A Deceived Church, By The World

1 Jesus Christ, His Son, and has given us all things freely in Christ... We are grateful to Thee, Lord, for the privileges that we are granted by this great supreme Sacrifice that Jesus gave for us at Calvary, that it reconciled us back into fellowship and to favor with Thee, that we might have this consolation of knowing that it's written, "If ye abide in Me, and My Words in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." Now, we're grateful for this, and pray that You'll give us faith to believe it with all that's in us.

2 Now, let us lay aside, Lord, every toil of the day, every care of this life, all the way from the janitor to the pastor, that there would be nothing in our minds now, but be waiting, listening reverently for the Holy Spirit to speak to us, that we might accomplish something good, to know more of Thee, by our gathering together. For, Lord, truly that's why we come on this hot day. Speak to us through Thy living Word, and let the living Word dwell in us and abide in us, that we might be shaped and formed, not to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our spirit into the form of the Son of God.

Oh, our hearts tremble when we think, and the joy floods our souls to know that we can be called sons and daughters of God. And we stand on the very brim of His second coming, and all nations and kingdoms quivering under our feet, all things of the world is vanishing, but knowing that someday He shall come and shall take us to a Kingdom where there shall never be an end, or, it'll never be moved. And to think that we are now the--the subjects of that Kingdom O God, circumcise our heart and ears today by--by the Holy Spirit, through the washing of the water of the Word. For we ask it in His Name and for His glory. Amen.

3 I wish to approach the subject this morning. For I was going to speak on something a little different if there was to be a healing service, but we announced that the prayer cards to be give out at eight, till eight-thirty or nine o'clock. And I just... Billy come up to the house a few minutes ago and he said there was hardly anyone here, so he didn't give out prayer cards. So we'll... I thought of taking this text for a correction of the church. And I want to speak on the subject of "A Deceived Church By The World." I wish to read some now out of the Book of Judges the 16th chapter, beginning with the 10th verse.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy mightest be bound.

And he said unto her, If thou bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there was liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like as threads.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies: tell me where thy mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest... seven locks of my head with a web.

And she fastened it to the pins, and said unto him, The Philistines be on thee, Samson. And he awakened out of his sleep, and went away with the pins of the beams, and with the web.

And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when in thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast... told me wherein thy great strength lies; and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

And it came to pass, when she had pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

And he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like another man.

And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called... the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has showed me all his heart. And the lords of the Philistine came up unto her, and sought money in, or brought money into her hand.

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and he caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and... begin to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.

And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD had departed from him.

4 Now, I wish to read, for a text for this subject, found over in the Book of Revelations the 2nd chapter, beginning with the 21st and the 23rd verses.

And I gave her space to repent of her fornications; and she repented not.

Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

May the Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word.

5 Samson, great deal like the church, started off right. He started off in the right direction. He started off and was called a mighty man of valor. But he started out serving the Lord in keeping His Words and doing His commandments. And that was somewhat like the church. It started off on, as we would say, as a world expression, started on the right foot, started to keep the commandments of the Lord. And as long as Samson followed the Lord, the Lord used Samson.

6 For God can keep anyone and use anyone that will follow after Him, for it's God's business. But when we turn to aside away from the things of God, then God cannot use us any longer. When we'll walk steadfastly after the commandments of God, when we'll stay in the pages of the Bible and worship by the written Word, worship Him in the Spirit and in the Truth of the Word, then God can use any individual. But when they take a notion to turn aside after something else, then God cannot use that person any longer.

7 So Samson makes a--a very outstanding representation of the church of today. When the church started, God could use the church, for the church walked diligently after the commandments of the Lord, kept all of His judgments and His statutes, and done all of His commandments. And God was with the church. But it seems to be that there is such a weakening place amongst the church.

8 Remember, we are not on a picnic, but we're in a battlefield. Many people just think that when they become a Christian that that's all they need to do, that that settles it forever, as they are a Christian and everything's going to come easy. Don't never get that in your head. For I become a Christian to fight, fight the good fight of faith. I become a Christian to get in the battle lines. We are Christian soldiers, and we got to be trained, and brought up, and know all the techniques of the enemy, to know how to fortify, to know how to--to fight the fight. And we can only do that as the Holy Spirit will reveal it to us. We cannot take what some other nation tells us when we go to war, some of their ideas. But we got to take our own ideas, the way the Holy Spirit would direct us, and what ideas He would give us, because He is the Commandering Chief of the army of the Christians.

9 Samson did good; he was a great man until he begin to--begin to kinda (we would call it) scallywag around, until he begin to get off of his own territory. And the church did run well and was all right until they begin to get off of their territory. Samson begin to flirt, and he was not flirting with Israelitish girls; he begin to flirt with a Philistine girls.

And that's somewhat similar to what the church did. It never begin to make love with its own; it got off after unbelievers and begin to flirt with unbelievers. That's where we made our great, and one of the greatest mistakes is when the church begin to do things that wasn't right. It begin to keep, like Samson, bad company.

11 Samson, as long as he was in the company of the Lord's people, he did all right. But when he got to flirting with bad company, then he got in trouble.

