What Was The Holy Ghost Given For?

Date: 59-1217 | Duration: 2 hours and 8 minutes
pdf mp3
Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.
Sermon translation in Russian: 59-1217 - VGR
Sermon translation in French: 59-1217 - MS, 59-1217 - VGR, 59-1217 - Shp
E-1 I see Brother Neville believes in laying on of hands. I see I got a couple of questions. Now, I'll get these tomorrow night, 'cause I don't have time to look through them tonight for you, perhaps on last night's message. Now, if anyone has a question on any of the messages, just lay them up one night, and I can pick them up the next night.
Now, tomorrow night I would like to find, or have, rather, some ministers if possible; if not, some good, solid men or women that we could call on in the time of need, that in the event... Tomorrow night we start after the message to laying on hands and--for the Holy Spirit. And then, they'll be a... You have your privilege of staying right here if you wish to all through the holidays if it takes that long to die. And then--then, if not, if you desire to go to your own home, why, we would be glad if you get in a place where you... Just don't know where to go... We want to get some ministers, their numbers if they're visitors, their numbers where they're staying, that where we could get ahold of them right away, and get one in one home, one in another, and one in another, that they could give you instructions, you who are going to seek for this great blessing that we're talking about, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

E-3 Last night we were speaking what It was, "What Was the Holy Spirit?" And we found It to be just about everything that God promised to us. In It we found just what God's church would need. We found It to be a Seal, a Comforter, the Rest, and the Joy, and the Peace, and the Resurrection. And all that God promised to His church lays within the Holy Spirit.
And now, tonight we want to preach on, or talk on, teach on... I have about three or four sheets of texts here, or Scriptures, on It. And which last night I left my Cruden's "Concordance" laying here, and I didn't get it. And I just had to go through the best I could today with the Scriptures.

E-5 Now, and tomorrow--tonight we're teaching on, What was the purpose of God sending the Holy Spirit? What's It for? If It's such a great thing, then why did God send It? Then tomorrow night we want to talk on, Is It for You; and How Do You Get It; and How Do You Know When You've Got It? And then, after we get through that with the Scriptures, explain it by the Scriptures, using the Scriptures for all things, then those who are seeking the Holy Spirit will come forward then. And then, I hope the revival's on from then on, to move on then with the Holy Spirit.
Now, being that tomorrow night many might stay quite awhile at the rooms and in the church, I feel that if we could get as many ministers and those people who are experienced in leading people to receive the Holy Spirit (to encourage them, to go into the home with a--a woman and her husband, or--or with someone that's seeking the Holy Spirit), that's well instructed on what to do, if you would just give your phone number or address to the pastor tonight or tomorrow night. Just give it to Brother Neville, then that'd save us gathering in for a meeting. Just give your phone number where we could reach you. And then say, "I'll be available, and if we--you want to place me into a home..." If it's a--a woman alone, then we could send a woman (See?) to this woman. And then, if it's in a home where there's a man, his wife, why, we could send a minister. And we'd be glad to have you to cooperate, because I know you're every one interested in this, this most essential. And remember, "He that saves a soul from his error, has covered a multitude of sin." See? And the Bride of Christ is hungering and thirsting. She's in travail to give birth to the children of God.

E-7 And now, tonight before we read the Scriptures, let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. And just before we pray, you with your heads bowed, would you have a request, just raise your hands and say, "God, I solemnly raise my hands; I have need. And I pray that You'll help me, oh, Lord." God bless each of you. He sees your hands. The Angels have taken your request down.

E-8 And heavenly Father, we now come approaching Thee again in prayer. Which no doubt that prayer has already been made among the children of God tonight in this little place, and that songs have been sung, and we have lifted hearts in joyful rejoicings at the praises of God.
David said he would come into the congregation of the saints and make his requests known. And tonight, there has been many hands. Perhaps, maybe, I would say, eighty percent of those that are setting in this building tonight raised their hands for requests. Shows, Lord, that we just can't go without You. We've got to have You day by day. You are our Life, our Joy, our Health, our sustaining Strength, our Stay, our Buckler, our Shield from the enemy. And we just could not fight this battle of life without You. It would be totally impossible for us to do it, and we have to totally rely upon You. For we know that we're walking through a dark and dismal land. On every side the enemy has beset us, on giving traps and snares. Our paths, Lord, are set full of snares of the enemy to upset us.

E-10 And we too know at the end of the road we got that long, shadowy valley called death to walk through. O Lord, who would hold our hands then? We want to know You now, Lord. We want to know that You've got our hands and we got Your hand, that we can have that anchored assurance that when we come to that last great moment of our life, that--enter into that door called death, that we can say with the saint of old, "I know Him in the power of His resurrection, and I know that when He calls, I'll come out from among the dead."
Now, Father God, we would pray that You'll bless our requests and our gathering. Bless Thy words; and if I should say anything that would be contrary to Your Word or Your will, Thou still has the power to close the mouth as You did in the den of lions when Daniel was present. And we pray, Lord, that You would open ears and hearts tonight, that--and create in them a hunger and thirst. May they be so thirsty that they cannot sleep or rest nowhere until the Comforter has come.

E-12 We believe that we are living in the last days, in the shadow of His coming. And that's what these messages are directed to, Lord. It's for the people to take heed, take warning. And may tonight we just pull off the shell right now, lay it over on the side of the bench, say, "Lord God, I am a receptacle to You. Let Your Spirit surge through me, mold me and make me after Thy will. I'll yield my heart, my strength, my all to Thy cause."
Hear us, Lord. We're not here to be seen on this rainy night. We are not here just for no place else to go. We are here for one solemn, sacred, holy purpose in our hearts; that is to draw nigh unto You, knowing that You've promised if we would draw nigh unto You, You'd draw nigh unto us. And that's why we are here. He that comes in hungry will not go out hungry. "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness," said Jesus, "for they shall be filled." And if we ask for bread, we will not receive a stone; we have that assurance. And if we ask for fish, we will not receive a serpent; but God our Father will feed us with the Manna of heaven, His Word and His Spirit that bear record of Him. Answer our prayers, Lord, and our requests, as we further wait on Thee. In Jesus Christ's Name we pray. Amen.

E-14 Now, you that's keeping these Scriptures down, if you would turn with me to St. John again, the 14th chapter, we want to begin at the 14th chapter of St. John. And let's start about the 14th verse, St. John 14:14, and just read a portion of this Scripture.
Now, in this you will find much of the context that I want to speak on tonight. And remember, you that have the "red letter" Bibles, it's in red, this is. It's the words that Jesus Himself spoke of. So therefore, we can rest assure that it will be just as He has said: heavens and earth will pass away, but His Word shall never fail. Now, we shall read from the 14th verse of the 14th chapter.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. (What a blessed promise.)
If You love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with You for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,... (Now, you that would be reading from a Greek Bible would see it in here... Not... "See" there means "to understand." "For the world understandeth Him not." That is so true. Let me read it again now.)
Even the Spirit of--who the--truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him... (Who? The Comforter.);... for he dwelleth with you,... (Now, present tense.)... he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (What is it? The same Comforter.)
I will not leave you comfortless: I... (Anyone knows that "I" is a personal pronoun.)... I will come to you.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye shall--but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
There's going to be the center of my thought, but we're going to read a little farther. Let me read that also now, again.
At that day... (the great day, the judgment day)... that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
He that has my commandment, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? (That's "Kosmos," "the world order." If you got a margin reading there, you'll notice... Mine's a "g." And it says over here, "Kosmos or world system." That's churches and so forth. See? "How is it that You'll manifest Yourself to us and not to them? How can You do it?")
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word:... (Amen.)... and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:... (Might keep the church's sayings, but keep His sayings. You see?)... and the words which ye hear is not mine, but the Father which sent me.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all these things... (That's His Word.)... to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (What purpose did God send the Holy Spirit then? May He add His blessings to His Word.)

E-16 Jesus said that, "At that day you'll know that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me, and you're--I'm in you, and you're in Me."
Now, if we were going to say this... Now, remember, this is going to be on tape. A Christian businessman out of Louisville called me awhile ago, and he said, "It's a shame, Billy, that these messages like you said last night, doesn't get to forty thousand here instead of a hundred and fifty, or two hundred, three hundred people at your little tabernacle."
I said, "Sir, in six months from now, if Jesus tarries, the whole world around will hear this." See? Them tapes go all over the world (See?), all around. And therefore, we are teaching here now just what we believe to be truth and what we have found out that God has confirmed it to us to be truth.

E-19 Now, the purpose... What was--what was God's purpose in sending the Holy Spirit? (Now, mark that down, John 14, beginning at the 14th verse and reading through the chapter for the basis.) God's purpose we find here in sending the Holy Spirit, was one purpose: that God Himself might dwell in His church and continue His plans through the church, that God was in Christ continuing His plans through Christ, out of Christ into the church, continuing His work through the church.
Now, we know what the Holy Spirit is. We found out last night that It's God. Now, when we think of God the Father (as Jesus spoke of here), His Father, God the Son as Jesus, God the Holy Spirit, as what we call It today, now, that does not mean that there is three individual, distinct gods. It means that there is one God in three offices. May we say it like this: All that God was, He poured into Christ, because He emptied Himself and poured it into Christ. And Christ was the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. All that Jehovah was, He poured into Christ. And all that Christ was, He poured into the church, not into one individual, but into the entire Body. There where we come together in unity, we have power. All that God was, was in Christ, and all that Christ was, is in you. "For God was made flesh and dwelled among us." (I Timothy 3:16 if you're putting it down.) "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, for God was manifested in the flesh." We handled Him: God, Jehovah, made flesh and walked on the earth, and we saw Him with our eyes.

