Perseverant

1 Thank you. Then we bow our heads now for prayer.

Our Heavenly Father, we are grateful for this, another most gracious opportunity to present to Chicago the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to these elected ones who are waiting for the Coming of the righteous Christ. We pray, Heavenly Father, that when we leave tonight, that our hearts may be like those who coming from Emmaus, said, "Did not our hearts burn within us when He talked to us along the way?"

2We're expecting You to come soon, Lord, to receive us into Your great Kingdom beyond here, where there is no more sorrow or death, where there will be no more long prayer meetings, and no more praying through with people, and it'll all be over then. And we'll enter into the joys of the Lord, that we, by the grace of God, we feel that we're partakers of, through Jesus Christ. Grant these things, Father.

3And if there be any seed that's been in the hearts of the people, and never has come to Life yet, may something be done, tonight, that'll quicken that Life, Lord, to a realization of the Message of this end time in which we're living.

4Bless the ministers here in Chicago. Bless the businessmen, Father. And tomorrow morning's breakfast, O God, give me something to say that'll stir those men, their hearts. Grant it, Father. Help us then, tomorrow night, over at the Lane Tech. And Sunday, the double service, back here. Grant it, Lord. May souls be saved, people healed, the Kingdom of God exalted, Lord. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Be seated.

5 [Brother Branham asks Brother Johnson, "Got that song for in the morning? Got that song for in the morning?"--Ed.]

6I was glad when I was speaking with Brother Vayle here just a few moments ago. I come in just a little late, myself.

7And I know it's hot. But just imagine you sitting there, and then moving around up here, see. And, but we're always happy, no matter what condition it's in, to be here. Just think of the days of our Lord, down there in Palestine, when those sun rays, hot, and His throat raw, Him standing there, and real weak and--and preach on, and heal the sick. He is just the same today as He was then. He still feels the same way. This, His grace is sufficient for all that we have need of.

8 Now, this is the night that I try to put these three nights for praying for the sick and speaking on the sick, prayer for the sick. Now, the other times, I'll speak different, on salvation. Because, I got a double service each day, you see, and I can't, I can't have it... If I preach hard, I got to eat. And if I eat, I can't have these kind of services, see. And I got to... and I can't have two services in a day, and make one of them a healing service. It's just you--you are full of food, and your blood is gone to your stomach, to digest the food, and then your brain just don't work right, in that way.

9So I--I'd, perhaps, maybe then, thought tonight we'd give it over for prayer for the sick, again tonight. I told Billy. I think he said that he... Did he give out prayer cards, does anybody know? [Congregation says, "Yes."--Ed.] Okay. Okay, then, we'll get to them just as quick as we can. And now let's just be reverent, listen close. And then in the prayer line, let's come with all the respects that we know how, to believe God is here to heal us.

10 Now we are very grateful for visions. That's my ministry, is centered around that, until about this time; waiting any minute for something else to come, which is coming. Now I have what kind of weakened me a little, was this last week.

11We come home from Arizona, and we're going right back Monday, to Arizona. And then, home, I've had people that's been waiting down in that line for three or four years, for them personal interviews, from Texas, from Arkansas, and all around over the country, waiting for those personal inter-... There is where you find the real thing. You get, just got one person and you setting together, then the Holy Spirit just keeps moving and revealing.

12 A little strange thing happened the other day. I had around fifteen, I guess, or twenty, in one day. And sitting in my study, early that morning, before going there, the great Holy Spirit came in and told me every person that was coming, every question they would ask, every dream, and every interpretation. I wrote it out on paper, and laid each one of them down. Then I would go into the room, and these people, we had never met before. It would come in and talk to them, and show each question they had asked and all about it, in routine, and the dream that they had. Then reach over and get a piece of paper, and hand it over to them, where it was already told before they ever got there, what would take place.

13Now, only God can do that. You know I couldn't do that. Anyone knows that's... that--that a human being cannot do that. We have no way of doing it. That's another paradox, as we spoke of last night. And then to see the accuracy of the Holy Spirit, when It tells a certain thing will happen, it's just exactly like that.

14 Now if any of you hearing about that vision of going up here in the north woods, to a place I never knowed, and about that seven-foot, silver-tipped grizzly, and that forty-two inch caribou, and where it would be laying. It's laying on my den room floor, just exactly. Where it was said, the place it was said, how it would happen, and exactly word by word.

15How many ever heard the tape, Sirs, What Time Is It? just before I went out West? The reason the Angel of the Lord sent me out there, He told me, said, "Now, coming from the Heavens will be seven Angels in a constellation, there will be three on a side, and one in the top. It'll be like a triangle, or something like a pyramid."

16And I said, "The one on the right had His wings turned back, and I swept right into the constellation, by Him, and He was to tell me what to do."

17 And I went West, just as He told me, was up there on the very same day. And when they started coming from Heaven, I said, "There will be a sound like a great blast, something like a--a breaker of an airplane, a sound breaker going forth, but," I said, "it'll be so much louder than that. And I'll be just northeast of Tucson, about fifty or a hundred miles, something like that, and Tucson will be setting this way. And I'll be picking some kind of cockleburs, or goatheads, they call them there, off of my trouser leg." And I said, "A blast will go off." And we were up there at that day, and I was over to myself. There is a man, I think Brother Sothmann is here tonight, that was with me, he and Brother Norman.

18Are you here, Brother Fred? I thought I heard you say, "amen," the other night. I thought he was here; maybe I was mistaken. I... Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, yeah, sorry, Brother Fred. Yeah, we were up there.

19 And on the day just before it happened, the Holy Spirit came right into the little camp where we were camped at, and said, begin to reveal about our children, and what they must do, and how, what condition, and things that were taking place among them, and tell us what to do, and so forth. I just had to get up and walk away.

20And the next morning. I had found out where the javelina were, and I was trying to tell these two brethren how to get to them. And I went across the mountain, down over a little, what we'd call, a little hogback, like. And I had Brother Sothmann there to go over to another place where I had seen those javelina the day before. I had already got mine, and so I was trying to get these brother in position for it.

Cause, these brethren, many a times I--I guide for them.

21 And I told Brother Norman to come the other way, and put Brother Fred in the middle, and then I would go this way. And if I hit the mountain, and they run this way, I would just fire up in the air, to run them back that way again, so he could pick out the one he wanted.

22And we got out there, and there was no javelina. I glassed Brother Fred, about a mile away, and I could see him. He went back up the mountain, when there was no javelina. I went down the mountain, to a great chasm, come up, set down.

23 It was about eight o'clock at morning. And I had folded my legs. And was, off my overalls, was picking some of them goatheads. And I said, "You know, look at here, isn't that strange!" I said, "This is exactly, and I'm perfectly in the position, northeast of Tucson, and Flagstaff, see, and I be east of Flagstaff, northeast of Tucson." And I said, "Here is these goatheads that I said I'd be picking off of my trouser." I said, "That's strange," and I just throwed it down, like that.

24And I looked up, on the side across the great chasm, and there was a whole herd up there. They were almost in shooting distance. So, I--I wouldn't shoot them myself, 'cause I didn't want them. I said, "If I can just get to Brother Fred and them, now, and get them over there." And I run over a little ravine, and along a ledge. And as I was running along there, all of a sudden it sounded like the whole country come apart, with such a blast. And it scared me till I thought... I was wearing a black hat, big black hat, and that just looks like a javelina anyhow, I thought somebody had shot me. And--and it just scared me till I jumped up in the air.

Just then I thought, "What is this all about?"

25 I seen the rocks tumbling off the side of the hill, rolling down. And I looked up, there was that white Circle above me there, circling around. Here come seven Angels, come moving down out of the air, picked me up, and said, "Go back to your home, to the East, right away, and bring those Seven Seals. For, there is seven mysteries, for the complete Word is revealed now in these seven mysteries."

26If you've never heard, if you ever believed I ever said anything in a sermon, inspired, you take them tapes of the Seven Seals. I'm not a tape salesman. I... Mr. Sothmann here sells tapes, him and Mr. Maguire, but I don't sell tapes. They take them. And if you ever heard anything that's really, as I can say it's THUS SAITH THE LORD, get those.

