E-1 Morning, friends! I told Brother Neville, I was just a little hoarse this morning, and this coming on revival. I wouldn’t try to preach to you this morning, because I’m too hoarse. But just a little group of us here. I might have a little Sunday school lesson, then let him preach in just in a little bit. So we’ll…I’ll just have a little lesson out of the Bible here, of something that we can talk maybe for fifteen, twenty minutes. And maybe the Lord will give us something out of that. Now, He has been awfully good to us, awfully good.
E-2 And, so, we’re tired. I was up a little late last night. I’m…after I was…A lot of calls coming in since I come in. And—and I happened to notice, and my little boy had a handful of glass beads, just chewing them up and eating them, of glass, and—and swallowing these, was glass. And so we got him and washed his little mouth out. Then we was up with him, biggest part of the night, so I’m kind of tired this morning.
E-3 And I got, right immediately at twelve o’clock, to leave for Kentucky, and go down in Kentucky to some appointment there. And, then, this coming week comes our meeting.
E-4 And now I want to try, just a few nights of just talking, if I can. My…I’m not got no cold. I’ve just preached so much till my voice is gone. See, this is four months, straight, you see. And so then, after that, then I go to Canada, and then back to our regular meetings and overseas.
E-5 Now, while I was sitting there, talking to Leo and Gene, just a few moments ago, I was thinking of a Scripture here that we might use this morning. If the…Now, first, I was just going to sit there a minute, I was so tired. And I thought, “That didn’t look right, me sitting back in the room there, and the congregation out here. Why, the Lord might not come back there. I want to come out here where He was.”
E-6 So, I believe I see one of the reasons that brought me here this morning, Brother Littlefield is here. Yes. He wanted to see me just a moment after the service. And Brother Littlefield is from up in Tennessee, there where we had the big, big meeting up there, recently in a high school gym. I just can’t call the name of the city. Where, you, Brother Littlefield? [Brother Littlefield says, “Cleveland.”—Ed.] Cleveland. [“Tennessee.”] Cleveland, Tennessee.
E-7 And so we had a wonderful time up there. And he’s in…was coming through, to say “hello” to me, and so I told him to be down this morning. We were going somewhere this morning, else, and then some friends that I wanted to visit. Not to preach; just to visit, ’cause I promised them. And then Brother Littlefield was here, and Doctor Beeland and them. And so I wanted to just come by and see them this morning, the reason I dropped in.
E-8 So, now, over in the Book of Corinthian, just about the 10th chapter, and the first four or five verses. Let’s just meditate on that for a few moments, so our brother can have time to preach.
Now let’s bow our heads, first, just in His Presence.
E-9 Blessed Heavenly Father, it is indeed with grateful hearts that we bow humbly before Thee this day, to thank Thee for the good things of life. And realizing that life itself is just one great struggle. If we’re not having it in one way, we are in another, but some glorious day the battle will be over. And we’ll see Jesus Who we have looked forward to seeing since we have loved Him, and become acquainted with Him, and a relative to Him. And we’re so happy to know that some day we shall see Him.
E-10 Now, today, as we pulled up under the old oak, as it was, for comfort. Like Abraham sitting there, waiting, and God and two Angels come up and spoke to him. And we’re just expecting You to come to us this morning, and speak to our hearts, through Thy Word, Lord, as we fellowship around It.
E-11 Bless our dear, beloved pastor. Lord, we pray that You’ll give him strength and courage. We pray that You’ll bless the little church, and the deacons and all that’s concerned here, Lord, and all that comes here; not only here, but other places, Your Church, universal.
E-12 Bless our visiting brethren who are with us this morning in the service. We pray that You’ll be with them and sustain them. Forgive us of our sins, and speak to us through Thy Word. We ask in Christ’s Name. Amen.
E-13 If I’m not mistaken Brother Coats is sitting here this morning. He was…over to pray for him, the other night, at the Veterans Hospital; cancer. And we’re glad to see you in here, this morning, Brother and Sister Coats.
E-14 Now, in the Book of Corinthians, the—the 10th chapter, this Book of Corinthians is a book of correction. We should take the Book of Corinthians. It’s the only church in all of the New Testament, that, seemingly, that the leaders had such trouble with. But, Corinthians was always in trouble. Paul, when he come among them, one had a tongue, and one had a psalm, and one had the feeling and a sensation. And he was always having trouble with these Corinthians, keeping them straight.
E-15 If we notice, he couldn’t teach the Corinthians deep things. They were just a—a—a baby fashion. They—they…He couldn’t go to them in the great, deep, the messages that he did to the Ephesians and he did to the Romans, and teach to them the deep things, because they wasn’t able to take it. They—they depended too much upon little sensations and little things like that. Just, “Well, praise the Lord, I got it! I—I had a—a revelation come to me. I had a psalm. I have a prophecy.”
E-16 And Paul said, “All these things will fail.” See? Every one of them, they’re just not to be trusted too much. And so, but, what he’s trying to get to the church, was that anchor, where we—where we have an anchor in Christ, where that we don’t trust upon sensations. We don’t trust upon revelations. We don’t trust these things. Only, we trust Christ. It’s by faith that we move out there. Just…
E-17 We notice Paul could teach the Ephesians there, how that before the foundation of the world, they were predestinated unto the adoption of the sons of God. Now, he…The Corinthians didn’t know nothing about that. They just…they had to have a little feeling, or something, little sensation, one this, that, and the other. And they depended on that. He couldn’t teach them the deep things.
E-18 So, I think, it’s a great…When you got people that you can teach deep things, and the Holy Spirit can wind these great truths, and anchor it into the—the people’s hearts, so they know where they’re standing. Sensation or no sensation, prophecy or no prophecy, and whatever it might be, whatever. Then, we don’t…Now remember, we’re not…I’m not trying to say that God does not deal through prophecy and things like that, but we don’t rely upon that. We got a deeper hold than that, you see. For, he said, “Wherever there is prophecies, it’ll fail. Where there’s tongues, it’ll cease. And where there…”
E-19 And all these sensations that those Corinthians had, not one of them was the evidence that they were saved. Not one of them was an evidence that they were saved. Not…If you could shout, if you could prophesy, if you could heal the sick, if you could speak with tongues, if you could interpret tongues, if you had wisdom, and you had knowledge, none of those mean you’re saved; not a one of them. You could have every one of them, Paul said, in First Corinthians 13, and be lost. “I am nothing,” see.