E-21 You know, in the same chapter of John 14 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and it will satisfy us."
Jesus said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me. When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. And why sayest thou unto Me, 'Show us the Father'?" God was made flesh.
Now, here it is. The Father was God over you. We're saying... We've been since Adam, God the Father was over Moses and the children of Israel in a Pillar of Fire, then God with us in Christ, walked with us, talked with us, eat with us, slept with us. God over us, God with us, and now, it's God in us. All God was, come into Christ; all Christ was, come into the church. What is it? God working in you. Anywhere in the world, if He'd want to call on you, you're right there: working in you to do His good will. How we ought to thank God for that. God the Holy Spirit is sent for the purpose of God living in His church, moving through each age, working out His Divine will.

E-24 When men makes fun of you, they're not making fun of you; they're making fun of Him that sent you. So Jesus said, "Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for My Name sake. Blessed are you." And again, "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." For when God made Hisself known in Christ, they hated Him. Who hated Him worse? The church. The church hated Him worse. They hated Him worse than the--the drunkard. They hated Him worse than all the other people. It was the church that hated Him. So therefore, when you see Kosmos, the world order... "The world knowed Him not" means the "church (so-called) knew Him not." "He came to His own and His own received Him not. But as many as did receive Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, to them that believed on His Name." Oh, how we should love Him and worship Him. The purpose of God, wanting to become in fellowship... Like...

E-25 'Fore we leave that text, let's use this. In the days of Ruth, in the law of redemption when Naomi had left the country because of trial, hard times, she went into the Moabite land, which were just lukewarm, nominal Christians, because the Moabites come from the daughter of Lot. And they were so-called believers and mixed up. And then, her husband died and her two sons died. And on the road home Naomi--Ruth and Naomi on their road home, her--one of her daughter-in-laws, Orpah, she said that she would return back to her country, to her gods, and to her church, and to her people. And Naomi tried to get Ruth to go back, but she said, "Your people are my people; your God is my God. Where you die, there I'll die; where you're buried, there I'll be buried. And I'll not turn back."
That's when a person's caught a vision. Don't make any difference what her people said. "You're going over there and become a holy-roller or something." That didn't make any difference to Ruth. There was a purpose of God to be fulfilled.

E-27 And just as sure as you're hungering tonight for the Holy Spirit, it's something in you pulling you, that a purpose of God in your life has got to be fulfilled just like it was with Ruth.
The story's so beautiful; I just can't leave it for a moment. You know, the law of redemption, that when Boaz... You know the story of how Ruth gleaned in the field and found favor with Boaz. And before he could marry her, he had to redeem all that Naomi had lost. And the only one that could redeem Naomi's fallen estate, in the law of redemption, was a near kinsman; had to be kinfolks before he could redeem. And that was her closest kinfolks. And he had to make a public ensign outside of the gate, or a public confession that he had redeemed all that Naomi had lost. And Boaz did it by kicking off his shoe before the elders and said, "If there's anybody here that's got anything that belongs to Naomi, I this day have redeemed it."

E-29 And that's the way God did: followed His own laws. God cannot follow--give you one law to follow and Him follow another. He follows His own laws. Then God, in order to redeem the lost church, the lost world, the lost creation... God, Who is infinite in Spirit, to redeem the lost human race, God Himself become kinfolks, a Man, a Son that He created in the womb of Mary. And then He made an ensign or a testimony. Outside the gates of Jerusalem He was lifted up between the heavens and earth, and died, and redeemed everything. And in bleeding He sanctified a church that He Himself might live in, and fellowship, and commune with, that lost spot of fellowship from the garden of Eden where God came down every evening, church time. Did you notice, God came down in the cool of the day, the setting of the sun. There's something about when it starts to get night, people think of church and of God--Christians. You see the sun setting; you realize that your sun is setting.

E-30 And in the cool of the evening He'd come down and commune with them. And there He lost that fellowship, because sin would not let Him do it. And then He was made flesh and dwelt among us in order that He could come back again to man, and live in man, and restore man to a state of communion with Him again, and give him back his God given right. That's what He did.
That's the purpose of the Holy Ghost: It's the Father again, God the Father dwelling in you, working out His plans to finish His plan of redemption, working through you, making you a co-worker with Him, giving you a place, giving you a part for your fallen lost brother and sister, giving you His Spirit and His love to go hunt the lost as He did in the garden of Eden. "Adam, Adam, where art thou?" That's what the Holy Spirit does to a man or a woman. When It strikes into their heart and takes Its abode, there's a thirst and a hungering for lost souls. That's what's the matter with the meetings today; there's not enough Spirit touch in it to go for the souls of the lost and the dying. It's more to make a name, or a church, or a building, or a denomination, instead of a soul winning program. How pitiful. We could stay on it much.

E-32 God poured Himself into Christ. Correct. Christ poured Himself into the church; therefore... Now, watch. "At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you." At that day you'll know it, for it's--the whole thing is one plan of redemption coming down, that God coming back to live in, and dwell with, and commune to His people as He did at the beginning. Now, then as soon as He gets His church in speaking conditions, gets His church to a place that He can flow Himself through, and love, and persuade, and fellowship, then there'll come a Eden. He'll take His church back to where it--it left Him at back to an Eden again, there where it fell. It... Now, that's where it made its first start of fall; there's where it'll be taken right back with every clean slate of redemption, bringing them straight back to that place again.

E-33 The church has been in the world for some time. And the church, really, after the reformation of 1500 years of dark ages... Luther was the first reformer to come forth after the round of the apostles. And then, when Luther come forth, God tipped up a little bit of the Spirit and poured It out upon the church in justification. And then in the days of Wesley He poured out a little more of Hisself into sanctification. And as the age has growed on to the end time, God has been filling His church. Just look around and find out if that's truth or not.
Look at the Lutheran age, you who read history. Look at their revival and what they did. Look how much greater the Wesley revival was, how much more power they had, but in the minority. Watch in the days of Pentecost, what a revival they had then, what a great wide sweeping through...

E-35 "Our Sunday Visitor," the Catholic paper, give confession that the Pentecostals produced 1,500,000 conversions in one year, outdone all the rest the churches together. The Catholic only changed--claimed a million. In their own "Sunday Visitor," the paper called the "Sunday Visitor" gave statement that the Pentecostals outrun them. And remember, Pentecostal conversions is Holy Ghost filled conversions. In the minority to start with, on the side of the alley out there with an old guitar... And women couldn't even afford a pair of stockings. Laying out on the railroad tracks, and picking up corn and mashing it, and making bread for their children. But what's it come to? The most powerful standing church in the world today, not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God, because He proves it by what He's doing for them; He's pouring Hisself into them, pouring It in.

E-36 Notice now what taken place. God pouring Himself into them... Now, the church has got to a place, from Luther, Wesley... And the revival's on with the Pentecost. And now into this age that we're coming now by the same Holy Spirit, just more of It... Now, when them Lutherans back there got saved, they got a portion of the Holy Spirit. When the Methodists got sanctified, that was a work of the Holy Spirit. See? It was a part of the Holy Spirit. "They without us are not made perfect," says the Scriptures. See?
Now, God... As the Light has begin to shine in the last days, He's expecting us, a great thing from us, because where there's much given, there's much required. So He's going to require much more of us than He did of the Lutherans or the Methodists, because we walk in a greater Light, with a greater power, with a greater--a greater witness than they had. Now, we have a greater witness of the resurrection. We have things more firmer, more sure than they had.

E-38 But it's just like I said to a Lutheran college not long ago. They said, "What have we got?"
I said, "A man planted a field of corn. The first little blades come up; he said, 'Thank the Lord for a--a crop of corn.' Potentially he had it, but he only had it in the early form. By and by it became a stalk, and a tassel come out on it which was Methodists."
If you'll watch nature, you'll see God working. There's a secret lies there that even goes with my ministry. See? That--watching nature, see how it does, what age and what time; you see where you're living. Watch the age.

E-40 Now, then the Methodists, they were tassels. They looked back to the Lutherans, said, "We got sanctification; you haven't got nothing in it." By and by, from that pollen, from the Methodist come forth a grain--a ear of corn; that was Pentecost. There you are: justification, one stage of it; sanctification, another stage of it; the Holy Spirit, another stage of it. Pentecost--Luther, Wesley, Pentecost.
Now, what does Pentecost... I liken it, because in Pentecost it brought back, not a green leaf, not a tassel... But the corn cannot say to the tassel, "I don't have no use of you." Or the tassel can't say to the--the leaf, "I have no use of you," because the same life that was in the leaf made the tassel. The same life was in the tassel made the ear. And it was a Lutheran church that made the Wesley church. It was the Wesley church that made Pentecost. But Pentecost, what is it? It's a restoration of the same kind of a grain that went into the ground at the beginning, bringing back all the fullness of the power of Pentecost by the baptism of the Holy Ghost (See?) in the last days. Oh, it's a great thing to look--to believe and to look at.

E-42 Now, in this age that we're now living, this age, it's beyond Pentecost. Pentecost has settled itself into organizations and started faking whole lot about organizations. "We are this, and we are that." That's just nature; you just can't help it. It's nature; they'll do that. It's the plan for them to do that. But the church has moved on. It's gone into greater, more powerful... It's the restoration of gifts. And many Pentecostal people does not believe in Divine healing, ministry of Angels, and powers of God. Many Pentecostals calls these visions that I see, the devil. Many organizations won't even have nothing to do with it in Pentecost. See, we've moved beyond that. Just as Methodists called Pentecostal crazy for speaking in tongues, just as Lutheran called Methodists crazy for shouting... See? But it's all a coming forth of the Holy Spirit till the great church is being filled up and chugged full (Hallelujah.) of the great powers of Almighty God, until It's got to a place until the very works that Jesus done has manifest itself right in the church now. We're close, friends.

