E-1 Dear God, the great and mighty God, Who formed all things by the power of His Spirit, and has brought Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, Who freely died for we sinners, the Just for the unjust, to reconcile us back into this marvelous fellowship that we have again with God. As we are taught in the blessed Word, that we had fellowship with Him before the foundation of the world, when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, way back before the foundation of the world. How do we know that that wasn't at the same time that the Lamb was slain; that when God in His great thinking seen us shouting and rejoicing in our salvation through Jesus?
E-2 And tonight we're only got a foretaste of that great glory Divine which shall be revealed at His second coming. All sickness and sorrow will be done away with, then we'll have a body like His Own glorious body, for we shall see Him as He is. Here as we look at our hands a withering, our hair's turning gray, and shoulders stooping; we're aware that we are mortals and headed towards the dust from which our heads are bowed now, and where we come from. But, Lord God, just as sure as You are God, You made a promise that we'd be raised up again in the last days, and we believe it.
E-3 Solemnly we stand with our faith tonight in Thy Presence, coming with boldness because that Jesus bid us to do it. Not upon any good thing that we have done, for we've done nothing right; but we come humbly, professing that we own this treasure because of His grace that's been 'lotted to us. Therefore, we come asking that You'll bless us tonight in the bringing forth of the Word. For it is written that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
And let the mouth of God be spoken tonight. Let the words come forth, and may It go deep into the hearts of we, the listeners, and be filled with Thy Spirit and Thy Presence. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-4 To--today and yesterday--last night, rather, and today we have been speaking on the subject, first to head it up, "Why We Are Not a Denomination," and we have made it rather strong why we're not a denomination, and why we do not believe in denominations, because we find it in the Bible that denominations was never ordained of God. It was ordained of the devil. And proved it by the Bible. And how that through denominations brings forth error. Now, we're saying this to correct and to bring this tabernacle into a fellowship around the blessed Word of God. That our hopes was not built in what denominations says, or what any man says, it's built upon what the Lord God has said. That's the only way we can ever be corrected right.
E-5 And this morning I had five (I believe) different articles that's come out through denomination that's absolutely not spoke of in the Bible, that the Protestant churches are bowing down to and teaching for doctrine the same thing that the old mother prostitute Catholic church preaches. And come out into the Protestant church, and we bow to the same thing, which is contrary to anywhere in God's Word.
E-6 The first denominational church... We looked it up this afternoon in the "Nicene Fathers," history of the Nicene church. After the death of the apostles, there what come the Nicene fathers, and they went on for several years (three hundred and twenty-five years) finally came to--to Nicaea, France, where they had the--the great Nicene council. And in there they formed these dogmas that the Catholic church has now, and also that's handed down to the Protestants.
E-7 And as I said it in--in the teaching this morning, each one of those church ages on up to that--to that Thessalonica church age, the fifteen hundred years of dark ages, there was not one time but what He said, "You still have My name." And on this other side, they wasn't in Christ anymore that come out in a denominational name: Catholic, Luther, Wesley, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, on down. But just before the closing of the age He said, "I've set before you an open door." See? And that's the age that we believe we are in right now, the open door age, between the last going out of the Laodicean church.
E-10 And it's exactly three hundred and twenty-five years to the Laodicean council. And in there they adopted these forms such as sprinkling, pouring, and false baptisms, false holy spirits, all these other things. They adopted it. And then when Luther, being a priest, and come out of the Catholic church, brought these things with it. And out of there, come Zwingli. Out of Zwingli, come Calvin. Out of Calvin, come Wesley, out, oh, on down. And they just kept bringing these dogmas down. And how can God lead His church, when they're following roads that He never even brought out for them to be led on?
E-12 And remember, in Revelations 17 we found a woman... (Now, these words are plain. They're written in the Bible, so I guess I can say them.) It said this woman was a whore. That means that she was a ill-famed woman, that she's supposed to be married to a husband and committed fornications with the world. And she had a... She was a mother of harlots. Therefore she had daughters. (And we have geographically drawed that.) Being in--at there myself, seeing it in the Scripture, seeing her doctrines, and everything, I believe the Lord has perfectly laid it on the line that that can't be nothing else but the Catholic church. It's the only way it can be. And what did she give birth to? The Protestant churches. Exactly she did.
And she had in her hand a cup of the wine of her fornications, and she was giving it to the kings of the earth, and she was the ruler over all the earth, spiritually speaking. That's exactly right. There's not another...
E-14 Look at... we could go back to Daniel and get the image. Look at the image: the head of gold, the Babylonian kingdom; brass, or silver, Medes-o-Persia; brass, Alexander the Great, and so forth (the Grecian kingdom); then the Roman empires, eastern and western Rome, the two feet. And notice in these ten kingdoms, which exactly comes with those ten horns that we was speaking of this morning. In each one of those ten kingdoms that was to rise, there was iron and clay mixed together. And that iron come from the legs which was Rome, and there's a streak of Romanism mixed in every nation there is under heaven through the Catholic church. That's exactly right. And they would not mix anywhere, and they'd intermarry among one another. The Bible said they would, and look at them today.
E-16 Your boy goes with a Catholic girl. When they go to get married, they have to promise to raise the children Catholic (See?), vice versa. See, it's to break the power of the other. But what is it? The Bible claims the whole thing's a prostitute. Now, what are you going to do? That's right. And how the sins of the people would be visited...
We went back in Deuteronomy and showed that a illegitimate child, bastard child, could not even enter the congregation of the Lord for fourteen generations. That was under the law, and Christ come to magnify the law. How much more is it now?
E-18 And what's happening to these... What's the matter with these little flappers on the street today, these little cigarette-sucking women, and short wearing, bobbed-haired flappers, and so forth? What's the matter with them? It's 'cause their mammy acted like that. It's visit the iniquity from one generation to the other. That's what it is. And what have we got? We've got to a place it's a conglomeration of nothing but messy sin.
