The Message To The Laodicean Church

1 Thank you very much. [Audience applauds--Ed.] Thank you, kindly. It's a privilege to be here in Dallas, tonight. I certainly looked forward with great anticipations of getting back to this state of Texas again. And some time ago, when I was in Waterloo, I had come in contact with Brother Lindsay, that invited me down to this Voice of Healing Convention. Later, in Chattanooga I met our dear friend, Brother David duPlessis, that also inspired me to come--and to come and have a part in this convention, just to see if there's...?... group of people... and so forth. And it was very fine of them to ask me to be their night speaker these six nights. I missed one of them by not knowing just... It was to be in the afternoon. And I'm sorry of that, because I got in the city too late to even get here for the afternoon speaking. But it's certainly a privilege to be here tonight and to be associated with this Voice of Healing convention. And we're trusting that God will give us that exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can...?...

2 Hearing Brother Vineyard, just now, as we drove up, going over into Finland, I believe. That's wonderful. And we believe that our Lord is coming soon, and we are now just gathering up, gleaning from the fields the--the part that's been left: like Ruth in the field, I suppose, gathering up that which is savable, and God has ordained eternal life; we are trying to gather that up. And I am so glad to know that we live in the--one of the greatest days that man has ever lived in, just before the coming of the King.

3 This is my third visit to Dallas, I believe. Once was with a minister; I forget just... I think his name was Brother Goff. He had a little church out here, I believe, over in Dallas, proper. And then, I come one time to some stadium, or something here, or some... I forget what the name of the place was... [A man speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.] Fair Park: that's exactly right, sir. And--and then this, I think, is our third time. And we're happy to be here tonight and minister on through Friday night, the Lord willing.

4 But it certainly does make me feel rather out of place, or a little small, as just an old, what would I call in the South, a sassafras preacher. How many knows what sassafras is? My, what part of Kentucky you from? So here where... and up here to speak before these fine ministers and to be an evening speaker, it certainly makes me feel good. And to think that many of these men here were on the field preaching when I was a sinner boy, around horse races, so, or around the boxing ring somewhere. And to know that they made the way clear so that I could run over a smooth road. So I'm grateful for my brethren, tonight. And I trust that what little effort that I can put forth, that will be a blessing to all, to make the sinner realize that he is a sinner, and to make the saint rejoice in Christ, to make the sick know that there is a Healer, and to my brethren to be inspired, that's to move forward with greater anticipations than ever before.

5 Now, I... 'Course you know that I never have yet... I was ordained in the Missionary Baptist church. And I... after leaving the Missionary Baptist church, I have never taken up any affiliation with any churches since--any certain denominations-- because I try to stand right in the breach between them all and say we're brethren. And I believe that is right, that we are brethren. And so, therefore, I don't represent any certain denominational church, but I represent the Church, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where all of you belong, in that great body of Christ. And we're looking for that day to come when He will rapture His church to go home. And the Lord willing, this week I want to speak on some of that: and on The Tie Post of the Church Going, the Handwriting on the Wall, and United Under God, and a few things of that type, the Lord willing, in these... this coming week.

Now, I believe that this is the true foundation, the Bible. I believe that God does many things that's not in the Bible. He can do anything, because He's God. But I--I think that doctrine should come out of the Scripture: that that is God's Book to us.

6 Now, in the Old Testament they had two or three ways of knowing whether it was truth or not, and that is, they would go back to what they called the Urim Thummim. And that was... I've been told that was the breastplate that Aaron had, that had the--the twelve stones in it. And then when the prophet prophesied or dreamer told his dream, and--and it did not--a conglomeration of lights-- flicker on this Urim Thummim, then the prophet was wrong. See, God always had a way of answering in supernatural (See?); always the truth is known. So if that would not flash, then the man... the prophet was wrong.

7 And now, after that priesthood was done away with... And we have a new priesthood tonight, Jesus Christ being the High Priest. We have a new Urim Thummim, and that's the Bible. "Take away or add to, the same shall be taken from the Book of Life." So we'll try our best, by God's help, to stay right in these pages. I've often said this: I do not want any less than God has in the Bible and, but I want all that He has in the Bible--just all the promises that's to us.

8 So before we open His Word for our text, let us bow our heads, just a moment for prayer.

Eternal and blessed God, it is such a grand privilege, tonight, that we have of standing in Thy Divine Presence, under this great tent where your children are assembled together for no other purpose but to hear the Word and to see the moving of the Living God. And we would ask tonight that You would pour out Your blessings upon us in a--a great way. Change our ways of thinking, if they're wrong, Lord, and set our thinking on Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. May our hearts be filled with His Presence. And when we leave tonight from the meeting, may we say like those who came from Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the road?"