E-20 But, when you got love, an anchor! This morning, for about an hour before the wife woke up, I was awake. And the Lord was revealing to me, a great something about how God ties His Church together, by that bonds of love, and how it must be. There’s not another way for a man to ever be saved without being born again. God willing, I want to preach on that this coming week. And just getting materialized in my heart. Maybe the Lord will give me a Message on it.
E-21 Now, this Message this morning, as it come to my heart in there, is a Message, a warning. And I thought, maybe, if we would get this warning to the people, as Paul was warning these Corinthians. If we can get this warning to the people, knowing that we’re facing a revival now, and an examinating time, when we must be examined. Now, Paul said:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And were…baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
E-22 Now, he’s giving them an understanding that when God brought out Israel from the wilderness, into the wilderness to serve Him, and to take them to the promised land. They…He is sitting forth an example there, that, as we are brought out in all the material things, all the—the rituals, and the orders, they were the same. And we find, on down a little further in our lesson, that many of those were overthrowed. Because, they could do all the rituals, and all the orders, and everything that God required, and still their hearts wasn’t right with God.
E-23 Now, we can do many things. We can take communion. We can be baptized. We can—we can come to church, have our names on the book, or be just as respect and reverent as we can be, and still be lost. That’s a solemn warning. We could be just as…just rejoice when the Spirit would fall, and in a meeting where the Word was being preached, and our souls would just rejoice with the Word, and still be lost.
E-24 “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” The same rain that makes the wheat grow, makes the weed grow. It’s the nature of the product, see. It’s the nature of it that tells what we are. Therefore, it’s the nature that’s in us, that tells what we are. See? Not…
E-25 We might be so religious till we wouldn’t turn our hands on Sunday, to do a thing. We might not even take a stitch in our clothes on Sunday. We might not even feel justified to buy food on Sunday. And we might be so religious and so pious! But, yet, if we are not literally born again of the Spirit of God, we’re just worshiping in vain.
E-26 So, now, it’s pretty stiff. And we want to really find it and know the Truth. Because, remember, we’re not going to get a second chance at this. It’s just this one time, so you better be real sure.
Now, notice, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren.”
E-27 Now, these Corinthians, what did I say in the first place? They were basing their Eternal hopes upon some sensation. Paul said, just…There, said, “When I come among you, one has this, and one has that. And one—one…” Said, now, all…That’s all right. We have nothing against it. But, still, that isn’t what we’re talking about. See? That isn’t it.
E-28 I remember when I was first converted. And I begin to see the working of the Spirit, and how that some could just impersonate the real, genuine Holy Spirit, and to such a way that it would…Why, it was just impossible to tell which was right and wrong, hardly.
E-29 And I seen a man that I knew, and I…and by a discernment, I knew that man was living with another man’s wife. And here he was standing there speaking with tongues and interpreting, and everything, and giving messages. And it…And I got the other fellow to a place to where I could speak to him a few moments, and, a real genuine Christian.
E-30 And I thought, “How can that Spirit, the same Spirit, where I…” That’s when I first seen pentecost. And it was at Mishawaka, Indiana. And I tell you, it certainly…I thought, for the first few hours I was there, I was among Angels. And the next few hours, I thought I was among demons, when I seen that. Seen these two men, one give a message, one interpret.
E-31 I never heard speaking in tongues, and things like that, before. I watched those spirits, how they moved. I thought, “Oh, my! Why, the great Millennium has begun.” And then when I got a chance, on the outside, to talk to one of them and could tell what he was made from, there was one as evil as he could be.
E-32 And—and that night, I watched them again, and I thought, “Oh, get me away from here. I can’t understand how this is.” And I seen those things were in the Bible. But here was one doing it, that didn’t have the Spirit of God; and the other one doing it, and did have the Spirit of God. Then I was all confused. And I just let the whole thing go.
E-33 And years later, after the flood was over, I was going, walking up the road going to Green’s Mill. Mr. Isler, the state senator, comes here to church. He met me on the road, and he put his arms around me. Said, “Billy, what does Christ mean to you now?” My father was gone. My brother was gone. And my wife was gone. My baby was gone. And I…
Said, “What does He mean?”
E-34 I said, “Mr. Isler, He means more than life to me.” I said, “Something has happened within me. A few years ago, Christ came to my heart. And I—I…It’s just become more than I am myself. It’s just something that’s happened. It wasn’t because I was religious. It wasn’t. It just something that God, through the grace, did for me.” And I said, “Though He would slay me, I’d trust Him just the same. And if I was in hell, and there was such a thing as love, in hell, I’d still love Him. That’s all. It’s something in here. He’s right. I deserved every punishment that I ever got. You do the same. But if that anchor, that Something, that anchor of love of God, that holds in the human heart. Other things become secondarily.
E-35 Sitting on a log up there, I was praying about something else. And my Bible come open, and I was reading in…over in the Book of Hebrews, the 6th chapter. And I was reading there, how that, “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and made partakers of the Holy Spirit, seeing that they fall away, to renew themselves again unto repentance. For the rain cometh oft upon the earth, to water it, to dress it, for which it’s prepared. But that which is nigh unto rejection, thorns and thistles, which is nigh unto rejection, is to be burned.”
E-36 And the Holy Spirit kept speaking to me about that. “What is that?” I’d read it over again. And then a vision come. And I saw the world standing before me, turning. It was all disced up, and like plowed and ready for to plant. And there went a man by, in white, sowing seeds. And after he went around the curvature of the earth, another man come, in black, sowing seeds behind him. And when the seeds that a good man sowed, come up, was wheat. And the bad, the black man sowed, the seeds come up, and dressed in black. It come up, and it was weeds. And, oh, one was contrary to the other.