E-19 That's the reason God has raised up Russia yonder with an atomic bomb to wipe her off like the antediluvian flood was, when He raised the clouds. Sure He has, and the Bible says so. Russia, the atheiotic country that they are (atheistic), has absolutely playing just exactly in the hands of Almighty God. Just as King Nebuchadnezzar was to destroy Israel because they failed to walk with God, Russia's raising right up to avenge the saints of the Catholic church of the blood that she's shed of the saints. The Bible said so. It's going to take the whole thing.
E-20 So look here, if their mother was a chorus girl, and... Their grandmother, and her mother was a flapper, what's she today? A rock-and-roll striptease. What's her children going to be? And you say, "Does God do that?" Yes, sir. God visits the iniquity of the children, the generation, even to fourteen generations. And if Christ come to magnify it, we'd say a hundred generations or five-hundred generations. Why, He said, "Them of old... You've heard them say, them of old times, 'Thou shalt not kill. I say you, who's ever angry with his brother without a cause has killed already.' You've heard them said, them of old times, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' But I say that who looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already." He made it. What is magnify? Make it many times bigger. And if under the law it was fourteen generations, how long will it take the same thing today?
E-22 And young man and middle-age man, and married man have no more respect for their marriage vows. Why, they just take women and live with them anywhere, and just like common dogs. A dog's got better respects and better morals than some people have. I know that's awful strong, but that's right. Why?
And the churches go right along, and say nothing about it. Why? They're acting just like their mammy does. The church has inherited it. 'Cause the church... And this Protestant church come out of the Catholic church, the sins of the Catholic church is visited upon the Protestants. Certainly it is. So pot can't call kettle dirty. That's exactly true.
E-24 Now, we find out and in the Scripture... We found out... And I never seen a note on the table here tonight. I said show me one place where God ever ordained a denomination. Show me one place where God ever ordained a woman preacher. Show me one place where God ever ordained sprinkling. Show me one place where God ever ordained pouring. Show me one place where God ever had anybody baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Find those things. And yet we constantly do them. It's just right down in the church.
E-25 Now, I said to you, the way--the reason we couldn't be Baptists, because we believe in being baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no one ever in the Bible baptized any other way. You show me one place where one person was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I'll raise my hands and say I'm a false prophet.
And if the Bible says you must be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, that means you must do it that way. Paul commanded them to be baptized over. No matter how they'd been baptized, they had to come and be baptized again. They was baptized by the same man that baptized Jesus Christ: John the Baptist. He said, "That won't work no more; you got to come be baptized again." And they had to do it before they received the Holy Ghost. It was God's program.
I might go just a little deeper than that tonight. Why? Jesus keeps His Word. Do you believe that? Now, pretty near all of you was here this morning, but I want to lay a little more on that.
E-28 Why would Paul commiss--command that after it'd been done? Paul said, "Even if a angel from heaven come and preached anything else, let him be accursed." Now, you say, "We got new light on it." No, you haven't. That's what the devil come to Eve with: some new light. Don't need no new light. You need to walk in the light that God's already put here; that's all.
E-30 Now, watch this. Just how simple. When they come down from Mount Transfiguration, Jesus said to His disciples, "Who does man say I, the Son of man, am?"
One said, "You're Moses, or Elias, one of the prophets."
He said, "Who do you say?"
He said... Peter said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
He said, "Blessed art thou Simon, the son of Jonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you." See, it doesn't come through seminaries. It doesn't come through denominations. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. You never learned it through any school of theology. But My Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you. And upon this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it": a spiritual revelation of Who He is.
Notice, "And I say that thou art Peter, and I'll give unto thee the keys to the Kingdom. And whatever you bind on earth, I'll bind it in heaven; whatever you loose on earth, I'll loose it in heaven." Now, He had to keep His Word or He wasn't God.
E-33 Now, and when He did that, a few days later He was crucified, rose, ascended up into heaven, and Peter opened the Gospel on the day of Pentecost. Did he do it? Certainly, he did.
Now, watch. When he was... They was all mocking at them, because they were filled with the Spirit. They were called heretics, holy-rollers, or some kind of a name like that. And they even laughed and said, "These are full of new wine."
And Peter standing up in the midst of them, lifted up his voice and he said, "Men and brethren, hear my voice. Hear my words and hearken unto me. These are not drunk like you suppose they are. This is just the third hour of the day, but this is that which is spoken of by the prophet of Joel. 'And it shall come to pass in the last days that I'll pour out of my spirit...'" and what He would do upon His sons, and His daughters, His handsmaids, and so forth in the day.
E-36 And when they begin to hear this, they were cut at their heart; for they heard a man that didn't know his abc's, yet they had to take notice to him, knowed he had something inside of him burning him up: the Holy Spirit. Stop him? Why, it'd be like trying to put a fire out on a dry building on a windy day. You couldn't do it. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. And what did he do now?
They said, "Men and brethren, what can we do to be saved?" Now, watch out Peter. You have the keys to the Kingdom. See?
Now, when Jesus rose on the third day, He did not have the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Did you know that? He said, "I got the keys to death and hell," but not to the Kingdom, because they had been given to Peter.
E-40 Now, He said, "Peter, whatever you loose on earth, I'll loose it in heaven. What you bind on earth, I'll bind it in heaven." Now, here he stands with the keys to open up this blessed thing to the world. And here he's got the keys in his hand, and they're asking, "What can we do to be saved?" Now, no matter what the apostle said to do, God has to recognize it in heaven if He give him that authority.
Now, Peter said, "Repent, everyone 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." Is that right? And that's the reason the keys turned in heaven to any other name, any other way, any other--any other form... It turned on earth, and it turned in heaven; or Jesus didn't keep His Word to Peter. And every place in the Bible they was baptized after that, they were baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. And those who were baptized before that had to come and be baptized over again in the Name of Jesus Christ to get the Holy Ghost. That's the correct. It still runs the same.