27 And you know, not in that time, I didn't know it; but cameras from all over the country was taking the picture of That, as the white Cloud settled down, went on the Associated Press. I think your Chicago paper packed it, all around. Life magazine packed it. How many has seen it in there, that Mr.... That, see, that was it right there, just exactly the way it said it, standing right under It when It come down and formed. They said, "It was way beyond, and it's... hunted the country, there was no airplanes or nothing in there. And It was too high, twenty-six miles high, where there is no vapor or nothing. You couldn't, they couldn't make vapor, anyhow. And thirty miles across It."

28And here It come, settling down. And watch on the righthand side of that constellation, if it isn't... Read the tapes, or listen to the tape, Sirs, What Time Is It? about three or four months before it happened. There it is.

29Even science has to recognize It to be true. They are studying It. They say it's a mystery they can't understand. The science down there in Tucson are trying to understand It, what It is. I thought first I'd go talk to them; I thought, "No, it'd be just like that picture of the Angel of the Lord on the picture, they wouldn't believe It. There is no need to tell them." So, but you see, in the face of all of it, they have to know that it's Truth, anyhow, that it's the Truth.

30 Brother, sister, I don't know when. I'll make my last trip to Chicago one day. This may be it. But I'm telling you, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Gospel is true. This is the last days. We're living in the shadows of His Coming. Whatever you do, press into the Kingdom of God. If there is one little touch strikes your heart, you come quickly while you have the opportunity to come. Cause, the hour is approaching when it'll be too late, and then you'll never want to come no more, there won't be any more call in your heart. And then, no matter how much you did try, you would never get in. When the last member is added to that Body, for the Rapture, there'll never be another one saved; the doors are closed, as it was in the days of Noah, and there will be no more salvation left, though people will think they will be, that's where the trouble is going to come. See?

31 One time Jesus came, John's disciples came over to Jesus, and they said, "We are sent from John. Do we look for another, or what about it?"

32He said, "Just stay and watch what happens." And, then, waited. They went back across the mountain.

33Jesus watched them. He said, "What did you go out to see, when you went to see John; a man, soft raiment?" Said, "They're in kings' palaces." "Did you go to see a reed shaken with any wind?" Not--not John. And He said, "Well, what did you go to see; a prophet?" Said, "I say, and more than a prophet. If you can receive it, this is he who was spoken of, 'I send My messenger before My face.'" Malachi 3.

34Then speaking of John one time, the disciples said, when He was talking about where He was going up to Jerusalem to be offered up, they said, "Well, why is it we're taught in the Scriptures, by the scribes, that Elias must first come and restore all things?"

He said, "Elias has already come, and you didn't know it."

35 Now look. To those scribes... Can you hear me? Say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Those scribes, even those apostles, that, their very last sign, was looking for Elias. Let me repeat it. They had the very Elected, the scribes and the apostles, called of the Lord, were looking for the Messiah to come, but Elias to come and forerun His coming. And he come it, and--and did it in such humility, and... till they even didn't recognize him.

36And may I say this, as my own thought, one of these days... You're looking for a lot to happen, that's happening and you don't know it. You're going to say, "Before the Rapture of the Church..."

37Now I'm not here preaching doctrine. There is ministers on the platform here, that would disagree probably with This. Most all ministers believe that the Church goes through the Tribulation period, for purification; I can't see it. The Blood of Jesus Christ is our purification; nothing cleaner, see. See? I believe that the church, the denominational church and the sleeping virgin, does go through the Tribulation, but not the Bride. There is a difference between the church and the Bride. The Bride goes in the Rapture. That's where you church of God, of Anderson, all got mixed up there, see, is in that.

38 Not say, telling you what you did or didn't; I'm not to say that, but just where the way I see it. The first thing you know, you're going to say, "Why, I thought there was supposed to be a Rapture before the Tribulation."

39The Tribulation is going to strike. And what would it be, awful, if you heard say, "It's already been and you didn't know it"?

40"There will be one in the field, I'll take one and leave one," just somebody come up missing. There will just be a very, very few in that Rapture, that'll be changed. The sleeping Bride, the Bride that's been taken through the age, She will come forth first. And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them, just one here, and one there, and one over here.

41 At least, every day across the world, there is as many as five hundred people missing. And what if there is a thousand? They would say, "Oh, well, this woman, she just run off with somebody. This preacher, he took some other man's wife, and gone." He has gone to Glory, in the Rapture, and they won't know it.

Did not He say He would "come as a thief in the night"? See?

42You say, "Well, if He comes, I'll see Him." No, no. Just those that's going to see Him is going to see Him at that time. See?

43See, just like that Light, like John stood there and saw that, that Spirit of God, like a Light, dove, coming down and going upon Him, a Voice saying, "This is My beloved Son," nobody heard It or saw It, but John. See?

44 And when that Rapture takes place, it'll be a change. And the first thing you know, that change, then we're caught into them, and gone away. And the sleeping virgin, it moves right on just the same, and thinking everything is going fine. And they're already gone, "It's already happened, and you knew it not."

45I don't say it'll be like that, remember. I'm not saying the Lord tells me it'll be that way. But I believe it's so close at hand, it's possible. I don't want to take any chance. I want to be ready. I want everything ready. I--I--I don't want to ever... "The weight laid aside," whether, how it comes. Probably the way we got it all drawed out will be different, it always is, than what He's... we have it planned. His first coming was that way, and His second Coming will probably be the same thing.

Let's pray now. Let's be sincere.

46 Chicago, you know I'm a Southerner, I'm used to hospitality in the South. You got a big city here, a big, great big city with five million people in it. But I don't know of any big city in the world that's really, from the people over, is as friendly and nice as people in Chicago. That's right. These Chicago people are nice people. Even you get out here on the street, and we was talking to even winos and everything else, they--they respect you, and nice. I--I--I really appreciate that.

47And let me tell you. With a vision the other morning, I know that some of the Bride is waiting here in Chicago, for the Coming of the Lord. I know there is going to be a bunch out of this city, taken, according to a vision, which has never failed. And I know there is, God has got people in here that's going in that Rapture, I--I believe that, in that day.

48I think I've said enough and got far enough, till I have to quit saying now, so let us pray.

49 Lord Jesus, help us now as we go to the Word. May the people clearly understand, Lord, that human beings we are together. We know that we get tired and worn. And, but I pray that You will grant one more time, tonight, to shake this little church, Lord, with Your power, with the Word, and may there not be a feeble person among us.

50Lord, we thank Thee because that we believe, that when we ask these things, we receive them. I pray that--that--that You'll just do a great thing among us, tonight, Father. In Jesus' Name I commit myself, with this text that I'm going to read. And I pray that You will unfold It to us in a great way, that the people might clearly understand. Amen.

51 I wish for you, if you want to, would care at this time, and it's almost... I'm going to try to make it exactly at the time, tonight, if I can, of getting out a little earlier than I did last night, anyhow. But turn with me to the chap-... Saint Luke's Gospel. Or, I beg your pardon, let's change that; I got Luke wrote down here, but I--I'm turned over here also to Matthew.

52Matthew, the 15th chapter, beginning with the 21st verse. Saint Mark gives a record of it, too.

Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him,... Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

But he answered and said, It's not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat... the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

53 We have here, under consideration, quite a lengthy Scripture reading, and I don't want to spend too much time on it. Which, you could stay all night, as it was, anyone knows, 'cause all the Scripture is given by inspiration. I believe that. But I want to take one word, to make a--a text out of it. I'm going to call the word: Perseverant.

54The word perseverance means "to be persistent," and persistent in making a goal or--or doing something. And every man, that's in all ages, that's ever--ever made anything out of themselves, or done anything, would be persistent in the--the thing they were trying to achieve.

55And before you can be persistent, you have to have faith in what you are trying to achieve. And if you haven't got faith in what you're trying to do, you will never be able to do it.

56 Now, that little word, faith, means so much, and yet we strike it so lightly. I hear so many people say, and come in, it's amazing, say, "Oh, I've got faith!" And not disregarding their effort, but you know sometimes those that claim they have so much faith, I find, has less than those that says nothing about it. They, they are built up to an emotion, and not a real faith. There's quite a bit difference, but a hope, an emotion with hope, than being quiet and using faith. See?

57Faith is something. It's a substance. It's not something that--that you just jump at, and haphazardly hit at and hope so. It's something that you know. You have it. The--the--the thing that you're--you're asking for, there is no human way of ever explaining how you're going to get it, but yet you know it's there. You have it. It is a substance.

