save us from our sins. He took our infirmities, also, and bore them. And we see here, that He was placing a son, as it was, in foretype, in the old Scriptures.
11 Now, if you'll notice in the King James version, you find many Scriptures that puzzle you. For instance, James, well, I say, John 14 is one good one. It said, "In my Father's house is many mansions." Doesn't that sound kind of strange? In my Father's house, a little house, is many great mansions, in a house?
I think it was Moffatt, I'm not mistaken, but the translation he gave was more ridiculous than that. He said, "In my Father's apartment house is many apartments," like as if we were going there to rent one of God's apartments to live in. Neither is right.
In the original translation it says, "In my Father's kingdom is many palaces." But in the King James, as the translators was translating it for the king, they were translating it in the way that the English understood it. Now, the Father was the King, and His "domain" was His house. And He was a Father over all this house, and that's very Scriptural.
12 In the Old Testament, a father owned a great portion of ground. And he had hired servants (all around, little places, and houses, or tents) that watched over his flock. Now, when a child was born into this home, the father did not have time to take care of the son the way that he should, so he'd go and hire a tutor, or a raiser, someone to educate the child.
Now, here's where I think that the Pentecostal church made their mistake. When that son was born into the family, he was a son at birth. But his inheritance was not yet determined; it depended on his character. So, though being a son, and if he was a disobedient son, he would not inherit anything, but still, he was a son. But if he was an obedient son, he was heir to all things. And we've been taught (not only through Pentecostal realms, but through the Holiness group, and the Baptist, and what-more) that when we're born again, we're sons of God. That's true, but that, yet, that's just the beginning; then, it's your character, from then on, what means the difference.
And the father, to be sure that his son got the very best opportunity that he could have, he sought out a man that was capable of taking care of that son. Now, he would not get a man that was, just, wanted a, as we would say, a feather in his hat. He would get a man that was honest, and would bring the correct reports of this boy's discipline.
13 And if a earthly man thought that about his earthly son, what about the Father, over His Son, the church? The Father sought the very best Raiser that He could for the church. And that wasn't an archbishop, and neither was it a pope, or a general overseer. It was the Holy Ghost that was given to tutor and to raise the church.
Men of this earth will twist and squirmal and--and cheat and everything else to get just a little higher office in the church. God knowed that, so He would not trust it into the hands of a man, no matter how holy he claims to be. God trusted it to the blessed Holy Ghost, and He is the Teacher and the Raiser of the church, and He will bring a correct report to the Father.
14 Now if this man, being just and honest, and the son was in the... his custody: to educate him, to bring him up to respect his dad, to carry out the work that the father had laid out for him, he must be about the father's business.
But what if he become, just, a no account, rascal sort of a boy, that didn't care? Something like we got roaming our streets tonight: smoking cigarettes, and drinking, and poolrooms, and little rock-and-roll parties, and so forth. And yet, with their names on the church book. Oh, it is quite hard to understand how that a man can call himself the servant of the Lord, and indulge in such things as that.
15 And again, what do you think the tutor thought, when he had to come before the father with a blushed face, and the father expecting to hear the news: "How is my child progressing?"
And the tutor, with his head in shame, "Oh, he isn't very good."
How the father must drop his countenance, "What's the matter with my son?"
"Well, he just won't listen. He's out with a bunch, running around all the time."
And if the tutor worried to come before that father, what does the Holy Ghost do tonight, when It stands before God, the Father, to bring the conditions of the church before Him? And He has to come, and say, that: "Them, that's Your son, that's received Your Spirit, and's been born again, is fussing and fighting in among one another. There's no cooperation with them at all. They won't even cooperate enough to have a revival in the city." What do you think the blessed Holy Ghost feels like, when He has to bring such a message as that before the Father?
16 Oh, they have drawed their denominational bounds so tight: "If the Pentecostal has anything to do with it, we Baptists won't have nothing to do." And if the Methodists has got it, the Baptists won't have nothing to do with it. What a disgrace. Who is the Methodist? Who is the Baptist? Or who is the Pentecostals? Aren't we all just a little six foot of earth? Mortals born here, come from the dust, and a few turns of the sun and back we go again; and then we think we're somebody.
Oh, such a day, to everybody has to impersonate, even to you people, one are trying to impersonate the other. You Protestants, you used to have a good tight bind on your church, but you found the Catholics could go to shows, and dances, and everything; and you want to act like them. And you Pentecostal women, and Holiness women, that used to dress and act nice, you found out the Baptists went to dressing like the world; and you act like them. You know that is the truth. Oh, you're so denominational minded, so worldly minded, and it's got to a place that the church is no more than a lodge.
17 What if the President of the United States come to Chattanooga? The politicians would have more respect for the President, than the Christians does for Jesus Christ. If the President of the United States would come through this city, the politicians would put flags on every corner, streamers across the streets, and they'd welcome him in with a band, and do everything that they could, and drain their pockets. And what could the President do? Ask them for something, their support in the next campaign.
Oh, blessed be the Name of the Lord. Christ can come through the city to bring you salvation and Divine healing, and you push Him in a corner somewhere. What do you think the Holy Spirit thinks, when He has to bring that before the Father? When Jesus' prayer was that you'll be one, and now you're six hundred and sixty-nine different denominations.
What does the Holy Spirit blush in the Presence of the Father? Can't even get together long enough to have a little revival in the city, and then, we're expecting to go home to Heaven someday. We're expecting Christ to pour out all nine spiritual gifts in our midst. How can He do it when He can't even trust you with membership? Let a little stew come in the church, and you'll grab your paper, and take off to another one.
Yeah, sons and daughters of God, what does the Tutor think, in the Presence of the Father? And the Father can send His Witness, His Spirit, and show Himself alive, show Himself to the people through the Word, through signs, through wonders; and the people is so carnal minded till they don't care about it. Oh, what a condition the church has got into, so carnal. And the Father sends His goodness to us, and we continually turn it down.
18 Finally, the Tutor comes and says, "There's nothing more I know to do with that child. I've tried him for forty years, and still, he's just arrogant." All they want to follow, is some man-made creed, some dogma, some certain way to be baptized, or--or some little ism. And they know nothing about the love of God that's shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. Their lives prove it.