And now, Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit will just take these few words that's to be read and will pour out the context of them in every heart. Grant it, Lord. Help me, Father, as I'm standing here, that my soul may rejoice in Your blessed Presence, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

9 Tonight, to begin my part of this convention, of the speaking, I have chosen a little text found over in the book of Revelations, to you who mark it, in Revelations the 3rd chapter and the 20th verse. I wish to read this portion of the Word:

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and will open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

This text of Revelations, here, is the message to the Laodicean church. Which I truly believe that--not being a dispensationalist, exactly--but yet I believe that we're at the end of the Gentile dispensation that was spoke of. And I believe that the Laodicean church age was the last church age. And I think that's where we are tonight. And that's why I've taken this for a text.

And some might say, "Why, Brother Branham, isn't this rather a small text for a--a group of people this size and for a convention of this caliber, if you just read just a few words in one little verse of Scripture?" But you see, it isn't the size of the Scripture; it isn't the size of the reading; it's what it is that counts.

10 Some time ago in Louisville, Kentucky, a little friend of mine was up in the attic, an old garret, in the house. And he was fumbling around, the little lad, and he stumbled into an old trunk. And in this trunk he found an old postage stamp, just about one-half inch square. And he thought, maybe, with this on his mind that ice cream might come from this stamp, so he hurried down the street to his friend that collected old stamps, and said to this friend, "I found a little old, yellow stamp. It's quite old, but I just wonder if this stamp is worth anything."

And the stamp collector got his glass out, and looked over it a little, and he quickly said, "I'll give you a one dollar bill for this certain stamp." And of course, the little lad, not expecting more than five cents... The sale was made quickly, because that dollar meant many ice cream cones. So after while he... About two weeks later this collector sold this certain stamp for twenty-five-hundred dollars. And about six months later, it was sold for five-hundred-thousand dollars. And you see, it wasn't the little stamp, the little piece of paper; it's what was wrote on that paper that counted.

That's the way it is with my text tonight: it isn't the paper that it's wrote on; it isn't the size of the text, but it's what's wrote on it. It's the Word of the Living God. It's so essential, till all the heavens and earth will pass away, but It shall never pass away. See? God notices every little word that we read. God knows every little thought that goes through our mind, every little act that we do.

11 And I'm kindly thinking this, that many times the church in it's looseness gets to doing things, and thinking things, and--and taking things just as they are, when we ought to weigh what we do and say. We ought to think it over before we speak it.

My old southern mammy used to tell me, "Think twice and speak once." It's the little things, sometimes, that we leave undone, that means so much to us. We get in such a hurry to race over things in this neurotic age that we live in. It would behoove us, as the church of God tonight, to stop and wait a minute, see where we're at.

12 Sometime ago I was standing in Vancouver, British Colombia, and the King George of England had come over to visit Canada. And he was making his way down along the street in the carriage, and his beautiful queen setting by him... And Mr. Baxter, one of my associates, he was weeping, because he said, "Just think, Brother Branham, our king passes by."

And I thought, "If that would make a Canadian weep because King George, the honorable king, was passing by, what will it be when Jesus passes by--He is the King of Kings--with His beautiful Bride, the church?"

13 And now, all the schools turned out. And the teachers give the little children a little British flag to wave their loyalty to the king as he passed by. And as the king had went by, there was one of the certain schools there was a little girl that did not return to her place. And the teacher, being alarmed, she rushed out in the street to find what had become of the child. And as she looked along the street, she found the little girl standing by a telegraph pole, just weeping her little heart out. So the teacher goes over to the little girl, and she said, "Darling, why are you weeping so?" Said, "Why, did you not be able to wave your flag at the king?"

And she said, "Yes, I--I waved my flag at the king, teacher."

"Well," said, "did you not get, be able to holler, 'Hail to the king?'"

Said, "Yes, I hollered, 'Hail to the king,' teacher."

"Well," said, "did you not see the king?"

She said, "Yes, I saw the king, teacher."

Said, "Well then, what are you weeping so for, darling?"

She said, "Teacher, you see, I saw the king, but I'm so little the king didn't see me."

But how different it is with Jesus. You don't have to be in "Who's Who." You don't have to have your name on some great book of some sort. No matter who you are, Jesus sees you, and He knows every little act that we do. Every little thing that you do for Him, every little move that you make, He keeps it on His book. He knows all of us, whether we are important in this world or not important. We're all important to His kingdom, whether we are rich, poor, or indifferent.

You see, this also is a pardon. To small groups, I've read enough Scripture tonight that would close up every bootleg joint in Dallas, that would put every church that's at one another's throat, put them right back to old fashion fellowship and a revival. It would do it.