58 If I could get that so that you would understand clearly, it would mean so much to the meeting tonight. If, in this night of this healing service...

59Or, we are trusting. I--I say that, "healing," because I believe that God is going to do it. I believe that God is going to--to do what He promised to do. And if I didn't do that, I'd be afraid to stand here in this audience of people and make these statements that I do make. Because, if I had a least bit of fear about it, I better never enter that door.

60You've got to absolutely believe it. And you have the assurance, and there is nothing can move it. You, no matter what happens, you still believe it. Even though it seems like it's failed, you still believe it. No matter what happens, you still believe it.

61 Like the little lady sitting here looking at me, here the other night, Mrs. Way had been taking care of her.

62Her husband was raised the other day, from the dead, dying in a heart attack. And I walked off the platform, and because, when I seen him, his eyes go back and die, I--I--I didn't know what to do, and I went down there to check his heart and feel him. And, see, he was gone, then I had to be to him.

63And then the other night, I was asked the question, "Why didn't you go down to that lady?" She turned around, or Mrs. Way tried to get her out. And she dropped in the floor, and her face turned white, and just as almost gone. "And why did you not go down there?" Because that I had no reason to go there. See?

64 A faith isn't something that somebody else is trying to get you to do. It's something God commissions you to do. See? See?

65I seen the lady was only... She was very sick, but intoxicated by drug, not... trying to get well, doctor had give her. And I seen her setting, laughing and rejoicing, and what's the use of me going down there after it's already over? See? See it? And someone say, "But Mr. Way would have, he would have, he would have laid there." But we had to go do this. But when the woman was back outside, yet the vision come. And she is setting here tonight, fine; laughing last night. Yeah.

66See, you, you've got to know. And you cannot know until you have faith, and faith produces that know-so. Faith is that "know." Faith is that thing that says it.

67 Now, now when we see this perseverance. Any man that's trying to achieve anything, has been perseverant.

68For instance, George Washington is called the father of this nation. One night he prayed all night, in the snow. And when the real, genuine, first-blooded Americans that had taken their stand upon this ground, and the great economy that they had in common was at stake, and there was about seventy percent, or more, of those American soldiers standing out there, didn't even have shoes on their feet. Their feet was froze and wrapped in rags, but yet they had a leader that they believed in. And that leader believed in the Leader, God. And he prayed until his clothes was wet, up to his waist, kneeling in the snow. And there was the frozen Delaware between him and where the British was taking their--their picnic at the other side.

69But the frozen Delaware didn't stand in his way, neither did his opposition of his frozen soldiers, and their feet froze, and--and the ice in the river. He was perseverant. He had faith that God was going to give him the victory, and he... the Delaware couldn't stay in his way. And he achieved a purpose. Although three musket bullets went right through his coat; but it never touched him. He was perseverant. He had heard from God. And he had faith that what God had told him was the truth, and nothing could stop him.

70 If every sick person in here, tonight, could just have faith in God, like George Washington did; your Delaware, that stands before you tonight, would have to melt away, some way you would cross it. No matter what your opposition is, you would still cross it. You would be persistent, so persistent till that cancer, tumor, whatever it is, would never be able to stand there, because you would cross over to the promise that God had give you.

71Men can only be persistent after they have--have heard from God. Faith is only based on the Word of God, 'cause faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

72 Noah in the--the opposition that he preached in, in the days of his time, in preparing the ark. After he heard God tell him that He was going to destroy the world with water, that sin had heaped up so high that He couldn't stand it no more. He was going to wash the world off, with water. And there was not a bit of water in the skies, but yet Noah was perseverant in the time of critics. No matter how much people told him, "It can't happen," Noah knowed it was going to happen. Because, and being perseverant!

73He never just said, "Well, I laid the foundation of the ark, I--I guess I... that, that'll be enough, then, if science has already proved I'm on the wrong grounds."

74 That's the way many people does about coming to Christ. They lay the foundation, of believing on the Lord Jesus and accepting Him as personal Saviour, and maybe going on to Christian baptism. But when it comes to following on through, to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, somebody explains it away for them. That's the reason that seed fell by the wayside, or it fell on stony grounds.

75But the man and woman who has faith that God, that Christ, is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that His Word is just as real now, and every promise just as true as it ever was, there is no minister, nobody, nobody can explain it away from them. They are perseverant. They climb on until they achieve what they've purposed to do. There is no way to explain it away from them. They believe it.

76 Moses, he did the same thing, he--he had forgotten the vision and the feeling of the people. But when he met God in that burning bush, and he seen that that was God's Word! See, Moses had just come up under good teaching, his mother, and had been taught the way of God. But when he got up there and met this Person that his mother had taught him about! You see what I mean? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

77Many people take the Bible and understand It, intellectually perfect, but, that's--that's not it. That's not what we're talking about. No matter how well you can explain It, you've got to meet the Author of It, personally. Then is what brings faith, for the Author lives in you after you are born of Him.

78 Moses met the Author, "I AM, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and of--of Jacob. And I remember My promises, and I've come to send you." Amen. "I'm sending you to deliver them."

79And notice when he performed his first sign, and it seemed like it failed, because he had a lot of impersonators. The Egyptians could do the same thing that he did. But, you see, Moses, after he had met God in the burning bush and knowed that He was God, it didn't make any difference how many more impersonated it and what kind of a character they was that did it, Moses knew that his was genuine, that it come from God. He just stood still, in the face of Pharaoh, and then his snake eat up the rest of them.

80 That's the way people do today. They maybe... If they're not sure, if they're worked up on some emotion, and they see somebody else get off on the deep end of something, and go on, then they think, "Well, maybe mine..."

81But--but that man who really meets God, and knows it, he knows what happened. It, it's God! Certainly. No one could explain it away from him.

82 David, a little, ruddy fellow, he wasn't big enough to carry a firearms, or a sword, rather, in that day, his shield. He was, was too little. He happened to be, what we'd call, the runt. And his father couldn't have nothing for him to do. He... His brothers were big, strong strapping men. So he thought he could get David a job, maybe of herding some sheep. And the little fellow stayed out there, and--and he met God. And he--he had a... He was detailed to take care of those sheep.

83And David was a prophet, and the Word of the Lord came to him in songs. And Jesus said, "Have not you heard, in the Psalms?" How things was predicted of Him, you know. And David was a--a prophetic song writer. And while he was out there, looking up, and hearing the wind pass through the mountains and down through the cedars, he wrote of the "shady, green pastures, and still waters," and so forth, inspirationally. As he wrote it at night, watching the stars and the moon, and--and how nature worked, God visit him. And he knowed there was God.

84 And one day, a bear came in and got one of his sheep. And the sheep meant a lot to him because he had learned to love that sheep. And he--he loved it. And so when the bear come in and got one, David's heart begin to burn, when he heard that little sheep cry. And God had sent him to watch those sheep. And so when the bear caught the little lamb, and it started crying; David, all at once, remembered that the God that made the mountain was his God. So he puts a rock in his little slingshot and went after this big grizzly, and it struck the grizzly, and down he went. Then, when he come back, he was happy because he had won the victory.

85 And then a bigger trial come in, a lion, which is far more fierce than the bear would be. He is more game. And if I had time, I'd like to break those animals down and show you the great parable in there. And the lion come in and grabbed one and run off. So if God could give him victory over the bear, He sure could give him victory over the lion.

86Oh, if God, Who can give me victory over myself, amen, can surely give me victory over the disease that's trying to take me from Him. The God that can save me and make me something that I'm not; when I'm not a Christian, can make a Christian out of me, by believing His Word.

87 Then, we find that he got the bear. And finally the great showdown come, when there come a--a great big grizzly bear, bigger than any of them, he was a man of a giant. And David knew that, with God, he was more than a match for him, no matter how big the opposition was. With God, he is more than a match. Yet, the littlest man, and the most unequipped man; not a fighter, a kid; and not an armor, just his--his bare body; not a shield over him, but a piece of sheepskin wrapped around him. And he didn't have a spear or a sword, he had a little slingshot; you know, two little pieces of string with a leather on the end of it. And he wanted to fight that man because he was trying to come after God's sheep. And if God could deliver the sheep, how much more His family, His people!