And that's the way it is with the church. When the church followed reverently and daily after the leading of the Holy Spirit, God blessed them, and miracles and signs and wonders followed the church. But when it begin to keep bad company with the world... One of the worst things it done, and the first things it done, it begin to organize, breaking up fellowship amongst other believers, because they found out that nations were organized. But this great Gospel is not dedicated to one nation or one peoples. It's dedicated to "whosoever will, let him come," all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. God never did intend for us to draw a boundary line.

13 But man wanted to be like, they compare, or to copy after, go like the--the world does, say the things that they do, make a success the way they were a success. We cannot never be a success doing anything the world does. We can only be a success as we follow after God's statutes and His way of doing things. We can never be by patterning after the world. If the cigarette company has met their greatest success by television, and the beer and the whiskey crowd has made their great success through the contribution of television, that's no sign that the church shall make its success by television. The success of the church lies within the preaching of the Gospel, of the power of God, and the demonstration of the Spirit. We cannot say because that television done such-and-such for the cigarette company and the--and the other companies... We do not have any Scripture to tare--try to compare with them people. And as long as we do, we may draw great numbers of people, but that's not what God ordained us to do. We think because that we're all colors, flying high, great organizations, causing great colorful things to take place, that it's a success. We are dying daily on our feet, spiritually speaking. If we stood ten-million strong this morning, and the Holy Spirit wasn't with us, we'd do well to stand ten strong with the Holy Spirit with us. We cannot compare with the world.

14 And one of the first things was the church begin to organize themselves. The first organization was the Catholic church, and then come the Lutheran church. When they organized in the Catholic church to make it an organization, one day there was a cry, "The Philistines is on thee, Samson," and Samson broke the cords of the bounds of the Catholic church, and Martin Luther came forth with the organization.

15 Then they bound the church with another cord as Delilah did. And they begin... Instead of having God-called men, men who were called by the Holy Spirit, maybe didn't know their abc's, but they knowed Christ. Then the church got stylish, and fashioned after the political speakers. And they had to give their preachers doctor's degree, everybody had to be a Doctor of Divinity. That was another cord to bind the church. Men go off and study, each seminary tries to produce a better scholar so that their churches can brag, "Our pastor is a Doctor of Divinity." And what did they do, one try to have more knowledge than the other one. Well, that doesn't mean anything in the sight of God.

16 And there's no need for any man to try to take his worldly knowledge and ever please God with it. It's an abomination in the sight of God. You'll never please God with the worldly ambitions and knowledge, because it's enmity to God, says the Scripture. He cannot do it.

And each one tries to have all the knowledge. They know just what to do and the words to say, and it becomes just a political speech in the stead of a powerly demonstrated, Holy Spirit message that sinks to the heart of men and discovers the sin. They're trained for political talks, and we don't need that. Paul said, "The Word come to us, not only... or, the Gospel in Word only, but through the power and the manifestation of the Holy Ghost." That brought the Gospel, demonstrating the powers of the Holy Ghost. But all these men go off to seminaries and they learn great education, how they must stand before the people, how they must present themselves, how they must dress, and how they must act; they should never use the wrong grammar. Now, that's all right for a political speech, but we're not after the enchanting words of men. Paul said, "The Gospel that I preach didn't come like that, but it come through the renewing of the--the Holy Ghost and the power of demonstrations." Doesn't come by a right formed speech, that your wisdom would be, or your trust would be in the wisdom of man. But it come through the demonstrations of the power of the risen Christ. That's the Gospel, "To know Him in the power of His resurrection."

18 Each one tries to think he's a little smarter than the other man, each denomination. The Methodists will say, "We got the smartest men." The Baptist will say, and the Church of Christ, and so forth, they all, "We, we're the smartest. We... Our--our people, we don't let just the ordinary men go out and preach the Gospel." But they handpick them. (O God, have mercy.) Handpick them; if they're indocumated with their certain doctrine, then they put them in the church. God can't touch him in no way. I want somebody to preach to me that's been hand-picked by the Holy Ghost, God has raised up, not picked by men or denominations.

All knowledge... They say, "Oh, we know all about it," and some of them doesn't know the first alphabet of the Holy Spirit. They deny It.

20 It reminds me of a little book I read one day in California, about ten years ago. I picked it up in an old book store. I forget who was the author, just a little ten cent book, but it had some good sense to it, though it seemed jokingly and cunningly. But I found something in there that sounded like God to me. And one of the little stories started out like this.

One morning in a great chicken pen, there was a certain little rooster that thought he'd had all the knowledge that there was to be known. So he flies up on a box and beat his little bill against the box four or five times, flew back his little head, and crowed like you never heard a rooster crow. And the others, he attracted their attention, and he said, "Ladies and gentlemen of this chicken pen, I would like to speak to you all this morning on some great educational program we have just designed." Said, "I have required a lot of knowledge in my studying," as he pulled his little glasses over his bill. And he said, "I have decided that we chickens can better ourselves by more knowledge. Therefore, I can tell you that where, if we will dig and work in a certain pen or hole, we'll find a certain vitamin that'll make us crow better, prettier feathers. And, oh, I can tell you how we can embetter ourselves in many different ways."