14 Some time ago in the days of our most noble Abraham Lincoln, it was told that there was a prisoner in the camp, that was sentenced to death by a federal crime that he had done. And some good man went and asked the President, "Won't you pardon this certain man?" (And the President Lincoln, as we all know to be a Christian... ) The man said, "Sir, you know the man's got a mortal soul, or an immortal soul that you are going to take from his body? And would you take his life and him begging for mercy?"

Mr. Lincoln, fixing to get into his carriage, just wrote a little piece and said, "I pardon this man. Abraham Lincoln."

And the man rushed back quickly to the prison cell and said, "Sir, I have your pardon from the President of the United States."

And the man looked at him and said, "Oh, if that was a real pardon, it would be on a great paper with a seal, and it would have all kinds of--of gold letters on it, if it come from the President." And he said, "Why do you make fun of me, and knowing that I'm to be shot in the morning at sunrise?"

He said, "I'm not making fun of you, sir. This has got Abraham Lincoln's signature on it."

"Oh," he said, "This is just enough for me to believe it." And he refused to receive it, and he was shot the next morning.

15 Now, there is a pardon, at large, wrote by Abraham Lincoln that this certain person was to be pardoned on this day and a firing squad killed him the next day. It was tried in Federal Court, and here was the decision: a pardon is not a pardon except it be received as a pardon.

And this is God's Word that I have just read. It's a pardon to those who want to accept it as a pardon, and it's healing to those who want to accept it as healing. And it could be any great blessing that God has promised, if we will believe it and accept it as such (See?), no matter what size it is, what kind of a book it's wrote on, as long as it's God's Eternal Word...

16 This is a very strange thing to see a Man knocking on a door to be in a Scriptures. I just forget the artist--or the name--who painted the famous picture of Jesus knocking at the door. I can't call his name. He's a Grecian artist, I believe. And when... All great pictures, before they can be hung in the hall of fame, they have to go through the hall of critics first.

And then, it just reminds me of the church. Before the church can ever be taken to glory, it has to go through the--this world of criticism. And sometimes we try to shirk, pull back from criticism. Well, that's only testing. It's--it's golden nuggets to you. It's something that God has permitted to you to try you and to bring you through a hundred percent, pure gold that's shining. "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," says the Scripture. So the criticism, we welcome that, because that's what we have to have to put us through the fiery trials.

17 So this artist, when the picture was going through the hall of critics, there was one critic said, "Sir, I think your portrait of Christ is beautiful. And I think, standing at the door, and the fine anticipations of watching and waiting that someone would open," but said, "there's one thing wrong, that is, that you haven't got any latch for Him to go in at."

And the artist said, "Oh, I painted it thus. You see, in this case the latch is on the inside. You must do the opening. Christ does the knocking. And that's the way it is with every person here tonight that's seeking God for anything. He's knocking at the door, but you have to open up. You are the one that's under control; you're on the inside to open the door. If you need salvation, if He knocks, receive it, open the door. If you need healing, open the door. That's all you have to do. And then He will come in.

18 Then if you'll notice, a man knocking at a door is trying to gain entrance. And surely, no man would knock at another man's door unless he had something important, or something that he thought was important, to talk over with the man. And great man have knocked at doors down through the ages.

For instance, back in the days of Rome... What would have happened if the great Caesar, Augustus Caesar, would've went down to a peasant's house and would've knocked at the door. And this peasant would've come to the door; he would've seen who that great Emperor was, he would've fell prostrate on his face and said, "Great man, great Augustus Caesar, come into my house." What a honor it would've been for a poor man, a peasant, to have the Emperor of Rome, standing at his door. That would've been a great honor.

Or in the days of the late Adolf Hitler. What if Adolf Hitler would've went down to a peasant's door, or a German footman, a little soldier's door and would've knocked at his door. And when this soldier opened the door and saw the great Fuehrer of Germany at that day standing at his door, he would've come to attention and would've saluted, and said, "Oh, Hitler, come into my house. Anything that's in this house that you want is yours." Why? Hitler was an important man in his day, especially to a German, in the days that he was the dictator of Germany.

19 Or I might say this: What if our great President, Dwight Eisenhower, would've come to Dallas tonight, and he could've come to the house of the best Democrat there is in Dallas, it would be an honor to you. Sure. You might have disagreed with him on politics, but Dwight Eisenhower is the President of the United States. He's a great man. It's the importance of the person at the door that's knocking, that counts. Certainly.

And though if he come and knocked at your door and you would disagree with him, said... you wouldn't have said, "Now, wait a minute, Mr. Eisenhower, you just go away from my door. I'm a Democrat." No, sir. You'd invite him in. And what would happen? Tomorrow, why Dwight Eisenhower would have humbled himself (I believe him to be a great President.), and if he would humble himself to come to your door, just an ordinary man, why, the--the--the television would pack it. All around the world tomorrow would know that Dwight Eisenhower come to some poor man's door in Dallas, Texas, how he humbled himself to do so.