E-37 And a great drought come, in the vision. And the little wheat bowed its head; it was just so thirsty for a drink. And the—the weed bowed its head; it was thirsty for a drink. Then a great cloud come over, and the rains come down. And the little wheat raised up and begin to scream, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” It was so happy to get that water. And the little weed raised up, begin to holler, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” for the same water.
E-38 Then I understood. See? There it is. The Holy Spirit will fall, but, “By their fruits, they are known,” said the Lord Jesus. See? See? Not by the reaction of the Spirit, whether they heal the sick, or whether they speak with tongues, or whether they sing in the Spirit, or whether they rejoice this way or that. They can do all that and still be lost. It’s your life within you, a born-again experience.
E-39 Now, Paul was trying to get this to those Corinthians. “I…”
Moreover, brethren, I would have…wouldn’t have you ignorant, how that…our fathers were all under the cloud, and…passed through the sea;
And were…baptized unto Moses…
E-40 Every one of them went into the wilderness. Jesus said, “Not all that saith, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter in. But the one that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven.” It isn’t what you say. You could preach the Gospel and still be lost. Certainly.
E-41 This is not just little kids, stuff. This is absolutely…It’s deep. And Christianity is not to be just a little, light, fabulous thing, like, “Well, I’ll go over to church, and I know it’s my duty to go.” That’s not Christianity. Brother, Christianity isn’t…
E-42 It’s something that God has done. God has chosen you, in Christ, and presented you as a love gift, to Christ. And if…God’s calling, election! And if we have the opportunity to become that type of person, and turn it down, for little old things of the world? Now listen as we go on.
And all did eat that same spiritual manna;
E-43 Did you hear that? The 3rd verse.
And all did eat the same spiritual manna;
E-44 What’s he speaking of? The rituals of the church. People come to church and say they have repented, and are baptized unto Christ, taking on the Name of the Lord Jesus. “And they did that in the wilderness, also,” Paul said. That’s what the Corinthians had done. They come in and was baptized unto Christ. Took on Christ, outwardly. Professionally had taken Him on. Intellectually had accepted Him.
E-45 But, brother, it’s a lot more than intellectuals. It goes beyond that. It goes to a—a genuine Birth, not just a mental conception or an emotional work. But, a Birth, an experience, something that goes plumb down deep into the heart and change in the innermost being, that makes you do things that you would not have done, other words. It makes you love those who are unlovable. It makes you act different than you ever thought that you would act.
E-46 And when situations arise, it’s your anchor. You don’t have to wonder, “Will I make it?” Oh, no. It isn’t whether I’ll make it. It’s already made for me. Christ in me, has made it, Himself, and I just trust in His anchor alone. What a wonderful thing!
E-47 Notice, they all took communion. That light that was in…We know that it was a natural process, because it was little frost-like that rained from Heaven, little wafers with honey on them. It…The wafer was just a little like a cracker, a little cookie, and had honey over the top of it. And they all were partakers of that. Everyone passed through the Red Sea, and was baptized through the Cloud and through the sea, unto Moses. Following his instructions, as God’s servant, they were all baptized unto him. They were all followers, as we are today, led by the Holy Spirit, the great Instructor of the Christian Church. We are led through, to water baptism.
And he said, “They all taken of the same manna.” The…
E-48 What did it do? That manna fell for Korah and for his group, just the same as it did for Moses, Caleb and Joshua. They were all mixed together; all partakers of baptism; all partakers of membership; all partakers of confession.
E-49 Now, all partakers of the communion. You get it? Look at that solemn warning. And, tabernacle folks, get that way down deep. Remember, it’s your Eternal destination, hangs right there. Don’t just pass it by like it’s a little flood or something. This is something we must come respective to. It’s something that means whether we live hereafter or not.
E-50 They were all baptized unto Moses, through the Red Sea. They all followed that same Spirit-Being, the Cloud and the Pillar of Fire. They all was led by the same Angel. They all come out by the same pastor. They all was baptized into the sea. They all eat of that spiritual manna. And that manna was Christ. Christ coming down, the manna come down every night from Heaven, and perished here, to sustain the people in their journey.
E-51 And Christ come from Heaven and gave His life, that, “Whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting Life.” Christ come down and became our manna, to eat of these same spiritual blessings.
E-52 Therefore, the Holy Spirit can fall right in amongst the people, and both Christian and lukewarm, and half believers and borderline believers will all eat the same. But that doesn’t mean it yet. Oh, I wish I had words, that I could drive this down and cinch it in the heart of every person here. And see what a deep thing this is. It isn’t something to be played with. It isn’t just going to church.
E-53 Now, listen. They all did eat the same spiritual manna. Think of it, spiritual manna!
E-54 “Oh,” you say, “I know I’m saved. Hallelujah! I’ve shouted in the Spirit. I feel this.” That doesn’t have one thing to do with it. You see how we base our Eternal destination upon a sensation? Can you see, in this day that we’re now living, how that people are basing their—their destination upon just a little sensation? “Oh,” say, “I know I got It, because I—I felt the Power go through me. I did this.” That might be all exactly the truth, and you’re still lost.
E-55 Oh, if we just had a moment. Let’s just turn to First Corinthians 13, here, just a moment, and listen what Paul has got to say about it, right here.
Though I speak with…tongues of men and…angels, and have not charity (which is love), I am become as a sounding brass, and in a tinkling cymbal.
…though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all the mysteries, and know all the knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
E-56 Listen at that stern old apostle drive it into this sensational church, who is basing their hopes upon sensation. Now, this is Sunday school. This is a place of correction. This is a place of teaching. And woe unto the man that’ll stand in the pulpit and mislead. Brother, it’s time that we’ve made Scripture compare with Scripture. That’s right.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,…though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it prevaileth me nothing.
E-57 See, all your good works, all your good deeds, all the spiritual things you have, all the gifts you have, all the sensations you have, all the joy you have, all the peace you have, has nothing at all to do with it, to begin with. [Blank spot on tape—Ed.]