E-43 So if we are teaching baptism in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it's false prophecy. Now, I don't want to hurt you, but I got to pin this down so this church will know what... We're not here as a bunch of illiterate crack pots; we know where we are standing in the Word of God. See, we know... I challenge anybody to show me one place where anybody was ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
Now, are you going to listen to false prophecy or the truth? Search the Scriptures. It's up to you. Show me where one person in the Bible, where a church was ever ordained a denomination in the--in the Bible. Show me in the Bible where they ever ordained a woman preacher. Show me in the Bible where all these things that we been talking about ever was ordained in the Bible. They're not there. Tell me one place.
E-45 You go to a denomination... Well, when the Methodists raised up, they preached sanctification. That's good. But when they did that, they made a denomination, and that settled it. That's the reason the Bible said, "You've got a name."
You say, "I'm a Christian."
"Well, what denomination do you belong to?"
You say, "A Methodist." Why, you're a prostitute then.
"I'm a Baptist.": prostitute. "Pentecostal..." You're a prostitute. You belong to that church. You should belong to Christ. Got no business saying "Methodist," "Baptist." If you're a Christian, you're a Christian at heart.
E-48 Every one of those denominations can produce children, children of God. That's right. But when you think you're going to heaven just 'cause you're a Methodist or Baptist, you're wrong. And that's the reason we stay out of that thing. Why can't the Baptists see? I asked a Methodist man here writing a thesis just not long ago. He said, "The only thing we got against you, you hang around the Pentecostals."
I said, "Who is we?"
"We Methodists."
I said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll come to your city and you let the Methodists sponsor it."
"Oh," he said, "of course we couldn't do that."
I said, "Now, that's what I thought. I stay with the Pentecostal because the Pentecostal believes it. That's right. They rally around it. They're the ones drawing the benefits of it." How many read that article in "Life" Magazine just recently about the Pentecostal church? That's one of the greatest phenomenas in this age. They got more converts in one year than all the rest of the churches put together. Why? Even in their error, God's a moving them on because they believe the truth and are marching on with it. That's the truth.
E-53 But what are we doing now? See? That's the reason we not denomination. And just as sure as Pentecostal denominate and... Way back yonder when the Holy Ghost first poured out on the Pentecostal church forty years ago, and they begin to speak with tongues, one of the gifts... That was the smallest of the gifts. That's the least of the gifts according to St. Paul (just speaking with tongues). And as soon as it fell, "Oh," they say, "we got it now." And they made a denomination, the General Council, which is now the Assemblies of God. "Oh, nobody's got it 'less you speak with tongues." God just moves right on away from them, let them set there. Certainly. Yes, sir.
E-55 Along come the Oneness, and found out the baptism in Jesus' Name. They said, "Oh, we got it." They organized. What'd they do? God just moved right out and left him setting there. It's for, "Whosoever will, let him come."
See, the Oneness can't go to the Assemblies, and the Assemblies can't go to the Oneness. I've talked to some of the best men they got. Mr. Goth and Dr. Pope, and many men, the who are great men in the... I set down with them and I said, "How can you teach that initial evidence as a scholar?"
"Well," said, "Brother Branham," one, two, or three of them was real honest, said, "we know that's wrong. But what can we do? If we say anything about it now, why, it'll interrupt the whole program." Sure, and you won't be the bishop anymore, the general overseer. That's the idea.
E-58 Brother, I'd rather have me a little mission on the corner or preach under a pine tree, and have the truth. Certainly. And know that you are telling the truth. Man wants the truth, and you're obligated as a Christian to bear forth the record of truth. God's going to hold you responsible for it. Stand on these things. If you haven't been baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, and you haven't done these things, and you haven't received the Holy Ghost...
You say, "Oh, I spoke with tongues." That don't mean you got the Holy Ghost. I've seen witches, wizards, demons, and everything else speak in tongues. Certainly. They ain't got the Holy Ghost, and you know that. Drink blood out of a human skull, and dance, call on the devil, and speak in tongues... Certainly. They ain't got the Holy Ghost. So 'cause you spoke with tongues, that don't mean you got It. The only way you know you got It, when your spirit bears record with His Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit follow you: love, faith, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness. That's when you know you got the Holy Ghost. It bears record of Itself.
E-63 Now, when you're trying to rest upon because you belong to the Assemblies, or to the Baptists, or to the Presbyterians, you see what you are doing? You're taking on a name of a prostitute. That's exactly right. Get out of that thing. Come away from it. I don't mean out of your church or anything; you do what you want to about that; but come away from laying ahold, "I'm Presbyterian. We don't believe in the days of miracles." Why don't you believe it? The Bible teaches it. "Oh, I belong to the Church of Christ. They say the days of miracles is past." They are false prophets. I can show you where Jesus Christ give power to the church to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cast out devils. I challenge any man to show me a Scripture in the Bible where He took it away from the church.
What took it away? Your own dogma, right, not God's Word. The Holy Spirit's still getting the job done, going right on just the same, and He will forever. That's the reason we're not a denomination, "having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof. From such turn away." We don't believe in that stuff.
E-66 Now, how did it ever start? We'll have to hurry and get to it just as quick as possible now, how it ever started. Now, we got plenty of Scriptures wrote out here about the Holy Ghost.
And another thing, we made a challenge last night on the perseverance of the saints, not in the way the Baptists believe it. No, sir. I sure different with the Baptists and their idea of their theory of Calvinism. I certainly disagree with the Presbyterian. I disagree with the Methodists upon their way of Arminian doctrine. Yes, sir, but they both got a truth; but you got to bring it back here where it is the truth. When you run out there, you run wild with it. Certainly.
E-68 Baptists come in, baptize a couple over here in immersing. The preacher baptizes, nine out of ten smoke cigarettes, go back out and stand out there and play cards, bunco all night, run around, crooked business deals. And all the women wearing shorts out here, running around in the streets, and bobbing their hair, and--and smoking, and talking, and little stitch and sew parties, and telling dirty jokes. You call that Christianity? And you think you got eternal security? You're going to hell like that. You wouldn't enjoy yourself in heaven in any manner. Certainly not. That's not eternal security.