E-43 Let me stop here just for a minute to get what God put the Holy Ghost in the church for, give you another type so that you'll know. Back in the Old Testament when a--a child... A man made hisself a home; he got his bride; that's the first thing. Then he become a great man, like an organization. That was good. The next thing happened, there come a birth into that home. That's when the Holy Spirit (See?)--another spirit came in, which was a son. That son, he was not in full charge, neither was he a heir until he got a certain age; and he had to be proved first. Yes. And then, they had the law of adoption. (To you ministers, the placing of a son is what I'm speaking of now. See?) Then when he come to a place to where he was adopted...
Jesus gave a beautiful illustration of it on Mount Transfiguration. As I have said, God will never go outside of His laws to do anything. If you've got an artesian well on this hill, blowing water all over the air, and on this other hill over here, you've got a crop burning up, you can stand on this hill and holler, "Oh, water, run over here and fill my crop. Oh, water, get to my crop." It'll never do it. But if you'll work according to the laws of gravitation, you can water that crop.

E-45 If you've got a sick man laying here, or a sinner laying here, or a man that wants to be right (can't give up drinking, can't give up smoking, can't give up lust and things); if you'll just work according to the laws of God, let the Holy Spirit come in there, then he's no more his own. He--he will stop that thing, because the Holy Spirit takes him over. But you've got to work according to the laws of God, the rules of God.
Now, in the Old Testament when this baby was born, they watched it to see how it was behaved, behavior. Then the father, being a great businessman by this time, maybe in his forties or fifties, he didn't have time to teach this baby hisself, so he got... In them days they didn't have public schools as they have now, so they got what they call a tutor or a raiser: schoolteacher. And this schoolteacher was the best he could find, so that he'd be truthful and tell the father the truth about it.

E-47 And then, when this boy got to a certain age (say he was matured), if that boy was just a renegade, no good, didn't care for the father's business, all he thought about was flirting and running with the womens, or--or drinking, or gambling, or horse racing, that boy would always be a son, but he was never placed in position to have heir to all his father had. But if he was a good boy, and he was about the father's business, and he proved to be the right child, then they had a ceremony. They took the boy out into the street and put a white robe on him. And they set him up on a scaffold so all the city could see. They made a feast and a jubilee. And the father then had the ceremony of adoption. He adopted his own son into his own business, and then the son was coequal with his father. In other words, if it'd been today, the son's name on the check was just as good as the daddy's.

E-48 Now, watch what God did. When His Son was born, He let Him go for thirty years, testing Him, trying Him, then He give Him three years of hard trial. And then at the end of the hard trial when He seen that His Son was about the Father's business (Mount Transfiguration, Book of Luke), He took Peter, James, and John (three witnesses) and went up on top of the mountain; and there God performed the laws of adoption. He... They looked up, and they seen Jesus, and His clothes shined as white as the lightning. And as a cloud overshadowed Him, and a Voice come out of the cloud and said, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him. I'll set down now and have no more to say. What He says is Law and Truth."

E-49 Now, the church has come through those schools. She married back yonder a long time ago and become a denomination, an organization. But you notice, the birth produced something else. And now, it's got to a place to where the Pentecostal church with the new birth has been tested and tried. And now, it's coming to a place... God doesn't deal with the church as just an organization. He doesn't deal with the church as a--a group of people. He deals with the church as an individuals, each individual in the church. And now it's got to a time... And it's no secret; we all see it. When a man proves, and God loves him, He takes him out somewhere to himself. There in the front of Angels He does something for him. He lifts him up there in the Presence of God, and gifts him, and fills him, and sets him out. That's the age that we're living in.

E-50 Same Holy Spirit that saved the Lutherans, that sanctified the Methodists, that baptized the Pentecostals, is now setting in order the coming of the Lord Jesus. When it'll be so powerful, that Body will come into this group of church that'll draw the rest of them from the grave. There'll be a resurrection. That's what the Holy Ghost is for.
What is the Holy Ghost? Without us they cannot be made perfect. They lived in one day under that; we live in another day. "When the enemy comes in like a flood, I'll--the Spirit of God will raise a standard against it." See?

E-51 We're in a day now... Back there, they wasn't half as smart as today. They couldn't make an atomic bomb or an automobile. They didn't have science and things as we have now, but--and things of mysterious things. To try to say man blowed together by some dust and so forth, and take some analysis, and try to prove it to make infidels out of people... But now, when we need it, the Spirit of God raises a standard. What is it? He's pouring in His Spirit. Then those who are resting out yonder in the grave, or under the altar of God as the Scripture says, are crying, "How long, Lord? How long? How much longer?" God's waiting on me and you. The church is waiting on me and you: adoption time, when God can pour into us His Fullness, His power, His Resurrection, that when the church and Christ become so close together till Christ becomes visible among us, and raises the dead, and we go into the rapture.
Now, we're going to say--show after while that just those who are filled with the Holy Ghost goes in that rapture, "For the rest of the dead live not for the space of a thousand years." That's right. Just Holy Spirit filled people was all that went in the rapture.

E-53 Now, God gave the Holy Spirit. I got another Scripture here in John 14:12. That's a very familiar Scripture with all the people here at the tabernacle. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me..." Now, don't let that word "believeth" kinda set you back. In a nominal church, say, "Yes, I believe. Sure, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God." The devil believes the same thing. That's exactly. The Bible said he does. But the Scripture says in John that no man can call Jesus the Christ, only by the Holy Ghost. You've actually, by the Scripture... (Let me stop here just a minute 'fore I finish reading.)

E-54 You are not converted until you've received the Holy Ghost. That's right. You are believing unto... The Holy Spirit has spoke to you, and you've publicly confessed Him. The devil has the same thing. "I believe Him to be the Son of God." So does the devil. But you're walking on towards Him. When Peter had been called and justified by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ... And in John 17:17, Jesus sanctified them through the Word, for the Word was the Truth, and He was the Word. I John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us."
He was the Word, so He sanctified them. He said, "Father (speaking to the Spirit in Him), I sanctify them through the Word." Himself, a-laying His hands upon them. "Thy Word is the Truth." Just merely spoke Him into existence in the womb of a woman. Oh, totally impossible for Him to be any other way than this Word of God to make Him manifest. "I sanctify them."

E-55 He gave them power against unclean spirits. They went out. He put their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. And He sent them out (Matthew 10) and gave them power over unclean spirits, cast out evil spirits, and do works, and so forth. And they come back rejoicing, said, "Even the devils is subject to us."
He said, "Don't rejoice because the devils is subject unto you, but rejoice because your name's in the Book." And Judas was with them. See how close he can come, right on up through justification, move right on into sanctification, but where did he show his light? Where did he show hisself? Before Pentecost he showed his colors.

E-56 Watch, that spirit will be just as pious and just as sanctimonious as it can be, until it comes to the Holy Ghost, and they'll cut it off right there; that's that spirit, can't you see it moving up, the antichrist? And Jesus said they'd be so close together in the last days it would deceive the very Elected if possible. But remember, it's just the elected that will see it. God calls by election. He'll... Aren't you happy that you're one of them? Aren't you people here tonight, knowing that something in your heart tugging, "I want that Holy Spirit. I want you, Lord, in my heart"? That's because God put your name on the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. He said that. "No man can come to Me," said Jesus, "except My Father has drawed him first. And all that comes to Me, I'll give them Eternal Life." What is Eternal Life? The Holy Spirit, Eternal Life. Take that word and run it in the Greek, and it said "Zoe"; Zoe is the Holy Spirit. "All that the Father's given Me will come to Me. And all that comes to Me, I'll give him the Holy Ghost, and I'll raise him up at the last day. I will do it," He said. Not no "if" and "ands" about it, "I will." All that comes... And I'll give Eternal Life. He will have to raise, 'cause he's got Eternal Life. He has to come. Can't die no more than God can die...

E-57 Oh, my dear friends from around this country and in this little city, if I could only with my human voice place into your heart the importance of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it would be the most wonderful revelation that you ever had in your life to see what... you must do it.
Let me make that clear about you're not converted. Peter had been saved; he believed on the Lord, followed Him. Jesus told him who he was, had him to follow Him. He gave him power against unclean spirits and sanctified him. But after all of that... And become the chief spokesman of the group, as the Catholics would want to call it, the bishop of the church, or the pope, or whatever it was, the head man of the church. Yet Jesus said the night of His betrayal, "Lovest thou Me, Peter?"
And he said, "Lord, You know I love You."
He said, "Feed My sheep." He said that three times.
And Peter said, "You know I love You," said, "I'll go with You to the--the end, and I'll go with You to the death," and so forth.
He said, "Before the cock has crowed three times, you'll--before the cock crows, you'll have denied Me three times." He said, "But, Peter, I've prayed for you." Listen. That's not all of it. "I have prayed for you, and after you are converted, then strengthen your brethren." After you are converted... He had shouted; he had probably danced in the Spirit; he--he had done all kinds of things, but he hadn't received the Holy Ghost yet. "After you are converted, then strengthen your brethren." That's true. Carry out His plan.

E-60 Now, let me finish reading John 14:12. Now, in the 14th chapter and 12th verse Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth (and you cannot believe...)--believeth on Me..." You can believe unto Him. How many understands that, say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]
You remember in Acts 19 (I hate to stop this here, but I just have to say it as it comes to me.), in Acts the 19th chapter when this Baptist preacher, which was a--a lawyer and was converted... And he was preaching and getting people saved, and they had great joy, just rejoicing and shouting, having a meeting (Acts 18). Aquila and Priscilla... (We referred to it last evening.) And they had went to see him. And they knowed he was a great man, and he was a student. And he was proving by the Bible that Jesus was the Son of God, only knowing the baptism of John; he didn't know the baptism of the Holy Ghost yet. So he said... Aquila and Priscilla, that husband and wife, little tent makers (which Paul was a tent maker too), and they'd received the Holy Ghost under Paul's teaching; they said, "We've got a little brother that's coming up here. Let him talk to us a little bit about it."
And when Paul came up and heard him preach, knowed he was a great man, he said, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you have believed?"
They said, "We know not there--whether there be any Holy Ghost."
He said, "Then to what (or the real Greek word there is to how) was you baptized?"
They said, "We have been baptized already by John the Baptist."
Now, watch what Paul said. Paul said that "John verily baptized unto repentance, not for remission of sins, but unto repentance," Saying... That's what you believe when you accept Christ as your personal Saviour, you're believing unto the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost, my dear Baptist brethren. It is wrong.