What must the Holy Spirit think, in the Presence of the Father? If you are children of God, then you--you are... have the nature of God. God sent His Son for the whole body, all the church. Why do we pull ourselves in the corner? God is holy; and you act worldly, dress worldly, talk worldly, tell dirty jokes, smoke cigarettes, take a little friendly drink, and call yourselves Christians. Shame on you. How can we escape the wrath of the damnation of God, in acting like that, so, when the Holy Spirit comes up before the Father and has to bring such a message as that?
We could stay longer, but time won't permit it.
19 Then, what if the child is obedient? Now, here's the way God does it. God never did, or never will, deal with any certain organization. God deals with individuals. That's correct. Never was there a man ever sent from God to an organization. Search the Scriptures. Never was there a man ever sent from God but what the organizations turned him down. Man stands alone in the Presence of God to give an account of his own life. He doesn't deal... I have nothing against organizations. Organizations is all right if you won't draw fences and say, "This is us, and the rest of you is not in it." Organizations is fine, but you want to have fellowship with the rest of them. And we're not here to build up a organization, but we're here to build up a principle, and that principle is Christ. Now, just look at the condition.
Then we find, if the father then knows that that son is disobedient, there's not a thing he can do about it. But, what if the son is obedient? What if the tutor comes to the father and says, "Oh, sir, I want to tell you something, my heart is full of joy."
"Yes," says the father, "how is my son progressing?"
"Oh, he's just," (Excuse the expression now, but like we'd say.) "a chip off the old block." He's just like his father. He loves the things that the father loves. He does the thing that pleases the father. Oh, wouldn't that be a message to bring before the father? Would not the Holy Spirit rejoice, tonight, to bring that message before the Father of this entire audience of people? He would love to do that.
Then the father, of course, would swell out, and say, "That's my son, I love him, and someday he'll inherit all the things that I have, will be his, for he's a trustworthy son. He'll have all things."
20 Now, if he was a trusted son, there come a certain day. Now, I want you to listen real close. There come a certain time in that young fellow's life, after he become eligible, after he was well trained, and he become a certain age, there was a time that the father adopted the child that he'd give birth to, into his own family. (That was the placing of a son, to you ministers.) The same son that was born into the family had to be placed in the family, or had to be the law of adoption, as Paul speaks of it in Ephesians 1:5, that we were "predestinated to be the adoption of children by Jesus Christ."
God, before the foundation of the world, knew every son He'd have. And He never sent Jesus just to come down and die, to think somebody'd have mercy on Him. I wouldn't run my office like that. You wouldn't run yours like that. And God don't run His like that. He came to save those who He, by foreknowledge, knew that would be saved. He seen their condition and knowed the hunger of their heart before the world ever began. And He come to save that, He sent Jesus, a propitiation for our sins. "He's not willing that any should perish," but He knowed who would perish from the beginning. If He didn't, He wasn't God.
21 Now notice, when this son was taken out into the street, in a public place, and he was put on, a beautiful garment, out before the public, and then there was a ceremony of adoption. And this son was adopted into the family, and after adopted in the family, he was heir of all things, and in possession of all things.
Oh, church, don't you see where you made your mistake? You've been born again, but you're dilly-dallying in the world, and the things of the world, and God can't put confidence in you. That's the reason great gifts are not in the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, and so forth, is because of the character of the church. It hasn't been pleasing to the Father.
I know this is hard, but it's the truth. Let the great ransomed Church of God straighten itself up, and start back to believing in God the way they ought to, and live like they ought to, you'll see God come on the scene with everything He promised. It is right. Break down the barriers, and come in, and be... have fellowship, and reason, and love, and preach, and serve the Lord, and see what will take place.
22 Time tested, the Christian must be tested; every son that cometh to God must be, first, child trained, tested. When you go to build a building, you test the material that you put in it. When the great dam was built around Jeffersonville, for the flood, they tested every ounce of dirt that went in the dam to see if it would stand the waters. And God tests His children with trials and troubles and tribulations, to find out if they are truly His children. The Bible said, "if we can't stand chastisement, then we're illegitimate children, and not the children of God." Notice now. Then, when the testing time come, and they could stand the test...
I love that old song the people used to sing:
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
It was grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will take me on.
And then, when the son had the order of adoption, I'd say it like this, his name was just as good on the check as his father's was, he had anything that he wished.
23 He was a tested, tried, and a real, proven Son of the Living God. Then he had... That's what Jesus went through. They was up on the Mount Transfiguration. He'd been tempted at the well; He'd been tempted on top of the temple; He'd been tempted when the Devil told him to perform a miracle; all temptations: he had proven out that He was a real, true Son of God. And God was going to place Him in position to what He really was.
And then up on the mount that day, the Mount Transfiguration, they were standing there talking, and all of a sudden there came a cloud down out of the skies, and He was glorified in their presence. And His garments shined like the light. You see the robe of recognition the Father had given Him? He had three earthly witnesses and three heavenly witnesses to watch this. And when He did, He put the robe on Him, the glorified robe.
24 And then, of course, Peter, like men do when the supernatural is performed, they get all excited. You know, the Lord can send a little revival like in the Methodist day, like in the Lutheran day, or in the Pentecostal day; He can send a little revival, and they all get excited. Instead of holding steady, everybody wants to be this or that. There was a mixed multitude that went out with Moses, the supernatural had been done, and a mixed multitude followed.
I was reading a history of Martin Luther, and it said, "It wasn't no secret," or, "no strange thing how that Luther could protest the Catholic church and get by with it: but how Luther could hold his head above all the fanaticism that followed his revival." That's the way it's been every time.
And Peter got excited, and he said, "Lord, it's been a great thing to be here, so let's build us some denominations. Let's build three tabernacles here. We'll have one for those who are Sabbatarians, that wants to keep the Sabbath day, and the legalists. And we'll build another one for--for Mo-... one for Moses, and we'll build another one for those who wants to keep the saying of the prophets, and we'll have a denomination after them." And he said, "Then, we'll build a tabernacle for You, to those who would like to come and worship with You."
25 Isn't that just the kind of people that we are, yet, today? All excited. When the Pentecostal Blessing fell on the third reformation, the first thing, they organized the Assemblies of God. And after that, they organized the United, or the PA of JC, the PA of W, the Church of God, the Church of Prophecy (Oh, mercy!), till there's hundreds of them, nearly. All want to build a denomination.
Peter said, "I'll tell you what: those who want to serve the law, let's let them serve it." I'm glad that something taken place: "Before he could get through speaking," watch what the Bible said, "and while he yet spake," God nipped it in the bud. Look in your Scriptures, the 5th verse: "While he yet spake, a cloud was overshadowed them, after, he yet spake, a Voice said, 'This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.'"