But when a man is born again of the Holy Ghost... And you Pentecostal, 'cause you jumped up and down, spoke in tongues, and run up-and-down the aisle, that don't mean you got eternal security. Don't you ever get that in your head. No, sir, it certainly doesn't. Because you know that your own--your own life bears you record that you're not right with God. That's right. You're not right. That's not eternal security yet.
E-70 But I want to ask you something. Is there an eternal security? The Bible says so. The Bible said that our names were put on the Lamb's Book of Life before the world ever begin. As I said this morning, I say it again: The man who wrote the song, "There Was a New Name Written Down In Glory Tonight and It's Mine," his idea was all right, but he was wrong Scripturally. Your name wasn't put on the night you got saved. Your name, according to the Bible, according to Revelations 13, 17, and so forth, was put on there before the world ever begin; and Jesus Christ was slain before the foundation of the world.
E-73 How could God, Who is infinite... How could an infinite God, knowing the end from the beginning, how could He ever permit sin to come on earth, if it wasn't for a reason?
Just to back up now some things that we have said. What was first, the Saviour or sinner? Saviour, sure. Which is more powerful, a Saviour or sinner? If a Saviour can take away the sin, He's more powerful.
Well, why did He let sin happen in the first place? To show that He was a Saviour.
Which is the most powerful, a Healer or a sickness? A Healer. Then why did He let sickness come? To show that He was a Healer. (I feel religious right now. Yes, sir.) Oh, my, that's His attributes. That's why He lets trouble come. That's why He lets sorrow come: to show that He is joy. Sure, it is. That's why we got a night: to prove there is a day. That's why we got temper: to show there is peace. Sure, it--it's pro and con. Oh, He's wonderful.
E-76 Now, how did it start? (We'll get straight to it just as quick as we can, so I won't keep you all night.) Now, there's got to be a beginning of all things. I want to ask you something. Now, this may be... You just tuck this over in your vest pocket. You don't have to put this over with the regular dish. But listen to this. If you are an eternal creature, then you never had a beginning or never can have an end. For "eternal" comes from the Word which has no beginning or no end. Don't you remember, I said this morning that how that Melchisedec, when He met Abraham coming from the slaughter of the kings, and the Bible said in Hebrews 7 that--that Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec when he was in the loins of his father Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; Isaac begot Jacob; Jacob begot Levi. That was father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. And while Levi was in the loins of his great-grandfather, the Bible gives him credit for paying tithes to Melchisedec. Talk about eternal... My, my.
E-80 He never said he done it in the shadow, he potentially done it, the Bible said he paid tithes. Amen. Then if we come through the right seed, when Paul preached the Gospel I was there and you were there. We're going to get into that just in a minute, plumb up to our ears. Notice, that's what the Scriptures claims to us. It even went way back.
Just think, Levi; then Jacob, his father; then Isaac, his father; then Abraham, his father, his great-grandfather. When Levi was in the loins of his great-grandfather, he paid tithes to Melchisedec.
E-82 I want to ask you, "Who is this Job 27, there...?... when he said, 'Where was you when I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy?'" Who were those sons of God that was shouting for joy? Jesus told them that, "I had joy with you before the foundation of the world." We're not creatures of time; we're creatures of eternity. "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him. And all that comes to Me, I'll give them Eternal Life, and raise him up at the last days. No one can pluck them from the Father's hand; He give them to Me." How you going to lose? See, you're scared. You're afraid. You'll run around here, and that's one of the best evidences in the world that you haven't been nowhere yet. That's right.
E-85 How can God ever save you if He... How many in this church would raise your hands and believe that God's infinite? You know what the word "infinite" means? That's just perfect. Infinite... You can't--you can't explain the word "infinite."
Did you ever take your camera and set it on infinite? Why, it just means from thereafter. All right, there's no way of focusing it any more. Well, that's what God is; He's infinite. And if He's infinite, there could not be a beetle, not a fly, not a flea, not a mouse, not a chigger, or nothing that ever was on the earth or ever will be, but what God knowed it before the world was ever formed. There's some conception of infinite.
E-88 Well then, the infinite God Who saves you here, knowing He's going to lose you next week, or next month, or next year, why, He's defeating the very purpose. He can't lose you. "He that heareth My Words and believeth on Him that sent Me has Everlasting Life and shall never come into the judgment but's done passed from death unto life." Can't do it. He'd no more... He that is born of God does not commit sin, for the seed of God remains in him, and he cannot sin. How can he sin when there's a sin-offering for him? How can I be sick when I'm in perfect health? How can I be blind when I can see? Oh, my. How can I be in the building and out of the building at the same time? How can I be drunk and sober at the same time? You can't do it. And when you're saved, you're under the atonement, and your sins are not reckoned unto you.
E-91 Did not David say, "Blessed is the man who God will not reckon sin and impute sin to"? God don't hold the sin against this creature. That's strong. That isn't skim milk; but that's the Bible. God will not reckon sin to the righteous. God by His grace through predestination, not willing that any should perish, but all might come to repentance; but being infinite and know who would come and who would not come, He could predestinate everything to work to His will.
If He didn't do it, why did He permit sin in the first place? When He was a Saviour... If there'd never been a sinner, He would have never been a Saviour. The attribute within Him could not be pulled out.
E-93 How did He ever become a Healer? How did He ever become a Healer? Because He permitted sickness to come, that He might show Himself a Healer. He was a Healer. How would He ever be known? How would He ever be known? How could His attribute ever work? How could He ever be a Healer, if there'd never been no sickness? He had to permit sickness.
No wonder Paul said in Romans 8, "Foolish man, who can tell the--the Potter what to do about it?" Who... When the clay raises up and say, "Why make you--me this--thus?" Did not He raise Pharaoh up for the same purpose, that He might show His glory down in Egypt? He hardens who He will and justify who He will. It's not him that willeth, or him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. So you have nothing to do with it. You haven't one thing to do. If it's grace, if it's a free gift, there's not a thing you can do about it. God has give it to you, and that's the will of God. That's the thing that God has predestinated to you.