E-58 Think of that, just a moment. And think of the churches today, our great churches, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and denominational, they think because they say, “I believe,” come in, put their name on the book, that settles it. How far they’re off!
E-59 Our Pentecostal people think, well, because that they got a little sensation, they felt good, they spoke with tongues, they got a blood in their hand, little oil on their face, or something, “We got it.” Oh, ten million miles off! You get it? See how the devil, as the god of this world, has blinded the eyes of those, and they just go right on living like that. Listen.
For though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body…burned, and have not charity,…I am nothing.
E-60 Look at all those gifts, all those good things. “I feed the poor. I got a good heart about me. I do this. I do that. I go to church. I speak with tongues. I prophecy. I heal the sick. I preach the Gospel. I do these things.” Paul said, “Still, I am nothing.” All those things can be carnally impersonated. Now what does It say?
Charity suffereth long,…is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,…not puffed up,
Does not misbehave itself, unseemingly,…(Just think!) not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
E-61 Charity, love. What is love? Is God. How does God come to you? By a Birth. See?
E-62 Now, they all was baptized unto Moses. They all did eat of the communion. They all had the same spiritual manna that come from God. Every one of them eat the same thing.
E-63 And, today, we stand right around and hear the Word, and rejoice over It, and take the Manna and eat It, and say, “Oh, hallelujah! That’s good. Oh, I appreciate That. Yes, I was baptized in the church. I—I take and make my profession. I put my name on the book. I’m a charter member.” All that is perfectly in vain if there isn’t something that God has done. If it is…Them’s the things that you did. That’s the things that your faith produced.
E-64 But, unless God has done something to you, to new Birth! Just a moment now. Now the 4th verse.
And did all drink the same spiritual Rock: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
E-65 They all drink from the fountain, they rejoiced. Then what does that mean? The wheat and the weeds both rejoiced to get that spiritual water. We go to the church. We clap our hands with the rest of them. [Brother Branham claps his hands together three times—Ed.] We shout with the rest of them. We jump up-and-down on the floor with the rest of them. We praise God with the rest of them. We prophecy with the rest of them. We speak in tongues like the rest of them. We pray for the sick like the rest of them. But he said…Now listen, as we go just a little farther.
E-66 Now the…want to stop a minute, oh, on, “that Rock was Christ.” The Rock was Christ. It was there in literal form, as it is in spiritual form today. The manna, the food; which is the Word that come from God out of Heaven. Christ is the Word of God, and we eat the Word. See? We sit, like in the Message this morning, we listen. Our souls reach and grab that Word. We live by the Word. He said, “They all eat that same spiritual manna, and they all did drink. All drink from that same spiritual Rock, and that Rock was Christ.” Think of it.
E-67 Now what’s he going to? Put it to an end here. He is warning those Corinthians, “Be careful what you’re doing. When I come among you, one has a psalm, one has a tongue, one has a this, and one has a that, one has a prophecy, one has a revelation, one is doing this, and one is doing that.” Be careful. Don’t base your faith upon that, those things are all right. They got their place, and in the church, but don’t never base your salvation on that. If your life doesn’t tally-up to God’s Word, then it’s time for a get-right-with-God.
E-68 Notice, now. And, this Rock, this Rock was the Rock that was in the wilderness.
E-69 And I want you to notice when God called Moses, and sent him down into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel from under the yoke of Pharaoh. He said, “What is that in thy hand?”
And he said, “It’s a stick.”
E-70 And he took the stick and threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. And he, Moses, fled. Then he picked it up, and it become a stick in his hand.
E-71 And that rod, when he got into Egypt, he stretched it over Egypt, and flies come up. He stretched it, and plagues fell. It was God’s judgment. God’s judgment was in the stretching forth of the rod.
E-72 And then, notice, before that rod could really be handled. Moses put his hand in his bosom, it become leprosy.
E-73 Like every man is, to begin with, a sinner by nature. There’s no way around it. You’re born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies. You might have been dedicated on the altar of your mother’s church. You might have been sprinkled. You might have been this, that. But you are a sinner, to begin with.
E-74 Then, there is another. God said, “Put your hand back into your bosom.” Over his heart, he put his hands again, at the commission of God, where we was brought forth. First, his hand is leper. You were brought forth by God, first, a sinner; not by choice, but by nature; then you go back again. And when he come out, the hand was clean and perfect, showing that this hand, before it could wave the judgment rod, had to be a cleaned hand, before it could wave. And any minister, any teacher…
E-75 I heard something this morning that actually curdled my blood, when I turned on my radio, just before coming. No disregards; and if there’s anybody here, relation to the person, I don’t mean to hurt you. But it’s time…And God help me to always be Christian enough to put, make what black black, and white white, to be honest.
E-76 I heard someone singing, and said, “I have my testament.” And turned on and read a Scripture, and preached from the first Psalm, “Blessed is the man that sitteth not in the seat of the scornful, walketh in the way of sinners.” You know who it was? That rock-and-roll guy, Jimmy Osborn from on the radio, preaching the Gospel.
E-77 Oh, brother, if there ever was a disgrace! A person like that has got no business moving into the Word of the living God. And you take this fellow on the Renfro Valley Barn Dance, up all night in an old shindig, clapping their hands and going on in an old shindig. And the next morning, change his voice around and talk like a Christian. And, why, it’s vulgar and filthiness in the sight of God.
E-78 The hand that waves this judgment Rod must be cleansed by the Power and the resurrection of Christ. He’s got no business handling the Word of God. Even a lot of preachers trying to justify this Elvis Presley, which is nothing in the world but a modern Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot got thirty pieces of silver; Elvis Presley got a million dollars and a fleet of Cadillacs. But, he sold out. He was a Pentecostal believer, and sold out his birthrights to become a rock-and-roll, and is inspired of the devil. And I don’t pull any punches on it. No, sir. And a modern Judas Iscariot.