21 And the little pullets with their little red combs, they just cackled and said, "Isn't he a darling?" And they certainly admired him. "Oh, he is such a brilliant rooster." Reminds me of some of these here seminary preachers: "Such a brilliant man. There's no need of us hanging around with the rest the chickens; we all ought to go with him."

Well, before the little fellow got his speech finished, there was another little chicken that didn't have such bright feathers, come running in from the rest of the chicken yard, and said, "Boys, just a minute. I just heard the latest bulletin on the radio. Chickens went up four cents on the pound; we're all going to the slaughter tomorrow. What good's your knowledge going to do?"

Brother, all the knowledge that we can accumulate, what good does it do? We're six-foot of dirt. We're all dying by inches and by minutes. Our knowledge means nothing. We want to know Him. But they do that.

24 As I was remarking sometime ago about a certain little canary, and he thought he knowed all the knowledge that--that need to be knowed, and he knowed so much that he could tell all the rest the canaries about the human beings. So he flies up on his cage and he begins to speak about the human being, how he knowed all about them. And all of a sudden, a professor from Purdue walked up and begin to speak some high-polished words to him, and the little fellow batted his eyes and turned his head. Now, he had eyes; he could see the professor. He had ears; he could hear him. But of course he didn't know what he was talking about. Why? He's got a canary brain. He's just a bird brain. That's all he's got. He hasn't got a human brain, so he can't think like human beings.

And neither can a human being think like God. You're human, and all the worldly knowledge is no more than a canary brain. All that you do, you just hurt yourself with it. You've got to have the mind of Christ.

26 The reason people go and join organizations, and substitute a handshake in the stead of the new birth, they're trying to bypass the new birth. They don't want the new birth. And they--they know we teach it in the Bible, so they want to substitute something for it. And the Pentecostal people are just as bad, trying to substitute something. They want it in class. It must be just so classy, "We'll shake hands and join the church, and be sprinkled or baptized," or something. They are afraid of the new birth. I sometimes believe the Branham Tabernacle's getting afraid of it.

27 Now, we all know that a birth, I don't care where it is, or where, whereabouts, it's a mess. If a baby's born on a shuck pile, on a hard floor, or in a pink-decorated hospital room, it's a mess, anyhow. A birth of a calf, birth of anything else is a mess.

And the new birth is nothing less than a mess. But people so starchy, "We'll go over where they shake hands. We'll go over where they don't bawl and cry, and beat on the altar, and cry out." You want to be too human. What we need is birth, dying out, to bring forth Life.

29 A seed, an old potato, a seed potato, you take that potato and put it in the ground. Until you can have new potatoes, that old potato has to rot. A corn cannot produce new life until it's rotten.

And a man or woman can never have new birth until their intellectuals and their own self is rotten, dead, die out at the altar, and scream, get all messed up to a place the starch gets out of your collar, and you're borned again by the Spirit of God. I don't care if you squall, speak in tongues, jump up-and-down, flop like a chicken with its head off, you're bringing forth new Lifes. But we substituted something for it; we want the classical way. Sure.

31 The other day, Friday, wife and I was going to the store. I don't mean to harp on this. But as we went down the street, I just kept turning my head one way for the other: naked women. I promised God when I was a blind man, if He'd heal my eyes I'd look at the thing was right. I keep a little cross hanging in my car. When I see such as that, I look at the cross and say, "O God, that's my Refuge," as I looked at the cross.

I seen those women. Meda said, "We haven't seen one woman today that's got on a skirt." And she said, "Bill, look at that woman there with those little straps around the top of her body," and said, "you mean to tell me that woman don't know that's wrong?" Said, "If she doesn't know it's wrong, then she's out of her right mind."

I said, "Just a minute, honey. She is an American; she does as the Americans do."

34 I said, "I was in Finland not long ago, sweetheart." And I questioned there to a man that set me down, Doctor Manninen. And we were going to the--the health baths, what's called the sauna, and they take you in and pour hot water on, or water on hot rocks, and it just sweats you. Then they make you jump in ice water, and then back out. Then you take you into a room, and there's nurses in there, women who scrub the men (and them naked), send them back into the pool. I wouldn't go in. And I said, "Doctor Manninen, that's wrong."

He said, "All right then, Reverend Branham, that's wrong. Then how about your American doctors that'll strip a woman naked and lay her on the table, examine every sex organ she's got? How about your nurses in the hospitals?"

I said, "Excuse me, Brother Manninen--Manninen, you're right."

37 What is it? It's customs. When I was in Paris I could hardly believe it, that the urinals for both men and women was the same one. I couldn't understand it, that the rest rooms was on the side of the street for both male and female. I couldn't believe that when women went to the beach to go swimming, a boy and his sweetheart, they had no dressing rooms; they just took all their clothes to the last garment, then turn their backs and put on a little strap and went swimming, but it's so. They pay no attention to it. It's a custom of France.