E-96 The Bible said that we were predestinated to the sons and adoption of the sons of God before the foundation of the world. Then when God slayed the Lamb in His own thinking before the foundation of the world to prove out His attributes, what He was, when the Lamb was slain, we were slain with It. When the blood of the Lamb was caught in His Own mind back there before the foundation of the world, mine and your names were written on the Book then. All in His great thinking. He's infinite. If He didn't, why did He permit it?
E-97 Which is the strongest, as I said, the Saviour or sinner? Which has got the most strength? Then the stronger had to permit the lesser. And He only does it for His glory.
When He made Lucifer, He knowed he would be the devil. And He had to let it be there to show that He was the Saviour, the Christ. He had to let it happen that way. Now, don't the Bible say all things work together for good to them that love God? So what are you scared about? Let us be up and doing with a heart for any strife. Be not like dumb driven cattle, had to be begged and persuaded and... Be a hero. I like that. Stand up.
E-99 A little poem, that used to help me so much when I was a kid, goes something like this:
There was a noble Roman,
In the Roman Emperor's days;
Who heard a coward croaker,
Before the castle say:
Oh, it's safe in such a Fir tree,
There's no one can shake it.
'Oh, no,' said the hero,
'I'll find a way or make it.'
There you are. That's right.
E-100 If this Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever... It wasn't a easy thing, when I stepped out of this Tabernacle that day, and everybody was telling me this would happen and that would happen. "You'd be considered a fanatic and thrown into jail. And all of the medical association would get against you." But God said do it. The Bible said He was, and now a revival fire burns in every nation under the heavens. That's right. Stand up to it.
How do you tackle your work each day?
Are you scared of the job that you find?
Can you stand right up to the work ahead of you?
Have you got a tired and empty mind? (I hate that stuff.)
Or do you stand right up to the work ahead of you,
Or is fear ever running through it?
If so, tackle the next you find,
By thinking you're going to do it.
Stay with it. Certainly. Purpose in your heart like Daniel. Stay with God.
E-102 "Where did this all happen? How did it take place? What makes people thus? Why are we just about ready to be destroyed? Brother Branham, explain to me. What makes you think that this whole thing's got to be wiped off?" It was wiped off once before (Is that right?) in the antediluvian destruction. (Now, here comes some deep things. And we'll get ready to read.)
E-103 Now, I want you to turn with me now over into the book of Genesis at the 3rd chapter. If you want to know anything, I can show you in this book of Genesis where every cult, and every ism, and everything that we got right today, begin in Genesis. How many know that "Genesis" means "the beginning"? Certainly. We find the Catholic church in the beginning: Babylon, Nimrod the founder; we find it in the middle of the Bible; we find it at the last of the Bible. We find, trying to bring in women preachers in the beginning of the Bible by worshipping little statues made out of roots.
How many have read Hislop's, "Two Babylons," the history? All right. Find out in these histories they had a woman... And then you remember even Jacob stole his father's gods, and his daughter hid them under her. And took them out there in the wilderness, which defiled the camp later on.
E-105 All right. Let's read now in Genesis.
Now, the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD GOD had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, has God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
... the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,... (See? Hunting new light.)... and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
E-106 See, how these fellows are today trying to take away from the Bible. "Why, isn't it just as easy to pour, or sprinkle, this way or that way?" No, sir. God put down a program, and that's what we're supposed to follow, This.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to make--to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.
And their eyes of them both were opened, and they knew... they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made them aprons.
E-107 I would like to stop here for a minute. Now, there's got to be a beginning of everything. You had a beginning. Now, we--here's where I want to base the whole thing on now that we've talked about in these last two meetings in the year. Now, this morning we went back and dramatized in the Bible that when God was making the earth, that when He was forming the gases (and then them gases become calcium and potash, and--and different things) He was making your body. He was laying the building out like a great master builder, like a contractor laying out his materials to build a housing project. He was making your body, and He had it laying there. He knew just exactly in His mind what was going to be done. This hand... God made that hand before He--while He was making the world. But my spirit, He made before there was a world. Now, but this hand and this body, He made when He made the world; 'cause this body came out of the earth, and going back to the earth. God made that. He laid it all out in His great blueprint and His program. Now, when He went to making the earth, He made the man, and the man didn't look just right.
E-110 Now, we had that this morning, went through the drama, how the--the Father came down and looked at His son made in His image, and so forth. Then he made him a wife, a helpmate.
Now, remember, that all of the creatures of the earth, Adam had named them. He had made the--the cattle and the beasts, and everything. And today, we chronologists and--and different great minds of science have been trying for six thousand years to find out that missing link, why that animal... Man is animal life; we know that. That we're made... And a woman is just a part of a man, a byproduct. A woman was not in the original creation. God had done quit creating for years and years and years, until He made the woman out of a rib out of his side.
E-114 Adam had done named all of the creation, everything else. But he wasn't nothing for himself, so He made Him a helpmate: took a rib from his side, closed up the gash, and made a helpmate to him. And man in his spirit was both man and woman. And a woman is just a part of a man.
And when a man takes to himself a wife, and if she's correctly his wife, a God-given wife, she'll be just to him as part of him.
That's the reason you have so many scruples in the marriage. Is because you go out and see some girl with pretty brown eyes, or blue eyes, or something like that, some pretty figure, and you fall for her. First time she has her first baby them teeth comes out, and she gets wrinkled and old, and then you want to kick her out.
And some of you women find some little boy with his hair slicked down, his mammy's lard can half dumped on it, and curly; it'll all fall out. I know that by experience. But what happens? What is it? You fall for that. You ought to pray first, 'cause a woman is part of you.
And if you've embraced a woman to your bosom, and taken her for your wife, and she makes an imprint on you... (We'll say it like this so you'll understand) and any other woman against that bosom won't fit that print. And God will hold you responsible for it. You just remember that.
E-116 You that take somebody else's wife out and... I heard today of a little girl here in town, a poor little thing, I know her. And some gambler buying her big fine clothes and things, and trying to play up to her like that. A rat would do a thing like that, can't even be considered a human. You know a dog ain't that lowdown, and yet you call a mother dog a slut. She's got more morals than half the women of Jeffersonville has got. And you call an old mother hog a sow, and she's not--she's a lot more moral then--than the women of this United States, many of them. That's exactly right.