20 Or what if the queen that just visit here. She went up into Canada, the Queen of England. And she come down into the United States. What if she would've come to one of your doors, you women, here? Maybe you would've looked at her and said, "I don't understand who you are."

And she said, "I'm the Queen of England."

Though you're not her subject, but yet you would've been honored to have the Queen of England at your door; any person would, because she's an important woman. She's the greatest queen on earth, over the greatest... That's the greatest known queen in the earth, is the Queen of England. Why, you'd have said, "Come in, Queen, and look over my house. And if there's anything here that you desire, you may have it.

And if there had been a little trinket setting on the shelf that your grandmother would've held back giving you, and if she'd have ask for it, you'd let her have it, because of her importance. She's a great woman. It would've been an honor to surrender this little treasure to the Queen of England (Certainly), because of her importance.

But oh, brother, sister, here is what I'm here to say: Who is more important to knock on your door than Jesus? And who's any more turned away than Jesus? He's turned away more than all the presidents, dictators, and kings in all the world ever turned away. Jesus has been more turned away. The queen, the dictator, might've bring something to you or taking something for you, but Jesus, coming to your door, wants to give you something: the best thing that you would... ever could receive, Eternal Life...?... turned from the door. Oh, it is a tragic thing. If a man or woman would only stop and think for just a moment, that the King of the Lord, the King of Life, the Son of the Eternal God, is knocking on mortal's hearts to give him something good, and He's turned Him away.

21 Every Divine promise in the Bible is yours tonight. If the faith of God knocks at your heart, then you can have it. Why would we weary? Why would we try to say, "Well, I'm just afraid it won't happen"? How can we ever comprehend that in our mind, when the King of Glory promised it, Jesus Christ, the Son of God? "I stand at the door and knock. And if any man will hear Me, and will open the door, I'll come in and sup with him."

Now, "sup," here means "to commune or fellowship." Jesus wants fellowship. That's what God's heart longs for tonight. He longs for it in Dallas and in every place in the world: a breaking down of prejudice, a cleaning up from the pulpit, all the way to the basement, and an old fashion revival that'll shake denominations together and will fill the real church of the Living God. Shake hands with the Holiness, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Pentecostals, the Nazarene... He longs to get in to have fellowship in His people, come in to commune and to bring you something good, but the church and the people keeps Him away... to coming down, because you say, "Well, that group don't believe just like I do." What difference does that make? That has nothing to do with it.

We are Christians, borned again in the same family, a bunch of pilgrims. We'll never see eye to eye, until we see Him face to face, and be changed and made like unto His own glorious body.

22 We need a breaking down, a cleaning up, a housecleaning, and a real revival to start, when the gifts, and powers, and manifestation of the Holy Spirit can come into the church showing great signs and wonders. How can God do it upon a divided group? We can't do it. God loves His people, and we must all come together, great mass meetings, and forget being Baptists and Presbyterians, so forth.

23 So, He knocks at the door of every mortal. That's His duty; that's His... that's what He's here for. No one gets passed by; all of them is invited: crippled, lame, halt, blind... you set... Dallas tonight. And every church here, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Oneness, Twoness, Threeness, all you are, and drag down those little differences and come together, they'll empty the hospitals around here and...?... Oh, it would cause something to take place that headlines would come into the paper. Television would cast it across the world when Christ come into thousands of homes. It would do it, friends.

That's what these meetings are for that. That's the idea of these ministers setting on the platform here. That's my purpose of being here, is to try to tell you that Christ loves His people. And we must get together for the moving of the Holy Spirit and the rapture of the church. God willing, this week, I'll get to it.

24 Now you say, "Mr. Branham, I just want you to know that I have let Jesus in a long time ago." Well, to that I'm thankful if you let Him in. But now, there's a whole lot more than just letting Him in and letting Him have His way after He gets in.

If you ask me to your house, and I knocked at your door, and I believe that you love me well enough, you'd say, "Come in, Brother Branham," and shake my hand and said, "Welcome." Well, if you told me I was welcome, there's enough Kentucky in me to believe that I'd be welcome to anything in the house. I'd go and take off my shoes, stretch out across the bed, and rest. If I got hungry, go to the ice box and make me a sandwich, sure. I'd feel welcome if you told me I was welcome.

25 But when you let Jesus in, the people take a different attitude. You say, "Jesus, I don't want You to let me go to hell now. Well, I'll let You in the door, but You stay there at the door. Now you know, in the human heart, after He come in the first door, there's a whole lot of little doors all around. Let's talk of a few of those. Not to hurt your feelings, but let's just talk about them a few minutes.

