A Paradox

1 Thank you, brother. Thank you. Let us bow our heads now for a word of prayer. And with our heads bowed, I wonder how many would like to be remembered in prayer, just let it be known by you lifting your hand.

2 Our Heavenly Father, we humbly come to Thee, Lord, confessing that we are not worthy of coming. But because that Jesus has made the way for us and has paid the price, therefore, we can come boldly to the Throne of grace, in a time of need. And now, Lord, as we are here to present the Gospel, searchable riches of Christ, we need You, Lord.

3And there might be one setting here, Father, that You're trying to school in a great way, that You might send them somewhere, to a great mission that You have purposed. I pray, Father, that if that be so, that this night, that, Your purpose will be fulfilled. And help us as we present ourself to You for service.

4Now, Thou did behold all the hands, and looking yet at those that are up. Thou knowest what is in need. And I pray that You'll supply it, Father. I offer my prayer with their prayer, and their desires and my desires, upon the golden Altar where our sacrifice lays tonight. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, we pray that You'll break the Bread of Life, to us, out of Thy Word. Amen.

You may be seated.

5 I am sorry to be just a little late, only I understood that tonight it was just a--a little late, the service was running just a little late. And we'll make up for it, and get out just as quick as possible. Now we want to approach the Word, tonight, and with all that was in us.

6I know you're here, you, some of these fine singers I... Mel Johnson, for one, that I know is setting here. I've asked him to sing, for us, that song that I just can't get off of my mind. Constantly I'm humming it, about, "the tears come running down." I--I like that. And I think he is going to sing at the Business Men's breakfast, or somewhere, for us.

7 Jim, I want you to be sure and get that for me. And if you have a little tape, put it on that for me, special, so my children want to hear it. When I kind of get down a little low, I--I--I hear that, it makes me feel good, to hear good singing. And, Billy, I go in the office down there, and he has constantly got them tapes of singing going all the time, and I think it kind of helps him.

8You know, there is something about song, that's got power in it. We all know that. We are--we are aware of that. See? That's, look at the army, when they sing the songs and play the music. Do you know the approach to war, in the army of God, is first by music? The singers went before the ark, rejoicing and singing; then come the ark; and then the battle. That's right. So, that's the right approach.

9 And that's the reason we come in the service at night. What do we do? Sing the hymns of the Lord; and then the Ark, the Word, read the Word; and then the battle, then we're--we're in. So the great banners are flying, tonight; the Name of Jesus Christ, the Lord God may be exalted, the enemy be put to flight.

10And, God, win the victory tonight, and save souls, heal the sick and the afflicted; cause those, that are weary and stooped low, to raise up their heads and rejoice, get great glory unto Himself. For we ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

11 I want you to turn, tonight, with me, if you have your Bible, and sometimes people just mark the little text that ministers speak on. It used to be that I could think of these right quick, without even writing them down. But after I just passed twenty-five, why, a few months ago, I mean the second time, and so it makes it a little harder for me to remember. I'm bearing a lot of scars from the battles. And as we get older, we just don't think like we used to, and I have... When I look at the Scripture and see, then I remember what the text is.

12 Let's turn to Joshua, the 10th chapter, begin reading at the 12th verse.

Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still over Gibeon; and... Moon, over the valley of Ajalon.

And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

13 The Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word. I want to take a text out of there for about thirty minutes, if I can hold it to that: A Paradox. Just use that one word: A Paradox.

14Now according to Webster, a paradox is "something that seems incredible, but it's true," therefore a paradox then would be the same as a miracle. A paradox is when something that--that seems like it just couldn't be, the--the knowledge of the human mind; it's altogether incredible, but yet it's proven true. Now, a miracle would be the same thing, for a miracle cannot be explained. A miracle is something that happens, and you cannot explain it, that make it a paradox. It's incredible, but yet it's the truth.

15Now, people today, a lot of modernists, believe that the days of miracles are past. They don't believe there is such a thing as a--a miracle. But, yet, I believe that the world is full of miracles. I believe the paradox is constantly.

16 For instance, I believe that every born-again member of the Body of Christ is a paradox in themselves. I believe each one of you Methodist and Presbyterian and Lutheran, that never had experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit, was in some formal church that did not believe in the genuine new Birth, and has now received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, is a perfect example of a paradox. Because, something happened to you, that changed your whole being, and anyone could look at that and know what a paradox is: a miracle.

17Unless that happens, you cannot be a Christian. There must be a paradox, for you to become a Christian. Cause, no one can--can change a spirit in a man, and give him new Birth, outside of God. God alone is the only One can do it. And it's a miracle how that God can take a man's thinking, and his ways, and his life, and everything, and change it from what it was, to what it can be, what He can make it.

18 For instance, a few days ago, I was called in on a--a scene, or on a--a little something going on. There was a fine young man, very fine boy, he was going with a little girl, very fine little girl out of a fine family. And this boy, all of a sudden, came up with some kind of an idea, and he just walked away. He did something wrong to the little girl, and much as promised her to do a certain thing and then didn't do it. And instead of coming to the girl and apologizing, like a--a gentleman should do, he, it just wasn't in him to do it.

19And the father and mother called me to the scene, and said, "We would desire to know what is wrong with our boy."

20Now, it's not easy to do sometime, but you must be truthful and honest. Therefore, the boy was a Christian, as far as a believer. He had repented and had been baptized, and had his position among the believers, but yet had not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, no matter how much he thought he had.

21 You thinking you have, and having It, is two different things. You might be able to try to say you have, and you might be able to show some evidence of some emotion; but unless your life is vindicating what you're professing to have, you still haven't got It. No matter how many emotions, how much you jump, run, sensations, speaking in tongues, or shouting, or whatever you might lay it upon; which is all right, I believe in all that, too; but unless your life copes with your testimony, then you haven't got It. Cause, the fruit of the Spirit vindicates what you are, just like the fruit of any tree tells what it is. Jesus said, "By their fruit you shall know them."

22 Now, this young fellow's parents. His mother is German. No reflection on the German, but there is a strain in that family. And, that is, they'll just sit, and you can talk to them, and they'll just stare you right in the face. They got... This girl's sister, the mother of this boy, her sister. I have come down the street, many morning, and this young lady be setting out in the yard, and I'd say, "Good morning, to you." She'd just look at me. And I'd stop, and I'd say, "Sure a fine morning." She would just stand, look right at you; an intelligent woman. And I'd say, "Come up to see us sometime." She'd just stand and look. Well, her brothers are that way, father and mother is that way.

23 Now the father of the boy, is strictly an Irishman, moody, and high-tempered, high-strung. That's his whole family like that, except one other out of the family, converted. Now in this, this boy...

24This father and mother, both are Christians, filled with the Holy Ghost, and they have brought this young man up in the way of the Lord. And now the young man is about seventeen or eighteen years old, something along there, very fine kid, and he's--he's been a real model boy at home, nice kid. And he's got a brother that's just vice versa.

25But the girls, the mother's family, lives close to the... a fine church. But do you think they'd ever come over there? No. And they know It's right, but it's just not in them to--to ask forgiveness or ask pardoning. They just won't do it. It's just not in them.

26 Now the genes in the father and the mother of this boy, no matter how much they are converted, still remains the flesh that's been interbred out to this boy. Therefore, the boy has got a complex in him, just like from his mother's family, and they are not forgiving, they will not apologize, and that's where that boy stands.