Now, I know that's flat, and I told you I was going to grind it home, and I want you to know it. And that's true. The old women nowadays don't even know what moral is. Say, "It don't hurt my conscience." Well, you haven't got any. Notice. Yes, sir. When you know what's right and wrong...
E-119 Now, notice. This man, when he was created, God separated his spirit, and He took a piece off the man, his side, and made a woman out of it. And then He took the feminish, dainty spirit of the man and made a woman out of it, and He made the man masculine, burly. And when you see a--a man that's little, you know, manicuring (or whatever you call it) his fingernails and, you know, four on one side and five on the other, and--and is slicking his hair down, and holding his mouth open in front, and such stuff as that, one of these pretty boys; you just remember, sis, there's something wrong with that bird. There's something wrong. You better keep your eye on him.
And when you see a woman with a cigarette in the side of her mouth, with a pair of overalls on, and saying, "I tell you, 'feller', what it is." Brother, you watch that old gal. There's something wrong with her.
A woman's supposed to be a woman, and she's supposed to dress like a woman. When God made a man, He made him one thing; and He made a woman something else. And when God dresses a man, He dresses him one way, and a woman something else. And the Bible said it's a abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man.
E-123 And you women, putting on these little old pants and things, and wearing them out here, little old (What is it you call them?) Knickerbockers... Or what is it? What is that, sisters? No, no, it's not shorts, it's that--got the long legs in them: pedal pushers and overalls, dungarees...
Go and they said, "This is for the ladies."
I said, "No, you're mistaken. Ladies don't wear them things: women might, but ladies don't." That's right. The Bible said it's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment... And for a man to put on a garment that pertains to a woman... And man is becoming more sissified everyday, and women is becoming more masculine. What's the matter? (We're going to find out in a few minutes by the Bible.) Women ain't women no more. I don't mean you Christian women. I'm talking about the general run. They want to act like men, want to cut their hair like men; put their hand upon a bar like that and sing "God Bless America" with a cigarette out of the corner of their mouth.
E-127 Go down the street, back out like that of riding the highway... We counted... I want to tell you something. And you women drivers... Listen. Billy Paul and I on this last campaign around the nation (six months), I kept a count of how many scruples on the road. And out of three hundred mishaps on the road, guess how many of them was women drivers? There was only lacking nineteen of them were men, and two hundred and eighty, or I believe two hundred eighty-one of them would be women drivers: women drivers.
Now, I'm not saying there ain't good women drivers. But she'll turn any way, and you just try to get back at her. Let her be kind of nice looking and stand there, push that hair up when a cop comes up there. "Why," he'd say, "sure you're in the wrong." We ain't got no law. They proved that the other day in the tax suit I'm just coming through. We ain't got no laws. If there are...
E-130 No wonder that great Lords of England said, "Democracy was all sails, no anchor." That's right, stand on a soap box electioneering. The democracy's rotten, and so's dictators and all the rest of them. The whole thing is rotten. There ain't but one thing for God to do: is to destroy the whole thing as He said He would do, and start anew.
E-131 Now, watch how close you are to the coming. Now, when this woman, He made him a helpmate, and she was to be his helpmate.
And then... Now, here I've never had a preacher to agree with this yet. And they try to make it some other way, but yet it don't make sense to me. They try to say that Adam and Eve eat some apples. Brother, if... I don't say this for a joke now, but I want to say it for... If eating apples makes women realize they are naked, we'd better pass the apples again. You know that's right.
You know eating an apple, that wasn't what they did, made them realize they were naked. Certainly, it wasn't. It had to come through sexually. It had to be, 'cause they realized they were naked when they taken this forbidden fruit.
Ain't a woman a fruit tree? Aren't you the fruit of your mother? That was the fruit that was forbidden to be taken.
E-134 Now, here's a great thing. Now, the closest that science has ever got to knowing what the human being was... They dig up old bones; they take fossils, and they take heads; and they take skulls, and arms, and bones and try to make it look like a human being. And they know that the closest thing that they've ever come to finding the human... Next to it is the chimpanzee. He's the closest specie to a human being. But yet, it isn't nothing with the human being.
The highest... The lowest form of life that there is the frog. The highest form is the human being. God started at the bottom and made right up till He brought it plumb to His image. Brought it from the birds and the beasts and on up till He got to the image of God. He made man in that image; that's the highest form. The lowest form is just a polliwog that turned into a frog and so forth.
E-136 Now, this missing link that they can't find... Watch the Scripture now. You--you're going to disagree with this, many of you; but I want--just want you to bear it in mind and don't be prejudiced against it.
Listen, I know many of you have just been listening to Doctor DeHaan. I certainly... As a man of his caliber, a good Baptist brother... And I certainly appreciate him. He's got more intelligence and brains, and--and has forgot more than I ever know, because he is a Doctor of--of Divinity, and he's a Medical Doctor, and he's a Doctor of Science. He's a smart man, but he's saying that those--when the sons of God saw the daughters of men were fair... He takes Josephus' stand and say that they pressed themselves into human flesh and taken unto them wives; and there were giants in the land of Nod; and they had taken to themselves wives and lived with them, when the sons of God, fallen angels, taken and seen the daughters of men, and the sex desire was such a great thing, and yet them being sinful from falling, they pressed themselves into human flesh.
If they'd do that, they'd spoil Divine healing, they'd spoil everything else. If the devil can create, he's equal with God. The devil cannot create. I want you to show me one place where the devil can create. He cannot create. He only perverts what has been created. He is no creator. He is only a perverter.
E-139 Well then, what happened? What's? Here's my version. Here's the missing link.
Now, they got a chimpanzee, but you can't breed a chimpanzee with a woman and bring forth a child. You can't breed a human being with any animal. It won't mix. You can't blood transfuse any animal.
E-141 When I was in Africa... They treat those poor colored people there in such a way. Someone said to me; he said, "They're nothing but animals."