38 In Africa women and men, young and old, no clothes at all, walking through the prairies. Never knowed what a rest room was, or things, or never went out of each other's sight. But they don't know the difference. They don't know the different. But it's customs of nations.

But I said, "Honey, we are different, we're from another nation. We are pilgrims and strangers here; that's what makes these things look so wrong. For the Bible said, 'They that profess such, claim they show that they are pilgrims and strangers, they are seeking a city to come.'"

40 A man or a woman in Italy, in France, in Africa, in any other nation, that's ever borned again of the Holy Ghost, don't do those things. They won't wear those clothes. They won't act like that, because they're of another nation whose Ruler and Maker is God. We're from heaven. The spirit that's within you motivates your life. If you are a American, you'll do as the Americans do. If you are French, you'll do as the French do, and criticize the other one. But if you are of God, you'll do the way they do in heaven, because your Spirit comes from above and It controls you.

41 A little something you might look at. In the Scripture those who sought this new city acted different. They professed that they were pilgrims and strangers. But on the side of Cain, they become fugitives and renegades. But Christians were pilgrims and strangers. A fugitive has no home; a renegade is a horrible person. But a pilgrim is something real, and from a real land in another nation, trying to find his way home, professing by his living that he has something that he's from another country. There is the reason.

42 But yet those people who do so, those people who wear those things... Let me tell you. In South Africa, when I saw thirty thousand raw heathens, naked, blanket natives, sixteen, eighteen, twenty year old girls, boys with not one stitch of clothes standing there with mud in their faces, and painted up, bones through their nose, and blocks of wood hanging from their ears, and cross human bones or some bones in their hair, animals' teeth hanging over them, naked as they come into the world, and didn't know it. But when they received Christ, and fell on their face and received the Holy Ghost, they got up and folded their arms to hold shame to their bosom, as they walked away and found clothes to put on. Why? They become pilgrims and strangers to this world. Hallelujah. They were away from it. Yes, sir.

43 Oh, yes, these people call themselves Christians. They belong to churches. They go away and say, "We are Methodists. We're Baptists. We're Pentecostals. We're Seventh-day Adventists. We're this, that, and the other." That doesn't have one thing to do with it. Your spirit, the life that's in you, motivates and tells what you are. Jesus said, "By their fruit you shall know them."

44 The church has become like Israel first. They seen all the heathen nations having a king; God was their king. And they seen the heathen nations having king, so they wanted to act like the heathen nations, and they bought themself a king. And as they did it, they got in trouble. Gradually it begin to come in. Gradually the world begin to slip into them. Finally ended up in Ahab. One king coming just a little closer to it, a little closer to it, and finally squeezed the life out of them. And there they went. And when their real King come, they didn't know Him.

45 That's the same thing the church has done. It's adopted... Here you are. It's adopted politics, educations. It's adopted organizations, societies, big churches, high cafluting preachers. And when the real King comes, they don't know Him, and they're crucifying the very Holy Ghost that's their King. They don't know Him, but they laugh at Him and make fun of Him. As they--Jews did their Messiah, the church is doing their Messiah the same way. They don't know it. They haven't got the spiritual insight, because they're so indocumated with their eyes and what they see, great buildings, trying to compare with the world. We're never exalt--exhorted to compare with the world. We're exhorted to humble ourselves.

46 And one is the majority in God. And today in the healing evangelists out on the fields, there's such a competiting--competitors. One says, "Well, bless God, I have so many thousand. I got a bigger meeting than you have." What difference does that make? If we have one or one million, what difference does it make? Are we true to God? Are we true to His Word? Do we stand under test of the Holy Spirit? Is it true? That's the main thing.

47 But we compromise upon the Bible. A lot of our Pentecostal people, upon the fundamental doctrines of this Bible, compromise. There's... I don't want to hurt feelings. I'm in my own church, and I feel that I shoul--I could do just what in my church, because I'm preaching the Gospel. But there's tens of thousands of Pentecostal preachers knowed that there's no such a thing in the Bible as the baptism in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost." I challenge the archbishop, or anybody, to show me where anybody was ever baptized in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost." But they compromise, because the organizations has did so. There's not one person in the New Testament, and for three hundred years afterwards, by history, but what was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. What is it? Organization. That's did it. Compromising...

48 And today they've took all the street workers off the streets. They've took the tambourine out of the church. They've taken all the glory out of the church, and got seminary preaching, little old rooster-comb preaching, all polished in society, and their women wearing shorts and dresses that they're skinned into, and men smoking cigarettes, and gambling and telling dirty jokes. It's a disgrace in the sight of God. I know that's rough, but it's time somebody said something. Compromising, giving in, acting like the world...

I don't care if I have to stand alone, with nobody but God alone, I'll preach the truth of God's Bible and stand for it. If I die, I'll still stand for the truth. Certainly. We want truth. I'll measure up not according to the church, but according to the Word of God I want to measure up.