27Now, I said to the father, "No matter how much you've raised him up..." I said, "Now look at you, out of your family: all of them, drunks, and--and fighting, and shooting, and cutting, and so forth."

28"Now look at your family," to the mother. "They're a bunch of people, just set there and won't speak, very independent, and so forth, irreverent to religion. But," I said, "it's not you. You're the only one of all your sisters and brothers, and you are sweet, kind, and forgiving. What does that? And you're tree, part of that family tree, yet you have received the Holy Ghost. That's the thing that made you tender and sweet. It's not your people anymore, it's your Christ that lives in you."

29I said to the boy, "Look at your family, practically all of them are drunks, and so forth." I said, "And how moody, and--and high-tempered and high-strung, but you're not. You're kind, forgiving. What is it? The Holy Spirit. You're no more what you are; it's Christ in you." I said, "Now that same thing has to happen to your son."

30 And the father raised up and said, "My son went to the altar. He was baptized correctly, in the Name of Jesus Christ, and water baptism in the pool." Said, "I know my son has come to Christ."

31I said, "That may be all right, all the outward motions. He might be identified as a believer with the believers. But until he is regenerated, born again, I'd advise that young man to never marry a woman. He'll make Hell on earth for her, until that gentle, sweet, forgiving Spirit of Christ comes in. Then that will be a paradox in itself, to take the very nature of a boy that's bred between father and mother. And yet, in his intellectuals, he is trying his best to overcome it. He can't do it. He'll never overcome it. Christ will have to overcome it. When he lets Christ in, then he's already overcome then. It'll be a perfect paradox, when a man is born of the Spirit of God.

32 I've seen critics stand off and make fun, and carry on, of a Holy Ghost revival. And after a while, God get a hold of that same man and change him, and here he stands right in the pulpit preaching the same thing that he once hated. It's a paradox, how that God can take the unbeliever and make a believer out of him.

33Now I wonder, if a man thinks that miracles is passed, I wonder what kind of a scientific medicine you could give such a person to change that disposition in them, to take that hatred and malice and strife, out? There is no one can explain it. But it's a paradox, because it's a miracle of God. When a man is changed from the person that he is, to a new creature in Christ Jesus, he becomes a new creation. He is no more what he used to be. He is absolutely a new creation in Christ.

34 This world itself, that we're living on, is absolutely a paradox, how it was formed. We find out, in Hebrews the 11th chapter and the 3rd verse, that, "The world was framed together by the Word of God." Where did God get the material to make this world? How did He do it? The Bible says that it was "formed and framed together." All of its structure and its part was put together by the Word of God. If that isn't a paradox, I don't know where it is. Where could we produce and say He got the material, when there was no material? He had to speak it into existence. It's a paradox, that this world is here tonight.

35 Another thing, it's a paradox of how it stays in its orbit, hanging in space. How can it hang there in that one place, spinning this a way, about eleven hundred miles an hour? Twenty-four or twenty-five thousand miles around, and goes around every twenty-four hours, so perfect it doesn't miss a second. So perfect turning, that better than about a... Better than a thousand miles an hour, it's turning around like this, hanging in space. If it would go up or down, any, why, my, it would--it would interrupt the whole system of God's solar system. And it goes around the equator, around the orbit so many, a year's time, it never fails, the seasons just exactly.

36Tell me what holds it up there, what turns it so perfect in time. You can get a watch; I don't know how much you might pay for one, a thousand dollars; and that watch, within the space of a month, will lose minutes. They haven't got anything that can work so perfect, but yet this world turns perfect. Why? It's God doing it. It's a paradox. God commanded it to do that, and it does it.

37 How about the moon? Yet millions of miles away from the earth, and yet it--it controls the tides on the earth. Millions of miles away, its influence, of standing in its space. Standing in its orbit, it influences the earth. Each planet influences the other, by staying in its place.

38Oh, what a sermon I could take from here, a lesson! How that each one of God's creatures would stay in its place, it would influence the other. But we get off on some wild tantrum somewhere, and form an organization and separate ourselves, seemingly not having the faith, and then we got the whole system of Christianity mixed up. If every man would stay in his place, it would be a paradox of God, to see how God could bring Presbyterians, Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, and all together. If we'd come back to the Word of God, it would be a real paradox. And then the whole church could agree, not upon your creeds and so forth, but upon the Word, the way It's written. Because, "It's of no private interpretation," says the Scripture.

39 How that that moon influences the world! Here not long ago, a friend of mine, my neighbor, was digging holes for oil wells, down in the state of Kentucky. And when that moon begins to rise over there, that tide comes in all the way across through the earth. That salt water, down in the hole where they drilled, will raise up when that moon comes. No matter, if it's down hundreds of feet below the surface of the... or the top of the earth here. Goes down hundreds of feet, yet, when that moon turns around, that water raises to meet it. It did.

40 You can't hide anything, when God has commanded it. It's got to obey God, when God gives His command. That's the reason I know He'll have "a Church without spot or without wrinkle," God has commanded it so. It'll have to obey. God will have it, 'cause the Word of God has said so.

41How the tides, the moon, and everything, influence the actions of the earth! You take...

42 We see a star shoot, we call it a star. That isn't a star shooting. It's a light. Course, we know that, but we call it a star. That star could not move that far. If one star would move out of its orbit, it would probably influence everything in the cycle, in the whole universe. It would. It would interrupt. Everything must stay in its spot, in order to keep the system of God moving.

43So must we stay in our place, we must stay as sons and daughters of God. If we'd a-never fallen back there, the thing would a-been turning, there'd a-been no death nor nothing else. But thanks be to God, there is coming a paradox, when God Himself will set her back in place where she should be. Yes, a paradox.

44 Man that don't believe in--in a paradox, and don't believe in miracles, how could you justify your intelligence, and looking in the face of things that you cannot explain? It's totally impossible for any man to explain how that world can revolve itself and keep in perfect time, and (ever) the whole solar system and those things, and how the moon can influence the earth. And how many other things could we tell about!

45How the--the sap in the fall of the year will go down in the root of the tree, without any intelligence to run it down there, bring in back in spring of the year, with new life, why, it's a paradox. No one can explain it. We don't know how it's done. But God does it, therefore it is a paradox, constantly. It's a mystery how that God does that. We look at it so much until it becomes so common. We look over the top of it.

46And that's what's the matter with the (we) Pentecostal people. We have seen God perform so many paradoxes till it becomes just occasionally that we even think of it. If we would only stop a minute and consider! God is everywhere. God is--is performing. And His old timepiece is clicking right around, till finally she'll go plumb out into Eternity, because God has promised it to do that. Now we know that there is paradox.

47 Now, back in the days of Noah, before the rain come, and the flood. It was quite a--a hard thing for Noah, in that great intellectual age that he lived in, to try to tell people, by a word of God, that it was going to rain. Now it would be, no doubt, that it didn't meet the--the qualification of their scientific research. There was no rain in the skies. But, you see, Noah said there would be rain because that God said there would be rain. And Noah, by faith, before the rain ever come, he said it would be there.

48That's the reason we say the same thing. That, they say, "Why, Jesus, they said He was coming a long time ago. Hundreds of years ago, they claimed He was coming. The apostles said so; maybe their generation." That doesn't stop it a bit. We still know He is coming. How is it going to be? I don't know. But God will send Him. He promised to, and I know He will be here.