Now, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Assemblies, and all of you, listen to that: "This is My beloved Son, Who prayed that you might be one; hear ye Him." God condemned the thing to begin with. That's hard, but it's truth. God never sent a man to build a organization. He never sent him to build a church. He sent a man to preach the Gospel; and the preaching of the Gospel is to demonstrate the Holy Ghost into all the world.
For, He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name they shall" build churches, organizations, schools, teaching theology? "These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name they shall cast out devils; heal the sick; do all signs and wonders."
Which the preaching of the Gospel would produce just to that generation? "Go ye into all the world, these signs shall follow them in all the world." Long as the Gospel was to last, the signs was to follow It.
26 There's where He commissioned. Dare any man to say or show me the Scripture where He ever took it away from His church. But we do just the vice versa. See where we're all gummed up? Excuse that expression, but it's true anyhow.
The wheels of God's powers, and kingdoms can't turn, because we got old, sludgy, dirty axle grease in it that don't belong there. What we need tonight, is a washing by the water through the Word, and the Holy Ghost power to come back into the church to start the wheels of God's economy turning; not wedges and screwdrivers and bolts and... to clog it up. We need a washing through the Word, the water, the waters of separation, cleansing, is what... That's not natural water, the waters of separation was not water at all; it was the ashes from a heifer that had been killed, and laid up outside, with her blood streaked seven times over the door: Exodus 19.
27 Notice. Then you see where we have gotten to. Then, this great church, when he said, "Let us build one who, all those who wants to keep the Sabbath day, who don't want to eat meat, let's build one for that; let's take Moses and his law."
I'm glad He turned our eyes from Moses. What could the law do for you? The Bible said, "No man is saved by the law." No matter how good you are, no matter how good you live, you can't be saved by the law. "It's by grace are you saved; and that not of your own: but it is God's goodness to you." The law was a policeman, the law put you in jail, but the law had no redemption to bring you out. Christ has redemption. The law says you are a sinner. Christ said, "I come to save you." I'm glad He turned His head from the law.
28 What about the prophets? What about Elijah? What did he mean? He was justice. He represented God's justice. And no man can be just outside of Christ.
Elijah had a commandment from God; He went to the top of the mountain. And while he was up there, the king said, "Let's go up and get that old crank, that old holy-roller. Go up and get him." And he sent fifty men.
And that old prophet stood up, little ol' skinny body, and whiskers hanging down like a fuzzy worm, and he said, "If I be a man of God, let fire fall from Heaven and consume you." That's justice. That's what you deserve. I don't want what I deserve.
Then the king said, "Oh, perhaps there was a lightning storm went by, and a little thunder storm, and the lightning must have struck them. We'll just send another fifty, 'cause there's no such a thing as that could happen in these days." So he sent another fifty.
And Elijah raised up (justice) and said, "If I be a man of God, let fire fall from Heaven, and consume you." And another fifty went. So, it wasn't accidental, it was God's justice.
I don't want justice. I don't want judgment. I want mercy. God give me mercy, not His law, not His denominations, not His bishops; I want His love and His mercy. That's what the world is hungering for today, is His love and His mercy, God's mercy upon us. I couldn't stand His law, I can't keep His law, and He knows I don't want His justice, He would condemn me; but I'll accept His mercy.
Then, what can Jesus do for you? He can save you, He can heal you, He can give you His salvation, He can take you to Glory, He can cover your sins, He can make you love one another. He can make the Methodist shake hands with the Baptist, and the Baptist and the Presbyterian put their arms around Pentecost, and be brothers.
29 I thank God for the old fashion religion. It'll make a pair of overalls set by the tuxedo suit, and hug one another, and call each other "brother." It'll make a calico dress set by a silk one, and hug one another, and call each other "sister."
But when you're all stuck up: "My church is better than yours, my pastor's got a better education than yours"; then you are still carnal. Certainly.
God give us Your mercy, and not Your judgment.
What's the matter with the world today? What's the matter, the church hasn't progressed? What's the reason the Gospel hasn't went to all the world? Is because we're still living under laws and traditions of the elders. We're trying to make ourselves denominations, and build upon them foundations, and education, and upon, oh, societies. The Church of the Living God is not built on any of them, but upon solid foundation of Christ, the Son of the Living God, through Divine love, to recognize every man as his brother. Oh, how we need that little word, four letter word of l-o-v-e. The world's perishing for it.
30 Now in closing, I wish to say these remarks: The world, the sinner out yonder, friend, is not letting you build your denominations till you have the best schools; not that you can build the great spires that stick up towards the heaven. The Pharisees had all that better than you, and they were called the children of the Devil. The sinner is not trying to see how you dress; the sinner is not trying to see how much education you got, and how well your pastor can say, "Ah-man," or some well-trained voice.
If anything I hate is a well-trained voice, over-trained; stand and hold a note till they're blue in the face. They're not singing to God; they're singing to let somebody hear them.
And there's nothing more Heavenly than an old fashion Pentecostal singing, where a man couldn't carry a tune in a coal bucket, with his hands up to God, singing the praises and glory of God; and with a heart of gold in him that'll shake hands with his neighbor, and do him a favor, though he disagrees with him.
That's what the world wants to see; not how well you can speak, and how educated you are, and how you can quote Webster or Shakespeare. You ought to quote the Bible and Christ, and live like you preach, is the thing the world's waiting for: "Not preach me a sermon so much as live me one."
"If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me."
31 "Father, make them one. This will all men know that you're My disciples, when you have love one for the other." And here, we all, the great church of God, just separated. What does the Holy Spirit think, in the Presence of the Father, Who is Love? Show a little more kindness to one another, church; be a little more loving in your heart. Don't try to impersonate it, you can't do it; you've got to have it. And why would you take a substitute, when the Pentecostal skies is full of the real? O God, be merciful. Love, real.
That impersonation, man... I believe it was Abraham Lincoln (the greatest president, I think, the nation ever had), I believe it was him, that said, "You can fool some of the people, part of the time, but not all the people, all the time." If you go to church with that long, sanctimonious face, and shake hands with the sister; and the next day carry on, and play cards, and stay home on Wednesday night to watch Elvis Presley, or some other ungodly rascal, Arthur Godfrey on the mornings, and things like that; and call yourself a Christian? The--the sinner knows better than that. You're no better off than he is, and he knows it. Steal, cheat, lie, be indifferent, and cult yourself away: "Me and mine, and let the rest of them go, if they want to." How can you ever expect to get things? The world wants to see genuine love displayed, real love.