E-63 A brother said to me the other day, he said, "Brother Branham..." (or some time ago, months ago)--he said, "Brother Branham, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness."
I said, "Truly."
Said, "What more can a man do than believe?"
I said, "That's all a man can do. That's all he can do today is believe God. But God gave him a seal of circumcision (that we went through last night) as a sign that He had accepted his faith in Him." And today, until God... You believe unto Him when you accept Him as your personal Saviour. But when God gives you the Seal of the Holy Ghost, He's sealed you to your eternal destination. Now, you Baptists take that, and I'll go with you on eternal security. Yes, sir. Because, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day of your redemption." You are not sealed by believing unto, but sealed by the Holy Ghost. Ephesians 4:30: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed until the day of your redemption." That seals you, when you've found favor with God, and He seals you by the Holy Spirit. That's so, for the Bible said: "No man can call Jesus the Christ, only by the Holy Ghost."

E-64 You say, "I believe it because the pastor said so." He's right, but that doesn't count for you. "I believe it because the Word says so." That's right, but that isn't for you; that doesn't count you. The only way that you can say that Jesus is the Christ, is when the Holy Ghost comes into you, and bears record, and witnesses Itself out; He is the Son of God. That's the only way you know the resurrection, is when the Holy Ghost bears record. "When He the Holy Ghost is come, He will testify of Me, show you things to come, bring these things that I've said to your memories." You'll never find it in the school. See? He will bring these things to your memories.

E-65 Now, we want to read just a little further in this Scripture now: St. John 14:12.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater... (Which the right translation there is "more," if you want to look it up.)... greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.
If He went to the Father, the Holy Spirit would come. Is that right? Another Scripture said, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I go away, I'll come again and be with you, even in you." See? It's God with you: over you first, with you in Christ, in you in the Holy Ghost: God in you.

E-67 Now, "The works that I do shall you do also," not another work, but God wants to bring the Holy Ghost in you to continue the same work that He was doing in Christ. The work wasn't so needy in the days of Luther; that was God's church. It wasn't but a little bit more needier in the days of Wesley, because the world, the Bible said, would get weaker, and wiser, and more wicked all the time. We're... The world's getting more wicked all... We know that. Why, men do things today that--a hundred years ago you wouldn't have thought there'd been a human being that cruel. "More wicked all the time, and the wicked shall do wickeder all the time," said the Scripture, "more and more."

E-68 So the Holy Spirit has been moving. There was just a little breath of It with Luther, a little blow of It with Wesley, and a deeper blow of It with the--Pentecost. Now, the Breath and the Spirit has become the same. She's uniting together, bringing forth that same powerful blow of the Holy Ghost like He did back there, is manifesting the same works that He did back there, is being manifested right today, the same thing.
Watch what Jesus said: "Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing except He sees the Father doing it first. What the Father does, He shows the Son. The Father dwelleth in Me; He doeth the works." See?

E-70 Now, notice, Here's another thing I'd like to say right here. "As--" Jesus said, "as the Father has sent Me... As (Now, watch.)--as the Father has sent Me, so send I you." As the Father... How did the Father send Him? The Father that sent Him come down from heaven and dwelt in Him. He went forth; He said, "I always do that which pleases My Father." See? He went about doing the things that the Father was showing Him to do. "I do nothing except My Father shows Me first." The God that sent Him, was on the inside of Him. "And as the Father sent Me (the same way the Father sent Me), so I send you." What is it? God in you. Carrying on what? The same works, the same... Jesus said, "He that believeth (He that has Me on the inside of him, the Holy Spirit)--he that believeth (that's already witnessed My resurrection), and know that I'm in him... He that's in Me; if ye abide in Me, My words abide in you..."

E-71 Now, you say, "I abide in Jesus, but I sure don't believe in Divine healing." That shows He's not there.
"I believe in Jesus; don't believe no Holy Ghost in this day, not like they had It back there." That shows He isn't there. The Holy Spirit will bear record of every word It spoke. He's not a liar. He's not afraid of nobody or no organization. He don't have to take down for nobody. He speaks, and then He stays with it. If the high, and polluted, and educated, or as we'd call it, plutocrats, if they don't want to receive It, God's able of these stones to rise children to Abraham. He'll take gangsters, and bootleggers, and everything else, and rise it up. God can do it, and He is doing it. God's able of these stones to rise children to Abraham. Somebody's going to do it, 'cause He's God.

E-74 "If ye abide in Me and My Word's in you, ask what you will," because you're asking His Word, and His Word is Life. Speak it; if God said it and you're sure He said it, the Holy Ghost bears record that Word's right, then there you are, brother. Speak it. There it is. "Say to this mountain, 'Be moved.' Don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you said's going to come to pass." It's not you that speaketh, but the Father that dwelleth in you, He doeth the talking. It's not you talking to that mountain; it's the Father that's in you speaking to that mountain; it has to move. "All heavens and earth will pass away," He said, "but My Spirit shall not--or My Word shall not pass away." Certainly, It cannot pass away. "Father..."

E-75 Now. "The works that I do..." God is in His church to continue His works. That's why He sent the Holy Ghost. Now, He knowed that. He--He knowed it wouldn't be--it couldn't be done that way, so was it by otherwise... So He had to send... The Father sent the Son, put all that's in the Son in you. And the same works that He did, the same very works now that Jesus did, you'll do also, the church. Wouldn't you like to do the works of God? Jesus said, "If you want to do the works of God, believe on Me." How you believe on Him? You can't do it till you got the Holy Ghost, 'cause no man can say He is the Son of God. You're saying what somebody else said,
"The Bible said that He's the Son of God; I believe the Bible." All right. "The Bible says He's the Son of God; I believe the Bible. The pastor says He's the Son of God; I believe the pastor. Mama says He's the Son of God; I believe Mama. My friend says He's the Son of God; I believe my friend." But the only way that I can say He's the Son of God, is when the Holy Ghost comes in and bears record of Itself. Then I know He's the Son of God.
No man can call Jesus "Christ," only by the Holy Ghost. There. No man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed or say He was something that day and something else today. That's makes Him weak and faultry. No, sir. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Any true spirit will bear record of that. All right.

E-78 Now, He said, "These works that I do shall you also (John 14:12.)" Now, the same works...
Oh, they say, "The church does a greater work today." In what manner?
He said, "The works that I do."
They say, "Well, we got missionaries all over the world; that's a greater work."
But He said, "The works that I do." Now, do them; do them first, then talk about missionaries.
Today... Speaking here some time ago about a Mohammedan, he said, "Mohammed is dead; that's right. He's in the grave, but someday he'll rise." He said, "If he rises from the grave, the whole world will know it in twenty-four hours." He said, "You people say Jesus has been raised two thousand years, and not one-third of the people know it yet." That's because that you spoke from an intellectual view of it. You spoke from a standpoint of school or education. If this whole, great church of God, counting Catholic, Protestant, altogether, had received the Holy Ghost, this world would be laying solid in Christianity. There wouldn't be such a thing as Communism. There wouldn't be such a thing as strife, or enmity, or meanness, or hatred. Jesus would be setting on His throne. We'd be walking through the Paradises of God with Eternal Life, living forever, already resurrected in a new body, walking around, never to be old, never to be gray, never to be sick, never to be hungry, walking in the joys of the Lord, talking with the animals, and... Oh, what a day.

E-81 But we've done everything else besides what He... He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel." What does the Gospel? Not Word only, but through power and demonstrations of the Holy Ghost. Making the Word of God manifest is the Gospel. You can't do it.
Now, Jesus knowed that, that He had to live in His church; therefore, He knowed we'd have intellectual schools. And you'll never get this in an intellectual school. They'll be against it, because all they know is some smart man's learning, some creed or denomination they want to--to live by. So they'll--they'll set you up in that and make you a member of that body, and, brother, quote some things to you out of a creed that would seem like it was just perfect. "The great holy church, the mother, it stood a many a--it stood a many a pound." So has the devil. He's been kicked out of everywhere there is nearly, and he's still going on just the same. Yes, sir. Oh, they'll try to quote these...

E-83 So Jesus knowed that there'd be a great intellectual move just like there was in His days, intellec--washing of pots and pans, and wearing of clothes, and turned-around collars, and everything as they did, all these different things that they would do. He knowed they'd do that. So He said, "Now, just wait a minute. I'm going to not leave you comfortless; I'm coming again to be with you. Therefore," He said, "the works that I do, you'll do also."
The purpose of sending the Holy Ghost was for God to continue through a bunch of people, to continually manifest God to the world (That's exactly.), not by a creed, not by a denomination, but by the power of His resurrection, by making His Word real, by taking His promise and standing on the side of the minority and believing God; and watch the black skies move back and the power of God move in and take over. Amen. That's what He wants. That's what the Holy Ghost was sent for. That's what purpose He sent It for. We know what It is now. And that's why He sent It.