I said, "I beg your pardon. They're just as much human as you are, maybe a little more." Let me tell you; when you got that kind of an attitude, you're getting back towards an animal. I said, "That man, if he's as black as the ace of spades, or if he's as yellow as a pumpkin, or if he's as blue as indigo, he might save your life by giving you a blood transfusion." But don't you never put an animal's blood in you. Certainly, he's a human.
E-143 Just because one skin was black, the other one brown, another one yellow, and the other one white, that has nothing to do with it. The Bible said, "God of one blood made all men." And that's exactly right.
Places we lived in, changing our colors, had nothing to do with it. God made of one--one man all nations, one blood. All nations the same. The Chinese... The colored man can't say now... The black man can't say, "Now, that--that Chinese, he's--he's yellow and I ain't going to have nothing to do with him." He's your brother. And you white man can't say to the yellow man or the black man, either one, "I have nothing to do with you." He's your brother. Exactly right.
E-145 Notice. Now, here's what taken place. I believe, and can support it by the Bible, that it is the serpent that did it. The serpent is that missing person between the chimpanzee and the man, 'cause, listen, notice this now, that the serpent was not a reptile. He was the most subtil of all the beasts of the field.
Now, I went and got dictionaries today from everywhere to look up this word, what the word of "subtil" meant. It means "to be smart, to be crafty." And the best interpretation of the--of the Hebrew from "m-a-h-a-h, mahah" means "having a true knowledge of the principles of life."
E-147 Now, let's watch this just a minute. He's smart, crafty. Yet he's called the serpent. But remember, he was the smartest thing there was, and the more like the human being than anything else that was on the field: closest to a human being. He was not a reptile. The curse made him a reptile, and he was the... The Bible said he was the most beautiful of all.
And even the curse didn't take all of his beauty away, yet the glorious colors of the snake is beautiful. And his grace and his shrewdness, even the curse didn't move it off. But you remember, God told him that his legs would come off and he'd go on his belly. And you can't find one bone in a snake that looks like a human being, and that's the reason science is lost. But there he is.
E-149 God hid it from the eyes of the wise and prudent and promised to reveal it to the sons of God in the last days, when the sons of God would be made manifest. When God's sons that rejoiced with Him before the foundation of the world, when the great revelation of the Godhead and things would be brought down in the last days, He would manifest these things to the sons of God. You know the Scripture teaches that. And here we are.
That's the reason that God is opening these things to us. God is bringing His sons into manifestation. He's going beyond the limitations of any human knowledge, way into the spiritual revelations and bringing it down.
Haven't we been teaching in this Bible, "Here's to him that has wisdom." Not what he learned in some seminary, but what he can learn on his knees before God, and what pleased God to give him: sons of God made manifest.
E-150 Here's the serpent. Now, here's what the serpent was. I'm going to give you my description of him.
We have the... We come down from the frog on to that, the polliwog, and on down, on, and so and so; you finally come to the monkey, to the chimpanzee; and from the chimpanzee there we jump from the chimpanzee to the human. And we wonder why. "Well," science says, "now wait; we can breed the woman to the monkey and to the...?... vice versa, a man breeding to the chimpanzee." It won't work. Breed to any other animal: won't work. Blood won't mix. Take their blood, it's altogether different blood altogether. There's some blood between here, and they can't find the animal. Oh, hallelujah. I'm getting to feel religious right now.
E-153 Notice. Why? God hid it from them. There ain't a bone in a snake that looks like a human bone. He put the thing so far away that it couldn't be discovered by smart men.
I'm going to show you where that smart man comes from, where he--where he's at anyhow. See? He can't come through that. It's got to come by revelation. "Thou art the Christ, the Son... Upon this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it": spiritual revelation.
How did--how did Abel know to offer a lamb instead of Cain offering the fruits of the field? It was spiritually revealed to him. You don't get it by seminaries. You don't get it through denominations. You get it from heaven.
E-156 Now, watch the serpent, this serpent which was first. Let's draw a picture of him now. He's a great big fellow. He's between the chimpanzee and the man. And the serpent, the devil, Lucifer, knew that that was the only blood that would mix with this human blood. The only person he could deal with... He couldn't deal with the chimpanzee. That blood wouldn't mix. He couldn't deal with different things. He couldn't deal with the sheep. He couldn't deal with the horse. He couldn't deal with any animal. He had to deal with this serpent.
Let's take him now and see what he looks like: Great big fellow, prehistoric giant. That's where they find these big bones, and I'll show you this in the Bible. Now, watch closely then. All right. This great big fellow, let's say he was--he was ten foot tall, great big shoulders, looked just like a man. And his blood, after coming down, coinciding one animal to another...
E-158 You can cross animals. They kept getting higher blood, higher form of life, higher form, till it climbs up into the man realm. But the last connection here between here was cut off. How many knows that science can't find the missing link? All of you know that. Why? Here he is, the serpent.
Here he was a great big fellow. And the devil comes down. Now, he says, "I can inspire." Now, when you go to looking at women and actions of women, remember you are anointed of the devil, if it's not your own wife. Notice. Now, the devil come down and got into the serpent, and he found Eve in the garden of Eden naked. And he talked about the fruit in the midst, the "midst" means "middle" and so forth. You understand in a mixed congregation. And he said, "Now, it's pleasant. It's good to the eye."
E-160 What did he do? He begin making love to Eve. And he lived with her as a husband. And she saw it was pleasant, so she went and told her husband; but she was already pregnant by Satan. And she brought forth her first son whose name was Cain, the son of Satan.
"Now," you say, "that's wrong." All right, we'll just find out whether it's wrong or not. "And I will put enmity between thy seed and the serpent's seed." What? The serpent's seed. She had a seed, and he had a seed. "And he shall bruise thy head, and you shall bruise his heel." A "bruise" there means "to make an atonement."
Now, there's your seed of the serpent. Now, notice, here comes these two men out.
Now, this serpent, when he stood there... This great big giant of a fellow stood up there. He was guilty of committing adultery with Adam's wife. Where's sin lay today? What makes things the way they are today? (Now, I--I... Surely you can catch what I'm talking about.)