50 But Delilah, did you notice, she knowed that Samson had a power. And she didn't know where that power laid. She couldn't tell what that power was, but there was some great power that Samson possessed, and she wanted to find it. And, as Delilah, she kept wooing Samson after her beauty. Oh, she dressed herself real sexy. And she walked before him and she tee-heed like some of the little teen-agers of the day, and--and so forth, and when you act like something another, a striptease, trying to woo Samson to her.

51 That's the same thing the world's done to the church. "Now, where is your great power?"

"Well, if we'll organize, that'll break the power." The Catholic church done it.

"But the Philistines is on thee, Samson." And a Luther come out.

Then they organized again. "If you'll bind me with another cord, it'll hold me." So they did.

"And the Philistines on thee, Samson." What happened? Wesley came out and broke the cords.

"Now, you've deceived me all along. Don't you know I love you, Samson? All right, tell me the truth in your heart."

"All right, you bind me with another cord."

"All right, now we'll do that." What is that? That's the denominational cord.

"You let me be free, that I ain't got no denomination. Then I tell you, you'll have me broke." So out come the Pentecostals. Where's your power? "Philistines be upon thee." And he broke the cords again.

59 But now what happened? It's got the Pentecostals, the big Doctors of Divinity for their pastors, some great man. They've got just as much school and ritual as the Methodists or Baptists, or any of the rest of them's got. Go into a church and you can't hear an "amen," just as cold as a bunch of Eskimos right off the North Pole: cold, indifferent. "And now the Philistines is on thee, Samson."

The Philistines is on thee, America. Where is that oneness of spirit? Where is the oneness of Pentecost? The Assemblies of God, and the United, and the Church of God, and this, that, the other, each one with a different ism, this one with that, and this one with that. We're so broke up till you can go into a city to hold a revival, if one church sponsors it, the rest of them won't even attend. The Communists is upon thee, America.

61 Where is our power? Where's our glory? What is it? Because we went after a wisdom of men instead of the power of God. Why, they got... Our preachers and things is so stiff and starchy, till they've organized us till we're so starchy and stiff-necked, till people, you never hear a shout in the church any more. You never hear anybody cry. The mourner's bench is put in the basement. There's no more glory in the church. All we do is set back just as stiff as we can be. We're not free. We're bound. The devil, with his modernistic demons, has bound the church of the living God. That's right. There's no more power in the church. There's no more freedom. The people are so starchy and stiff. Why, the God can come into the midst of Pentecostal people, and show that He's God, and prove His signs of His resurrection; it don't even shake them. Glory. Why, it's a disgrace. I walk across the country, God working, performing signs, and people set, and, "Well, I guess that's all right. Oh, I know it can be done." It doesn't move them. Why? They're bound with Delilah, the world. They're in fetters.

62 Now, they've even got them into, bound them into a confederation. "The Philistines are on thee, Samson." What you going to do about it?

"Oh, we've got great denominations." Sure. "We have greater membership than we ever had." But where's the Spirit? Where's the Holy Ghost?

That's what the devil has done. It's wooed into the church. It kept wooing the church, "Come to me; I'll give you a great big tabernacle over here if you'll just do this. If you'll get rid of that fanatic preacher you got, and get a man, a Doctor of Divinity that's got some sense, we'll build a nice big classical church and we'll be like the rest of them." Shame on you. Rather have a man that didn't know split coffee from beans, but was filled with the Holy Ghost, that was uncompromised, by the power of God.

65 But it's got, oh, so starchy, till some poor saint can break through in the meeting, and speak in tongues, or shout a little bit, or do something, and the rest of them will all gander around and look. "What was that? Well, wonder why? That must be a fanatic dropped in somewhere." You know that's the truth. Some poor saint step in, get happy enough to raise their hands, and cry, and praise the Lord, somebody who will holler "amen" to the preaching of the Gospel, and the rest of them turn around and see what he said. That's Pentecostals. What's the matter? You're patterning after the Methodists, after the Baptists; they patterned after the Catholic; Catholic patterned after hell. And all together, they're all after hell. Right.

66 Delilah has wooed you into big churches, fine, educated ministers, take the better class. "Well, you know, So-and-so down here is a millionaire, if we could just get him to come into our congregation, oh, my." If he isn't born again, then he doesn't deserve to be there. I don't care if he's got a million dollars. If he owns forty Cadillacs, whatever he's got, he's got to be borned again, come right down to a new birth, and be regenerated by the Holy Ghost, and come out of there in a new birth, snotting (Excuse me.), a-crying and screaming, and carrying on like the rest of them do, and live a life afterwards to prove he's got it. Amen. That's what you need.

"Samson, the Philistines is upon thee." The Communists is upon thee. The world's upon thee. The devil's upon thee.

68 They go back and they see the Spirit of God perform miracles and do things of His resurrection, what Jesus promised; they say, "You know, I think Brother Branham's got a lot of mental telepathy. My pastor said it was of the devil."

You poor, hypocritical, deluded infidel, all polished up, you wolf in sheep's clothes, Jesus said, "If you'd have knowed Me, you'd have knowed My day." But you've got a bunch of Saul's that try to make you like the rest of the world.