E-85 Therefore, no other blood would sanctify people. I couldn't sanctify you, and you couldn't sanctify me, 'cause we're both born after sex. But Jesus was born without sex. That's right. So His Blood was a Sanctifier. And God came down, made a body, lived in it, shed that Blood for the sanctifying of this, which absolutely expelled the guilt of sin and shame. Then through faith, believing in that, God comes right down into that human body by the sanctifying of that Blood, puts him Abraham's seed by faith to believe that that Blood would come, that pure Blood that would be a miracle like His Blood.
Walked over there after he was as good as dead, believed God for twenty-five years, him seventy-five years old, and believed till he was a hundred. And Sarah, sixty-five, and believed till she was ninety... And he was one as good as a dead... And God said, "So the people won't be sure to miss it, take him up here on the hill and offer him up for a sacrifice."

E-87 He said to the servants, "You stand here with the mule and wait. The son and I will go yonder and worship, and the son and I shall return." Oh, how is he going to do it? Abraham said, "I received him as one from the dead, and I know that He that give him to me as one from the dead, is able to rise him up from the dead if I only keep His Word. Keep... I keep His Word; He's able to raise him up from the dead," perfectly speaking of Christ.
There He is. And through that Blood cell come forth the Holy Ghost, that had Itself bound up in a body called Jesus. That Blood sanctified a way, by faith, to call the redeemed or the elected of God. And when you've accepted, then the Holy Spirit has taken all the meanness out of you, He moves right in, God Hisself, to work His will.
Down here, where that mean boss is crabby, and this other old So-and-so over here is doing so-and-so, and this old guy talking about--against it. A man filled with the Holy Ghost will stand right in the face of it. Amen.

E-90 And they took heed. They was ignorant and unlearned, but they took heed they'd been with Jesus. That's what the Holy Ghost come for.
A little old fisherman couldn't sign his name. But he stood there and said, "Who shall we believe, man or God? (Amen.) Let it be known to you, we'll still preach in Jesus' Name." Ah, what boldness.
He knowed he--"He had a home over yonder." [Brother Branham sings--Ed.] That's right. He was a pilgrim and a stranger here; he was seeking a City to come. What did that hypocrite priest mean to him? He was under the domination of the God of heaven that raised up His Son, Christ Jesus, and filled him with the Spirit of the God that made the heavens and earth. There you are. He wasn't scared of him. No, sir.

E-92 Death, why, when they took little old Stephen out there and said, "Take it back!" he said, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in the heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost. Like your fathers did, so do you!"
They said, "We'll beat you to death."
He said, "You couldn't do that if you..."
"We'll show you whether we'll do it or not." And they grabbed big rocks and begin to pound him in the head.
He looked up, and said, "I see the heavens open. I see the ladder coming down. I see Jesus standing at the right hand of His Majesty." And the Bible didn't say he died; he fell asleep. Oh, my. I can just see an Angel come down, pick him up, and rock him like a baby, a mother, till he went to sleep. Oh, my. Sure, that's the purpose of the Holy Ghost. And that's what God sent the Holy Ghost for.

E-94 The Holy Ghost come to give you power. I got some more Scriptures here just a minute. The Holy Ghost come to give you power (I--I ain't... You can find this. I'm just too much of away tonight), give you power, power in prayer.
You take a person that's lived a good life, but they're always defeated, "Oh, I tell you..." A good person... "Oh, sure I love the Lord, Brother Branham." Always defeated; they never get a prayer answered. You fill that little woman with the Holy Ghost one time. Watch what takes place. When she goes before God, she's not defeated. She comes boldly to the throne of God, believing. She has a right, because she's a daughter of God by a birth. Take that little man, so cowardly, the boss kick him all over the place. Say, "Wait a minute here now." Something changed. See? He's got the Holy Ghost. He gives you power; your life is full of power.

E-96 He gives you power in speech. Why, my, those people that was afraid standing out there... Peter, James, John, Luke, and all the rest of them, they'd done got in the upper room and said, "Oh, we can't stay no more. Them... Looky there. There's Dr. So-and-so-and-so out there. There's Rabbi So-and-so-and-so. You know, he had four degrees of college. How we ever stand against him?"
Peter said, "Oh, I remember selling that man fish one day. He--he spoke, and I didn't even know what he was talking about. Oh, I could never stand against him. But what did--what can we do, brethren?"
He said, "Wait."
"But we've done been here four days."
"Just keep on waiting."
"How long?"
"Until..."
"Well, did He say it would be on the fifth day?"
"He never said how long? He said, 'Until...'"
So they just kept waiting, "How long?"
"Until..."
"Eight days passed."
"Until..."
"Nine days passed."
"Until..."

E-97 And finally when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one place in one accord. God had been above them in a fiery cloud. God had walked with them on earth. Now, something else is going to take place. Something's fixing to happen. They were all in one place in one accord. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the room where they were setting. Cloven tongues set upon them. What is cloven? "Parted," like stammering. Did you ever hear anybody stammer? They go, "Ah-ah-ah [Brother Branham imitates someone stammering--Ed.]." See? They can't say nothing, "Cloven, parted," like a cloven hoof. Means something that's "split, parted." They wasn't talking; they wasn't jabbering; they wasn't doing nothing but just making a noise. Cloven tongues set upon them as if it was fire. Oh, they couldn't hold themselves. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Whew.

E-98 Then what happened? Out into the streets they went. "Where is that Rabbi Jones? Where is that fellow at? Where is that intellectual giant? God was over us with Moses in the burning bush. He fed us with manna on high. He walked with us for three years--or three years and six months here on earth. But now He's in me. It's not me that speaketh; it's Him. I know Who He is; I know who I am. I ain't no more, and He is. Bring him up here."
"Ye men of Israel and you that dwell in Judaea, let this be known unto you--known unto you, and hearken unto my voice. All of you preachers and rabbis..." Whew. My, power of speech. Oh. "These are not drunk (taking up for that little minority, hundred and twenty against ten thousand or more)--these are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it's the third hour of the day. (I'm a Full Gospel preacher.) But this is that that was spoke of by the prophet Joel: 'It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I'll pour out My Spirit (Whew.) upon all flesh. And your...' (You see Mary out there dancing in the spirit, speaking in tongues and carrying on?) 'Upon all flesh, upon My handsmaids will I pour out My Spirit. I'll show signs in the heavens above and in the earth below, Pillars of Fire and vapors of smoke.'" God was in His people then. See? Amen.

E-99 "Well now, what degree did you have?" What--where--what school did you come from?"
"That don't make any difference right now." Oh, he begin to pouring in the Scripture. "David foresaw Him, 'The Lord always before me... Will not be moved. Moreover my heart rejoiced because--and my tongue was made glad. He'll not leave My soul in hell, neither will He suffer His holy One to see corruption.' Let me freely speak to you. The patriarch David, he's both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us this day. But by a prophet, he foresaw the coming of the Just One. And let it be known unto you, that God has made this same Jesus, Who you crucified by wicked hands, both Lord and Christ." Amen.
"Men and brethren, what can we do to be saved?"
Said, "Repent every one of you and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God will ever call." Amen.

E-101 As long as God's got a people, God's got a church, God's got the Holy Ghost marching with It. That's what God gave the Holy Ghost for. Intellectuals will rise, always have. But God's got a minority somewhere. God's got a little church that'll move right on with the baptism of the Holy Ghost to claim in the Light. And they'll be the ones that through their testimony, will judge the world. Don't the Bible say, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God," and the other one say that the just--the saints shall judge the earth? Sure, your testimony today will bring judgment against this city. Our testimony of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the power of God, a holy life, will bring judgment against this city. When this...

E-102 Them that are first will be last; them that are last will be first. I won't know nothing about Sankey, Moody in their resurrection. They'll not know nothing about me in this one, but I'll stand in this one to give testimony. So will you. And through that, by the scattering of your light, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and by the lives that you live, and the things that God has done to prove that He's moving here; and with their intellectuals, walked away from it, they'll be judged by the saints. They're already judged; they've already passed it.

E-103 Oh, my. I was talking on power of prayer, power of speech, power for a holy life. Amen. That's what the Holy Ghost is to do.
Some of you people walking along, saying, "Well, I just can't quit drinking. I just can't quit this." The Holy Ghost comes to live in you to make all these "can'ts" get away from you (That's right.): make women stop cutting their hair, make them quit wearing shorts and slacks (no excuses), make them quit tattling. Oh, yes. That's what It's for, to make you a holy life. It'll follow the instructions of the Bible every time.
Woman say, "It's just too hot. I just have to wear these. Gives me a headache if I let my hair grow." But there's no excuses with the Holy Ghost. It's there to make it so. It'll follow the Word just exactly. That's what the Holy Ghost is to do. It's to make you man turn your head from them half naked women and quit lusting after them. Yeah, church members... That's what It's to do.

E-106 It's to quit making you smoke, and drink, and be--want to be a big shot. It'll take that out of you. It'll humble you when you do that. That's what the Holy Ghost is for. It's for a holy life (That's right.): make you quit gossiping; make you quit playing cards, shooting craps, and all these other things that you do around the corner. It'll make you quit your carrying on the way you're doing, living untrue to your wife. That's what It'll do. That's right. It'll quit making you want to marry somebody else's wife. That's exactly right. That's what It is. It's to make you live a holy life. That's what the Holy Ghost is power for, to set your affections on things above where God stands at the...?... The mind of Christ in you. You can't help from seeing those things. When you look at them, you turn your head. That's right. It's to make you...
You say, "I can't do it. Oh, I just can't do it." Sure, you can't. But the Holy Spirit come for that purpose. That's what It did. It come to take it out of you, all of them old habits and things that you're doing. That old back biting, separating yourself, saying, "Bless God, I'm a Methodist. I won't have nothing to do with them old holy-rollers." The Holy Ghost come to take that out of you.