88 Chicago, that's the reason we are here, you are more than a sheep. You are God's people. And we don't have an intellectual or a great denomination behind us. But we know that sickness has caught you, and you are gripped in--in the cares of the world, and we come in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Though the doctor turns you down, we don't care what he done; we've come to take you back to health, in the Name of Jesus Christ, with a little slingshot, of His Word. Two little strings, the New and Old Testament, holding Jesus between them, and we come to take you back to where you belong, if you'll just let us.

89 Notice little Samson, also, as I spoke of last night, he was very perseverant himself, as long as he could feel those seven locks hanging down his back. The--the Philistines meant nothing to him, no matter if he had nothing but a jawbone of a mule in his hand, or whatever he had. The Philistines, or the gates of Gaza, they meant nothing to him. As long as he could feel those seven locks, that was the covenant.

90 And as long as the Christian can feel that covenant, "all things are possible to him that believeth," when you can feel that covenant faith in you, that you are God's child and an heir of every one of His promised blessings. Don't care what comes up, you're more than a match for it, as long as you can feel and know that you do believe it. Do you follow me? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] As long as you can... As Samson felt that, he--he was all right. And as long as, in your heart, that you're just not worked up, you're just not emotional, but in your heart you know that you're going to get it. You know that you have confessed your sins, you know that you have passed from death to Life, you know that you're a child of God, an heir of these things, then there is nothing going to keep you from have it. Then you are perseverant.

91 John the Baptist was so perseverant that he even made this statement. Four thousand years they had looked for a Messiah, but John knew that he was going to introduce Him. He knowed that he had a... Jesus said he was more than a prophet. He was a prophet, but he was more than a prophet, because he was the messenger of the covenant. And he was so sure of it, that he was going to see that Light, that Dove. He was going to see the Spirit. He was so positive of it, till he said, "There is some standing, One standing among you now, that you don't know. I'm not worthy to loose His shoes; but He'll be the One that'll baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire." God had...

92 He was a prophet, and more than a prophet, and he knew his charge. He knew that God had commissioned him, and there was no fear in his heart. Though four thousand years, in the midst of a bunch of howling mob of critics, making fun of him, and saying he, was a wild man trying to drown people, that didn't stop him a bit.

93Somebody might have said, "John, aren't you afraid that it won't happen?"

94How could it fail when God said so? God told him, "Upon whom thou shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon, He is the One that's going to baptize with the Holy Ghost."

95 John knew it. He wasn't afraid of failure. That was his charge, that was his commission, so he could be very perseverant, very persistent. No matter, nothing is going to bother him. There wasn't enough devils out of torment could take him. Hallelujah! He was commissioned to do something. And heavens and earth will pass away, but that Word will never fail. He said, "I'll see Him!" Now faith had anchored.

96He had heard like Moses, in the wilderness, where prophets are--are molded. He had heard God tell him, "You're the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I can point to the Scripture and show you your commission. You're the one that Isaiah said, seven hundred and twelve years ago, 'There will be a voice of one crying in the wilderness.'"

They said, "Are you the Messiah?"

97He said, "No. But I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!'" And he knowed that he was going to do it, because God said so. Faith, then he was persistent.

98 The rabbis, and so forth, come out, said, "You mean there'll come a time that the daily sacrifice will be taken away? A man will take the place, and so forth?"

99He said, "There is coming One that will take the place, and He'll take away the daily sacrifice. He will be the Lamb." And as he turned to look, he said, "Behold, there He is, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world," right in the midst of his sermon, because God promised Him.

100 No matter what they say, "Well, they'll throw you in jail. The ministerial association will kick you out. You'll not have any fellowship. There is no cooperation."

101Didn't make John any difference. He was perseverant. He had a message, somebody must hear it. And out of his entire group, I don't think he got about twelve, but he got something.

102When he got the power of God on him, then the Lord begin to move on him. Now, the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. When we can see the commission of the Lord, then you can be perseverant.

103 My, this little Greek woman, she had heard of Him. She had never seen Him, but she just heard of Him. She had heard of His fame.

104Well, we hear the same thing. We hear of His fame. We read of His fame. We see His fame. "And faith cometh by hearing." Somehow, another, faith finds a source that others don't see. When you are predestinated to a certain thing, you can look right at it, because your faith is declaring it, and others know nothing about it. Faith finds that source that you can't see.

105Cause, others are looking at it from observations, and so forth. And they're looking at it, presuming. And the word presume is "to adventure without authority."

106And Moses never went down into Egypt, presuming that God was with him; he went down to Egypt knowing God was with him. See? You don't accept your healing, thinking God will do it. You accept your healing 'cause God has already done it. He promised it, and your faith says it's so, and nothing else can wipe it out.

107 Now, His Word is a sword, the Bible said. In Hebrews 4:12, It said, "The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, It discerns the thoughts that's in the heart." That's what the Word does.

108Now the only thing that can handle this sword is a hand. And the only thing can handle God's Word is faith. If the Word is a sword, then faith holds it, grips it. And when people are dueling, like if the two men meet, and with these knives they're--they're dueling. That's you, and the devil trying to get you to doubt. Now, your sword that you've got, may be ever so good, it's a million times better than his. I'm going to tell you, his is not even a sword, it's a stick. But yours is a sword. But if the hand that holds that sword is weak, the stick can overcome it. But no matter how little this hand is, if it holds the Word of God, with faith, there is nothing going to do it. It can put anything down.

109You see, he is holding in his right hand, and you in your right hand; and when your swords lock, when you lock with the devil, "Is It so, or not so?" Now he is pressing to you, "Say It's wrong, It's wrong! You mustn't believe It."

110 But if you believe It! See, these swords come right straight down to the handles. Now if I can push his back, with my handle, the blade, like that, where am I at? I'm directed right straight to his heart, 'cause I'm on the right side, at his left. And then when I am pressing with faith, with the Word, "Satan, Jesus Christ commissioned me to do this," and we lock. And raise up with that hand of faith, and say, "An Angel of God met me yonder, and said It's so." The first thing you know, throws the sword right straight in, and he's conquered. "I come to challenge you! And THUS SAITH THE LORD." That's the believer, when he has faith to handle the Word.

111Now if you're just a little denominational weakling, you better keep away from it; you'll go around, talk about it, and say it can't happen, because you don't know nothing about it. But that man who has handled it, and seen it conquer that enemy, he knows what it'll do.

112 This poor, little woman, she had never seen Him, but she had heard of Him. She had many hindrances, but her faith didn't have any hindrances. Faith don't have any hindrance at all.

113You might have a lot of hindrances. You might have the doctor's word, the scientific man who has examined you. It might be that he, that man, told you, "You, you're going to die." That's all he knows. He--he has told you all he studied. His scientific work shows that, that you must die. Your whole system is made in that kind of a way, that death has struck it, and there is nothing can keep it from going on. You're going. Now, that's as much as he knows. No science has no medicine for it.

114But you have found something. You pick up the sword. See? Now, of course, you got a hindrance, you got something that's going to duel against you: that devil, that disease, that affliction. But when you strike the tip of swords with that devil yonder, and say, "It's THUS SAITH THE LORD! He revealed it to me, and I am healed!" Oh, my! Your faith don't have any hindrances.

115 You know, let's take some of her hindrances, and look them, just a few minutes before we call our prayer line. They might have said to her, the first place, "You're a Greek; He is a Jew." Well, in other wise, it might have said, "You know, your denomination is not sponsoring this meeting. Your church is not." But, you know, that didn't hinder her. Faith had already struck. She had heard of somebody else being healed. And she had a need, and something told her it could be done.

116 Now, see, the works of God are foreordained of God. Do you believe that? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

117Jesus met a blind man one time, said, "Who sinned, him or his mother, or so forth, or his daddy?"

118Said, "Neither one, but that the works of God might be made manifest."

119See, this is the works of God. And when you feel something pressing to you, hold onto it. That's God speaking to you.

120Well, she was still perseverant even though they said that, "You don't belong to His people, and your church is not co-operating in the meeting." She was perseverant, anyhow. She was going, anyhow.

121 She might have went down the road and met another group of priests, and they--they tell her, "Wait a minute. The days of miracles is past. That's just a lot of--of hocus-pocus. That's just a bunch of--of men, some so-called prophet down there doing all these kind of things. That, you know, that, that's just nonsense. Why, there is nothing like that today." But still she was perseverant. She still believed it was going to happen. Now, that's when you've got it. That's when something happens.