O God, give us that. Give us the love.
32 I'm a hunter; I love to get into the mountains. And I seen something one day that captured the heart of a sinner. And if you'll give me your undivided attention, just for a moment now. I used to have a little hunting camp, I shared with another man. It belonged to him, I was just his partner. The Lord always blessed me in the woods, of, where I could get my way through.
And this was up in northern New Hampshire. And there was a man up there by the name of Bert Call: one of the finest hunters I ever met, but he was the meanest man I ever met. Oh, he was cruel in his heart. And he used... We'd go hunting. I loved to hunt with him: you never had to worry about him, he knowed where he was at, and he'd stick by you through thick and thin, a good man to hunt with, a good shot; but cruel, in his heart. And I went up to hunt with him; and he'd love to shoot little fawns, just to make me feel bad.
You know how people get, just want to make you feel bad, do something. A little ol' girl: light up a cigarette, just to show you she'll do it. It just shows what your raising's been, sister. That's right. Just want to act smart. And...
33 Now, if you want to kill a fawn, that's all right, the law of New Hampshire said you could kill a fawn. But just one a year. It's all right to kill a fawn, Abraham killed a calf, and God eat it, so there was no harm in that. But to break the laws.
And some of you Christian children, going around over the city here, squeaking them tires, and running over people, and things; and a member of a church? What kind of an example do you? Yet, belong to the Youth for Christ. You've got to prove what you're talking about. And the world's waiting for the church to do it.
34 And here, I went up there one fall, and he had invented a little ol' whistle, and he could take this little whistle, and when he blew it, it'd sound just like a little baby fawn, crying. Now, a fawn is a "baby deer."
And I said, "Bert, you're not going to use that, are you?"
He said, "Aw, Billy, get next to yourself, you're chicken-hearted; that's the way with you preachers, you're just chicken-hearted."
I said, "Bert, it isn't, I'm chicken-hearted; but, I don't want to be cruel." I said, "You're doing wrong."
We went hunting that day; there was about six inches of snow on the ground. All day we had found nothing up till about noon time. And we come to a little opening; we had never even seen a track in the fresh-fallen snow. And we sit down, and I thought he was going to take his lunch out to eat, but he gets into his pocket and gets this little whistle.
35 Now, it's kind of stooped down, and I was standing to his side, rather, behind him. And he took this little whistle out to blow it.
I thought, "Surely, he won't do that."
And he blew this little whistle; it sounded like a little baby deer crying. And all of a sudden, not over twenty or thirty yards away, a great big, beautiful doe raised her head (Now, a doe is a "mother deer."); her great big ears, her great big brown eyes, she was so close, till I could see the veins in her face. Now, that's unusual. She looked around, there was something wrong. And I seen Bert slip down a little closer, and he cried again with the whistle. And the big mother doe stepped right out in the opening. That's very unusual. A deer won't raise up, at that time of day, unless they're scared. And then to step out in the opening? They won't do that.
But what was it? She was a mother. She wasn't putting that on. She was genuine. She was a mother, and a baby was in need. And the mother instinct in her raised her up; subnormal, for the action of her kind, and she stepped out in the opening.
36 I watched the hunter, as he pulled back the slide lever, and threw a shell up in the barrel of this .30-06 rifle; he leveled down.
And the mother saw him. Usually, they would run just as hard as they could run. But when she saw the hunter, it still didn't stop her. She jumped. But what was it? There was a baby in trouble, and she was a mother. Though it cost her life, she would give her life to rescue that baby. See, it's called "mother's love." She wasn't a hypocrite, she was real, and she stepped out to her death.
And my heart beating, I thought, "Oh, Bert, surely, you won't."
And I saw him level that rifle just as steady, and those cross hairs on her heart, I knew when he touched that trigger, he'd blow her heart plumb through her.
37 I thought, "Bert, how can you do that? That real, loyal mother; how can you do that?" (He was a dead shot.) "How can you do it, Bert?" I thought, "O God, don't let him do it." I turned my head. I couldn't watch it being done.
That real mother, with something that was genuine, standing there at her death, because there was something inside of her that would even call her to her death; yet, she'd protect her young. She was watching for that baby.
I turned my head, and I was listening to hear that gun go off, and to watch the splatter of meat, and that deer's heart blowed plumb through it, when the big mushroom bullet would hit it. And I waited, and I didn't hear nothing, and I waited a moment longer. I had my back turned, I thought, "What's the matter?"
And when I turned, the rifle barrel was going like this. He threw the gun on the ground, turned around, grabbed me by the legs, he said, "Billy, I've had enough of it, lead me to that Christ who is love. If the love of a mother could stand that way in death, let me have that love of God when I come to my death," he said.
See? It's a display of real love.
38 "And a mother may forget her suckling babe, but never will I forget you. Your names are engraved on the palms of My hands." The world wants to see that kind of a love in a church, it wants to see that kind of a love in an individual. Then He will call you out to one side somewhere, and send an angel down to you, and will adopt you into His family, and give you a Divine gift. Until God can see that genuine love, that sent Christ to Calvary, in His church (And your denominations fleet away. Keep your denomination, but, be loving to everybody, break down the walls of difference, and be one in His Son.), the world, then, will drop arms, and surrender to Christ: "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life."
Would you like to have the love of God in you, that you could display to the world (not a hypocrite, not because you was baptized a certain way, or sprinkled, or--or reformed, or something, or some little emotion you went through; but in your heart) a genuine Christian love? Not say, "Well, the pastor told me I shouldn't dress like the world anymore, and be all the way... oh, I should not be these... wear these little ol' shorts on the afternoon, or so forth like that." But Something in you that drives you to Christ, that you love Him so well, you won't do it. Would you like to have it?
39 Let's bow our heads just a moment. There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood. Everybody in prayer, and every head bowed, please. I'm sure that you all know that we're mortal beings; the dust that you got your head turned towards, God taken you from that, and you're swiftly on your road back.
I wonder, while the music's playing sweetly and softly, the Holy Spirit moving, no one look up, please, just let the Lord, and I, see this. Church member, sinner, whoever you are, how many of you would like to have a godly love in your heart, that you could display Christ to the world, and be as real as that old mother deer had in her heart for her baby? Would you like to be that real, just as much Christian as she was a mother? She was born a mother. Would you raise your hands to God just now?