49 Now, Noah could only say, "God said so." But, you see, then, after all, it did not meet their scientific approval in that day. But when the time come for the Word to be fulfilled, it rained, just the same. That was quite a paradox in that day, to think that rain could come out of the sky, where there is no rain.

50But if God is took at His Word, He can perform, make a paradox. He can perform a miracle. And any man that's born of that same Spirit that performs miracles, why, it's an easy thing for him to believe miracles, because he is part of God. Amen.

51A son and daughter of God; not by a denomination, not by a creed, not by a hand shake; but by a birth, that you have died to your own intellects, and been born of the Spirit of God. And you are a paradox, yourself, how that you've been changed from death unto Life. Out of your intermost being is a new creation in Christ Jesus. It's a paradox.

52 God speaks His Word, His children believes it and God. The science cannot prove how it can be done; they know nothing about it. But the children believe it, anyhow, and then God performs a paradox, makes it so. Makes it so, because His Word that spoke the world into existence, can bring, can make every word, that He ever promised, come to pass.

53That's why Abraham staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief, but was fully persuaded that He was able to perform and to keep what He said He would do. He staggered not at the promise of God, being a hundred years old, and Sarah ninety, to have this baby. Because that he knowed that God could perform and (make) have a paradox to happen on something, a miracle to take place, and He did it.

54 The Hebrew children. Now how would you make science believe today that a man could go into a furnace? Oh, I would be afraid to say how many Fahrenheits hot it was; but could go into that furnace back there, in the Book of--of Daniel, and stay in that furnace until they thought that he, they was all burnt down to ashes. Which, even the man, the great army of soldiers, great husky man that moved out there to--to throw them in the furnace, those man that went in there perished, by the intense heat of the furnace against them. And they fell into the furnace, and was down in there for all this time, and come out without even the smell of fire on them.

55God, performing a miracle! That was a genuine paradox, of the keeping-power of God, against any enemy, when a man is ready to admit God is true. And God keeps His Word and honors those who believe in Him. Certainly I believe in a paradox.

56 Joshua, the great warrior I just read about, a few moments ago, in the Book of Joshua, the 10th chapter. Notice, Joshua was a--a friend to God. He was a soldier, a--a general, and he come up under the influence of a prophet, Moses. And Moses had been taken away, and Joshua was commanded to take the children into the promised land, and to divide the lands. The children's disobedience; and Moses had waited to be old, and so Joshua come up to take the place of Moses, to be God's general.

57And the Lord spoke to him, and said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you." That's good enough for Joshua. Said, "Be strong and very courageous, for the Lord thy God is with thee wherever thou goest. And every place the soles of your foot shall set, that I have given you." Then, footprints meant possession. The whole land belonged to them. It was a promise.

58 Way before it ever happened, when he come down there with Caleb and the other spies, and they seen the great opposition, the Amalekites, and--and the Perizzites, and Hittites, and so forth, all fenced in, and there at Jericho could run a chariot race on top of the--of the place, and great strong man. That, some of the--the unbelieving among them, said, "Why, we look like grasshoppers by the side of them."

59But Caleb said, and Joshua, "We are more than able to take it."

60Why? God said, "I have given you this land." No matter what the opposition is, how great and--and the--the--the difficults look, yet God said it was theirs. Oh! God is able to keep what He has promised.

61It was a paradox, to see a handful of people, unarmed, almost, but what they had picked up on the deserts, and where they had chased other man, probably with such as old rakes and saws, and whatever they could get a hold of. Go in there and beat those man down, that were giants. It was a paradox. God knew that they had courage to do it. And He give them the promise, and they went in and performed exactly what God promised them to do.

62 One day, in the heat of the battle, when the kings had made a great covenant among themself and had come down against Joshua and the children of Israel. That, God had promised them the land. And he had routed the enemy, and they were in the woods and hills, scattered out through the wilderness there, and Joshua looked and he seen the sun going down. He knew if those armies got a chance to replace themselves and--and come back again at him, why, he know that he would have twice as hard a time and would probably lose more man, if they ever got a place to unite themselves together.

63 There is where, ministers, there is where we fail. There is where the church fails. When this revival that we've just had, this great campaigns that started across the country, when we had the enemy running, we should kept him on the run. But, the thing of it is, we have to go off just on tantrums and so forth, and big sprees of building and "making more for our groups," and so forth. And there you come, and separating ourselves from the Word, and taking this, that, and then building up some more of their organizations, and starting something else. That's the way it always goes. That's the way it was in the days of Luther, Wesley, and Moody, Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin, all the way down. It's been the same way. They get their eyes off of the--the revival, and get it onto what they can do for themselves.

64 But you know what happened? Joshua wasn't that type of a man. He needed time. The sun was going down, and he knowed if the enemy ever built up... The revival was almost at the end of the close of it, like we stand today. He knew if he ever waited till the enemy got fortified against him, it would be hard to win that battle. You know what he did? He knowed that God promised that land. He needed more time. So the sun was about to go down, then he said, "Sun, stand still." Amen. A paradox, indeed. And that sun stood there for a full day, and never moved; and the moon over Ajalon, never moved, also.

65Because, the Bible said here, that, "It was never a time before, or since, like it, that God hearkened to a voice of a man."

You say, "Oh, if I knowed we just lived in that day!"

66Jesus said, in Saint Mark 11: 24, "If you say to this mountain, 'Be moved,' and don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you've said will come to pass, you can have what you've said." Still grace, and the paradox, on down into our age. Sure.

67That moon and sun stood still until Joshua fought his way through, with Israel, and avenged themselves upon their enemy. Why? It was in the line of duty.

68 Now if you'd go out here and say, "Mountain, move! I want to show you I can do it." It won't do it.

69But if it's in the line of duty, when God has commanded you to do something! Like He said to Moses, "Why cry to Me? Speak to the children."

70People today is crying all the time, "Lord, what next, what next?" Just speak and go forward! That's right. God has commissioned us to do something, let's do it. Don't stand around and think about it, say, "How can it happen? Well, this is that." Makes any difference; if God said do it, do it anyhow. He is still the God of miracles.

71 Joshua, it certainly was a paradox when that sun stood still. I was talking to a--a scientist in school one time, and he was a Bible teacher. And he said... I referred this to him. I said, "I thought you said that the--the earth turned around, see, and--and the sun stood still?" I said, "What about the Bible you just tell us was the truth? God... Joshua said, 'Sun, stand still.'" Well, he couldn't answer that one.

72But the sun did stand still. It didn't make any move, you see. That's actually the earth stopped. And now you say...

He said, "The earth stopped."

73I said, "You said, 'If the earth stopped, it lost its gravitation and everybody would fall off of it.' Now what are you going to do?"

74It's a paradox. Amen. God stopped the entire earth from turning, amen, because a man said, "Stand still there, till I fight this battle through." That's a paradox. Amen.

75 It was a paradox when all the armies of Israel was backed up in a corner, and they were afraid of some great big prehistoric-like giant standing there, by the name of Goliath. And there the armies of Israel, well-trained Saul, head and shoulders above the rest of his army, and shaking in his boots. Nobody was able to meet the challenge of this man of that day.

76There come a little, ruddy-looking, stoop-shouldered kid up, weighing about ninety pounds, with a piece of sheepskin draped around him like that. He said, "Shame on this army of the living God; stand here and let that uncircumcised Philistine defy the armies of the living God."

77When the word came to Saul, Saul said, "You're nothing but a youth, and he is a warrior from his youth. And you're a kid, and look what he is. Why, you couldn't go against him."