The first door, that you turn to your right, when you get inside, now, that's the door of private life. Now you say, "Jesus, You can come in and save me from hell, but don't You go to meddling in my private life. If You do that, I--I just can't go any farther with You." That's the reason we never get nowhere. You're willing to accept some form of baptism, and some rituals of the church, but when Christ begins to come in and tell you to put away sin that's in the camp: now you can't play cards no more, and you can't stay home on--on every morning when prayer meeting's on and listen to Arthur Godfrey, that rascal; or have Elvis Presley's rock-and-roll in the house; set yourself in the back yard and get a suntan; you deacons and church members smoking cigarettes and things. No wonder you... No wonder Christ can't have the right of way in the heart.

26 I don't want to hurt your feelings. But what happened to the morals of this Pentecostal church? It used to be wrong for you women to cut your hair. I remember that. But... And now you say, "Preacher, there you go. You're... you're hitting that." All right. You see where your private life is? The Bible is against it. If the Bible said in grandmother's days it was wrong, it's the same Bible tonight. The Bible says if a woman cuts her hair her husband can divorce her; she dishonors her head. Now, that's right. That's what the Scripture says. Now, there's something wrong somewhere, either in the pew or the pulpit, one. That's right. Now, that's truth.

Now, notice. It used to be wrong for your ladies even to wear their skirts low and through the front and up like that, but now they... the Pentecostal women went shorts. Now, that's right. What do you do it for? Well, you say, "I won't wear them. I wear slacks." That's worse. You know the Bible said that a woman that'll put on a garment that pertains to a man it's an abomination in the sight of God?

27 Why can't we have a healing service and a great revival? Stand up for it. The sin's at the door; that's where it's at. You say, "Well, I belong to the this and I..." That don't have nothing to do with it. It's Christ through His Word, knocking at the heart. It's true.

Some of these little old dirty looking clothes that women wear... "Well," you say to me, "Brother Branham, that's the only kind they sell." But they still sell sewing machines and goods...?... suits you. Now, let me ask you something, sisters. Do you know what you're going to be guilty of at the day of the judgment? For committing adultery with sinners. The Bible said, Jesus, our blessed Lord said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart already." And if you present yourself like that, you may be as pure as the lily to your husband, or your boyfriend, but Jesus said that you've committed adultery with a sinner that you have presented yourself to him. Now, Jesus said that. Who's guilty? You presented yourself like that.

28 Now, you say, "Brother Branham, you're picking on the women." All right, you men. And any man that'll let his wife smoke cigarettes and wear those kind of clothes, it shows what you're made of. You're supposed to be the ruler of the house. What's happened? You can't make American homes. No wonder we got juvenile delinquency. We got parent delinquency. We got church delinquency. Certainly we have. That's true. Not to hurt you, but to tell you the truth, we got to clean up. Got to have a--a revival and get all the bugs out of the thing before we... God will ever come in.

Stand at the door, you say, "You interfere with my private life." There it is. See? Well then, you have a little... another little door called "Pride." Oh, my. "Don't you tamper with that. Now look, Brother Branham, I think it's so much today." All right. It's your private life. You say, "You got no business busting in on my private life." That's what you're telling Christ. I'm talking from the Word. The Word speaks for Itself. That's right.

29 Private life... "Just me and the Joneses..." you know. See? "Me and my denomination." You've got no right to draw denomination lines in brotherhood. That's right. Not too much difference in doctrines and so forth, which is all right. (I eat cherry pie and somebody else eats apple; but we're eating pie just the same.) We've got no rights to--to draw lines just because a fellow don't believe with you. You're...?... the denomination with you, so "I'll pass...?... I tell you, I don't go for them holy rollers." If you ever go to heaven you're going to go with them...?... plenty of them there.

"Well, I'm a Presbyterian, and I don't go..." Well, all right then. There they are. See, you'll let Him in. You'll let Him save you from hell, but you won't let Him be your Lord. "Lord" means "a rulership." "Lord" means "ownership." When He comes in, let Him be your Lord.

30 This great evangelist, Billy Graham, I was at his breakfast in Louisville, at his great meeting there. When I heard the man get up, and he took the Bible, and he said, "This is the example," which is correct, exactly. He said, "When Paul went into a city, and he had a revival," said, "he come back about a year later, and that one fellow he got saved, had got thirty more saved." He said, "I go into a city and have a revival and have 20,000 saved, and go back six weeks later and can't find twenty."

What's the matter? Here's the matter. They just get enthused with the evangelism and a big crowd of people. That's all. It's exactly. And the Pentecostals are getting to be the same. What we need is Christ being Lord...?... into His presence here and say, "Lord, come in."