We haven't not room here to bring the people up, but God bless you. Oh, that's... just look over the building, everywhere. In the balconies to the left, put up your hand now: "God give me that kind of a heart in me, that'll drive me, Lord, to do that which is right, and to recognize Christ; even when my boss or my neighbor, or whoever it is, is doing wrong, I can sweetly talk to them, and display such a Christian aura." The balconies to the rear, would you raise your hands and say, "God be merciful to me. I, now, Brother Branham, want to accept Christ's love for me, that'll make me like He wants me to be." The balconies to the right, would you, how many in there? I don't care how long you been a member of the church, if you haven't got that real love, just raise your hand to Him now, and say, "God give me that love." God bless you everywhere, there. All over the bottom floors, through the, all the aisles, would you just raise your hands and say, "Christ be merciful." Way up now, so God can see it. That's right. Hundreds of them. "Give me, O Lord, that love. Give me Christ. I want to love every man. I want to love every person. I want to be so full of love. I want real love, Lord, not impersonations, but real love. I want to display it. You said, 'This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.'"
Stay right in your denomination, that's all right. Stay right there where you are, but really have something to display in that denomination.
All right, now you can put your hands down, just a moment now. Now, be real sincere, we're going to pray.
40 Our God, and our Father, Who brought the love of Your Own Being, God, I used to think you were angry with me, but Jesus loved me. But I've lived long enough to find out that Jesus was the very Heart of God, that His great Heart so loved me that He gave His Life for me, to be a propitiation for my sins, and me: guilty, dirty sinner. And He loved me and He redeemed me by His blessed love, and give to me love for everyone.
I pray, God, for all, now, who's got... put their hands up. There was so many, I could not count them, but You know every one of them, Lord. And I pray, that, to this very hour, that you will send the Holy Spirit into their heart, that'll give them the love that'll make them stand just as true to You, as the mother deer did for the baby. Grant it, Lord.
May they live such lives of discipline, from this on, until all this city and the round about cities where they live, may say, when they pass down the street, "If there ever was a Christian, there they go, for the sweetness of that person, though they don't belong to my denomination, but yet, they are real Christians. They are sweet and kind."
Thou has said in Thy Word, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost it savour..." And God, I'm afraid that's what's happened to the church: it's lost its sweetness, it's lost its love, it's lost its influence to bring sinners to You. Just taking in a bunch of members, and baptize them, and let them live in the world, and their influence has corrupted the church.
God, have a real house cleaning. Sweep from the pulpit to the basement, and create in us, Lord, a new heart, and give us that heart full of Christian love and fellowship, that there might be a real brotherhood of Christian men and women. Do, Lord, begin right here. Thou has said in the Word, "Ask anything in my name, I'll do it."
Then, as Your servant: take the trophies of this message, and place them in the Kingdom of God, and may they bear fruits of the Spirit: which is first, love, joy, faith, goodness, meekness, patience, longsuffering, gentleness. Grant it, Father. I present them to You. They raised their hands, showing that the spirit within them made a decision to follow You, and now, Lord, take them, and You will give them to Your Son, as a love gift.
And at the end of the age (I may never be able to shake hands with them here.) let me shake every hand that was raised tonight, Lord, in that Kingdom beyond here: where we'll never preach to the sinner anymore, or pray for the sick, never will see the aged or stooped shouldered; but we'll be young there forever, transformed in a moment of time. "Immortal shall stand in His likeness, the stars and the sun to outshine."
O God, grant it. I give them to Thee now, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
41 Just, don't you feel good? Doesn't it? Let's softly now, everyone stand just a moment. I'm trying to make up my mind: I told Dr. Vayle, tonight, I was going to have the fast line. I'm late, don't know whether I can or not. Just a moment.
Let's just sing this, real softly now. All you, don't matter who it is, you got a voice, sing. Don't sing to your neighbor, sing to God.
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Emmanuel vein,
And sinners plunge beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stain. (Raise your hands.)
Lose all their guilty stain,
Lose all their guilty stain,
And sinners plunge beneath that flood,
Lose all their guil-... (Just remain with your hands up a moment.)
42 Father God, look down just now. Take our guilt and stain away from us, and give to us a new heart, Lord. And let us know a fellowship with Christ like we have never known before. Grant it, Lord. These dear Southerners down here, Lord, with a heart of gold: I pray that You'll move in tonight, Lord, and just cause something to happen that'll make all the prejudice broke down, and there'll come an old fashion revival in this city here, Lord, that'll just stir city-wide, with every church. Grant it, Father. We ask it in Christ's Name. Amen.
43 Where's Billy? Did you give out prayer cards? What was it? M? One to a hundred?
The last two or three nights we been calling those without prayer cards, and we been leaving the prayer cards alone. Tonight, for a few moments, you give me your undivided attention for about fifteen, twenty minutes, let's call those with the prayer cards tonight. The prayer cards that's give out is M.
Didn't we call from fifty the other time? Last night, here? Wasn't it fifty that we called from? From fifty to seventy-five or something like... Let's begin from seventy-five then, tonight. M-seventy-five. Who has that prayer card? A lady there? Come right here at the steps, lady. Seventy-six, seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty. See if five raise up. If they can't raise up, just tell somebody near you, they'll pack you up. One, two, three, four; one missing. Seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three, eighty-four, eighty-five.
Look around, there's some missing now. Look at somebody's card, may be somebody deaf or dumb, can't speak or hear; look at your neighbor's card, everybody look around at your cards, everywhere, they're all in the balconies and everywhere. The people just come and get their cards, and go wherever they want to, and set down. How many did I call then? Ten? Ten? Seventy-five to eighty, was that right? Eighty-five? See how many you got there.
44 While they're waiting, look around, now, at your neighbor. Somebody is maybe... Here's a lady got a bad limb here, I know she couldn't walk. I see someone, in, over here, with a bad limb, a young fellow. A man setting in a wheelchair, he couldn't walk. Maybe this one here. I don't know. Somebody watch their cards, if they've got a card. All right. Seventy-five, seventy-six, seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three, eighty-four, eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven, eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety. All right. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... first. See?
You've got... We give everybody cards, just give them, it's a little card with a number on it. Each night we start from one place to another, don't know. And we'll call you, just be patiently; but we can't bring them all at once. See? We can't, we have to have someone to start from.
45 Now, how many knows that Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, did not claim to be a healer? How many knows that? You mean only one-third of this building, that, only, knew that Chri-...? He said, "It's not Me that doeth the works: it's My Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." How many knows that? Then He wasn't.