78 But what did he take? He never took a spear, he never took a sword, but he took a slingshot. And only one place could hit that giant, that was right in the forehead, where his armor dropped down over his face to hide his eyes. And that rock, and a long distance from that fourteen-foot needle spear he had in his hand; was all out as long as it was, could have picked up little David and done anything to him, and hung him in the tree, as he threatened to do, and let the birds eat his carcass.

79But what happened? There was a paradox, when God took a ruddy little man that wasn't very much to look at, at all, not even a trained soldier, just a kid that had faith in Him, and put the whole country to shame. God did it by a paradox.

80Amen! He is still God, tonight, of a paradox, just the same as He was then.

81He put the whole army to riot. They saw that, and begin to run and take off, because that they seen that in that little fellow was a faith in a God Who could change all nature, do anything He wanted to do, when man would believe His Word. Certainly. I believe it was a paradox.

82 Moses, a great military man who tried to deliver Israel, and didn't do it. He wanted to destroy the Egyptians. He destroyed one man, and he got in trouble over it, doing it in his own will. But then he took a stick, an old dry stick off of the desert, and slew a whole army. Amen. If that ain't a paradox, I don't why. When he struck that stick over the sea, and called for the sea to close; and he drowned Egypt, a whole nation, at one time, by a stick in his hand. Amen.

83It was a paradox, how he led Israel through the wilderness, and for forty years. And when they come out, there wasn't a feeble person among them. That's a paradox. Yes, sir. What a great man it was, what God did for him, because he believed God! It was a paradox. Yes, sir.

84 It was a paradox, when God chose one little man, by the name of Micaiah, before four hundred well-trained prophets of Israel, because this man was willing to stay with the Word of God when all opposition was against him.

85When the four hundred said, "Ah, go on up!" He said to Ahab and Jehoshaphat, "Go on up, the Lord is with you. We just got the revelation. The Lord is with you. Go up, you will push them plumb off of our land, because it's ours. God gave it to us. Joshua divided up the lands, and this belongs to us. And there is the Philistines up there, eating corn off of our fields. Why, it's no more than reason, our revelation is right."

86 Then how God chose a little man like Micaiah, that couldn't even get into the association, but he come up there with the Word of the Lord. And he said, "Go on up, but I seen Israel scatter like sheep having no shepherd." It was a paradox, how God would stand a little bitty unnoticed fellow out there in the midst of a whole great big four hundred group of prophets, of Israelite prophets, Jewish prophets standing there prophesying falsely. How did Micaiah know he was right? Because he was right with the Word. Elijah said the same thing would happen; and how could he bless what God had cursed? It was a paradox, but God made it come to pass. Certainly was.

87 It was a paradox; when a little bitty, sissy-looking boy with seven little locks of hair hanging down his head, and maybe a bow of ribbon in it, for all I know, like a little bitty sissy. His name was Samson. And when a lion, about a five-hundred-pound, maybe, lion roared and come against him, and he took his hands and tore that lion apart. Amen. But watch what happened? The Spirit of the Lord come on him, first.

88That's what causes the paradox. That's what. A paradox like that would set this arena afire, tonight, with the glory of God. If the love of the Lord could be permitted to come upon the people, then they would pray. A paradox, indeed. Yes.

89When Samson slew that lion, with his bare hands, pulled him apart; a little bitty, sissy-sort of a boy with seven little locks of hair hanging down his back.

90 It was a paradox when he took the jawbone of that mule, and beat in a thousand Philistines' heads. When, them big helmets and big coats of mail, on brass weighing probably a hundred pounds, or close to it, big shields and so forth, spears, well-trained man, and an helmet about an inch-and-a-half thick, out of brass, come down and turn up, and just their faces. And Samson stood there with this jawbone of the mule, been laying out there maybe for forty, fifty years, on the desert, dry. Well, one lick against a piece of steel like that would have shattered it into a million pieces. But he stood there, that's the only thing, he was commissioned to fight and to take that country out. He was raised up and born to slay that nation. Hallelujah!

91If the church could only realize what you're here for! If the Pentecostal church could only realize what you're here for? What's your representation? Why did you come out of these things to be what you are?

92 He knew what he was born for. He knew where he stood. The thing he had in his hand made no difference. He stood there, and as those Philistines come. And that powerful lick, of that little shrimp standing up on a rock, to reach the top of their heads. When they run up there, he would knock one one way, and one the other. And there laid a thousand of them, laying dead there. It was a paradox, how that mule's, jaw held together. It was a paradox, how that little piece of brittle bone would break through those inch-thick helmets of brass and slay those Philistines, a thousand of them. And he still stood there with it in his hand, just as good as it was when he picked it up. It was a paradox. Amen and amen!

93He is still the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still the same God, to any man that's been called to take the Word of God. God will stand by him if he don't be a coward. Samson could have run, but he didn't do it. Right.

94 It was a paradox, when God called John the Baptist, the son of a priest, out of a great school of priests, a great seminary. Why didn't that follow? Which, it was customary that men followed the tradition of their fathers. Why, it was a paradox, when God took John to the wilderness, to tell him what the Messiah would be, to tell him what the sign of the Messiah would be, how he would know it. Instead of going to school, to learn what the Messiah would be; God took him to the wilderness, to tell him what the Messiah would be. It was quite a paradox, to them people in that day. Yes.

95 When the virgin birth came on, that was a paradox; how that God, in order to make Himself known to man, became man. How that God, the great Spirit... God, to me, was before; there wasn't even a light, there wasn't a meteor, there wasn't a--a--a--atom, there wasn't a molecule, there--there--there wasn't anything, and everything was God. Yes, that's how great He is. He is from Eternity, through Eternity. He always was God. He always will be God. And how the greatest of all Life become a little small germ in the womb of a woman, in order to take His Own law, to pay the penalty of His law, death; how God was manifested in the flesh, how the great God of Heaven changed His strain, come from being God, to be man, through the virgin birth, nobody can figure it out.

96 Science today can't tell you how that virgin birth was, but God did it. He came. No one was able; everyone was sexually born. Like the re-... one man the same as the rest of them, no one could help the other one. We was all in trouble, And then God Himself came down and was born, not of a Jew, not of a Gentile, but His Blood was God. Blood comes from the male sect. In this case, it was God, God the creator, created the Blood cell in the womb of Mary, and built Himself a tabernacle that Himself come down and lived in it.

97"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." The very word Christ means "the Anointed One." Oh! He was God, God in His fulness dwelt in Him. Amen. "And in Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily." That was a paradox. It staggered people in them day, "You being a man, make Yourself God." It still does it. But just the same, it's still the same paradox is carried on. He was God. He is still God. He always will be God. Yes, sir. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yes, sir.

98 That virgin birth was a mystery to the people, they couldn't understand it, just like the new Birth is today. The new Birth is a mystery to the people. They can't understand it. They don't know what you mean. They have belittled it, bring it down, saying, "Well, just because you believe something." The devils believe the same thing, and tremble. It isn't what you believe; it's what God has actually done. The new Birth is a birth. It was a new. It was a paradox, when God brought new Life to the human race. To reject it, is Eternal separation. To receive it, is Eternal Life. You have...

99 You're on the same basis as Adam and Eve was. You can take... If God puts you on anything else, it would be unjust to Adam and Eve. Each Adam and Eve, tonight, has got the right and wrong setting before them. You can make your choice. You can take God's Word or leave God's Word. You can take God's Word or take your denominational creeds about It. You can take your modernistic ideas of what it is. You can be born again and filled with the Holy Ghost, or you can be church-ized, either one you want to be.