We want a bunch of men of God who don't compromise on the Word, but preach the truth and stand on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But what has the world done? It shaved all your power off. You were born Nazarite, Pentecost, but the world certainly shaved your power. Now, it's just as starchy as the rest of them.

72 What are we going to do? What's going to happen? There's one glorious thing that I can think of to end this text. While Samson was bound... We can't have a revival. Listen at our loyal brother, Billy Graham, "Revival in our day." Listen at Oral Roberts scream, "Revival in our day." Listen at the rest of them, "Revival in our day." How can we have a revival when we're bound? We've bound the Holy Spirit with our organizations and traditions, and we can't have a Holy Ghost revival. Amen. I know that's scorching hot with the weather, but it's the truth. How can we have a Holy Ghost revival when you're so bound and starchy? "Form of godliness," the Bible said they'd have. "Form of godliness, but would deny the power thereof." The power of what? The power of the organization? The power of the world? The power of the church? The power of the Holy Ghost. That's the secret place in the church. And when the church adopts educated preachers, and big buildings, and finery, in the stead of the old fashion Holy Ghost, they'd better be in the mission again. Amen. True. How you going to have a revival of the Holy Ghost, and people quench It and bound It and afraid of It? There's where the trouble lies.

74 "The Philistines is on thee." But the one blessed hope we have, while Samson was in jail...

What's the first thing they done when they caught him? They bound him first. They took his power away; they found his secret. They found your secret. The world found your secret. Now, you women all bob your hair; it goes like the world. You men all go and act like the world. It's all right, tell jokes and dirty jokes, and go out and smoke a few cigarettes, and run out with the neighbors' wives, and everything else like that, a little sociable drink to hold your job. I'd rather lay on my belly and eat soda crackers and drink branch water, and stay clean and pure before God, than to compromise for any kind of a job. That's right. True. Stay true to God.

76 "Samson, the Philistines is on thee." Branham Tabernacle, worldlyism is creeping in among you. What about it? Have you exposed your secret? Have you exposed that secret that God give you when you were wallowing there in the sawdust a few years ago? Have you let it creep out by social, formal worship? What's happened to you? God can come down and perform a miracle, and go right down through the audience, and tell people the secrets of their hearts, and everything, and heal the sick and afflicted, and do signs and wonders, and preach His Word as hard as they can by the Holy Ghost, and people say, "Well, I guess that's all right. We enjoy listening to it once in a while, if we're not too tired." That's Branham Tabernacle. The Philistines is on thee.

77 When, used to be when the preaching of the Word, and the old saints with the tears in their eyes, would rise to their feet and walk, sobbing, maybe not saying a word, just walking around, two or three times, and set down, so filled with the Holy Ghost... The Word fed them. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Philistines is on thee, Branham Tabernacle. Philistines is on you, Pentecostal.

'Course the Philistines got you, rest of you, long time ago when you organized yourself so tight, nothing could come in 'less you was a Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or something. You wouldn't have nothing to do with the rest of them.

79 So revival in our day? How can we have it when the regular revival Giver is bound by the world? God won't come in where the world is; you can just depend on that. You associate with the world, then it's--it's all of it. When you let the world creep in, you go to acting like the world, then you are finished. But when you'll cut loose every fetter from the world and come to God, God will use you until you go to flirting again.

Here's the only hope that I have this morning to wind up my message, is this, "While Samson was bound, a new shock of hair growed out."

81 God, send us another church just before the end time, that the power of the Holy Ghost can come into her in the demonstrations of the Spirit, and Mark 16 can follow the church, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:38, all of it will be following right along with the church. Signs and wonders accompanied the apostles. Great signs of His resurrection accompany them. While we're in prison, surely God's growing a crop somewhere, for the last great kill. May it be you, my Christian friend here this morning; may it be your strength has begin to grow. I pray that this message this morning, and out into the land to where this will go, I trust that this message will help bring the vitamin to your system that'll grow a spiritual power back into your life again. Let us bow our heads and pray.

82 O Lord God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Author of Everlasting Life, and the Giver of every good and spiritual gift, take these words this morning and place them into the heart, and water them, Lord. May the people pray over these things, seeing that the world has wooed the church and has finally found its power, found its secret place, found where its secret lies, and has shaved it off, has taken the peoples that once shouted the victory, once had the victory, and has shaved them off to staying home on Wednesday night to watch a television program; taken the joy out of their hearts, and give them more love for the world than they have for God; has give them more world, for worldly, more desire for worldly entertainment than to have the preaching of the Gospel. If there's not a great band and a lot of carrying on, and whooping and carrying on, then they don't want the old Gospel any more, that brings tears of joy to the soul, that brings Divine healing back, that restores the apostolic gifts to the church, that brings in the risen Christ, the Messiah of this day.

83 But as Israel was bound by--by their kings, that they could not follow their real King, and their real King, when He came, they didn't recognize Him, so is it today, O Lord, the King of glory has appeared in the form of the Holy Ghost, and, Lord, they don't know it. They don't recognize it. They're so organized so tight, that they do not understand it, because it's not in their organization. Lord, this is a work of the devil that's done this to the people.