How many knows that He said this? In Saint John 5:19, where, after He'd passed by the pool of Bethesda; where great multitudes of lame, blind, halt, withered laid, and couldn't even move, see, hear, nor nothing; and passed by every one of them; and found a man laying on a pallet, and healed him; and went away, and left the whole bunch. And when He was questioned, He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing: that doeth the Son likewise." How many knows that? Certainly. Never laid in mortal flesh. It's always God.
How many knows that Jesus saw a vision before He done any works? I just quoted it, "I do nothing till the Father shows me first." Therefore, He couldn't lie; He was God, so He could not lie.
Now, how many in here doesn't have a prayer card, and you want God to heal you? Raise your hands. Wonderful. Look this way then. Look towards Calvary, rather, and believe with all your heart. When Jesus was here on earth, how did He make...?
How many has never been in one of my meetings? Let's see your hands. Never been in one of my meetings before? Just looky there.
[Brother Branham speaks to someone on the platform--Ed.] (Did you explain it?)
46 How did Jesus make... How many believes we're in the last days, the ending of the Gentile dispensation? Certainly. How many knows that when Jesus manifested Himself to the Jew, He told the Jew, He done a supernatural miracle? Peter come to Him: The first, Simon went, or, Andrew went and found Peter, his brother, and brought him, and when Peter came, Jesus said to him, "Your name is Simon, and your father's name is Jonas." How many knows that? What do you think that apostle thought, when He said that? He knowed who he was, and what his father's name was.
Then Philip, of the same city, went over, and found Nathanael, about thirty miles around the mountain, under a tree, praying. How many knows that's Saint John 1? And he said, "Come see Who we found, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
Now watch! Here comes a staunch Hebrew. And when he came to him, he said, "Now, could any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
And Philip said to him, "Come and see." Don't you think that's a good reason? "Come and see." And on the road around, he begin to instruct him what He had told Peter, and so forth, as the conversation went on.
And when he come up in the Presence of Jesus, what did Jesus say to him? He said, "Behold an Israelite, in whom there is no guile!"
And what did he say? "Rabbi, when did you know me?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you under the fig tree, I saw you."
47 How many knows that's what He said? What did that mean to this fellow? He said, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel." Is that right?
Jesus said, "Because I told you that, you believe?" Now that's what the real true Jew thought.
What did the Pharisees and the great scholars, the great organizations and denominations said about Him? They said, "He's a fortuneteller; he's Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." How many knows that?
Jesus said, "I forgive you for as telling me that: but when the Holy Ghost is come and does the same thing, one word against It will never be forgiven." How many knows that? "This world, nor the one to come." Now that's how He manifested Himself to the Jews.
48 Then, when He was at Samaria, He sent the disciples away, and a woman come out to get water. Now that's Samaria. There's only three races: Jews; Gentiles; and Samaritans, which is half Jew and Gentile. Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people, the three sons of Noah: all the tribes of the earth sprung from them.
Notice, and when He went to the Samaritan woman, He said, "Bring Me a drink."
She said, "We got a law of segregation: there's no such a thing as you Jews having any fellowship with we Samaritan."
And He let her know that God made of one blood all men: He said, "But if you knew Who you were talking to; you'd ask Me for a drink."
And what was He doing? Contacting her spirit. Look, the Father told Him to go up to Samaria. He was on His road to Jericho and that's many miles out of His way. He just went there and sit down, waited, for He sent His disciples away. That's the same thing here.
49 So, then what happened? She said, "Well, You... the well's deep, and You have nothing to draw with." He went to talking to her. What'd He do? Catching her spirit. And when He found out what her trouble was, He told her what her trouble was: He said, "Go get your husband."
She said, "I have none." She...
He said, "That's right: you got five; and the one you have now is not your husband."
Watch what that Samaritan said.
What did the Jews say when that was performed? "You are the Son of God."
What did the Samaritan say? "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. We know when the Messiah cometh, that He'll tell us these things. But Who are You?"
He said, "I am He, that speaks to you." Is that right?
What did that woman done? She run into the city, and said, "Come, see a man, that told me the things I've done: isn't this the very Messiah?"
If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; He's still the same Messiah. Why didn't He do that before a Gentile? He forbid His disciples to go to any Gentile. How many knows that? Certainly did. Said, "Don't you go near the Gentiles." For this is the Gentiles' day. That was done in the end of the Jewish day. This is the end of the Gentile day. And if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever; He has to be the same in principle, the same in power, the same in manifestation; or He's not the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He is the same; He'll act the same, He'll do the same, and He's obligated to display Himself before the Gentiles as He did the Samaritans and the Jews; or He showed respect of person.
When God does anything, when a crisis arise, and God does anything, He's got to do it when the same crisis arise, or He done wrong when He did it the first time. God don't get smarter, He was infinite to begin with, His decisions are perfect.
50 Now, it's up to you. Now, please, no going or coming. If you have to go for the next few minutes, do it now. Be real reverent for we're not dealing with nothing but spirit, so be real reverent now, for just a few moments. Now, look this way all you Christians.
Looky here: Here's God's Word. Is It right, or is It wrong? It's right. Now, if It's right, I have said it: How many believes I've quoted the Bible just exactly? Sure. The promise of Christ. If Christ will keep that promise to manifest Himself like He said: "The... little while, and the world won't see me no more." What's that? The unbeliever. "The world will see me no more; yet ye shall see me: for I" (and "I" is a personal pronoun), "I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world. The works that I do shall you also; more than this; because I go to the Father."
Return back to Spirit again, could be in His church universal. He could only be in one place when He was manifested in Christ; He's manifested in the church today. "Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever." One Word from Christ will mean more than any preacher could say in fifty lifetimes. Now let us be reverent.
51 Here stands a woman; older than me, I've never seen her in my life, she's a total stranger to me, but God knows the woman. If this ain't a beautiful picture of Saint John 4, I never seen one: a man and a woman meeting for their first time in life.
Now, the message that I have just preached was from Christ; now if that's true, God is obligated to anoint me, to prove His Word to be so. There's not no use... Man can say anything: but it's not saying, it's doing. God could say anything: if He wasn't God, He wouldn't have to do it; but in order to be God, He's got to keep His Word.