31 Now, He said again in there, that there's a little door called faith. Wished we had time to open all these doors, but I want to open... look at this little door of faith. You know, you say, "Well, now I've got faith, Brother Branham, I let Jesus come into my heart." You thought you'd done Him an honor. Sometimes you act like it. Oh, what a great thing you did when you let Jesus come to the door and stand there. He won't stand very long, don't you worry. I wouldn't stay long. You wouldn't stay long in my house if I said, "Come, just stand here. Don't you move; don't you go fooling with anything else here." You'd know you wasn't welcome. That's the reason there's twenty out of twenty-thousand.

Now, we need to let Him in, and when He comes in, worship Him and said, "Come in, Lord. Be my Saviour. Be my God. Be my Ruler. Be my Healer. Be my... Be all that I--I want to know in life, be. Be my Lord. Take everything that I've got, Lord, and rule it. Take my emotions. I will not get ashamed any more. Take my pride. Stand in the door and cloth me, Lord, with Your Word." Going to see a revival start then."Stand in my private life, Lord. Make me what You'd want me to be. Let me not take my own thoughts but take Yours, God. Lead me, oh Lord." He will never take you from the Word. He will keep you right in His Word. Not because the Baptists do it, the Pentecost do it, the Presbyterian, but because God's Word said so, you believe it.

32 Man that's ever borned of the Spirit of God meets something that he never gets away from you. There's no man got a right to preach the Gospel, until first he's been on the sacred sands of the back side of the desert. There's theologians in this world that's smart, and shrewd, and can explain everything away--take everything away, even a whole Bible. They might twist your mind and everything else, but if you've ever let God come into your heart fully, and get that back side of the desert experience, then, brother, all devils out of hell can't come on that ground where you...?... It's something that's real.

There's a little door of faith. "Oh," you say, "preacher, I know you people believe in divine healing, but my faith don't teach that." Then you've got the wrong faith. See? If you let Jesus come in, you won't no more say, "The day's of miracles are past." Jesus is in there, and He is the miracle. He's the miracle Performer. And He's the miracle that's right there in your heart just as present as it was when He walked Galilee. He's there.

33 That's the reason people won't let Him in. Let Him stand in that door, one time. Use God's faith; it's yours. If you've been borned again and let Christ in the door, He will stand right in the door and say, "I am the same, yesterday, today, and forever." That's right. Every Word that I said is part of Him. "I'm not... I'm just setting here. I'm your King. I'm your Healer. I'm your Joy. I'm the Fountains of Life. I'm Alpha, Omega. I'm your getting up at morning. I'm your going to bed at night."

As David said, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for Thou art with me. If I make my bed in hell, He would be there." What... We need an old fashion revival. How true.

34 Notice now, just another thing. He said in here to this Laodicean church age, that we're now living in, He said, "I counsel of you to come and buy from Me, fine gold." Said, "You've said that you are rich." Now, how rich is the church today? The greatest buildings it ever had, the most money it ever had. "You say, 'I'm rich, and I have need of nothing.' And you don't know that you are naked, miserable, blind, poor, and wretched, and don't know it." What is it? "I..." and don't know it.

Now, if you seen a man coming down the street that was wretched, naked, blind, and you could run up to him and say, "Sir, you're naked."

"Oh, am I, sir? Well, said, "I'll... you help me?"

"I've got help for you here and come in right quick, let me clothe you." Well if... If he was... If he would listen to you, all right. But what if the man's in that condition and doesn't know it? And the Bible said that this last church age would be that way.

35 And you Pentecostal people, you have got the best churches you ever had. And you'd be a lot better off down on the mission with... on the street down here, with a little ten cent pan, beating on the drums, or something like that, calling sinners to repent, than it would be in these great big church you got, turning into morgues. You know that's right.

Now, that... I don't mean to hurt your feelings. I'm your brother. And I'm just telling you the truth. So Laodicean church... That's the reason I said about you women making all yourself up, you Pentecostal women wearing that manicure over your face, you know... Well that stuff, ever what it is. You don't need that. No, sir. That's of the devil.

Let me tell you, there's only one woman in the Bible that ever painted her face, and her name was Jezebel. And God fed her to the dogs. So you see, it's dog meat to paint your face like that. I don't mean that for no joke. This is not a place to joke, friend. I'm just telling you the truth. It's a heathen trait. What's happened?

Now, It said that, "Miserable, wretched, blind, and don't know it.