E-108 "I'm a Baptist." "I'm Presbyterian; I wouldn't go to that little old holy-roller bunch." The Holy Ghost come to take all that starch out of you. That's what It is. It washes you in the Blood, irons you out. That's what It come to do. It come to straighten you up. He said, "Make the crooked places straight." That's what It come to do, straighten it up, make the high places low, make all the mountains look like they're all dancing like little rams, and all the leaves are clapping [Brother Branham claps his hands--Ed.] their hands to you. The birds sing different. Joybells a-ringing. There's no excuses. That's what It come to do. That's the purpose of God send the Holy Ghost, so you would do these things. That you would work--walk after Him.

E-109 Now, I don't want to hurt you, but I've told you I'm here with the deepest of sincerity. To keep from pinching you, once in a while I jump off on a line somewhere (and just stay with the Truth.), but staying there and make it in such a way it won't pinch you too hard.
But I want to tell you something. If the Bible says that it's wrong for a woman to cut her hair, and you say you've got the Holy Ghost and then cut your hair, I wonder if you have. Don't get mad. If it does, that still shows there's another mark against you.

E-111 If the Bible says it's wrong for a woman to put on a garment that pertain to a man, and you wear these little old overalls and slacks out here on the road... You grown women... I guess a little baby would be all--think if they're play with little boys and things. But look, when you--when you grown women fifteen, sixteen, eighteen years old, and up to grandma, out here on the road... And the Bible says it's an abomination in the sight of God for a woman to wear those things, and you wear them anyhow, and say you got the Holy Ghost? I wonder sometimes. The Holy Ghost will follow God's Word to the letter. And a preacher behind the pulpit that ain't got grace enough to preach it, I doubt he's got It. Well, that's what the Holy Ghost is for.

E-112 It's to give unction to the preacher. It's to give holiness to the group. It's to set the church in order. It's to bring a unity of spirit. It's to unite us together with power. It's to unite us together with love, brotherly love. I don't care if you're Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, whatever you are, if we've all been by one Holy Spirit baptized into one Body and become members of the Body of Jesus Christ and not... There's nothing present, nothing future, hunger, starvation; nothing can separate us from the love of God, the love of Christ--love of God that's in Christ, because we are borned of His Spirit, washed in His Blood. We are a new creature. That's what God came to do. That's what the Holy Spirit's for. Yes, sir. That's what...

E-113 Now, people. Look at me in the face. A lot of hands went up you had the Holy Ghost. See? Sure, there was. Oh. Now, I'm--I'm just going to bounce just a little bit here. This is taped. But we're going to get more to it tomorrow night. If you say you've got It and are guilty of these, I wonder what's a-leading you. God will never lead you off the Word. He'll keep you with the Word, 'cause that's God's own laws of His church for His people, for women, and for men.
Well, you say, "It don't harm me to do this or that." It doesn't? The Word says it does. And if the Holy Spirit is in you, It'll lead you right to the Word. There'll be no excuses. God don't make alterations or excuses. He makes the mark and you toe it. That's all. That's what it is with everyone. You come the same way.
Peter said, "Repent every one of you, be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." See? That's it. We've got to hit that line.

E-116 Now, I don't mean to hurt you. I love you too much. But, brother, sister, do you realize what--that I know that I've got to stand in the last days at that resurrection with this generation of people and give an account for this Word? And the Holy Spirit showing this and me preaching out yonder, where you going to stand? How you going to get by with it? You can't do it, friend. Don't... Now, stop that. Whatever you're doing that's wrong, stop it. You say, "I can't." Then you haven't got the "Can'ter" in you yet. When the Holy Spirit comes, He gives you power over the world. And if you... Listen what He said: "If you love the world or the things of the world, it's because the love of God isn't in you." Now, there's no excuses. He makes it plain, and we got to come up to that mark.
I know you think I'm awful. But I'm just awful full right now. See? Listen. That is true.

E-118 Now, come up to it, brother, sister. Don't let some of these intellectual colleges around here tell you, "Oh, that's old-fogy stuff." If it's old-fogy stuff, then God's old-fogy. And if God's old-fogy, then I am too. Amen. I want to be like Him. Why? His Spirit is in me that hungers and thirst, calling everything contrary to the Word...
If the people say, "It's all right for--oh, if a man plays a little cards for fun and just gambles a nickel or two, it's all right." God says it's not.
"Oh, if you just take a good sociable drink, just get on a little drunk once in a while..." But God said, "Woe unto him."
Oh, you say, "It's all right, Brother Branham. I--I--I cut my hair because of a real thing; a woman, you know--the rest of the women are doing it." I don't care what the rest of the women doing. They're not your example, or they're not your boss. If you've got the Holy Ghost in you, you'll follow His instructions regardless of what people say about you.
"Well, Brother Branham, it's just so hot, and I just have to put these little so-and-so clothes on." Hell's hotter than that, sister dear. Let me tell you that. And--and don't... You remember that.

E-123 And the Holy Spirit will always lead you to Truth, and His Truth is the Word. "My Word is the Truth. Let every man's word be a lie, but let Mine be true."
And just think, an abomination. Could you think? This is an awful word for a minister to say, but I've went into restrooms in places where it would just... You'd have to walk back out nearly. It was just so... And dirty things on the wall. I thought, "How in the world can people be so lowdown?" And stink... When I walk into those places, I've often thought, "What a stink." I--I'd have to hold my nose like this to wash my hands. I'd be afraid that when I took ahold of the doorknob again, there'd be germs from venereal and things.
And I thought, "Oh..." One day standing at a airport, one of them places I walked in--or was a railroad place. I walked into that, and I thought, "Oh, mercy..."
And Something said to me, "That's the way the world smells to God." It's an abomination.

E-127 And I thought when I see a woman walk down the street with herself all carried out like that and man's clothes on, that's what it looks like to God; it's an abomination, something that's filthy and stinking before God. Yet, she'll go to church on Sunday and decorate up. There'll go a man down there, and drink, and cheat, and love money, and cheat his neighbor, and everything else to get a little extra money, and do these things, and gamble, and smoke, and drink, and lie, and then goes to church and testify: abomination, filthiness. That's the intellectual church.
Say, "Well, I belong to the church." Yes. And have to let the church out fifteen minutes so all the deacons and all of them can smoke, and the pastor too, 'fore you can go back to have church. Tell me... Separate yourself from every unclean thing. "Defile a body, I'll destroy it." God said He'd do it.

E-129 And today over--cancer is causing... Ninety something per cent of the deaths of throat and lung cancer is caused by smoking cigarettes. "Defile the body, I'll destroy it." But they're so hell bound, rolling on like that, they don't know. And some preacher standing in the pulpit with four degrees out of college, smoking hisself. Let me tell you something, brother. The Holy Ghost was sent to call men and women out of that thing. Separate yourself. The word "church" means to be "separated." "Come out from among them," said the Bible. "Touch not their unclean, and I'll receive you; and you be sons and daughters to Me, and I'll be God to you." Oh, my. I don't mean to be mean, but I mean to be honest and to be truthful. Yes, sir. Oh, what a horrible thing.

E-130 Men and women, where do we stand today? Where we at? Let's stop.
The other night, across a little old seat there in the room (Now, I must close.), a little old Duofold seat, after praying for three or four days, so I got in such a place, going around and thinking, "Oh, God..." And I got in such a place till I didn't know what to do. I said, "God, we're at the end of the road. And I realize that I've neglected. I've had calls to go on, and be tired, and wouldn't do it." I thought then, "I could see my Lord staggering through the dark yonder when He was so tired He could hardly raise one foot after the other one, but He wasn't too--stopped for the woman that I--than for the boy brought out there that was dead, till He could go over and touch the bier, and use what little strength was in Him to raise that boy. Well, how do I get tired? What's the matter with me, Lord?" Here I think, "Well, I'm getting old. I--I can't do it."

E-132 There was Moses (the same God that I serve), stood yonder at a hundred and twenty years old. There was Caleb, stood at the age of ninety with a sword in his hand and said, "Joshua, put this sword in my hand forty years ago." He was eighty then. Said, "I'm just as good a man today as I was then." Amen.
I said, "God, be merciful to me." I said, "Oh, looky here. I'm always..." And I took my wife (back there) by the hand, across this Bible and her little Bible, and I said, "Honey, I've been too negative. The Holy Spirit condemns me within me." I said, "I think of them squirrels out yonder. I think of Hattie Wright back there and the little boys. I think of what God did, showing that He was God that could create." Hallelujah. I thought, "He's told me that years ago, 'I'll not leave you; I'll never forsake you. No man will stand before you all the days of your life. I'll be with you. And from this hand of discernment, it'll come till you'll know the secret of the heart. After that, it'll raise higher and higher.'" A year after that proved perfect the world around. Here comes this--this other great ministry far beyond it. I said, "Honey, I take your hand. By God's help and God's grace, never let me be negative again. Let me walk forth to this revival here to preach like never before. Let me go here to first sanctify myself and make a way for the people, that my own sins, my own neglecting be under the Blood, my own shortcomings be under the Blood, that I might walk out and say, 'Follow me, people.'" That's right. I hate to see a guy say, "You go do it." I like to see somebody that'll lead the way to do it. Yes, sir.

E-134 Here sometime ago, we had a fire down in the city here, Pfau Oil Company caught on fire. They had the Jeffersonville Fire Department down there. And a friend of mine (good man), never used to big fires like that, he was walking up, saying, "Spurt a little water over here, boys. Spurt a little water over here."
Here come the little Clarksville up there, "Ding, ding, ding, ding." Run up there, and he said--the fire chief jumped off, said, "Spurt a little water down here. Knock this window here. Spurt a little water there."
But across the river come trained firemen from Louisville. That big hook and ladder no more than stopped till the chief was at the end of the ladder. When the ladder went up, he was at the head. Throwed his axe before he got there, and knocked the window out, said, "Come on, boys." That's it. The fire went out in a few minutes.
Not, "Spurt a little water here; spurt a little water there." Puts in mind some of these intellectual preachers.
Come on, let's go. I know It's the Truth. I've tasted and seen!...?... The Holy Ghost is right. God is good. Don't try here, try there. Let's walk into Him. And He's here. It's for you. God gave His power to His church. Not spurt out this here and spurt out; you'll never get nothing done. Lead on. Amen. Whew. Can't even see through them no more. Amen. What are we going to do?