E-79 And, then, even the ministers trying to up-build that kind of a thing. And Elvis Presley saying, “Yeah, I trust God for all my success.” How would a living, holy God ever give success to vulgarity and a devil, demonized thing?
E-80 That’s absolutely been one of the greatest hindrance that this nation has even seen, is a guy like Elvis Presley who has sent millions of souls to hell, by his old dirty, filthy rock-and-roll stuff. Certainly. I don’t have any apology, at all. If you can believe me to be God’s prophet, remember, there is a incarnated devil. Absolutely.
E-81 And Jimmy Osborn and those has got no business with the Word of God. And neither has any man that takes the name of God in vain, in shindigs and dances with old rock-and-roll and vulgar stuff like that, to come to any pulpit and to try to take the Word of God.
E-82 That’s what’s the matter with many of these churches today, you get some of these little old boogie-woggie’s out of these places out here. A little old girl that’s out shindiging and doing all these here rock-and-roll’s, one night; and she comes to the altar, and the next night you got her up singing a special. Some of you guys take them old guitar players out of the places out yonder on a nightclub, and put him in the pulpit, preaching, in two weeks.
E-83 Brother, I tell you, he would never do it here. No, indeed. He’s got to study, to prove himself a man of God, and find out. We don’t believe in this here over-night jumping around like this. That’s what’s got the church in the condition it’s in today.
E-84 We need Truth. This Word is Truth. That’s right. The hand that sways this judgment Rod must be a clean hand. Absolutely.
E-85 That judgment hand of Moses was cleansed, and then the rod was put in it. And the rod went down and brought judgments upon Israel.
E-86 And then, in the wilderness, that beautiful type. And I must close. This beautiful type, of when there was the Rock, “and that Rock was Christ.”
E-87 And the perishing people were dying, for water, and they deserved it. They deserved to die because they had murmured. They had complained. They were not believers, at the beginning. They were nothing but intellectual believers. They…The—the supernatural had been done, and a mixed multitude had went out. They wasn’t converted from their heart.
E-88 There was only three in the bunch, that we know of; Moses, Aaron, and Caleb, Miriam.
E-89 And Miriam showed her treachery, too, when she laughed, because Moses married this Negro girl. And said, “Wasn’t there other girls to be married, and so forth? He could done it.” And God wasn’t pleased with that, and smote her with leprosy.
E-90 And her own brother screamed out, said, “Would you let your sister die in that shape?”
E-91 And God told Moses to come before Him. And he went and interceded for that, Miriam. She didn’t live long after that.
E-92 No, brother. What God does is perfect. We ain’t got no business, with our minds, putting anything to It. Just leave It the way It is. God did it; God said It; that settles it. Just take it. I don’t know how it…If I could explain it, then I’d be equal with God. I can’t explain It. I just believe It. That’s all. That’s all I’m asked to do. There’s nobody asked to explain it, because it’s beyond our intellectual, it’s beyond our intelligence. It’s God who does it, so it cannot be explained. I just accept it, by faith, and say, “It’s my private property, and I believe it.” I cannot explain it.
E-93 How this rock laying there! God had a rock, that had it stored full of water, just a little rock perhaps not no bigger than that desk. But when Moses smote this rock, there was enough water came from it to water two million people. And not only that, but as many cattle and sheep and things as they had with them.
E-94 Oh, when I see some of these artists, who paint pictures, a little—little drop falling out of a rock, and a kid standing there with a—a little bucket in his hand! Oh, it never come like that.
E-95 It come by bountiful gushers gushing out. It watered over two million people, besides their camels and all their animals. “And that Rock was Christ Jesus.” A beautiful parallel to John 3:16. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Eternal Life.”
E-96 And notice what happened. The only way that they could get that water out of that rock, the judgment rod had to strike the rock. And Moses smote the Rock, and God’s judgment struck upon the Rock. And when it did, it gave forth its waters.
E-97 The people were absolutely…God was just, in letting them die, because they had disbelieved Him. They had dishonorable. They were reprobate. They did not deserve to live. Even re-…Moses called them “rebels,” rebellions against God. And they deserved to die.
E-98 And all of us deserved death because we are rebellions against God. Elect…Notice, we all deserve dying. But, God is so merciful! He shouldn’t never thought of us. But, He’s so merciful, till He took the sins of every one of us, and struck upon His Own beloved Son, Christ; that we might not perish, but would have Eternal Life. How could we drink from that Rock, and then not be right in our heart?
E-99 But, brother, there is millions of them, this morning, a doing it. That’s exactly right. They’re trusting because they’re Baptist, or Methodist, or Pentecostal. They’re trusting because they had a little funny feeling, because they spoke with tongues, because they shouted, because they danced, because they had a healing service and God healed the sick, or something they’re trusting upon, because they had a revelation (it was true,) because they did this. Them things are all right, nothing to say against them, but that has nothing to do with your salvation, not one thing. You could pour oil out of your hands till it went by the gallon, or blood out of your face, and still mean nothing. That’s right.
E-100 Paul said, “I could speak with tongues like men and Angels, and still be lost.” Though I could have wisdom and knowledge, and could stand and explain that Bible, just to make It look…[Brother Branham quickly snaps his finger several times—Ed.]…to tie It together. That still hasn’t got nothing to do with it.
E-101 Brother, they all drank from the same Rock. “That Rock was Christ.”
E-102 The judgments was upon Christ, that you might be privileged to come and drink. It’s God’s goodness to you, that you do come drink. It’s God’s goodness to you, that you do eat from the Word. God’s goodness to you, that He permitted you to be baptized. God’s goodness to you, to make you a citizen, to give you health, to set you in the church this morning. It’s God’s goodness. That’s all God’s goodness.
E-103 But what about your goodness back to God? Are you willing to submit everything, every thought, every action, everything unto Him? That’s what—that’s what God has done for you. What will you do for Him?
E-104 Notice, let’s just read a couple more verses. And I—I’ll close, so the pastor can get to his word. Now look. “And the same Rock was Christ.” Now the 5th verse.