36 I was raised in Kentucky in a little old clapboard shingled house. And Mama used to take all us little Branhams and stick us all in one bed: about three at the foot, and three at the head, and about three or four across the middle. And she would... Then we had just an old piece of canvas she would put over the top of the bed to keep the snow and the rain out of our eyes. And the draft would come through and... At nighttime when that cold wind would come through, sometimes--Mama called it "matter"--cold would get in our eyes, and it'd stick our eyes together. And I was the oldest, and she'd say, "Billy, come on down."

I'd say, "Mammy, I can't see. My eyes have stuck together."

And my little brother, Edward, he'd say, "I can't see either, Mammy."

You see, we'd caught cold in our eyes. And--and they got infection, and it stuck our eyelids together. And my grandpa was a coon hunter, and used to catch coons, raccoons, and take them out and he would render the grease out of them. And Mama would go get that old pan, set it on the stove, that coon grease. She'd get it real good and hot, and come up there, and massaged our eyes and... And then it--after a while they could open. I don't know what happened, but it softened up the--the matter in our eyes, and--and we could see.

37 I tell you, brother, there's been a cold spell in the church. And the Pentecostal church has caught a bad cold somewhere. And it'll take more than coon grease to open their eyes to the...?... "I'll give you some eyesalve." And that eyesalve will open your eyes. And if the preaching of the Word don't do it, I don't know any other eye salve. The Holy Spirit warms up the Word, and tonight across the church... And the church loves that Word. Certainly. And It opens the eye. Then you can see we've had a--a little draft come across the church somewhere. I think we got to breaking up and making, "I'm this and I'm that." I wonder what we are after all. Oh, if you only knew it, friend: you're sons and daughters of God that God's trying to get... You just got your eyes mattered. That's all. God spreading some salve is what we want in this revival here to get the eyes opened up.

38 Look around. See how good God has been to us. "I stand at the door and knock, and if any man will hear My voice, and open up the door, I will come in, commune with him. If the Baptist will hear Me, if the Methodist will hear it, if the Pentecost will hear it; if the Nazarene, the Pilgrim Holiness, I'll come in. I'll put a little grease over your eyes and open up your eyes to let you see where we're at."

Oh, you know the Pentecostal church has had a revival. When this little minister awhile ago, the little Jewish brother here, that introduced me about spearheading a revival, we've had a wonderful revival. I don't know whenever in history there's been a revival likes been this Pentecostal age. That is right. There's revival fires burning in every nation under heaven tonight. That's right. We're in the end time. It's wonderful. And we... Let me say to you people here in Dallas, a headquarters of these great churches, these great people... Now, don't feel bad because I say these things like I've been saying. I'm saying it for your good and for the good of the Gospel, friend.

39 Now look, then we can have real healing services. Then we can have something real take place when we break down our little walls, and straighten up ourselves, and wash our faces, and shake ourself, come to...?..." That's right. Then God will go to blessing us. Then the songs of Zion will return the old fashion blessings that we've longed for. God's got... The Pentecostal skies are full of it. Why would we accept a substitute when the real things are at hand? No need. But you what? That we have seen so much, until we've lost the value of what we've got.

40 One time there was a man going down to the sea. He wanted a little rest; he had never saw the sea. He'd been raised in more like the desert country, and he was on his road to the sea. And he said, "I'm going down... I just long to smell the salt air, and to see the great briny waves, as they leap into the air and break, and the heaven's blue, shining down upon the briny water make them blue; hear the wild screams of the sea gulls as they circle over the sea. I long to hear it and to see it. It'll be so restful for me, for I have heard that such things exist."

So he made ready to go to the seashore. Just before he got to the seashore, he met an old salt returning, which means an old sailor. And he said, "Where goest thou, my good man?"

He said, "I go to the seashore. sir." He said, "I go to see the great waves," and explained to him how his heart would be thrilled to only see those things.

And the old salt said, "Now, I was borned on that sea." He said, "I was born in a ship." He said, "And I've watched those waves for forty years and heard those gulls holler. I don't see nothing exciting about it." You see, he'd saw it so much, till it become common. That's the way with divine healing.

41 Someone told me a little preacher prayed for a little girl here yesterday, and two or three inches growed onto her leg. Mercy, that ought to set this place afire, it ought to. The King is here. The great mighty Christ of God Who rules the heavens and earth is present and can do great and mighty things if we'll just believe Him. Don't you believe it? Certainly, if we'll just believe Him, have faith and say, "God, if You'll just open our eyes tonight, let us see Your glory, Father God, then we'll do... we'll see great things, but how can you do it unless our eyes come open." Isn't that right? We have to have it. And we see so many great miracles take place that... We see people shout and "Praise the Lord," and yet we just fail to look at it. Isn't that right? True. Great and mighty moving, it becomes common to us-- just so common that we don't pay any attention.