100 "For me to live is Christ." Hallelujah! I believe that that same God that fell on the Day of Pentecost, upon His Church, as a Pillar of Fire, and divided Himself, with cloven tongues, among His people, is here tonight. It's the same God He was then, He is today, with the same Holy Ghost. I know it's a paradox. It cannot be explained. Emotions, screaming, crying, and so forth, cannot be explained, but it's a paradox how God does it. It's the unseen God dwelling in the human heart, making Hisself visible, by vindicating His Word, that, "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

101 It was a paradox, when a carpenter's son, by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, took up five little biscuits and two fish, and fed five thousand people. If it isn't, I want to see somebody do it today. I want you to explain to me what kind of an atom He let loose. What did He do? Not only the fish, but the fish was growed, the fish was scaled, the fish was cleaned, the fish was cooked, the fish was whatever it was, and the bread was planted and growed; and all of it by-passed, and God turned it from--from cooked fish to cooked fish. He just growed it out and He broke it off, and He growed it out and He broke it off, and He growed it out till He fed five thousand. Amen.

102What does that routine mean: break it off, grow it out; break it off, grow it out; feed, grow it out? That means He is the same yesterday, today, forever. He is the same God that was. He is still the Bread of Life to any man that's hungering and thirsting. You can't exhaust His goodness.

103They say, "We have no need for miracles, no need for paradox,"

104 He is waiting. That's His program. That's what He is. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is waiting for you to reach up and take your portion. Are you scared to do it? Would you rather go down to the river and fish you out a fish, and try to cook it and fry it in some kind of a hog lard or something, or will you rather take it the way God has it? Just reach up by faith, and say, "Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever! I claim, Lord, I believe in You. Place within me the food, the strength, the faith that I need." Watch and see what happens. With a sincere heart, He will satisfy every hunger. He'll do it.

105Jesus was a... made a... had a paradox, when He fed five thousand people, with five fish, and--and then taken up two basketfuls, or several basketfuls, afterwards.

106 It was a paradox, when a Man with feet like I got and you got, upon a lake like Lake Michigan out here, when the storms was on, and the whitecaps probably was...

107Well, if you was ever there and see how them storms come down, they do it yet, across Galilee there, and it almost look like bale the bottom of the ocean dry. When that comes down through there, them winds terribly, and begins to sweep, and the whitecaps pitched that boat until all hopes was gone. And upon that sea, where they had been rowing, from oaring from along about four o'clock in the afternoon, I'd say, until the (last) fourth watch, along three or four o'clock in the morning. How far had they rowed across the sea! And they left Him on the other side. Amen.

108And at the fourth watch, here He come, walking upon the waves. That was a paradox. How could He make Himself light enough? How could He step on them waves, and step from one wave to the other? Those big waves coming, He'd go right up over one, and right down in the other, right up over the one, without a drop of water on Him. Come, walking on the waves! Explain it to me, and you can't. What was it? It was a paradox, absolutely.

109 It was a paradox, when Peter, who He had never seen in His life, his name was Simon, walked up in the presence of Jesus Christ, because his brother Andrew had told him He was the Messiah. And when Jesus looked that man in the face, for the first time that He had ever seen him, and said, "Your name is Simon, and you are the son of Jonas," that's a paradox. If it isn't, tell me how He did it. It was a paradox.

110Why? Because, He is the Word. And the Bible said, "The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." That proved that He was the Word, amen, "The same yesterday, today, and forever."

111 It was a paradox, when Philip went around the hill and found Nathanael, and brought him back into the Presence of Jesus, and Jesus told him where he was the day before. That was a paradox, amen, showed that He was the Word. "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile."

Said, "When did You know me, Rabbi?"

112He said, "Before Philip called you, when you was under the tree, I saw you." A paradox. Amen.

113 It was a paradox, when a little businessman, of the city of Jericho, a critic of the Lord Jesus, climbed up in a sycomore tree, to hide, to see Him pass by. And when Jesus of Nazareth come in, walking down the street, and stood right under the tree where he was, and raised up there and called him by his name, "Zacchaeus, come down. I'm going home with you for lunch." A paradox! He had never seen the man, all the days of His life. He had never laid eyes on him.

114 It was a paradox, when maybe several hundreds of people, yes, maybe fifteen, twenty hundred people coming out of the city of Jericho, making fun of Him, and laughing at Him, when He left the city that afternoon, or that morning, rather; as He was going out of the city, when people was throwing overripe vegetables at Him. And I can hear a priest say, "Hey, they tell me You raise the dead. Hey, You prophet, You that call Yourself a prophet! They, we got a whole graveyard full of them over here, just man, good man, priest like I am; go up here, raise them up. Let's see You raise the dead." Didn't even hear a word they said, one hailing one thing, and one another.

115 But way back over there against the wall, some two hundred and fifty yards, a poor old beggar shivered in the cold there, with his sleeves, said, "O Jesus, Thou son of David, have mercy on me," and stopped Him in His tracks. Hallelujah! A call from Joshua, not very far, not a--not a ten miles from where He was standing right there, stopped the sun, one day. But a poor beggar stopped the S-o-n of God, stayed in His tracks by his faith, the same kind of faith that Joshua had. Amen. Because, he knowed, if He was the Son of David, He was the manifested Messiah, and He could give him back his sight. A paradox! Oh, my! Certainly, it was a paradox. Yes, sir.

116 God, it was a paradox, how God could become man, to die. God, Life, Eternal Life, could become God (natural life) to die, to save man, to bring him back to Eternal Life. That was a paradox, how that the great God that filled all space and all Eternity could come down and be a man, in order to die to save a hu-... His Own creation. How God became one of His Own creations, to save, 'cause He created His Own body. Jehovah the Father dwelt, in fulness, in Jesus Christ His Son. Jesus was the body of God. God was represented in the tabernacle, the flesh of Jesus Christ, and how that that One that filled all space and all Eternity become one Man. Amen. You see what I mean? There, and that God could do that, to die, and, oh, that was a paradox, in itself, how He could make Hisself that way in order to suffer death for the whole human race.

117 But, oh, what a paradox, when a Man had been crucified, put to death, pushed a big Roman spear, about six- or eight-inches wide, through His heart, and Blood and water gushed out. And they took Him off the cross, dead, wrapped Him in--in cloth, and laid Him in a tomb. He was so dead till the Roman centurion said He was dead, everybody there said He was dead, the moon said He was dead, the stars said He was dead, the sun said He was dead, the earth had a nervous prostration, it said He was dead. And on the third day, could raise up to life again, immortal, from death. That's a paradox. Amen. He said, "I have power to lay My life down; I have power to take it up again." A genuine paradox of God, His resurrection was.

118 It was a paradox, of God, when Jesus chose fishermen, un-... instead of trained priests, to carry His message. Looked like, when He come, He'd a-come to the great Pharisees and Sadducees, and said, "Brethren, you are the man who down through the ages has kept this denomination clean. I come to take you now. Your fathers will be proud of you, when they can look down over the realms of Heaven," or wherever they was. I doubt it. (Jesus said, "You are of your father, the devil.") "So then look down, say, 'Well, we would be happy.' They would be happy to know this. I've come now to take up where you all have brought it to."