May the Samson of God, may the true in heart, those who are longing and crying, and pleading and holding on, may they stay with it, Lord, until this new crop grows out, until there comes forth again a joy in Zion, and there comes forth a group that can recognize and understand, that can see the Messiah and the hidden powers that's hid from the world, that they will not understand now. Grant, Lord, that they'll see this. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

85 [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]

.. power just now,

O Lord, send the power just now

And baptize every one.

They were in the upper chamber,

They were all with one accord,

When the Holy Ghost descended

That was promised by our Lord.

O Lord, send Your power just now,

O Lord, send Your power just now;

O Lord, send the power just now

And baptize every one.

How I love Him. Just send His power. They were in the upper chamber, all with one accord. All the world had drained out of them. They were emptied up, and the Holy Ghost came.

Today they say, "Come, join the church, put your name on the book, or bow down and say, 'I confess Christ as the Son of God,' get up." The devil does the same thing. Certainly. The devil was baptized when Judas was baptized. The devil went out and preached the Gospel when Judas went out and preached the Gospel. But the devil didn't get the Holy Ghost. That's it. There's where the hidden power's at, that resurrection, that know positive, beyond a shadow of doubt. Amen.

87 He's here. That same Holy Ghost, that One was on the Messiah, is still on His Church. He never leaves. "I'll be with you always, even in you to the end of the world. I'll be there. The works that I do shall you also. More than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father."

But the world compromises it, "Oh, those are days past." Just what the devil wants you to do. They want you to glamorize. God wants you baptized. God wants you... You say, "Oh, I don't believe all that there carrying-on." Go ahead and live, go ahead and live in your sin, live in your sin. But until you rot, till you rot to your own ideas, till you rot to your own fashion, and be regenerated again and borned again, and that new Life will be altogether different from the one that went down.

89 A grain of corn goes down yellow; it comes up green: goes down hard, cased in, it comes up flexible and blowing with the wind. Oh, glory. Hallelujah. When the winds begin to blow, the grain can't do nothing but move itself, shift, but the little--the little blade flex and rejoices, grows then, strengthens itself. It can never become a blade until the corn is dead and rotten: not only dead, but rotten. Can't come back no more, but life comes out of it.

As I said awhile ago, a birth is a horrible thing, filthy, dirty, the filthiest of filth, but that's where life lays. When you reckon yourself filthy, reckon your Methodist, Baptist and Pentecostal creeds filthy, die out at the altar, then new Life comes in. The Holy Spirit makes you in above that; you see God.

91 We shall see Him some glorious day. Someday beyond the reach of mortal ken, we'll see Him. You believe that? Someday beyond the reach of mortal ken, there waits for me a glad tomorrow.

I was standing up here on the corner last night, and thought I seen little Rabbi Lawson. When he used to be down here, and reach around with his old cane and pull me with his neck, around my neck with his cane, up here to the pulpit, and sing that song, "There waits for me a..." [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]...?...

93 Something happened. It taken the world out. I begin to see things different. I've worried so much about the way these American people are doing, constantly year by year, seeing women and men how they degrading themselves and getting out into sin, till I almost had a breakdown two or three times, worrying over it. Yesterday I said to God, "I'll not worry no more. Your Word said it would be so, but I'll stand in the breach and call against it, with all that's in me."

94 Other day, standing up at Green's Mill, my cave, way back into the wilderness, been praying all day. And about three o'clock the sun was setting, and I was standing up there looking across, come out of the cave, up on a big rock. And I was standing there, looking towards the east, praising the Lord. And I could see the sun moving down in behind the trees up on top of the mountain, as I looked across the canyon over into the others, and a lot of foliage on, just as still as it could be. And I said, "Lord, one day You hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, and You passed by him because he was weary. But You passed by, he said it looked like the back of a man." I said, "Hide me in the cleft, Lord." About that time, over to one side of me, there come a little Wind moving down through the bushes. It moved right along, come right down by the side of me, a little Wind moving down, went down through the woods. I stood there.

Someday, God only knows just where or when,

The wheels of mortal life will all stand still,

Then I shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.

Someday beyond the reach of mortal ken,

Someday, God only knows just where or when,

(What's going to happen? She's going to close, all these little wheels turning.)

The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still,

Then we shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Coming for to carry me home;

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Coming for to carry me home.

If you get there before I do,

Coming for to carry me home;

Tell Brother Bosworth, and all my friends too,

Just coming for to carry me home,

Now, swing low... (She'll zip down someday to pick me up.)... char... (Every tree will be afire: the Angels of God and the fiery chariots.)... for to carry me home;

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Coming for to carry me home.

95 One of these days, one of these days in the low parts of my death hours, I look for Him to coming. That's right.

I looked over Jordan and what did I see

Coming for to carry me home; (like old Elijah looking over Jordan)

A band of bright Angels coming after me,

They were coming for to carry me home.

Swing low, (Get down low.) sweet chariot,

Coming for to carry me home;

Swing low, sweet chariot,

Coming for to carry me home.