42 Sometime ago, down in Louisiana, or I believe it was Georgia, an old colored preacher that I knowed... He was a great old man, great soul. But he had an old man that went to... His wife went to church, and she was a godly, saintly old woman. She said that she'd prayed for her husband a long time, but... His name was Gabriel, but they called him "Gabe" for short. So they just couldn't get old Gabe straightened out. Somehow or another they couldn't get him straightened out with the church and with God. And so this old colored preacher taken old Gabe hunting with him many times and they'd go out and hunt. So one day they'd been hunting and along the road back, oh, both of them had rabbits and birds was hanging over them till he couldn't even walk, hardly, just so loaded down. They was coming along a certain old familiar path, and as they walked along this path, the parson kept looking back towards the West as the sun was setting.

And brother, I'm telling you, the church ought to know that it's sun setting time. The sun's going down. What's these blessings that we see? What did the prophet say? "It'll be light in the evening time." What kind of light? How does the sun travel? It rapidly rises in the East and sets in the West. And civilization rose in the East and traveled westward. The East and West has met together. I'll preach on that this week, the Lord willing.

43 Now, notice, and the same light, when the sun come up and shines on the East, the same sun shines in the West. You get it? The Bible said... or the prophet said there'll be a day that wouldn't be day or night, a dismal time--just a dismal time. We've had enough light to join church, and build an organization of fine churches. We've had that for two thousand years, but God promised in the evening time it would be light. And what is it? The same light that fell on the Orient, the same Holy Ghost that fell at Pentecost, bringing the same results, is falling on the Western people today, bringing the same results that it brought back there. It'll be light.

44 And as he was looking towards the west, the old darkie walking along there, he touched the parson on the shoulder. The preacher looked around, and he seen that old Gabe. And the tears was running down his cheeks, and he said, "Parson, today is Saturday. And tomorrow morning you're going to find me at the mourner's bench. And I'm going to get me a seat by the side my dear wife, back there in that church. There I'll remain faithful till God takes my life.

The parson was so happy to hear that. He said, "Gabe, you know that I appreciate that. I love to hear you say that, Gabe, but what caused the sudden change? Was it the sermon I preached? Was it the things that I've talked to you about the goodness of the Lord?

He said, "No, Parson, coming right around that bend down yonder, I felt something knock at my heart." He said, "You know, Parson, I--I couldn't hit a barn." He said, "I'm the poorest shot in the country. And yet, just look how many on me. They're rabbits and birds that I got myself." He said, "He must love me or He wouldn't have give them to me." A little, simple thing like that and a knock of Christ at the heart. "Gabe, I was on your gun sight today."

45 What about you tonight? What about you that drove up in nice cars? What about you that go to the fine churches? What about you that's setting here in good health and not like that little child laying there, twisted around on his cot. What about you, young lady, that's setting here in good health, to every little sick girl in the building there, little spastic looking child, girl... Don't you know that's God knocking on your heart to say, "It's good to see you." It's His goodness: you eat your Sunday dinner yesterday.

46 I stood a few months ago in Bombay, India, where I was preaching to nearly half a million souls, and seeing them little mothers and their little babies, their little bellies swelled out, dying with hunger. The...?... garbage that you raked out on the can would feed them. Don't you know that's God knocking at your heart? And here you will say, "Well, I belong to church, Brother Branham..." Prejudice, indifferent--the door closed. Oh, if this entire group of about a thousand people here tonight...?... count so many, if you would open every door in your heart to Jesus Christ tonight there'd be a revival break through in these next few nights that would set the newspaper headlines...?... Christ would come.

He wants that. That's God's desire tonight above everything, is to have His church one. Knocking at your door. Fine ministers, fine clothes, fine cars, fine jobs, no wonderful Christ standing at the door. Why don't you let Him in. Let Him come in. Let us bow our heads, just a moment.

47 Let every eye be closed if you will. I just wonder, just before we have prayer, is there some in here would raise your hand and say, "Brother Branham, I ain't raising my hand to you. I'm raising it to God, because I--I felt that somewhere along, the last few days, I've heard a little knocking on my door. I haven't lived the life that I should, Brother Branham. I been prejudice. I'm a church member. I--I should have done better; I know I should. And I've fussed at my neighbors. I've argued with different churches about their doctrine. I've--I've sold it... I've--I've not lived the way I should. I--I know I shouldn't have done the things that I've done, but by God's grace I'm going to let the doors open tonight. I'm going to let Him be my Lord from this hour on. And I'm going to mean this, Brother Branham. I'm not raising my hand to you, I'm raising my hand to Christ. I will come, Lord." And let me remember you in prayer. Quietly now, while everybody's in prayer. Would you just raise your hands all over the building...?... and that's it. Set quiet.