E-137 Each person setting here's filled with something. (Then I'm going to close. I may have to after that.) You're filled with something. You can't set there without being full of something. You've got a life in you. That life governs you, and that life is governed by a spirit. Now, you might be full of the world, loving the world or the things of the world. God be merciful to you. You might be full of creeds from some church, some little prayers that you say, you think that it's going to--or pray to some dead person, or--or make some kind of a sign across you. God be merciful to you.
And you may be full of religion; and that's worse yet. That's right. That's right. The Bible said in the last days they'd be very religious, having a form of godliness--having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away. If you're full of religion, you're miserable: just religion, that's all. If you're full of creeds, you don't know what you're talking about. If you're full of the world, you're blind.
And then again, you may be full of the Holy Ghost. Amen. I hope you are. And if you're not, I hope you get full. And if you're full of the Holy Ghost, what you got? You've got power; you got love; you got peace. "My peace I'll give unto you, not as the world giveth I you." You got peace; you're sealed. You got a sign. Amen. You got rest. You got joy unspeakable and full of glory. You're anchored. Oh, my. That's what you are with the Holy Ghost. You have... If you got full of the Holy Ghost, you have passed from death unto Life, waiting for the general resurrection in the last day.

E-140 In the world to come through our Lord Jesus Christ and Who said He was coming in glory and majesty... The sea will give up its dead. The corruptible bodies of those that sleep in Him shall... Sleep in Him... How do you get in Him? By one Spirit we're all baptized into one Body. The corruptible bodies of those that sleep in Him shall be changed and made like unto His own glorious body, whereby He's able to subdue all things unto Himself. "I heard a voice from heaven," said John. "Said unto me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord...?... that die in the Lord from henceforth, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.'" That's what He sent the Holy Ghost for. Oh, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. "I am in Him, and He is in me; the Father in Him, and He in the Father; and the Father in me, and I in Him."
... Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory Divine!
I'm an heir of salvation, purchased of God,
Borned of His Spirit, when washed in His Blood.
Amen. I wouldn't trade it. Oh, my.
All rubies and diamonds, and silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
For I'm a child of a King, I'm the child of the King:
With Jesus my Saviour, makes me a child of the King.
Amen and amen. I wouldn't swap it. I wouldn't swap it; I've got two or three more Scri... Then here's another Scripture. When--when you are filled with the Holy Ghost (That's the things that you have.), then what are you to the world? An alien. (I know it's late, but it's never too late for this.) An alien. Oh,
We're pilgrims and we're strangers here,
We're seeking a city to come.
The lifeboat soon is coming
To gather His Jewels home.

E-142 I can hear the water splash yonder on the Ohio River. When I was a little old boy preacher about twenty-two years old, singing that there, and I heard... Looked up above me and heard a Voice, said, "Look up." Here comes that big Light hanging right yonder, come moving down over me and said, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, you'll have a Message that'll forerun the second coming of Christ." Oh, how could I believe it? But it happened just the same. And tonight revival fires are burning around and around the world. The great ransomed Church of God lifted Herself out of that place. And great campaigns of healing, and signs, and wonders, and miracles, showing forth the coming.

E-143 You're an alien, and you're a stranger. You do strange things, different from what you used to do. You don't act like you used to. The people... The Holy Ghost, when It comes upon you, and you become filled with the Holy Ghost, you ignore the things of the world. You ignore the things that would beset you; you ignore it. Then you become a--a odd acting creature, the ugly duckling to them, the little eagle that was hatched under the hen's nest, that I preached: "And When the Eagle Stirs Its Nest." You're a funny looking creature to them. But, oh, my, walking up the King's highway. Amen. Oh, it's a highway to heaven. I'm walking up the King's highway. Say, "Look at that holy-roller, that ugly duckling. That's that holy-roller preacher."

E-144 A famous Methodist preacher said to a man today in Louisville, said, "I'd like to help Brother Billy, but you know what it'd do, I'd have to stick my neck out." You don't have to stick your neck out for me; He stuck His Life out for me. Amen. Just walking up the King's highway, that's all. Oh, my. Filled with His Spirit, borned of His Spirit, washed in His Blood, hallelujah happy...
And then another thing. Why? What makes you do that? You're still a human. But what makes you do it? Is because that you come, you, your spirit, come from above. It's God in you.

E-146 When I went over to Rome, I noticed that they, everyone had a Roman spirit. When I went to Greece, they all had a Grecian spirit. When I went to England, they all had a English spirit. When you go places, you find... And you find the American spirit; it's horrible.
When I went into the San Angelo's catacombs at Rome, they had a sign up there: "Please, American Women, Put On Clothes To Honor The Dead." American spirit...
Watch them get off the airplane, them little clothes on and everybody go to looking at them. And here comes Miss America. That's American spirit. You can tell where she's from: Dressed up, boy, hauling a little old snotty-nosed poodle dog behind her. That's right. Oh, yes. She's a--she's a--she's America, Miss America. Walk down, you know, strutting like that. Why? She's got a American spirit. But Jesus said... He testified against it that day. He said, "You are from this earth below; I'm from above." And if you've got the Spirit of Christ in you, you are from above. Then you're a stranger here. But you got the nature of the place you're from; that's what I'm trying to say.

E-148 A Roman comes over here and he scratches his head; and a German comes over here; a American goes there. Why? You got the spirits of them countries you come from. That's what makes us so much different to the world. You're from above. You're born; you're--you're a citizen of another Kingdom. You believe it? That's what the Holy Ghost is, is to make you a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Then if you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, how does It make you act? Like God does in His Kingdom. Now, what does God do in His Kingdom? It's holiness, righteousness, purity of thought, purity of mind, power, and love, going to the lost, healing the sick, performing miracles, doing great things. Then to the world you look crazy; they say, "Them guys are off at their head." See? But you are a citizen of the Kingdom.

E-150 One more Scripture, if you want to write it down: John 12:24. Let me quote it to you right quick. Jesus said, "If a corn of wheat falls into the ground, except it die, it cannot bring forth another life." Now, look. One closing remark now. And remember then, it is absolutely, now, to you people--It's absolutely essential, and necessary, and compelling, and compulsory that you receive the Holy Ghost now, for if you don't, you can't come in the resurrection.
Now, watch. God cannot break His laws; we know that. He follows His laws. Now, a--a grain of wheat, or corn, we'll take, like Jesus said there. 'Course a--a corn in the Bible (I was just reading it today.) refers to flax, or any kind of a seed, but... Wheat, barley, maize, or anything, it's a corn. But when a corn of wheat falls into the ground... Now, there's... All of us here has seen--know this happens. A corn of wheat, or a grain of corn can look as perfect as it can be. And you put it in the ground, and if that corn... It has perpetual life; it'll go down today, reproduce itself in a stalk, and come back down, and go up again, and come back down. It's perpetual life. If that corn hasn't got the germ of life in it, no matter how beautiful it looks, it'll never raise. It'll go to the ground and rot, and that's it. Part of it (the materials) can be used for fertilize and things in the ground. But as far as it ever living again, it'll never live unless it's got perpetual life in it. Anyone knows that. You just can't.

E-152 There can be two men, one of them just exactly--both of them just alike. One of them can be a good man; he could do good works; he could do so forth; but except that man has Eternal Life in him, he'll never rise in the resurrection. He can't do it; there's nothing there to raise. There's nothing to bring him up; there's no life. So you see, my dear brother, my dear sister, except a man be borned again, he can in no wise come back into this Kingdom. He can't. "Except this Corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies..." He's talking of Himself. But He had, not perpetual life; He had Eternal Life. And the Life He gave to you, that you might have the same kind of Life...
Now, if you've just got human life, enough to move you around, lust... "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she is alive." You can't rise. You might be the most popular girl in school. You might be the most popular girl at the card game of your society. You might be the best dressed woman in the country. You might be the prettiest. You might be the best built. You might be a idol to your husband. You might be all these things, which that's wonderful. But, sister, unless you have the Holy Ghost in you, which is Eternal Life, at the end of this road you are finished. And I don't care what you look like, or how these things are, or how unpopular, or popular you are, how pretty, or how ugly; if you've got Eternal Life, there--you'll live forever and forever.

E-154 When the moon and stars is gone, and the earth has weeped itself into the--the mountains, and the deserts and everything has--has--it's no more, and the world's a-toddling like a drunk man coming home at night, and the stars refuse to shine and fall from the heavens, and the moon turns into blood, and the--the sun blushes and hides its face, when they see the Son of man coming, you'll shine in the righteousness of Jesus Christ to come forth from the grave as a young, beautiful woman to take your mate and live forever and forever and forever; and all eternal ages you'll still be living. That's what the Holy Ghost is for.

E-155 If you feel the least tug, don't turn It away. What is the Holy Ghost? God in you. What's It for? To continue His work among His people; to bring His church together; to bring a church to a place in this day, far beyond the Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal, into a place to a adoption and a rapturing grace, that when this part of the church, when the Spirit moves into this church here, it'll just raise. And it'll bring forth, bring forth all of the redeemed that's touched that Spirit. Those Lutherans who stood there with all the light they had in Justification; those Methodists that fell on the floor, and they throwed water in their face from the Spirit striking them through sanctification; those Pentecostals, that they walked up and down the streets and they called them "tongues demong," and "Jabberers," and "goose language," and all of that; they'll stand in the righteousness in the sight of God at that day just as certain as this Bible stands here. If you believe me to be a servant (You call me His prophet; I don't call myself that, but you listen.), I'm telling you in the Name of the Lord: Those that are in Christ will God bring with Him at His coming, at the resurrection, and only those that are in Christ.