122She might have went on down to the next corner, she met her husband, and her husband said, "If you go down and associate yourself in that group, I'm going to leave you." Well, he can leave if he wants to, but she is still persistent. She is perseverant. She has got a need, and faith is already anchored. She knows it's going to happen.

123 On down at the next corner, she met a bunch of people, and said, "You know what? You'll be the laugh of the town, if you go down there to ask mercy for your daughter. And you'll find out it's no more than some others has asked and didn't get it." Don't make any difference what the others did, and whether the others was laughed at, she was still persistent. She knew what was going to happen. She--she believed it. She had heard of Him. She knowed, if she could ever get there, what was going to happen.

124Now we might have went down at the corner and met the pastor, and he said, "You'll be put out of your church if you go." Look at the hindrance that poor little thing had. And remember, she is a Greek, now, not a Pentecostal. And here she goes down, and they said, "You'll be put out of your church." And still she was persistent.

125She was perseverant. Didn't make any difference whether she lost her husband, she lost her friends, she was the laughingstock of the town, and whatever taken place, or even was put out of her church, or what more. Faith had caught hold! She was perseverant. I like that.

126 Now, a lot of people thinks that's all they have to have, as long as they get to Jesus, and come where He--He's in the meeting, well, that's all that's necessary.

127It used to be that the churches, when I first started on the field, they would set and wait, and almost cry, until the Lord come on the scene, and, then, oh, my!

128Down here in Illinois, a little place called... Oh, I forget where it's at now; in one of my meetings down here, years ago, where the Chicago Tribune here packed an article that there was twenty-seven ambulances set around the little hotel. And one night, walking to the platform, laying about a thirty-minutes foundation, and asking the people, and challenged them to believe it. And with one prayer from the platform, after the Lord had revealed Himself, that He was, there wasn't a... there wasn't a person in a wheel chair or cot, deaf, dumb, or blind, nowhere. Every one of them was healed in a moment.

129 Durban, South Africa, we seen twenty-five thousand blanket natives healed at one time, with seven van loads of crutches and sticks and boards, that they had packed them on, come down the street, and those people walking behind, singing Only Believe.

130Faith! Get away from your--your thoughts. Think His thought. See? Think what He thinks.

131You say, "Brother Branham, I--I--I'll go, I think..." You ain't got no thought coming. Let the mind that was in Christ be in you, then you'll recognize the Word. See? Notice.

132 When those people would set and wait, when the Lord moved in and done something, oh, my, they just got up and walked away.

133But, you know, it seems like today, they've seen so much of it. And now the Lord comes, oh, shows Himself among us, we say, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord. He sure can do it. Brother Branham, I'm going over to Oral Roberts next week and have him pray for me, and so-and-so. If this don't work, tonight, I'll have..." That's just about the attitude, see. The people are not perseverant.

134If the Holy Spirit, if Jesus Christ, proves that He's here among us, then press till you get to Him. Like the little woman with the blood issue, and all of the different things that taken place, and all the adversaries in her way, she just pressed right on through till she touched Him. If this church, tonight, would do the same thing, would press through every scale of unbelief, would lock swords with the devil and his unbelief, and press through to know that you're a child of God and an heir to these things, and Jesus Christ standing present to show you that He's with you, to keep His Word. Be perseverant, don't you let nothing stand in your way.

135I'm just wondering. If faith really anchors, could anything stand in your way? You don't get it. If you really got it, that would settle it. That's all. See?

136 This woman here, our little, Greek friend, tonight, that we have here before us, as a text, when she arrived at Jesus. Like Jesus would arrive here with us tonight; we arrive, and He comes here and proves, here He is among us. Well, she thought that settled it. That don't settle it. No, sir. That's when you just begin to fight. That's when you just start your real battle. When she arrived at Jesus, then Jesus said He was not sent to her race. Oh, my!

137And another thing, He turned around and called her race of people nothing but a bunch of dogs. "I'm not sent, only to the lost sheep of the children of Israel." That didn't stop her. She was still perseverant. And said, "Besides, it's not meet for Me to take the children's bread and give it to you dogs." Still she was perseverant.

138Oh, I like that. Still she held on. Amen. I like that. Hold onto it! She was perseverant. She was not a hotbed plant, had to be babied. No, sir. She was not a hybrid article, like big part of the crop today. You didn't have to beg her and say, "Now, sister, I'll tell you, I would encourage you to go on, because..." No, sir, there wasn't nobody there to encourage her, but even Jesus Himself tried to discourage her. Whew! Glory! Now I feel like a holy-roller, sure enough. Even Christ Himself standing there, trying to discourage her, but she held on. Amen. Perseverant! She had arrived at something. She knew it.

139 What if He'd call you a dog, and your race, a bunch of dogs? "You bunch of Chicagoans, you--you bunch of Methodists, you Presbyterians, I wasn't even sent to you. You're nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, anyhow." Whew! My! You would stick your nose up and turn out that door. See? Why? You've never had faith, to begin with. You're a hybrid, a hotbed plant that has to be sprayed all the time.

140Not her! No. Something happened, faith had anchored. She is not going to be defeated. Amen. There you are. No matter what the rest done, what the rest said; she is not going to be defeated. No, sir. Even Jesus, Hisself, couldn't discourage her. Amen.

141 Said, "I'm not sent to your race. Go on, beat it, on down the street. I'm not sent to you people. And you're nothing but a bunch of dogs, anyhow. I'm not... It's not really right for Me to take the children's bread and give it to you bunch of dogs, alley dogs, street rats, and so forth. It's not--not meet for Me to do that."

What? She admitted He was right. Amen. Oh, my!

142Faith will always admit the Word right. Whether your pastor says so or not, whether anybody else says so or not, your faith says It's right. Glory! Your faith says It's right.

143So what she was called, even by Jesus Christ, the One she come to, and He rebuked her. And look at His disciples, the men was with Him in His campaigns, said, "Oh, beat it! Get out of here. You're annoying us. Don't bother our Master."

144That didn't stop her. No, sir. Nothing is going to stop her, 'cause she has got faith. Its going to happen, anyhow. She admitted He was right. "I'm nothing but a dog. I--I don't deserve anything. But, Lord, let me bring something to Your memory. I'm not after the bread; I just want a few crumbs."

145 The trouble of it now, we don't have people humble themselves to get some crumbs. "I didn't get in the line." That don't make any difference. I just come to see if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm after some crumbs.

146Oh, how different she was from now. Remember, she had never seen a miracle. She was a Greek. She had never seen a miracle, yet she was persistent because something inside of her told her she was going to see one.

147She was like Rahab, the harlot. Rahab, the harlot, she didn't say, "Now bring Joshua up, you spies, and let me see how he wears his clothes, and what kind of a manners he's got. And let me see whether he's handsome or not, or how he combs his hair, if he's a well-groomed man and everything." Remember, that was kind of her line of work, you know, she was hunting handsome man, she was a street harlot. And so she said, "I have heard that the Lord God is with you, and I'm asking for mercy." Oh, my! There you are, faith cometh by hearing. "I heard that you took Agag, and what you did down there. And I heard what God did for you at the Red Sea, and I believe it. And I know that you're His servant. I just ask mercy." Amen. She was granted mercy.

148 This woman, she was granted mercy. She said, "True, Lord, but the dogs eat the crumbs that's under the master's table." "For this saying..." That did it. Finally, being persistent, perseverant, letting nothing stand in her way, even in the face of Jesus trying to rebuke her, she said... But she stood and admitted that He was right, the Word was right, and everything. "But yet, Lord, the dogs eat the crumbs, and it's just a crumb from You is all I ask. Just one little one little, one little speck is all I want, Lord. Just Your touch, that's all I want. Just Your touch, that's all."

149Oh, if we just had that tonight "Lord, I'm setting here, I'm sick. But if--if--if something will just tell me that I can get well, that's all I want to know. Then that--that settles it, I'm going home and believe it, see. Nothing is going to stand in my way any longer. Just Your crumbs, Lord, is all I want."

150 Jesus said, "O woman," or, "O woman, great is your faith. Go your way, for what you've been persistent about, what you have believed, you're going to find it that way." Amen.

151She had finally overcome. She had the right approach to God's gift. She was a Gentile. Faith always admits the Word is right. Humbly and reverently, not get out and blow up about something. Same way now. Quickly now, before we call the prayer line.