But with many of them God was not…pleased:…
E-105 See? He permitted them to be baptized. He permitted them to eat the Word and believe It. He permitted them to get spiritual blessing. He permitted them to drink from the spiritual Rock. All that God did, by His grace, but, yet, God was not pleased with them. Look.
…for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
E-106 After all these experiences, after all of our great healing services we’ve seen, after all the great miracles we’ve seen performed, after all the great feelings that we’ve had, of shouting and praising God, drinking from that Rock, all the good sermons that we have enjoyed, and yet be overthrown. All over! [Brother Branham knocks on the pulpit once—Ed.] “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I didn’t even know you.”
E-107 Check up! We got a revival coming. I know this is hard. But, brother, any father that won’t correct his children is not a good dad. That’s right. “Overthrown.”
Now these things were our examples,…
E-108 Paul speaking. Do you believe it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] It was an example. All right.
…to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
E-109 Could you imagine a man standing, that’s a jockey, record spinner, and playing old dirty rock-and-roll’s, and, “Something happened, and I got all shook up,” and all those kinds of dirty old songs that Elvis Presley and these guys play, and then come back and impersonate preaching the Gospel? Think of it! [Brother Branham knocked on the pulpit ten times—Ed.]
E-110 Could you imagine a man and woman sitting out, and the woman laying out in the back yard, and little old dirty-looking, half-clothes on, throwing herself before men, and then come right back around and drink from this spiritual Rock, and shout and carry on?
E-111 There’s a great doctrine among the Pentecostal people, of liberation of women. They’re wearing great, long earrings, and—and doing all kinds of dressings.
E-112 And a young fellow sat in front of my house, a few days ago, in a little truck, crying, that his wife…Pentecostal, speaks with tongues, gives prophecy. Sure. And say, “All the whole church wears shorts.” And he… “She goes out on the street, at eight and nine o’clock at night, picking up little cigarette stumps that others has throwed away, and smoking. And still shouting, praising the Lord, and giving prophecy.”
E-113 I stood the other day in a church, where a great man of God, that I have great respect for. And he was exposing this, after one of the men, who is one of the head of it, goes out. And—and he has all this blood running out of their hands and things. And I’ve become hoarse, from east, from west, trying to condemn that thing, on the grounds of the Bible. When, it’s not of God.
E-114 Any blood that would come from Christ would be corporal Blood, then His corporal Body is here, then the second Coming is over. Jesus said, “Believe it not, when they say, ‘Lo, He’s in the desert.’ Believe it not, when, ‘He’s here.’ Believe it not. For there will be false Christs arise, and false prophets, and they’ll show signs and wonders, insomuch it deceive the very elect.” And I’ve screamed it from the east to the west.
E-115 And finally, on the West Coast, an old Dr. Canada, who is a bosom friend of mine, stood up. And another man, that was a manager of a certain man that started this, one of these moves, come up there and give a great big…Said, “Pure oil and holy blood. Our blood will be shown today.” And they packed the place out. And he showed that how, under his belt, he had two needles sticking down.
E-116 Any one knows you can pluck this finger, and it won’t bleed unless you milk it or squeeze it. You stick a hole in it, it won’t do it, because the veins are so far away from there. And when he did it, he showed how he done it.
E-117 He had oil back here, laid his hands on it. Then he come up and said, “See my hand, it’s perfectly normal.” Then he said, “Glory to God! Hallelujah!” And he milked his hands down like that. Sure, there was blood squeezed from his fingers. While everybody was shouting, he wiped his head, and there was a cross. When, the very man that was with the man that did it, there it was, exposed right out there before the audience, and with…went in his pocket, to show oils and stuff.
E-118 One put a heart on the wall, and said, “This wall is breathing the Blood of Jesus. That’s the heart of Jesus.” A big old Texan walked in, wasn’t a scared. Said, “If anybody touched that, they would die.” They had ropes. All have got the pictures of it and everything, there, where this wall would bleed, breathing blood out of a heart. And this fellow walks in and slips into the church, him and his wife, washed the paint off of the wall, and sit back out there and waited. They come in. The pastor said, “Well, you know, Jesus has been in here and took that off.”
E-119 He said, “Jesus had nothing to do with it. I done it, myself.” That’s right.
E-120 What’s happened? It’s because people are unstabled, on the Word of the living God. Don’t the Bible say, “They’d go from the east, from the west, from the north, and the south. There would be a famine, not for bread and water alone, but for hearing of the Word of God”? What a day that we’re living in!
E-121 And we see now that all these great denominational churches are all leaguing themselves together, and it’s got to a place that you have to belong to this league of churches before you can even have a radio. You’re gone from radio. Boy, don’t you never worry about that. And the rest of them are, too, and all the television programs. You’ll have to belong to the league of churches before you can do it. And when you do that, you’re forming nothing in the world but the mark of the beast, of the Bible. There you are. See how it’s all leagued together?
E-122 Oh, thanks be to God, there is truly a living God. There is truly a true Lord. There is truly a true Word. There is truly a true healing. There is truly of all these things. But, brother, don’t you never base your faith upon some little sensation, upon a church order, upon taking communion, upon eating from the spiritual Rock.
E-123 You say, “I know this, brother. I have tasted God.” That may be just exactly true. But what kind of a place has it fallen in? That’s the next thing. What kind of a bucket did it come into? “Just and unjust.” Now listen.
Now these…were examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
E-124 What was their lust? Now, listen, I want to get just a little bit further, if you’ll excuse me.
Neither be ye idolaters,…
E-125 Oh, you say, “I thank God, I’m not an idolater.” Wait just a minute. Let’s examine it by the Word. You say, “I wouldn’t worship an idol.” That doesn’t altogether mean you worship an idol. You just have to be idle, doing nothing. Go to church, “Yeah, that’s all right.” Go back home, do nothing about It.
E-126 Brother, a real born-again man or woman can’t stand still. There is Something in them. They’ve got to testify. They got to do something. They are bound to do something. They can’t hold their peace. Listen.