E-156 How do we get in Christ, folks? By one creed we are all joined in? No. By one handshake we are all pulled in? No. By one water we are all baptized in? No. Or by one denomination we are all denominated in? No. "But by (I Corinthians 12:13)--by one Spirit (Holy Spirit, God's Spirit) we are all (Methodists, Baptists, Lutheran, Presbyterian... 'Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness.')--by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and been made partakers of His grace."

E-157 You cannot go to judgment. "He that heareth My words and believeth (No man can believe until he's got the Holy Ghost.)--and believeth on Him that sent Me (when the Holy Ghost has testified of His resurrection) hath Eternal Life, and shall never come into judgment, but has passed from death unto Life." What? You'll never catch the judgment. You'll never stand at the white throne for judgment; you meet your judgment right here. You've passed your judgment when you've passed and say, "I'm no good, and my learning is no good. Lord, come into me, and take me, and lead me, Lord. I don't care what this crazy world says. Lead me, Lord, by Your Spirit." You've judged then. Judge yourself as a fool for Christ. And in His righteousness that day we'll stand immortal in His likeness.

E-158 Only one way, how? "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body." And when you're in that Body, judgment has already judged that Body; and you've accepted Him as the propitiation of your sins. You say, "I've done that, Brother Branham." Then if the Holy Ghost has come back and give you a seal as a sign, that Spirit brings you into the Body of Christ. You turn back the other way, and you're a new creature in Christ Jesus. You've passed from death unto Life. Old things have gone, and you are new in Christ. Amen.
Oh. Please let me persuade you, my Christian brother or sister, don't let this revival pass you. You must receive the Holy Ghost. What is It? The Spirit of God. What was It for? To lead you, guide you, fill you, sanctify you, call you out into the church. What is a church? What does the word "church" mean? "Called out, separated (oh, how I could take a sermon from that right now.), called out, separated," aliens, away from the world, pilgrim and stranger, professing that we have here no earthly city that we desire to live in. Oh, my.

E-160 As Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob sojourn, dwelling in tents in the land, they professing they were pilgrims and strangers, the seed of the heir, the heir back there; the father, the heir. We are their seed. And they was looking for a city whose Builder and Maker was God. Amen. They were searching. And today their seed is still looking for a city that comes in...
I don't want to get adjusted to this world. I don't want nothing to do with this world. I want--I'm looking for a city that's built foursquare. I'm looking for a city that's got Eternal Life, where the sun will never go down, where there'll never be old age, where there'll never be a crepe on a doorknob or a grave on the hillside. I'm looking for that city whose Builder and Maker are God.

E-162 There's only one way to find it. There was a Stone cut out of the mountain without hands that rolled into the world and smashed it out, and it become like wheat--or chaff on the threshing floors. Let that Stone, the Christ Jesus, that Stumbling Stone to the world, a Stone of an offense, a laughing Stone, a Stumbling Block to the church; but a precious and a Lodestone to the believer, a Stone of assurance, a Stone of rest (Oh, my.), resting... I know that I've passed from death unto Life. My soul is at rest. Oh, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest to your soul." "A--a Sign that's to be evil spoken of," said the--the prophet to Mary. It'll be a Sign. Sure it will. But It'll be an assurance; It'll be a love. It'll be a satisfaction. It'll be something that you know you've passed from death unto Life.

E-163 My brother, my sister, as your brother, as your servant in Christ, let me persuade you with all my heart, don't you let this go over your head, or go by you, or under you. Receive It into your heart, and you'll be a happy person on earth. I'm not promising you you'll get a million dollars. No, sir. Brother Leo, I think there's been too much of that promised now, millions of dollars and things that... Different ones said, "If you'd be a Christian, you'd get a million dollars, and you'll be a rich man." I'm not promising you nothing. I'm promising you this. The only thing I can promise you is salvation. His grace is sufficient for every trial.

E-164 The people at Pentecost, they didn't even want what they did have. Now, talk about millionaires. They didn't want what they had, Sister Angie. I'd like to hear you and Gertie sing one of these days (Where is she at?), "Homecoming Week," one of these days. Many of them has done passed across the border since then. Oh, my. They didn't ask for great things. They didn't ask for money. Why, Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, I'll give it to you." And I say that tonight, friends. The joy, the love, the assurance, that I have of Christ and His resurrection: such as I have, I offer to you. I offer to you as God's children. And you come and stay at the cross if God calls you, and don't you get up.
When you come tomorrow night, you come either to go in here and stay till it's over, or come up, and we're going to pray and lay hands on you. Though... That's the order of the Bible: lay hands on them for the Holy Ghost. And then we're going--you go to your home. If you stay right there, if you stay all night, stay the next day, stay the next day, stay through the holidays, stay till the first of the year and stay on; stay until.
That--whatever we instruct about tomorrow night, showing you the Bible what has to come, will come. And when It comes, then there isn't enough devils in torment... You know you've passed from death unto Life. You're a new creature in Christ Jesus. The joybells of heaven will ring.

E-166 Brother Othal, I'm telling you, it just sets you afire. Here's an old boy setting here, an old brother of mine, that was a gangster walking with guns on his side, looking for a man around the corner, somebody to blow their brains out. And what happened? One day he looked and believed unto Life. And he walked on. He followed my meetings. And the poor guy, with not enough to eat, and laid, and slept in bushes by the side of the tent, hungering and thirsting. One day the Holy Spirit come. Oh, my brother, it changed you, didn't it? It brought Life and took death away. Hatred left and love come in. Oh, my. Enmity and strife all fell away; new Life come in. Look here at others times others, others times others, and out through there. Oh, the joybells of heaven ringing. Friends, there's no way for me to express it.

E-167 Listen, that I might leave this. If you have believed my testimony as a servant of Christ and have tried to show you out of God's Bible it's right, and if my words seem like they might be just a little strange about this, look at that picture in the scientific world. Watch the fruit that this Pillar of Fire that led the Children of Israel, watch the fruit It bears. See what It does, what It tells. It's not Me that speaketh; it's Him that Speaketh through you. You see? It's not me that sees the vision, it's Him that speaks through you. It's not me that heals the sick; it's Him that's in you heals the sick. It's not me that preaches; I'm a backward coward that'd run from the very thought; but it's Him that speaks through. I don't know the Word; but He knows It. That's it. That's it. That's what it is, and there He is. And that same Angel of God is right here in this building tonight. Oh, how I love Him.

E-168 Now, how many wants to receive the Holy Ghost? Take examination of our lives. How many hasn't received It and wants to, raise up your hands; say, "Brother Branham, the depths of my heart, I want to receive the Holy Ghost." God bless you everywhere.
How many of you that has received It and would like to go like they did at Acts 4 and say, "Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, stretch forth Thy hand to heal, and showing signs and wonders in the Name of Thy holy Child, Jesus; and give me all boldness and love to speak, and a new filling." Yes, here's mine too. God give It to me. And let us bow our heads in the deepest of sincerity, each person holding your desire in your heart.

E-170 Lord Jesus, we close this little gathering tonight after the fellowship around the Word and the Holy Ghost. How He has blessed us and poured out into our hearts the oil of His Word. There are ministers; there are men here that were--all walks of life that's tasted and seen the Lord is good. We know what the Holy Spirit is now: a Promise of God. It is Eternal Life to as many as believe.
And we know that the Holy Spirit was the Spirit of Jesus Christ sent back. And He's in us today as God was above us in that Pillar of Fire. Then He walked with us in the--a body that was called Emmanuel, "God with us." And now, He is in us by the Holy Spirit: God in us. Oh, Jesus said, "At that day you'll know that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. You'll understand it that day, because you're in a world of darkness, as to say now. But at that day you'll understand."

E-172 Father, it could not be made plain and perfect, because then we'd have nothing to have faith for. But all works of God is governed by faith. And by faith in Your Word in the evidence of the Holy Spirit, that we know is now, I ask that every hungry soul in here will be filled with the Holy Ghost. Those who do not have It and are hungering for It, just remember, we'd say to them, Lord, like this that You said, "Blessed are you when you do hunger and thirst; you shall be filled." That's a promise. And it's even blessed to be hungering. You're blessed even to know that God has spoke to you. For It said, "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him first."
And Lord, those who are old veterans here, they put up their hands. I had up mine. Oh, Lord, give us strength. Give us power to stretch forth the hand of Thy--the holy Child Jesus, that signs and wonders might be done, that it might be a deeper ministry, a greater thing than has ever happened yet. Give us boldness and love to speak to the people. Grant it, Lord. Be with us in all things; we ask in Jesus' Name.

E-174 And tomorrow night, Lord, may there come such a rushing mighty wind fall into this building, that it'll be just like another day of Pentecost. The foundation's been laid. Everything is ready. The ox are killed. The fatlings are killed. The rams are killed. The table is set. The guests are invited. O Lord, send a jubilee of Pentecost tomorrow night into this building and fill every soul with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Grant it, Father. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
We'll learn a lot of things;
We'll have a harp that's made of gold,
Perhaps a thousand strings.
We'll sing and shout, and dance about;
The lamb will dry our tears.
We'll have one home, come--homecoming week,
The first ten thousand years. (Amen.)
The precious blood of God's own Son
Has cleansed and sanctified,
A wondrous people for His Name and they are called the bride.
Though here neglected and despised, one day the Lord will bring
Those chosen ones within the gates, and that's worth everything.

Up