152 Martha, in the presence of the Lord Jesus, when everybody had made fun of her, said, "Look, this Guy that heals the sick, when you had need of Him... Yeah, you took your living, you fed Him, you've had Him a room; when He come to the city, He stayed with you. He was a good friend to Lazarus. But when really sickness come in, He got away from you." See?

153But when she heard He had come, she was perseverant. She started down the street. Another one said, "Now I guess you're going out to see Him." She just closed her ears and eyes, she just kept pressing on. She was perseverant.

154When Jesus spoke to her, she said, "Lord, if You would have been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, whatever You ask God, God will give it to You." She was perseverant. Notice, like the Shunammite woman, in the presence of Elijah, God's representative on the earth; Martha knew, if God was in Elijah, surely He was in Jesus.

155 The Shunammite woman, when she went up there, and he said, Elisha come out of his cave and looked out there and said, "Here comes that Shunammite, and her heart is troubled. God has kept it from me. I don't know what she wants."

156Said, "Is all well with thee? With thy husband? With the child?" She said, "All is well."

157Watch her when she told her servant. "Saddle this mule, and go straight forward and don't stop." Perseverant, just keep going.

158Some of them say, "Hey, stop a minute! I want to talk to you, Lydie."

159"Nothing doing, I've--I've got to get over there, that's all there is to it. See, I got to get over there. I got to find out about this." And then when the... He said, "Well, I'll tell you, I'll send you anointed cloth. I'll send you this stick, and you go over there, have it laid upon the child."

160"That's very good, prophet of God. I--I--I think that's very fine. But as your soul lives, I'll not leave you, I'm going to stay right here till I find out." Amen. Perseverant. Sure, she was perseverant.

161Elijah thought, "Well, get rid of her. Might as well gird up my loins." See? Here he went. See? Perseverant, their faith had hold of the Word.

162 How little Micaiah, that little uneducated woodsman back there, could stand before those four hundred prophets, and speak there contrary to them. Why? He was perseverant.

163They said, "Why, look!" That great big head bishop stood up there with these horns, and said, "The Lord God spoke to me." Oh, my! The head of the association said, "The Lord God spoke to me, and witnessed by four hundred of these men here, that, THUS SAITH THE LORD!" And the man was sincere.

164Now, but Micaiah stood, he said, "But I saw Israel scattered, like sheep having no shepherd."

165So he walked up, and took his hands and smacked his mouth as hard as he could, said, "Which a way went the Spirit of God when It went out of me, if you know all about this thing?"

Said, "You'll understand, one day." And Ahab said...

166Well, now, that's what the association said. Notice now, he would never get in them then, under such circumstances as that. But he knowed his vision was right. He had faith, because his faith said exactly what the Word said, so he was perseverant.

167 Now look up to the national authority. There stood Ahab, said, "Put him in the inner prison, and feed him bread and water of sorrow. And when I return in peace," he said, "I'll--I'll take care of this fellow."

168Look at him, persevering yet. "Oh, great Ahab, maybe I was wrong. Oh, bishop, maybe I was wrong"? No, no, not him. He had anchored. He saw a vision, and his vision was with the Word. He said, "If you come back at all, I'm a false prophet!" Amen. He was perseverant. Certainly, he was.

169 The blind man that I spoke of a while ago, he couldn't argue theology with them, he knowed nothing about it. They could say, "Why, So-and-so said so-and-so and so-and-so."

170He said, "I don't know about your theology. But this one thing I know: where I was blind, I can now see."

171His father and mother never had that kind of faith. They said, "Oh, they'll put us out of the synagogue. So you ask him, he is of age."

172Brother, there wasn't nothing wrong with him. He said, "It's a strange..." Said, "I'm no theologian. I cannot argue your Scriptures that you're talking about. But you said that you know God healed; but, this Man, you know not whence He come from. Now, it's a strange thing, that a Man can come here and can open my blinded eyes; and you, the leaders of religion, and don't know from whence He come." Brother, he was a theologian, in my book. He--he had, he had an argument the rest of them couldn't settle, that's all. "How that you say you don't have no record of His--His--His coming, you don't have no record on your book, of His schooling, where His education come from, or nothing. You don't know from whence He come, and yet the Man that give me my sight." Pretty good argument, wasn't it? Yes, sir.

173 Philip, when he stood there and seen Jesus of Nazareth tell Simon what his name was, and his father's name, he was very persistent. He had a self-starched friend that he wanted to tell about, and he went and found Nathanael.

174When Nathanael, standing there before the members of his church, and the high priest, and the Sanhedrin's, and all of them standing around. When Jesus looked at him, and said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile."

175"Oh, I better shut up now. Be careful, there stands the bishop, there stands the general overseer, there stands the pastor, there stands all my relation. I better keep still, just act like I don't know nothing about it"? See? No, no.

176 Something had happened. Philip had showed him a seed. He said, "Rabbi!"

177They standing there, say, "This man is Beelzebub. Don't listen to That. He's a fortuneteller. He's a devil. Don't listen to Him." But Philip, quickly, or...

178Nathanael recognized Him as a Rabbi, a teacher. Said, "Rabbi, when did You ever see me?"

179He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree."

180"Now what am I going to do? Here is the Scripture, says that that's the sign of the Messiah." He run to Him and fell down, and he said, "Rabbi, You're the Son of God! You're the King of Israel. I don't care what the rest of them has got to say about it. You are the Son of God, the King of Israel."

181 The little woman at the well, when she was told of what was wrong with her. Now, you know, if you happen to know the Eastern...

182Is there missionaries here, ever been in the East? Well, you understand that a woman like that hasn't got no authority at all, to speak to men anywhere. That's right. It's still that way. She does not, cannot speak to men, by no mean, and especially on religious arguments and discussions.

183But, oh, man, could you keep her quiet? It is like a--a dry house on fire, in a high wind. You couldn't stop her. She said, "Come, see a Man, He told me the things I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?" Now I got...

I'm closing now. I've just got to quit.

184 About four or five years ago, I saw a vision, to send me down in Mexico. You take the Business Men's Voice that... See, before you can print anything, you have to be able to back that up. Now, you can say it, but don't you print it unless you can back it up, 'cause it's printed matter. I was having...

185I come down on ropes, in the back of the arena, the pen where we was at, was having about ten thousand a night, conversions to Christ. And then as I looked, Billy come up to me and he said, "Daddy, you see all that going on, over there on the other side, about a hundred and fifty yards?" Said, "That's one little woman." He said, "She is not as big as a bar of soap, hardly, little bitty thing." Said, "She has got a dead baby under her arm." And said...

186 I call the man Mañana, "tomorrow," he was so slow, that come and got me. He was supposed to get me at seven o'clock, and he got me at nine. Me walking up-and-down the floors.

187And he had done give out all the prayer cards, and didn't have no more. I had only give him about fifteen or twenty, a night, 'cause that's all I could get to. Cause, if you'd give them a card, they--they don't understand like you, you can't talk to them. So they was--they was just... I give them about ten or fifteen, whatever, that's all I'd give out. Well, they didn't have any more prayer cards.

188And said, "She didn't get in with that baby, and didn't get no prayer card." And said, "Uh, we got about a hundred and fifty, two hundred ushers, or maybe more, standing down there, and they can't hold that little woman. She runs under their legs, up over the top of their back, and everything else. She's got this dead baby." She seen that blind man the night before, receive his sight, so she said she wanted to get in.

189 I said, and said, I said, "Billy, I--I can't help it." I was talking.

190I said, "Brother Jack Moore," I said, "go over there. She don't know who I am." They couldn't never see me, way back out like that. And I said, "Go over there, and go down and pray for the baby, and she'll think it's just me, and that's all."

191He said then, "All right, Brother Branham." He started over that way.

192And I turned around, I said, "Now as I was saying, faith is the..." I looked out there in front of me, and there was a little Mexican baby sitting right out in the middle of the air there, just laughing, no teeth, little, nursing baby, like. And I looked again.

193Brother Espinoza, many of you know Brother Espinoza, "So what's the matter?"

194I said, "I see a vision." I said, "Wait a minute, Brother Moore." All of you know Jack Moore, I'm sure, businessmen. I said, "Wait a minute, Brother Moore. Just a minute. Billy, go bring the woman here."

Said, "Daddy, she ain't got a prayer card."