Neither be ye idolaters, as (they) were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
E-127 What’s Paul taking about? Examples. They were baptized into the church. They absolutely had a correct baptism. Once; three times forward; backward; in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost; Jesus only; whatever it was. They had a correct baptism. They were baptized right. We fuss and stew, and argue about little things like that. What good does it do? You’re leaving off the main principle. Our churches have separated, over baptism. Certainly.
E-128 Then you say, “Oh, hallelujah! They haven’t got the spiritual blessing we have. They’re so cold, formal. Glory to God, I eat the real Manna of God. I know It’s Truth.” That’s exactly the truth, but what difference does that make? You say, “Brother, I…The—the Holy Ghost really falls in our church.” That’s good, but what difference does it make to you, if you’re not the right kind of a vessel It’s falling in? Remember.
E-129 Oh, you say, “I’m sincere.” So were they. They left their homes and went out, even put their neck out, for death to follow. They did a lot more than what we have to do. That didn’t have one thing to do with it. Just think.
E-130 The Bible said, “In vain do they worship Me. In vain do they worship Me.” Absolutely true worship, in vain. Where did it begin at? Plumb from the garden of Eden, Cain. He worshiped God just the same as Abel did, but in vain he worshiped Him. Yes, sir. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man.”
E-131 You say, “Well, why is it? Now I’ve repented. Why is it I’m not all right? I repented. I think I’m just as good as anybody else. I go to church. I been baptized. I get the blessings of God. I love a good sermon. I love the Word of God. I like to read It. And I get spiritual blessings, too. And, hallelujah, I can prophecy. I can speak with tongues. I’ve done all the things, and you mean to say ‘it’s in vain’?”
E-132 Now, I’m not saying it’s in vain, but it’s possible that it could be in vain. That’s right. It depends on what you are, in there, that’s right, and what you are that’s receiving this. If you’re not born again, if there’s not actually something in you, then it’s in vain. All the blessings, I have not to do. Now just one more.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
E-133 “Commit fornication,” that’s spiritual fornications. If we had time…The Sunday school is over. Spiritual fornication!
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them…murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
E-134 Murmuring, lusting, mixing the world with your religion, going out…God loves purity, real pure.
E-135 This morning, I was talking. I thought, “What…” Now, in closing, I thought this. “What is any sweeter in a man’s life? What is any sweeter than to come home, when he’s tired and weary, with his little bucket in his hand, from working all day, or plowing, or whatever he might be, to walk in and have a lovely wife to meet him at the door? Sit down on his lap a minute, and brush his brow a little, and kiss him on the cheek, and put her arms around him, and say, “Dear, I—I know you’re tired, and you’ve worked so hard.” Give him consolation.
E-136 How that he knows that that arm, is around him, is absolutely his. It’s his. Never is it around any other man or any other desire. The kiss that’s on his cheek is from real, pure, holy heart that just loves him, and him alone. How it makes you…I know, makes you stick your chest out, say, “Oh, I’m not so tired, after all.” See? That’s it. It does something to you.
E-137 I want to tell you something. But what if that kiss is placed on his cheek and he hasn’t confidence? It might have been on some other man’s cheek. What if them arms around him has embraced everybody, and still desiring to do the same? It won’t mean very much. There’s not much held there. Why?
E-138 Now, in the beginning, they were one. God, when He made man, He made him a dual person, both male and female. He separated him, in flesh; and put him here on earth, in flesh, and the female part was still in spirit.
E-139 Look, friend, God was so careful. Oh, how this…Don’t let it leave you. God never got a handful of dust and made an Eve; she had been a different creation. And she’s not a creation. She’s a by-product. And God goes over in the heart of Adam, this rib, right out from under his heart, and takes a rib and makes a wife. And the very part of Adam’s spirit was in the woman, and they two are one; soul, body, spirit, they are one. They are perfect oneness. A real woman…And a real husband, a real wife, they are one, together.
E-140 What is it a type of? Christ, from out of His bosom! Not a by-product, not a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Pentecostal hatch-up. No, sir. But out of His own heart, He took a Sweetheart that’s as pure and loyal as She can be. She’s as loyal as a lily. Look at…
E-141 Look back there at Solomon speaking, “Come, my love, let us walk in the pomegranates. Let us take our fill of love.” And when the real believer opens his arms with a pure heart, and he holds up to Christ, that affection of that lover of Christ goes into his bosom. It’s His Wife, just like the husband does to a real wife.
E-142 What type of person should we be? Are we playing the harlot, with Christ? Are we depending on some little something, and running after the world and the things of the world, and worldly-minded, and not that real love and devotion that we should have? Could you imagine? My!
E-143 Could you imagine your wife, brother, coming and sitting on your lap with her little freckly frills and her little underskirts and things of lace, and her little hair all done up, and prickled up, and everything like that? Put her arm around you, say, “Oh, John, I just love you.” [Brother Branham makes several kissing sounds—Ed.] “I love you.” And you know right then that there’s something wrong. You haven’t the confidence in her, no matter how pretty she looks and how well she is fixed. You, if you don’t have that perfect confidence in her, there’s something wrong. It doesn’t—it doesn’t satisfy that longing that a man would have for his wife.
E-144 And now just think of yourself fooling with the world and tangling with the world, and get down on your knees, say, “O Lord Jesus, I love You.” It’s a burning, Judas, hypocrite kiss.” That’s right. Think of these things. There’s a revival coming up now. See?
E-145 Oh, you might have the wedding ring on, that’s right, but you’re not a wife. Oh, you might be a woman. You might be the lady of the house, but you’re not a wife if you act like that.
E-146 And you’re not a real Christian, you’re not a real genuine product for Christ, if you don’t love Him in everything that you’ve got within you.
E-147 I don’t care whether you look pretty, whether you don’t, you love Him and you express yourself. That’s when you two become one; that’s when Christ and His Church. Not by denomination, not by baptism, not by sensations; not by nothing but by a real love you were bought, from the bosom of God, when He was wounded there and He bought you. And your love, and your trueness, and your loyalty, proves what you are. See what I mean? Whether you’re all freckled up, or whether you…
E-148 I don’t care if my wife wouldn’t never comb her hair, if she didn’t wear a pretty dress, or never…There, she’d be my sweetheart. I admire her because her loyalty, her virtue. What she is, that’s what she is.