119It was a paradox, when He condemned every one of them and told them they were of the devil, and went down on the Sea of Galilee and picked up ignorant fishermen who didn't even know how to write their own name, and give them the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, instead of giving Caiaphas, the high priest. How could a man, to a religion, that's tried... what they thought tried, in their traditions and things, to keep up the things of God. And here He comes and selects another group, down on the river yonder. When man is trained and educated, and went through seminaries and schools and everything else, then He comes right back around and ignores that, and takes an ignorant fisherman and gives him the keys to the Kingdom. Amen.

120 What makes a paradox is when somebody believes God and takes Him at His Word. God's Word spoke the world into existence. That's the same thing you have to believe, tonight, is God's promised Word.

121Look at that poor little woman standing there at the well. She said, "We know when the Messiah cometh, He'll tell us these things." He had told her what her trouble was. She said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet. We know when the Messiah cometh, He'll tell us those things." Watch.

122God talking to a harlot. Glory to God! God talking to a prostitute, amen, and asking a favor, "Bring Me a drink." Think of it. Talk about a paradox!

123And what a paradox that that seed of Eternal Life, predestinated before the foundation of the world, could group out in such a thing as that; by the desire of the flesh, how that poor little old woman, probably turned on the street, down in her heart she was predestinated to Eternal Life.

124When the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth, according to the Bible, our names were put on that Book. Jesus said, "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him, and all the Father has given Me will come." Just scatter the Light!

125 Watch when that Light hit those priests and all their intellects. What happened? They said, "He is Beelzebub, a fortuneteller, a devil."

126He said, "You are of your father, the devil." That's where it come from.

127But when this little, immoral woman talking to God, and how could that predestinated seed be anchored in such a--a vile person as that? It's a paradox. But watch when the Light struck it. Said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet." Now, prophet, is where the Word of the Lord comes, to the prophet, see. And that was her sin, and He the prophet had the Word. So she said, "I perceive that You are a prophet. Now we know that when the Messiah cometh, He'll do these things."

He said, "I am He, that speaks to you."

128Brother, she left that bucket, and away she went. Her testimony saved her city, Sychar. Now that was a paradox, when God, when Jesus did that. Yes, sir.

129 It was a paradox, when God put His Spirit in the pentecostals, the poor fishermen and uneducated people, instead of Caiaphas the high priest. And, oh, how He put His Gospel! It was a paradox, when God chose the way that's called "heresy, crazy," people staggered, and jumping and carrying on, and acting like they were insane. They called them "crazy." It's a paradox, when God would bypass the great high synagogues, the great Sanhedrin courts and the great high-scholared priests, and pick up a bunch of ignorant, unlearned fishermen that hadn't knowed no more than just to believe Him and to take His Word, and see the results. And it pleased God to bypass what they called the most holy thing in the world, to pick up a bunch of "low trash," it was called, and the way that they were worshiping, called "heresy," to make the way of salvation. Yes. Now, that's the truth, you can't deny it. Paul said, "In the way that's called 'heresy,' that's the way I worship my God, the God of our fathers; the way that's called 'heresy.'" Yes.

130 It was a paradox, when that great Pillar of Fire that come down from Heaven, an Angel of the Lord, a Pillar of Fire led the children of Israel through the wilderness. That was a paradox, that talked to Moses out there in the burning bush. And it was a paradox. And eight hundred years later... and according to the Scripture, in Saint John 8:58, if you want to know where it's at. You want to know where it started out, first, was Exodus 13:31. And it was a paradox, when, after all that journey and all that time, that here Jesus said, that, "Before Abraham was, I AM." I AM was in the burning bush. I AM was the One that talked to Moses.

131 It was a strange thing, that after His death, burial, and resurrection. And Saul, that little hook-nosed Jew, crabbed, and nasty temper, and even put some of the Church to death; on his road down to Damascus, to arrest those people. And down there they had a prophet named Ananias, and was down there prophesying to them, a prophet of the Lord, telling them the Word of the Lord, 'cause He come to him. And while Pastor Ananias was down there, prophesying, Saul went down to get him. And right in the middle of the day, that same Pillar of Fire that come down and led Israel, struck Saul to the ground. And all the people, standing around, could not see It. But It was so bright, to Paul, till It put his eyes out. Amen. He was blind. It was so real to him, and the rest of them couldn't see It. It's a paradox. My! Oh!

132 What one senses of one person would declare, it would declare to another. That's the reason that people can set in the--in the meeting, and look at the work of the Lord, and get up and walk out, and make fun of It; and the other holds to It, with all their heart. It's a paradox, how God could make men, of the same flesh. It's a paradox, to see how God does it, even in this day. It was a paradox for Paul.

133You know, Paul never did see Jesus in physical form. He had to accept the revelation just like Peter did. Peter never knowed Jesus by physical form.

He said, "Who does man say I the Son of man am?"

134"Some of them said, why, You are 'Moses,' and some say You're 'Elias,' and 'Jeremias.'"

He said, "That's not what I asked. What do you say?"

Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."

135He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon, the son of Jonas. Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father which is in Heaven has revealed it. And upon this rock, I'll build My Church, and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against It." There you are, a paradox. When He was standing there, and didn't know Him in human flesh; but he knowed Him by His works and revelation, see Him fulfill exactly what the Scripture is.

136 That's the same kind of a paradox that brings a man from some old cold formal creed, into a living God. It's a paradox, to see the same man read the same Bible, and deny It, while the other one will believe It and accept the evidence of it. Yeah, it's a paradox, when he can see It working on the other fellow, sure he ought to know that it's the same God. His creed is wrong, if it's contrary. If God is vindicating His Word, then your creed is wrong. Amen. Don't mean to be so rude, but that's the Truth, a paradox.

137I said, "Thirty minutes," and it's just exactly that. I got about six pages of notes here yet. Paradox, do you believe in it? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Amen, I believe in it. And I'll stop.

138 Let me tell you something. Listen. Here sometime ago, down in the South, where I come from, I was having a little bit of ice cream, one day. An old druggist friend of mine, a real old born-again saint, he was a real man. Hadn't seen him for some time, and I was going through the city, and I stopped to see him. And I seen his name up there, and I thought, "Well, there, he has got this business here, and been there for years."

139I went up, went in, and there he was, setting there, looking down over his little glasses, you know, and looking over his little glasses that hung down on his cheek. And he said, "Well, if it isn't Brother Branham!" And he raised up, and come put his arms around me, and come pat me. Told his son, said, "Go get us some, some ice cream." We was standing there. "Have a cup of coffee?"

140I said, "No, sir. I'd talk you to death, if they'd give me a cup of coffee." I said, "Makes me nervous." I said, "I'll just take some ice cream."

141 So, we got some ice cream out. And--and the girls was back there, and so forth, in the store, and we set and had a little fellowship around the ice cream.

142He said, "Brother Branham, I--I want to tell you something." Said, "I--I been a little reluctant to tell other people." We got to talking about the Lord and His goodness. And the old fellow crying, and tears running down his cheeks, and he said, "I--I want to tell you something." Said, "It--it may seem strange to--to you," he said, "but I believe that a person like you would understand it."

I said, "Well, go ahead, brother. What is it?"

143He said, "Back in during the time of the depression," he said, "my gray-headed son there was just a young man." And said, "We were here in the--this business then," and he said, "but people were poor and didn't have nothing to eat. And to get an order, to get medicine or something, they had to go and stand in line."