52 Are we strangers, sister? We are. So that the audience will know now, just raise up our hands, that this is our first meeting time. I have no more idea what the woman's standing there for, than--than any other person that's a stranger to her. And here is a Bible laying here, and here is... we are standing here, God is here. And what ought it to do to you Christians? If God will, in this woman; she may be a critic, if she is, watch what happens.
How many read what that man come and tried to hypnotize me in the meeting? Make... you know, or go around these army camps and make them bark like a dog. He's been paralyzed for nearly five years, now; when the Spirit turned around, said, "You hypocrite, you son of the Devil. Why did the Devil put in your heart to come here? You are paralyzed." And he's paralyzed yet.
How about the ones that went, a whole group of them, to the insane institution the next morning, because they set and made fun of what was going on? That's newspapers.
How about that preacher, that time, that come and put on his prayer card; thought it was a mental telepathy, and standing on the platform, it called him out, and told him who he was, and he was, what he had done like that, and said, "The diseases you put on your prayer card, you've got it now." And I said, "The man setting right out there in the balcony, is the one that you was at a table last night, with a green cloth laying over it. There sets the man's wife, right up there, and you said, 'it was telepathy,' and you'd prove it. Now you've got what you had." He died about three months later with cancer that he had on his card. Uh-huh. A preacher. We're not playing church. This is Christ, the Son of God, in His church. Be reverent.
53 Sister, if there was any way for me to help you: I got an old mother at home tonight, praying for her preacher boy. I got two little girls at home, praying for me. I got a wife sitting right there, praying for me; a son here, somewhere, praying for me. I--I do believe in God, and I would--I would rather just walk off this platform, have a committal prayer, and go away, than to stand here, and try to deceive you. I'm going to meet you one of these days, in the Presence of the great I AM.
And now, if the Lord God will help me to know what you're here for... Now if I told you, "You're sick, lady," that might be a guess. And I say, "I'm going to lay hands on you; you're going to get well." That could still be a guess. But if the Holy Spirit will do like it did in the Son of God, go back, and tell you something that has happened, then you'll know whether that's true or not. And if He know what was, He surely could tell you what will be. See, there--there will be no way of hiding that.
Now, you know it'll have to come through supernatural power. And now, if you--if you think it, like the Pharisees did, that it was a devil, then you get a devil's reward. If you think it to be God, you get God's reward. The woman that touched His garment went out, and set in the audience.
Jesus said, "Who touched me?" And he found her out in the audience, and He said, "Thy faith has saved thee." Told her what she had.
But the Roman that put a rag around His head, and hit Him with a stick, said, "Tell us who hit you; we'll believe you." They never got no reward, they're probably in torment tonight. And the woman's blessed tonight.
54 We got to stand those trials, too, sister. I have no idea who you are, what you are, where you're from, nothing about you; you're just a woman, standing there.
Now the audience, reverent. I'm trying to wait on Something, you know, and that's that Angel that's on the picture. I'm a man just like you are, gentlemen. That's all. But if the Holy Spirit (You see us both here, not under oath, because we don't believe in swearing, but with the Bible laying here, God our judge: we've never met one another in life.), if the Holy Spirit will act, tonight, just like It did up there at Samaria that time, how many will have faith in God, and believe Him with all your heart? Now, be reverent and pray.
Change that to Only Believe if you, will you, sister?
55 If the audience can still hear me, the lady is suffering with a stomach trouble. That's right.
Now, if that's right, raise up your hand. Do you believe?
Now, you say, "You could have guessed that, Brother Branham."
It isn't a guess. Now, I can pray for her and turn her on away, like I usually do, but if you want to see... If the Holy Spirit... You pray, and if the Holy Spirit will do as He did, more, I would talk to the woman, with this connection. What is it? She's got faith. She's a Christian. Why would I say she's a Christian now? Because I feel that she... her faith, just like He did, said, "Thou art an Israelite, in whom is no guile!"
Now, may the Lord grant it. Now, I don't know what I said to you a while ago, it wasn't me that said it; but ever what it was, was true. That's right, isn't it? Now, if the Lord will just grant it. My prayer is sincerely to you.
And I, yes, I see the woman leaving from a table, or, backing away from food. It's got... she's got a peptic ulcered condition in her stomach. She also has arthritis. I see her coming through the house early of a morning, real early, before she's even changed her night garment, and she's holding to something. She's moving quietly. That is true. The woman, also, I see her holding her heart, and it's a heart trouble that she has, caused from a nervous condition.
That is true. Do you believe? Is those things true, sister? Raise your hand if they are. God knows, I don't.
You're not from this city, you're from out of town. You're from a city, I believe, in Georgia: it's called Calhoun, Georgia. Your name, your first name is Ethel; your last name is Porch. And you got a handkerchief in your hand, and that's for a little boy: a little boy that you're praying for, who has a nervous condition; yet what you want me to pray for him for, is because he won't learn, he can't learn, can't seem to learn.
Now, that things are true. If that's right, raise your hand. You've received what you've asked for. The tears that you wipe with that handkerchief, put it on the child, for THUS SAITH THE LORD, he'll be well. Come right here. Uh-huh. God bless you, now. Go, and may the Lord be with you.
Are you believing on the Lord Jesus, with all of your heart?
56 Lord, I pray for these handkerchiefs; while Your Spirit is here, Lord, send out Your great power to each one of these: to the old blind mother; that little baby laying there, that's sick tonight. I pray that You'll heal each of those, in Jesus' Name.
57 I suppose we are strangers to each other, sir. This is our first time meeting? It is. Well, the Lord God knows both of us. And if the Lord God, Who raised up His Son, Jesus, and said, that, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches": the branch would bear the same kind of Life that was in the Vine. And if Jesus did these things when He was the Vine, and we are the branch: the branch will bear the same fruit of the Vine. If He will tell me what you are here for, will you believe with all your heart that you would receive it? You're going blind; it's your eyes, you want prayer for. Not only that, but it's arthritis, also, that you have. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. You're from this city. You believe that God could re-... tell me who you are? They call you, "Woody." Your last name is Kenneth. You live at 2321 Seventh Street. Go on your road, Jesus Christ has made you well. If thou canst believe, all things are possible.
Are you praying out there? I ask you now, in Jesus' Name, be quiet; look to Christ and pray. The Bible said, "He's a High Priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Do you know that's the Bible? How did that woman do? She touched His garment, and He turned around, and told her what her trouble was, and she was healed. You believe you could do the same thing? How would you know it, if you touched Him, if He didn't speak back? He has no voice but mine and yours; he has no ears and eyes: mine and yours. We are His vi-... His branches. You pray.