E-149 And by a Christian men and women, that’s what we are in the sight of God. It’s not because that we can go to the best church, or we can dress best, or we can get in this neighborhood, or we can do this, or we can ride in this, or we can do this, that. That doesn’t have one thing to do with it. It’s the virtue of our loyalty and our love to Christ. And that’s the Birth. That’s the thing that comes.
E-150 “And though I speak with tongue of men and Angels; I am nothing. Though I feed the poor; though I give my goods; though I do this, and do that, and do that; I am nothing.” What does Christ care about what all you can do, and what all you can do like that, if that real, genuine love and loyalty isn’t there? Think of it, won’t you?
E-151 This is Sunday school, and, remember, that’s a lesson to you. Be, in your heart, let Christ have first place, like the real woman would to her husband. No other arms could touch her, nowhere. No other kiss, no matter how charming it looks, and she’d turn her head. She has got one set love, and that’s for her husband. That’s right. No matter how handsome the man might be, and how polished and slick his hair might look, and how he might hold hisself correct. No, sir. Not one thing. She loves that husband, and that’s him alone does she love. She forfeits all of her virtues and all of her kisses. All of her lovings and everything is to her husband, and him alone. See what I mean?
E-152 And you forfeit everything of the world, no matter how good it looks, how pretty it looks, and how fascinating it looks. Your virtue is what you’re counted by.
E-153 Then you say, “Oh, hallelujah! I—I know I got it, because I did this. Hallelujah!” Enough temper to fight a buzz saw.
Let me tell you, brother, it takes virtue that Christ respects.
E-154 “Though I speak with tongues as men and Angels; though I pour forth blood out of both hands; though I shout and dance, in the Spirit; though I eat the Word of God, and love It; though I drink from the same spiritual Rock that the rest of them does; though I clap my hands, just as loud as the rest.” [Brother Branham clapped his hands together two times—Ed.] “Though I can cry crocodile tears; though I can do all this! But if that real, genuine, real Christian virtue isn’t there to Christ, you become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Paul was warning his church of this, the Corinthian church, which, it was all mixed up in all kinds of fantastics.
E-155 I’m warning you, friends. Remember, I’ll have to answer for you there at the Day of Judgment, and your blood won’t be upon me. No matter how loyal you are to anything else, be loyal to Christ. Remember that, as we pray.
E-156 Blessed Heavenly Father, in this present estate, we come now and confessing all of our wrongs. Oh, be Thou merciful, merciful God. And we pray that You will look down into our hearts. And in this hour while we are waiting, with our heads bowed to the dust, look into the heart of the old man, into the heart of the elderly women, into the heart of the middle-aged, and the young, even the little children. And may we examine ourself.
E-157 We are coming into that holy week that we celebrate as Good Friday and Easter, the resurrection. Though this year we might have been loyal to church, though we might have taken the communion, though we might have shouted, we might have done many things, but, O God, look down into my heart. I talk for myself. Look into my heart and into the heart of this people here this morning, and examine us, Lord. If there be something that takes the place of Christ, O God, take it away. If it’s laziness, just insufficiency, if it’s whatever it might be, I don’t know. But, God, take it from us. Oh, we don’t want to be overthrown right here at the time of the battle, overthrowed by God and be an enemy to Him.
E-158 O God, look into our hearts. Examine us by Thy Holy Spirit, and let us see, this morning, if there’s any evil thing in us. If there is, take it away, Father. We now lay it on the altar, to walk away and leave it there. If it’s idleness, if it’s temper, if it’s indifference, if it’s neglecting, if it’s whatever it may be, if it’s hatred, if it’s malice, if it’s strife, if it’s whatever it may be, O God, take it from us, today.
E-159 And at this coming revival, may we be just so full of Your charm, Lord, until many will come in and be saved, the little community here, where we tried so hard. The first revival now in ten years, that I’ve held. Now, I pray that You will give us that real, real spirit in our hearts.
E-160 And may it anchor there for Eternity. Grant it, Lord. Make us to examine ourselves, we married people, by the way we treat our wives, how true we are, or how true our wives is to us. And may we just get in our hearts, this morning, how we would think if something like that happened in our home. And then may we turn our affections towards You, and say, “O God, be merciful to me.”
E-161 Oh, if—if the wife would, just about every once a month, just come by and put her hand on yours, and say, “Dear, I love you,” and walk on, oh, how it would seem she was neglecting me, how it would seem that something was wrong. And God, when maybe once a month, or once when we go to church, we offer a little prayer. Oh, You want our love, our—our—our communion, all the time, and our thoughts and our intents of our heart will be stayed on Thee. Grant it, Lord.
E-162 Oh, keep our hearts so set on Thee, that the things of the world will become blind and so indifferent. Grant it, Lord. Hear us now, and bless us in the further part of these services. We ask in Christ’s Name. Amen.
E-163 Now, the Lord bless you, real good. And I…Sorry I taken up a few extra minutes there after Sunday school was dismissed. And I pray that God will bless you. I didn’t say these things; this is out of God’s Word. They were examples to us. They’re examples. And now, look, friend.
E-164 How would you feel if you knowed the wife that was kissing you was a betrayer? Think of it. Study it a little while. What would you think?
E-165 Now when you come to God, and a betrayer? Don’t do that. Let’s be real. You don’t have to take a sensation. You don’t have to take something different, when the whole skies are full of the real genuine love of God. Why take a substitute when we could get the real? It’s for you. Now may the Lord bless you, as I turn the service to our pastor.
E-166 And don’t forget this week, now, the little revival is for the community and the little round-about towns here. You get on your phone, call someone, tell them to come out. We’ll have the altar calls, and expect a good time, this week, in the Lord.
E-167 The Lord bless you till I see you this next coming Wednesday night.