144And many of you remember that. Sure, you do. Stand in the line, to get a little okay from the county, that you could get these drugs, or get something to eat.

145And he said, "I was sitting here, one day, reading my Bible, and, and," said, "somebody come in the door. And my son got up, young, went up to the front." And said, "I heard him say, 'No, we can't do it.'"

146And said, "I listened close. I laid my Word down and I listened close. And the man said, 'Sir,' he said, 'my wife is about to faint.'" And when he looked, he said he seen the woman ready to be delivered of a baby; the young couple. And the young man said to him, "He said, 'I--I--I've stood in that line there,' said, 'oh, a city-block long.' And said, 'My wife just can't stand there any longer.' Said, 'I wonder... I've got the prescription from the doctor, she must have the medicine, right away.' Said, 'Will you fill it, and then I'll take her home, and then I'll go stand in the line? I'll--I'll get the--the order for it. If you'll... '"

147"And the son, boy said, 'Sir, that's against the rules here. We, we can't do it.'"

148"He said, 'Well, I didn't know.' Said, 'Thank you, very much, son,' turned to walk away."

149And he said, just as started to walk, somebody said to him, down--down in his heart, said, "Joseph and Mary was turned away, one time, too."

150 And said, "I raised up and said, 'Wait, son! Just a minute!'" And said, "The fellow stopped. And I went and got the prescription, and got back behind there and filled it; while he waited, holding his wife by the hand. And she was so faint, she was just leaning over on his shoulder."

151And said, "I walked out there, and I..." He said, "I'm sorry I have to do this, sir."

He said, "That's all right."

152"He had his head down, and just handed out." And when he laid it in his hand, he said, "Brother Branham, I saw Jesus." Said, "I laid it right in His hand." Said, "Brother Branham, there He was, just exactly the way the picture shows it." And said, "I--I couldn't talk. And the man turned around and walked out of the building."

He said, "Do you believe that, Brother Branham?"

153I said, "I believe it with all that's on the inside of me. Certainly."

154 Saint Martin of Tours, if you've ever read of Saint Martin, he was a soldier. And he was--he was his... followed his father's footsteps. He always felt a call of God. Only, I think, his people wasn't exactly religious. And one day he was coming...

155It was a bad winter, the history says. And he was... There was an old beggar laying out at the gate, and he was freezing to death; and many people, who could have fed that old man, or give him some clothes. He was crying, holding his hand up. Just an old whiskered, dirty man laying at the gate of the city. And he's saying, "Help me, somebody. I--I'm freezing. Tonight I'll die. Somebody give me a garment."

156 Saint Martin had done give all he had, away. He just, as a soldier, he had his coat on. He stood by one side, and watched and see if somebody wouldn't do it. The people come and gone, and nobody would help him.

157Then he reached up there, and looked at the old man. He had compassion on him. Pulled his own coat off, and took his sword and cut it in half. Wrapped part of it around his shoulders, took the other half and wrapped the old beggar in it, so he would live through the night, went walking on.

158The people laughed at him, said, "What a funny-looking soldier, with only a half a coat on."

159That night, while he was a sleeping in the bed, he woke up. Somebody had walked into the room. He looked, standing across the room, and there stood Jesus with that old piece of garment had been wrapped around him. He knew by that.

160 He was the man, Saint Martin, was one of the men who contended back there, for the Faith that was once delivered to the saints. He believed in the miracles of God. He believed in speaking with tongues. He believed in all the Testament that was wrote by the apostles. He believed in and contended for It, as long as he lived, and God performed miracles. He knew, when he seen that old beggar wrapped in the piece of garment of his own coat, that the Word of God was fulfilled, "Insomuch as you have done unto the least of these, My little ones, you have done it unto Me."

You say, "The man didn't see it."

161I believe he seen it. I believe he got it. I believe that it's there. I believe that was Jesus he looked at. It was a revelation of God made manifest, because he carried out.

162 Talk about a paradox, there is coming one. "When the dead in Christ shall rise, and we which are alive shall be changed, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, to be caught up together to meet Him in the air." Yes.

163Oh, how God keeps His Word in this intellectual age! How He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! How He can still discern the thoughts of the human heart! How He can still change man! And how He can still keep every word that He promised in this day! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! How He can still manifest and let them take the picture of that same Pillar of Fire that followed Israel, the same One that was with the Lord Jesus, the same One was down there with Saul on the road, the same One that come in and delivered Peter out of the prison! That same Angel of God is here tonight, and doing the very same thing It did when It was here on earth manifested in human flesh. Why? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

164 Do you believe in a paradox? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] I believe that God is wanting people to believe in a paradox. I've went way over my time. I believe it could be a paradox right here. Amen. I believe that God is willing and wanting to take His people and show Himself. If He can only get a man or a woman, boy or girl, to lay down their own thoughts, and become a prisoner to Him and believe Him.

165He is His Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."

166And now He is in you, the hope of Glory, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, in Saint John 14:12, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall He do also."

167 He promised, in Saint Luke, that, "as it was in the days of Sodom," when the elected Church, Abraham's group, would receive a sign like Abraham received, and Lot's group would receive a sign like Lot did.

168It's a very strange thing that we've had all these great reformers, of Luther and Wesley, but never did we ever have a man out there with his name ending in h-a-m, a messenger to the world. G-r-a-h-a-m, that's six letters. A-b-r-a-h-a-m is Abraham. We've had Moody's, Sankey's, Finney, and Knox, Calvin, but never a ham, "father to the nations." We've got one now. That's a paradox. Did you know that? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] And look, he is doing just exactly, calling them out of Sodom.

169 But, remember, Abraham had a messenger up there to his group, too. Amen. And what kind of a sign did He do, with His back turned to the tent? Said, "I'm going to visit you according to the time of My promise, according to the time of life." And He said, "Where is your wife, Sarah?"

170Said, "She is in the tent, behind You." And when he said that, Sarah laughed to herself.

171He said, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'These things can't be'?" See?

172Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man, the works that I do!" God's Word become so. "If ye abide in Me, My Words abide in you, ask any of them you will, and it'll be made manifest to you." A paradox, to see a promise God... a promise of God, that's been made for two thousand years, and church ethics has drawed the people so far away. But in the midst of all of it, God comes right down and bursts that Word right back into His church again, just exactly. It is a paradox. Do you believe Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

Let us pray.

173 If there is people in here, tonight, that would want to see a paradox performed on you, and to change your heart from unbelief, to faith in God, would you raise your hands, and say, "Lord, remember me, remember me." God bless you. Oh, just look at the hands!

174Heavenly Father, there is so many hands, I wouldn't be able to say "God bless thee," each one, but Thou knowest them all. Change their thinking, Lord. Oh, let it happen, a paradox. They've always kind of stooped around. They've halfway believed, maybe. Maybe some of them even belong to church, but yet they have never met that time that when they had that supreme freedom, believed, and knowed that what God promised, God was able to do. Yet, we profess to be the seed of Abraham, who staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong, giving praise to God. Now, Father God, I pray Thee, in Jesus' Name, to have mercy upon them.

175 O God, come down among us, tonight, move upon us and show us that You're still a God of miracles. Make a paradox, Lord, and show that Your Word still can discern the thoughts and the intents of the heart. You are still the same One that was manifested out there, that Abraham called Elohim, the Lord God, Creator, the all-sufficient One, the self-existing One. O God, You are still Eternal God, the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the Blood of Your Son has sanctified a Church and cleansed It. That, the Word, oh, if they could have only took It without adding creed, Lord!