58 I'm looking at a sight: a little girl with her eyes turned up towards Heaven. Sweetheart, honey, Jesus hears your prayer. You believe He can heal you setting there? He'll take that knot out from under your arm, if you'll believe it. Just have faith in God now, and it's all over.
You accept it, too? If you do, raise up your hand. All right.
Now, you believe with all your heart? I'm a stranger to you. God knows you, I don't, but He certainly knows what's wrong with you, and He knows your trouble. If God will reveal that to me, will you be thankful, and believe Him? You be the judge, whether it's right or not. This is our first time meeting. But I don't stand here alone: the Angel of the Lord, Who promised, in His Bible (If God keeps one promise, He keeps all promises.) He can't fail, He's God. You are suffering with a trouble in the bowels. You don't go to doctors, but I'll tell you what your trouble is: is a growth in your bowels. You was suspicious of that; and that's the truth. You're trusting God for your healing. And here's a desire on your heart: you want the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You're not from this city, you're from another city, yet in Tennessee, it's Pikesville, Tennessee. Return, and receive the Holy Ghost, and be healed, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
59 How do you do, sir? I'm a stranger to you. Something odd about you, sir. Is this our first time meeting? You're shadowed for death: it's cancer in the stomach. You're not from this city; you're from a little place called, like, Crab Orchard, Tennessee. Here's the dark shadow: you're not a Christian; you're a sinner. Will you accept Christ as your Saviour now? Raise your hand to Him, and tell Him that you accept Him. Then, in Jesus Christ's Name, I condemn the cancer to death. Go, and believe now, and be baptized, calling on the Name of the Lord. That's right. Have faith.
Don't come in the line if you don't want your sins called out, 'less you confess them. Some ministers get to the man, quickly: the shadow left him.
60 We're strangers to each other, sir. I suppose we are. You are to me. You're standing here for somebody else, 'cause I see a man, drunk, and it's not you, it's your brother-in-law. Uh-huh. See? Go believing. I believe he'll come to Christ. Amen. You believe?
What about you setting here praying? The heavyset man, setting here on the end of the seat. Do you believe the things that you see, come from Christ, sir? If God will tell me what you're setting there, fifteen yards from me... You've touched Something, 'cause there is the Light, hanging over you. That Light is the Pillar of Fire that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. Its picture's back there. It's in Washington, DC. The FBI examined it, and said, "It's the only Supernatural Being, was ever photographed." Your faith has brought It to you. You got stomach trouble, and you got heart trouble. It ain't heart trouble: it's stomach trouble. When you lay down, you got... you're nervous and upset. You got something on your mind, you're worried about it: you want to be a preacher, and you're scared to be, because of your education. Forget about it and preach the Word. Amen.
61 You believe, sister, with all your heart? I don't know you, have never seen you, as far as I know, but God does know you. Look and live, not to me: look to Calvary, where you were healed. Every redemptive blessing is already finished. You've been healed nineteen hundred years; but you have to accept it. You were saved nineteen hundred years ago; it'll never do you any good, until you accept it.
Little lady, setting there, that raised your hand just then, you want me to pray for you? Yes, would raise your hand. If God will tell me what's wrong with you, and what you want me to pray for, will you believe Him? You want prayer for your eyes. If that's right, wave your hand. Well, you've received it now. You can go home and be well. If thou canst believe.
You, in behind her, raised the hand, did you want God to do something for you? You believe me to be--be God's servant? You do? All right. If you believe it, you can get over that heart trouble, and be well. You believe it?
The lady right next there, praying, believe with all your heart: praying for your son, and your son is a drunkard, an alcoholic. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. Don't weep, mother, I believe he will come, and be saved.
62 What do you think, with your hand laying over your bosom, right next to her, there? You believe that God will heal you? You got stomach trouble. Don't you have? All right, if you believe, you can be healed. You accept it?
What about you, that nodded your head, right next to her? You got back trouble. Don't you? If that's right, raise up your hand. You can be healed too, if you believe it.
I challenge your faith. Look and live, believe it. Those people out there without prayer cards, nothing else, just setting there, believing. He's the High Priest.
Just a moment. Are we strangers to each other? This is our first time meeting? If God will reveal to me what you're here for, will you accept it? You have heart trouble. That's right. It's not nervous; it's heart trouble. That's the reason the shadow hangs there. You believe me to be His servant? What does the Bible say? You believe me to be a--a believer? The Bible said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." That's true. If God will reveal to me something else you got on your mind, praying for: it's two sons; they got skin trouble. That's right. You're not from this city: you're from Knoxville, Tennessee. Go on your road, and rejoice. Thank the good Lord for His goodness to you, and be merciful.
63 No need of being nervous. You been that way all your life. Will you accept Christ now? He, Who could calm the mighty sea, can calm those nerves. Do you believe it? Then go on your road and rejoice, and say, "Thank you, Lord, for healing me." And believe it with all your heart. Go eat your supper, forget about the stomach trouble, and be made well. And Jesus Christ will heal you of the other things, too. God bless you.
Let's say, "Praise the Lord." [Congregation says, "Praise the Lord."--Ed.]
Your back trouble left you when you was stand in the line. Go on, off platform, say, "Thank you, Lord." And the other little ailments that been bothering you will leave also, if you will just believe with all your heart. [The sister says, "Thank you."--Ed.] Amen. God bless you. You're--you're entirely welcome, sister.
64 How many wants to believe, out in the audience? Do you believe that Jesus Christ, God's Son, raised from the dead? Is He here now? Oh, blessed be His Name. Why can't you understand that His Presence is here for everybody?
The lady, there, with the female trouble, setting right down there, do you believe with all your heart? Then, it's over; you can go home and be well.
I challenge you to look to Christ and believe. Do you do it with all your heart? Lay your hands over on one another; put your hands over on each other. The Bible said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Raise your hands to God, that you're a believer. These, in the line here, put your hands on one another. You're a believer; now, lay your hands on your neighbor; pray for your neighbor; put your hands over on your neighbor, and pray for him.
O God, in the Name of Thy loving Son, Jesus, I pray that You'll heal every person that's here in Divine Presence. Grant it, Lord. We ask the demons and powers of the Devil to leave this people, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
All that believe that you're healed, and accept your healing, stand up on your feet. I don't care what's wrong with you. Stand up and believe it. I pronounce you well, healed, by the power of Almighty God, in the Name of Jesus.