I said, "Don't make any difference; bring her here."

195 And, she, they let her through. Here come a real pretty little woman, and her... The rain, just raining, and been raining all afternoon, and them people standing there. And her--her pretty hair hanging down her sides, and her face, was all wet. And she was crying, and--and the tears running down her cheeks. And she come running up there, soaking wet, and a little blue-looking blanket wrapped around a little form, and she was holding it out like this. And she fell down on her knees and begin to cry out something, "Padre, padre!"

196And I took her, I said, "Stand up." Brother Espinoza told her. And she had the little baby like that, holding it out, just like I'd hold that handkerchief, only was laying across her arms like this.

197And I said, "Heavenly Father, I don't know whether this is the baby or not. I just saw a little baby, and thinking maybe this was it, being that this happened the way it has. I--I lay my hands upon it and ask for life to return, in the Name of the Lord Jesus." And the little baby let out a kick, and begin to scream as hard as it could. See?

198 And I said, "Brother Espinoza, don't you say anything about that now. Don't give that to the businessmen, or any of them, until you get a signed statement from her doctor."

199And the doctor signed this statement, that, "the baby died with pneumonia" in his office "that morning at nine o'clock," and this was pretty near eleven o'clock at night, been dead all that time.

200Why? She was persistent. She believed, if God could give a blind man his sight... Glory to God! If God can give a blind man his sight, God could give life to the baby; 'cause the same God that give sight to the blind, give life to the baby. Why? She was perseverant. Three hundred ushers, nothing could stop her. She was determined, 'cause something anchored.

201 She had never seen any of these things that you all see. The only thing, somebody told her, that day, that a blind man, that lived down the street from where she was, had received his sight; had been blind for about ten years, with glaucoma in his eyes. And that day, he was walking down the street, crying, waving his hands, and she saw him.

202And her baby died. She picked up the baby from the doctor's office, and took out. Stood in that rain all day long, waiting for the opportunity. And when she didn't get a prayer card, she still was persistent. She didn't know nothing; she was a Roman Catholic. The only thing she knowed, that she had to get to some man.

203Now you know better than that. It's not the man you get to. It's the Christ that you get to. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that you get to. All her faith was in her priest, because he was a god to her. But tonight no man is your god but Jesus Christ, and He is here, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah!

Let's be persistent, as we bow our heads.

204 Lord Jesus, I pray that You would help us now. Just a word or two from You, Lord, ought to just do something for these people. I pray Thee, Lord. As You promised in the last days that You would do these things, the works that You did when You were here on earth, that would be repeated again, and give the illustrations of it through the Scriptures; like, for instance, Sodom and different places, and we see over in the Book of the Revelation, in the Laodicean Age. And, oh, how that You made the promise, and said You were "the same yesterday, today, and forever"! And we see it by pictures, when the mechanical eye of the camera will catch mysteries in this last days, that man cannot explain. God, may men and women, tonight, who are suffering and sick, here, may they be persistent and get to the Lord Jesus in this hour, go home rejoicing, healed. We ask it in His Name, for His glory. Amen.

205 Now, I still am late. But I'm thinking this, "This may be the last meeting we have together. I may never see you again. You may never see me again until we cross the river." And we all may cross before morning.

206Remember, this nation is weighed in the balance. We'll get to that when I go to preaching, see. Notice, we don't know when it'll be.

207So, Paul preached all night, one night, this same Gospel. The Lord honored His Word, when a little fellow fell dead, like Brother Way did the other morning. He is setting right here before me now. Paul laid his body over this boy, and his life come back to him. That's the same thing it did to Brother Way. Shows that the same God, by the same Word, by the same Spirit, does the same thing. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Then if He is here...

208Now look, there is no man can heal you, 'cause you're already healed. Something has to happen in you, to tell you that it's for you, and then be persistent.

209 Let's see, what was them cards we give out, was A's, A's? Oh, you just finished giving out the rest of the A's? All right. Where did we start, with one's, wasn't it? We started, had fifteen, I believe it was, one to fifteen, one to fifteen.

210Let's start somewhere else along, and let's start from seventy-five, eighty, ninety. Let's go to ninety, seventy-five to ninety. Pick out a little group in there, and start from there, and then get as we go on from there. Just start from there. See if we can get as many as we can, prayed for. Let prayer cards seventy-five to ninety, stand first. That'll give us fifteen to start with. We'll see what the Holy Spirit leads. Bring them over here to the right, if you will, fifteen to ninety...

211 Or wait, beg your pardon. What'd I say? [Brother Vayle says, "Seventy-five to ninety."--Ed.] Seventy-five to ninety. ["Sixteen of them."] There'll be sixteen, yeah, seventy-five to ninety. That'll be sixteen people. All right, you help me, Brother Vayle. Now if... ["They're coming."] They're there. If they can't get up, why, you see that they get help down there. All right, Brother Vayle, if you will. Now I want...

212How many in here that hasn't got prayer cards, and you want, know that Jesus Christ can heal you, raise up your hand, say, "I--I want to accept it. I--I believe it." [Brother Branham pauses--Ed.] Oh, we won't have to wait for His Spirit, I done seen Him touch somebody right there in the audience. Amen.

213[Brother Vayle says, "Four missing."--Ed.] Four cards are missing, between seventy-five and ninety. ["They're getting in now."] All right.

214How many out there, how many way back in the back, believe, way back towards the back, way up in the balconies, around? Just say, "I believe." Raise up your hand, say, "I believe." All right, that's it. That's good. Now if Jesus Christ...

215 While I'm thinking here, I'm waiting to see whether it's really going to take effect on this person, or not. Somebody was touched just then. I seen it happen. I've never seen the person in my life. But I looked right at them, I seen it happen, and I seen the person get touched by the Holy Spirit. I could have that person stand right up now, and prove that it's the truth, amen, before the line ever starts. She is still praying, she put her handkerchief up to her mouth, setting right back there. She has got spinal trouble. That's right. Setting right... Yeah. That's your husband, raised his hand. Listen, I'm stranger to you all, is that right? Do you believe me to be His prophet? Your spinal trouble is going to leave you.

216And listen, by the way, the man that's got his hand up, being that the Holy Spirit struck you; when I talked to your wife, the Holy Spirit struck you. And you've got something wrong with you, the growth on the arm. Believe, and it'll leave you. Glory to God!

217Ask those people if I ever seen them in my life, as I know of. They're strangers. But what? Faith moving, and the power of the Holy Ghost. Do you believe? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Amen.

218 Do you speak Spanish? Turn around and tell that little girl, she can't speak Spanish... can't speak English, back there. She has got something wrong with her chest. Turn around and tell her. Jesus Christ healed you, sister. Uh-huh. Yeah. She couldn't even speak English. I seen her talking Spanish.

219Now It's got another lady, setting in front of her, real excited, and she can't speak English. She is Spanish, and she has got something wrong with her stomach, setting in front. You believe with all your heart, your stomach trouble leaves you, and you can go home and be well. Amen. God is the Healer.

220See It strike her? They had to tell her, in Spanish, before she realized. She can't understand English. Look at there, people that can't even speak English! But just what they're seeing, they--they can presume and feel the Spirit, even when they can't even hear.

Shame on you!

221Glory to God! I never seen that done yet. Amen. Ask them people. Why, I can't even speak their language. But, you see, proves you don't have to be in this prayer line. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Do you believe?

222 What'd you say "amen" for, setting right there? Do you believe that sinus trouble is going to leave you? You do? Stand up on your feet. It leaves you.

223See, she can hear me, what I'm saying; these couldn't. Now tell me it ain't God? Amen and amen. Why can't you be persistent, if those people who can't understand word, one word of English, presses into it? They was of another nation. But God did that, I believe, because I preached that a few minutes ago, "a Greek, another nation." She was persistent. Watch them, see what happens.

224 Is this the lady here? How do you do? We're strangers to one another. Do you believe Jesus Christ is present? To heal you, I could not. I have no--no power to heal. I have authority when I receive it from God, to pronounce something that God has done. See?

225And like Samson, as long as he could feel those locks hanging around, it was all right. When I see Him moving among us like this, I know He is here. Don't you? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

226I see you vomiting. You're having vomiting spells. You're worried about your overweight. Then, you've got a growth on your body, under your rib. That's right. Had quite a time getting up here, didn't you? Why did I say, "Get up here"? Because you come from--from the southwest from here. You've come from Missouri. [The sister says, "Yes."--Ed.] Go back, Jesus Christ makes you well. That's Him.