176But, now, He said, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches. The branch bears the fruit of the vine; for the life of the vine, of the branch, comes from the vine." How we thank Thee for this, Lord! How perfect it is!

177 And in this day of unbelief and superstitions, and--and all kinds of creeds, yet You're the same God that stopped the sun for Joshua. You're the same One was on the stick that Moses stretched over the sea. You're the same One that could call lice, fleas, frogs, whatever it was, by the mouth of Moses. You're the same God that could put rain in the skies. You're the same One that's going to rain fire out of the skies. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever.

178O Lord God, show us Thy glory, tonight, by saving and filling every person that raised their hand. Grant it, Lord. May it just not be another self-starched prayer. May it not be another self-starched way of raising up our hand, under a little influence of--of something. But may it be from the depths of their heart, that the people cries out, "O Lord God, create in me a faith that can believe You and can accept every Word, and punctuate every promise, with an amen." Grant it, Father. I commit it to You now, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

179 All right, it's ten o'clock. We don't have to have a prayer line up here. We can have it out there. Do you believe it? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

180How many in here that believes that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that believes that that little woman that touched His garment with her finger then, He was--He was physical, she touched His garment. There is a paradox. He could not feel it, and He turned around and said, "Who touched Me?" And she couldn't hide herself. And He told of her troubles, and her faith healed her.

181And the Bible says, today, in Hebrews, that, "He is a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." How many sick people believe that? Raise your hand. All right, you believe it, and let's see now if that's true.

182 You say, "Brother Branham, how does that come?" Just believing the Word just the way It's wrote. Don't take any hearsay, what this guy says It's this way, and this guy says It's that way. You believe It just the way It's wrote.

183If He has got to judge you by the way It's wrote, then why take somebody else's interpretation for It, 'cause that's the way it's going to be judged. Just That, That's His standard. He has watched over His Word. There is nothing wrong with it. That's just exactly the Word. That's what we will be judged by, is This, is God's Word.

184"And if ye abide in Me," that's the faith, "My Word abide in you," 'cause He is the Word, "then ask what you will."

185 Now you touch His garment, say, "Lord Jesus, I believe with all my heart that we're living in the last days. I believe You are the same God that performed all these miracles that our pastor has showed us, tonight, in the Word. I believe that You are the High Priest. Lord, let me touch Your garment. Then You speak through this brother, and--and claims that You speak through him. And, then, he doesn't know me, but You know me." And then see if He isn't the same God of miracles, and there be a paradox again, an unsearchable thing that man cannot discern and tell.

186Will you believe it? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] If He will do it, then we know it'll be a paradox. Is that right? ["Amen."] I was going to have a prayer line; I got so caught away on that till I--I--I just got away from it, and time is just about gone. You believe. Let's start over... I can't...

187 I have to separate you. Let's start on this side here. Somebody in this way. How many over here knows that I don't know you or know nothing about you, raise up your hands; and you're sick, you know that you want to ask God? All right.

188Some of you believe, just--just take this with all your heart. "Lord Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever! Let me touch You, Lord. My faith is moving to You yonder on the right hand of God, sitting in Majesty. And Your Holy Spirit, that was in You, is here tonight. Let me just touch, by faith, Lord." Then see if He is still the author of paradox, to bring things to pass that's absolutely unknown. Just be reverent.

189 Here, see this right here? It's a colored lady sitting right back over here. She is bothered with a kidney condition. She has just had an operation. I don't know the lady.

190I'm a stranger to you. Is that right, lady? But that is true, isn't it? Do you believe that the same God that could tell that little woman that touched His garment over there, and--and on the other side of the lake, do you believe that that's the same God? You couldn't touch me, physically, you know. So I'll just... And I don't know you. So there is a High Priest, because He said He was the High Priest. Is that right? And you believe it. When you were there praying for it to be you, something struck you, and immediately I called about it. Is that right? All right.

191This operation you had didn't seem to be too successful. You're not getting well, too, and you're alarmed about it. And you come here tonight for that same purpose. If the Lord Jesus will reveal to me who you are, like He did Simon that come up, would you believe me to be His prophet, His servant? You believe that? Mrs. Pigrum. That's right. Now you believe with all your heart, you go home and be well. You're going to get well because your faith makes you well.

192 Do you believe with all your heart? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] How about in this section that's in here, somewhere, somebody believe?

193A man sitting out here on the end, he is suffering with trouble with his eyes. I don't know whether he knows... Yes, he's caught me now. He feels the Spirit. Yes, can you see that Light above the man? Mr. Otis, that's your name. I'm a total stranger to you, but you're worried about your eyes. Christ makes you well, your faith.

194Now ask the man if I ever seen him, knowed anything about him, or this woman, or wherever it is. There is a paradox. Do you believe that? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] He is the same yesterday, today. He promised, "The works that I do, shall you do also." That's how He identified Himself of being Messiah. Is that right? ["Amen."] Well, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And you know it can't be me. I'm no Messiah. I'm just a man, your brother. But it's the Holy Ghost here, that is the Messiah. That's the Leader. He is the One who knows. I don't know them people; they know it.

195 Here, I want to show you. There is a colored woman sitting right up there on the side, up there, suffering with a thyroid trouble. Do you believe God can tell me who you are? Mrs. Kelly. [The sister cries, "That's me!"--Ed.] That's right. All right.

196Do you believe with all your heart? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

197Mr. Swanson back there, with nervous trouble, do you believe that God can make you well? If you believe it with all your heart! All right, you can have it. God makes you well.

198Do you believe it? I don't know them people. Ask them if I know them. It's a paradox.

199 Just a minute. Here is this Light, It's standing over a woman. I know who she is. She is setting right here. Don't worry, Mrs. Collins, stop bothering about that, making yourself sick. It'll all come out all right. God leads. Now, I know that woman. I know who she is. She is from down Indiana, or Kentucky. I know her. Her husband there, is a member of my church, he's a--he's a deacon down there, a fine man. But there is that Light. Don't you see It right over her? She has been bothered, she is sick, and she is upset about something that she don't know whether to do or not. You just remember, quit fretting, sister, it'll be all right. He knows all about it. He'll lead if you'll just let Him go.

200Amen! The same yesterday, today, and forever, He's a paradox! We're grateful for it. Do you believe it? [Congregation rejoices--Ed.]

201 Stand on your feet then and accept it, and say, "Lord God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus Christ, perform in me, and bring glory and Your blessings and power upon me. Let there come a paradox in my heart right now. I am believing. I am believing." With all your heart, believe it.

202Raise your hands while you sing this old hymn, "I love Him, I love Him because He first loved me." Close your eyes. Close all your own thoughts, and just let Jesus Christ come into you, and each one of you will be healed and filled with the Holy Ghost.

203 One paradox, tonight, would set this, ought to set this place afire. Jesus Christ is here. Who can explain that? Ask these people, go to them. You've got their names and things, on this tape. Go, ask them. See, I know nothing about them. What does it do? God, in this intellectual age...

204"Where is any rain in the sky," said the science of Noah's day, "where is it up there?" God promised it! It come.

205How can these things happen? I don't know. God promised it! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah! Now I love Him, I love Him because He first loved me, and has opened my blinded eyes, that I could come in and see His Presence and know that He is here. Amen and amen!

206Let's just raise our hands and worship Him now as we sing it. Glory to God! Thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ, for His goodness and mercy! God bless you.