96 The Lord Jesus, the blessed Driver of this chariot, the Pilot of the old ship of Zion, the boat of Life, moving down through the building, speaking, His Presence is here. The very Holy Spirit that raised Him from the grave is here.

Being that they give out no prayer cards, is there anybody here who come from out of town, that I don't know, that's here to be prayed for? Raise up your hands, that I don't know. Raise your hands up; I don't know.

You, you there, I believe the little fellow with the mustache back there, somebody raised their hand back in that way. Yeah, you, did you raise your hand? All right. Back there, you, sir. All right. You all strangers to me? Is that Lord Jesus, the same Shepherd of the flock here? You believe His promises is true? He anoints His church, and "The works that I do, shall you also. Even greater than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father. More than this." You believe that?

98 Did you raise your hand that you didn't know me? You believe God can tell me what's in your heart, can speak to me just like He did the woman touched His garment? You believe He's a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities? If God will reveal to me your conditions, will you believe me to be His prophet, believe that His Presence is here and that's why He permits it? You're praying for your wife. She's got a broken hip, dislocated hip. That's right. If it's right, raise up. All right, go find her well. Amen.

What about you back there, the little fellow that raised up, that had the mustache? You believe with all your heart? Do you believe God could tell me your troubles? You believe your son will get all right? You do? Got a boy; he's got cerebral palsy. That's right. You're not... It's from Kentucky. If that's right, raise up your hand. I don't know you, do I? If I do... Raise your hands like this, we don't know one another. That's right. Trusting to God, do you believe? As you believe, find your boy the way you believe. Just put you on your heart...?...

100 Who was it here raised up their hands, that I didn't--didn't... Was it you? All right, mister, do you believe me to be God's prophet? You do, with all your heart? You don't have to get up, just stand right there. All right, sir, what's your trouble, you've got sugar diabetes. And it's bothering your foot. You're from Ohio. Your name's Mr. Miller. Go back home and get well. All right, believe with all your heart. All right.

You believe with...? If you can believe...

The lady setting here, did you raise your hand? Big lady, glasses on, you believe with all your heart? You believe, lady? You believe me to be God's servant? You do? All right, if God can tell me what's your trouble, will you believe? Heart trouble. All right, raise up your hand if that's right. All right.

102 The lady here next to you, raised up. Heart; but it's really your eyes. I know her. All right, if thou canst believe...

Back there, the next man back there's got heart trouble too and a skin disease. Do you believe that God will make you well? You do, sir?

There's a man back there somewhere, raised up his hands that didn't... Mr. Schubert. All right, sir. All right, do you believe? It's for your eyes also, isn't it? You're praying for your mother setting out there also. If that's right, raise up your hand. We're strangers. Is that right? Shake your hand, shake your hand to one another. All right, that's right. If you can believe, you can receive.

105 The risen Jesus Christ is in the building. He's the same One. What does it do to you? Have you let the world sap all the strength out of you? Glory. I want new birth. I want new Life. I don't care what plane It comes on, if I have to be a holy-roller, anything. I don't care what plane It comes on; I want the real Holy Ghost like is on me now. I want to keep It. I'd rather have It than all the things of the world. Amen. Do you believe? Do you believe He's here?

Lay your hands on one another then. Tell me one more thing He could do: nothing. Have faith now. Believe it's over.

107 Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Eternal Life, and Giver of all good gifts, Thy Spirit is here so anointing, Lord, looks like the building's a-breathing, moving back and forth. Why can't the people understand it, Lord? Have they--have they associated with the world so much, and got so cold and formal and starchy, till they can't know You any more? Lord God, may this power strike everyone, and every sick person be healed, every sinner saved, and God get glory. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I ask it. Amen.

108 Do you believe it? Raise up your hands. Do you accept your healing? God bless you. Now, go and find it just the way you believe, it'll be that way. I see visions breaking over others. That's right. I got to come back tonight.

If you don't believe now, you ain't going to never believe. That's right. Jesus did it one time, and they said, "Thou art... We know when Messiah cometh, He'll tell us this." She said, "I know the Messiah will do that. But Who are You?"

He said, "I'm He."

Then she run into the city and said, "Come, see a Man Who knowed what I was and what I've done. Isn't this the Messiah?"

He said, "These things will form again in the last days. The Church will be preaching the truth; it'll be standing on the Word. It'll be you doing all the commandments of God. It'll not associate with the world. And through there I'll move and do the same things."

112 But He said, "They'll be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than of God, trucebreakers, false accusers, having a form of godliness," very religious, going to churches. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."

You people, wherever you was in the church, that He called out just now, the vision's gone from me. If--if that was truth, what I said, and me being not knowing that to you, raise up your hands, ever who it was. All over the church, every--everywhere. All right. See? Don't know them, never seen them; but the Holy Spirit's here and He knows them. Can't you see it's not me?

114 Listen. If He'll entrust me with that, He'll trust me with the truth of the Word, because the truth can only come by the Word. Repent, everyone, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children, them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." You believe it? There's to be a baptismal service just in a moment.

Let's bow our heads. I'll ask the pastor to pray while they make ready for the baptism. I think there's a baptismal service coming...?... All right, sir.