227 Another woman, colored woman, don't know her, never seen her. But she is... There is someone coming here, another, another race coming one to another, white and colored race. We're all of one blood. Do you believe the Son of God raised from the dead, and He commissioned His Church to do the same thing that He did? Do you believe that? That Church cannot die. "Upon this rock I'll build My Church, the gates of hell cannot prevail." What was it? Spiritual revelation. If God can reveal to me, by His Spirit, your standing here, and what's wrong with you, just the same as He told that woman at the well, that makes Him the same, because you're... we're both human beings. Is that right?

228Now you're very nervous about something. You're worried. Your mind is all tore up. You've been told something that's got you alarmed, that was that you got a tumor, and the tumor is in your head. That is right. And you're--you're up for an operation, but they're a little scared about it, because you got a weakness in your heart, that they're afraid to take the operation because the weakness of your heart. Jesus Christ strengthens your heart. Do you believe Him? He can heal your tumor. Do you believe Him? Then be persistent. Go on, go on. Go and believe, you'll get well. God bless you.

229 How do you do? Another man, I don't know him. I seen him a while ago, when I come on the platform, I believe he was setting up here. First time I ever seen you in my life, as far as I know of. All right. Now you're here for some reason. If I and this Spirit that's upon me, that Pillar of Fire and Light, and so forth, has been took, if that's of Jesus Christ, It'll bear record of the Word; if it doesn't, then it's not of Christ. [The brother says, "Right."--Ed.] But you are convinced that it is. ["Yes."] And you are. And you are suffering with a nervous condition, hemorrhoids that's bothering you. And you're trying to get to see me ["Yes."] on something special. ["Yes."] It's a spiritual condition. ["Yes."] You are a minister. ["Yes. Yes."] And it's about your church. ["Yes."]

230I heard that come from you. Quit you thinking that. "You say he was a minister because he was setting on this platform."

231You know I don't know you, don't you? [The brother says, "That's right."--Ed.] Do you believe me to be His prophet? ["Yes. Amen. I do."] Then, Reverend Donaldson, you can go back to your home, and believe, and you'll get well and everything will be alright for you. God bless you, pastor.

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible."

232 Do you believe? Do you believe me to be His servant? [The sister says, "Amen."--Ed.] You know that I cannot do these things? ["That's right. Glory!"] But you believe that He is doing them, it's Him that's doing them? ["That's right."] You believe it?

233That's right, if you'll just--just now just for this one time, please, be persistent, let nothing stand in your way. Press right in. Don't you see it's Him? Don't you know that's Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

234See, He wouldn't identify Hisself as some great theologian, that He wasn't. He wouldn't introduce Hisself as a--a church politician, He wasn't. He was God, made flesh. God is the Word, and the Word is a Discerner of the thoughts of the heart, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Can't you see it's Him? How could me, a poor, ignorant person like me, with a grammar school education? And no matter if I had ever so much education, you still couldn't do that. It's a paradox. What is it? It's the power of God. Can't you see it, friends? Can you break that crust away from you?

235 Here is a woman. Look here. I never seen that woman. Here is the Bible laying before me, I never seen that woman in my life, as far as I know of. But, her life, she couldn't hide it. Right. [The sister says, "Oh, hallelujah!"--Ed.] Amen. ["Hallelujah!"] Now, not because she is saying "hallelujah," hypocrites can say that, but the woman is a Christian. She is a believer. ["Oh, hallelujah!"]

236And if I will tell you, by God's grace, feeling the seven locks of Samson, what your trouble is, you believe me? Will the audience believe? Would every one of you believe? [Congregation says, "Amen."] She'll know whether it's right or not.

237First thing, you're suffering with a high blood pressure. You also have diabetes. You have a nervous condition, and you have something wrong with the head. It's an examination. You got a tumor, that's exactly, in the head. And you know it's death unless God touches you, or something. Is that right? May the God of Heaven, Who is standing present now... Come here, let me lay my hands on you. "I condemn this devil. In the Name of Jesus Christ, may it leave." God bless you. Go on your road, rejoicing now. Amen.

238 Do you believe? Say, "You was looking her right in the face." You don't have to look in her face. Look here, I ain't looked this woman in the face. Now you say, "She is heavy." That's right. "It's thyroid." That's right. But that's not it, that's not what she wants prayer for.

239She has got a female trouble, a discharge that she wants prayed for. Is that right, lady? [The sister says, "Yes. Hallelujah!"--Ed.] It's left you now. Go on your road, and rejoicing, saying, "Thank You, Lord."

Just believe.

240Anemia. Do you believe that God can heal you? Say, "Thank You, Dear Jesus." Go right on your road, saying, "Praise God," and believe.

241Look good and strong. Do you believe God can heal the stomach trouble, make you well? Go, eat. Jesus Christ will make you well.

242If Christ doesn't touch you, you must die, and you know that. Yes, sir. But God can take every devil of cancer, He can kill the thing, and make it well. You believe it? [The sister says, "I do."--Ed.] Go, believe it. In the Name of Jesus Christ, you may go and be made well.

243 You don't walk like it, just at this time, but you have arthritis. You also have a touch of heart trouble, a little smothering around the heart. Jesus Christ makes you well, if you believe it. Do you? Rejoicing, saying, "Thank You, Lord," and be made well.

244Do you believe God can heal your back and make you well? [The sister says, "Amen."--Ed.] All right, go right on, saying, "Thank You, Lord Jesus." Yeah. That's right.

245Do you believe God can take that, give you a blood transfusion, and take that sugar out and make you a real new person? You believe it? Bless you. Go on your road, rejoicing, saying, "Thank You, Lord. I believe."

246Do you believe God can take that tumor and make you well? [The sister says, "Yes."--Ed.] Go right on, rejoice.

247God can heal your arthritis and straighten you back up, make you well. You believe it? Go on your road, rejoicing, and believe.

248Do you believe me to be His prophet? I don't know you; God does know you. You're sick, yourself. But your big interest is somebody else, two sick people, real sick, cancer, dying. Believe with all your heart. Take them, lay it on it, believe and don't doubt. They'll get well, if you'll believe it. Have faith.

249 All right, sir. I believe you are one of the ministers who set on the platform here. As far as knowing you, I don't. Jesus Christ knows your heart. He knows what's in man. Do you believe that? [The brother says, "Yes, sir."--Ed.] If God will tell me what your trouble is, then are you ready? ["Yes."] You are.

250You ministers know this man, I believe? [Someone says, "Brother Turner."--Ed.] Yeah. All right, you know him.

251All right, the thing of it is, that you're really, the trouble is, you're suffering from a nervous breakdown. You're having some kind of mental scruples in your mind. It's oppression from Satan. This has been going on for some time. It's caused your body to get weak. Your heart is weak. You're in a very bad shape. By this, your whole family is just about into a breakdown. Sir, you've been waiting for a word, haven't you? [The brother says, "Yes."--Ed.] Do you accept my word? ["Yes, sir."] Then, in the Name of Jesus Christ, I send you home to be well. That devil come out!

252[Congregation rejoices--Ed.] Are you believing? ["Amen."] Do you believe? ["Amen."]

253 Now put your hands over on one another. Now I want you to pray with me.

254Lord Jesus, Your great Divine Presence, there is no one could doubt. Everyone knows that You are here. But they know that it's You, now let them be persistent. Let these, Lord, who... These miracles, a whole line full of them, sixteen here in the line, and a group out there in the audience, above anything that any man on earth could do, himself. No earthly man here could do these things except God be there. We know it. How perfect, how exact! I pray Thee, Father, to let the people see this, and let them be perseverant now. They have their hands on one another, and in their hearts is beating, high, the royal Blood of Jesus Christ, by faith, pulling from one to another.

255And now, Lord, hear the prayer of Your servant. As Your servant, I condemn every sickness, every disease that's in the Divine Presence of the resurrected Christ. May the devil lose his hold. May each soldier, now with his sword locked against Satan's doubt, with a persistent faith, rise, pressing that sword until it strikes the innermost part of that devil and drives him completely away. Grant it, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

256If you'll believe it, if you accept it, you're all healed. Believe it, in the Name of Jesus Christ.