E-164 And there he was. And when he did, God said, begin to call for Eve and Adam. And he said, "I was naked."
And He said, "Who told you you was naked?" Then they begin to--in army fashion, passing the buck.
Said, "Well, the woman You gave me done it. She was the one who persuaded me."
And she said, "The serpent give me an apple." All right, preacher, get next to yourself. She said, "The serpent beguiled me." Do you know what "beguile" means? Means "defiled." The...?... The devil never gave her an apple. "The serpent has beguiled me." And then the curse came.
E-167 He said, "Because you listened to the serpent in the stead of your husband, you took life from the world; and you--now you'll multiply your sorrows, and your conception shall be to your husband," and so forth. "And because you listened to your wife instead of me--I took you from the dust the highest specie--back to the dust you go." "And serpent, because you did that, off goes your legs; upon your belly you'll go all the days of your life. And you'll be hated, and dust shall be your meat." There you are. There's that missing link.
E-170 Now, here comes Cain. Let's watch the natures. Here comes Cain. What is he? He's a shrewd businessman. He tills the fields: smart, intelligent, religious, very religious. Watch his--watch his attributes now. Just move with me for just a few minutes longer. Here he comes out. He knows he's mortal. He wants to go to church. He builds him a church, makes him an offering, brings an altar along--builded an altar, puts his flowers on it, put the field--the fruits of the field, offered it to God, and said, "There You are, Lord. I know we ate apples. That's what caused it." (Some of his offsets have the same kind of an idea. Shows where it came from.)
Brought his apples in out of the field, laid them on there, said, "This will make an atonement."
God said, "It wasn't apples."
But by spiritual revelation Abel knew it was blood. So he brought a lamb, hacked its throat, and it died; and God said, "That's right. That's what done it. It was blood." (You know what blood I'm talking about.) All right. It was blood that did it. Now, watch.
E-174 And then when Cain saw his holy-roller brother had been accepted before God, and signs and wonders was being taken place down there, he got jealous of him. He said, "We'll stop this stuff right now." Look at his brothers. Look at his children on today. "Now, I'm smarter than he is." So he got angry. Where did angry come from? Could you say that's anger? He killed his brother. He was a murderer. Could you call God a murderer?
And Adam was the son of God. The Bible said that Adam was the son of God, that pure beginning back there. Adam was God's son, and that jealousy and envy and everything could not come out of that pure stream. It had to come through another place. And it come through Satan, who was a murderer to begin with. The Bible said he was: a liar and a murderer to begin with. There it is. And he killed his brother.
And there was a type of the death of Christ. Then out of that, 'course, He raised up Seth to take his place: death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
E-178 And watch, then here comes your giants. Then Cain went to the land of Nod. If his daddy was a great big giant of a fellow, what would Cain be like? His daddy. And he went to the land of Nod and took one of his sisters. Only way he could do, there was no more females could come, only through Eve. They claim they had seventy sons and daughters. If--if there was no females... The Bible don't record females when they're born, just man. And when... If there was no more females than Eve, when she died the human race ceased to exist. They had to have daughters. He'd have to marry his own sister.
He went to the land of Nod and got--and got his wife; and when he married her in there, there's where they found those great big giants, which were fallen sons of God who came through their daddy, the devil through Cain. There's your missing link.
E-181 And watch the seed of the serpent. Now, watch. Remember the seed of the serpent is religious. Watch it start moving now for a few minutes. Here goes the seed of the serpent. What happened to them? Now, let me just read something here I just wrote down this afternoon. What come through the line of Abel? Listen to this.
All right. Along came Abel. After Abel come Seth. After Seth come Noah. After Noah come Shem. After Shem come Abraham. After Abraham come Isaac. After Isaac come Jacob. After Jacob come Judah. After Judah come David. After David come Christ to the perfection.
E-183 Watch back there how the Spirit of God lived in Abel. Look how it lived in Seth. Look how it lived in Judah. Look how it lived in David. Look at the same Spirit calling out through that righteous seed all the way down. No matter what they done, they were predestinated.
Look at Jacob, a dirty... I don't say this to--sacrilegious. But Jacob a little shyster hanging under his mother's coattail all the time, running around, a little sissy boy, put things over him, and went and deceived his father to getting the blessing. But it was given to him before the foundation of the world. Sure it did. Went out there and lied to his father-in-law and took some speckled sticks (poplar sticks), and put them in the water to scare these cattle when they were pregnant, to make them bring forth speckled cattle so he could cheat and get them cattle. God blessed him in it. That's right. Woe unto anybody that says anything about Jacob.
E-186 You know--you know what the false prophet said, that he was prophesying right: Balaam? He said, "Ever who blesses him will be blessed, and ever who curses him will be cursed."
"I took thee, Jacob, found him as a--as in a strange land. As the eagle stirs her nest, I stirred him and took him out." Hallelujah. "Not by power, not by might, but by My Spirit saith the Lord."
Watch that come down to that perfection. That Spirit worked down to the perfection in Christ, down through every one of the patriarchs, coming right down. No matter what they did, what they said, and what they did, they were absolutely the seed of the righteous.
E-189 And here when righteous Abraham... Glory. Oh, I just feel real good. When righteous Abraham met Melchisedec, Who was God Himself... Who was Melchisedec? The King of Salem, which is King of Jerusalem, King of peace. He had no father. He had no mother. He never had a beginning of days nor ending of life. Ever who He is, is still living. He never was born. He never will die. He never had father or mother. He never had a beginning of days nor ending of life? Tell me Who it was. The eternal God in what we call a--oh, I forget just what you call that now: theophany? Is what it is--just in, like not a myth, but yet it's something made manifest. Like He come to Abraham in the tent up there, like an Angel, and prophesied and told Sarah. She laughed behind Him, and so forth, the same--the same thing. And here He was. He met Melchisedec, and grand--great-grandfather Abraham, in the seed of the righteous, paid tithes to Melchisedec, and it was allotted to his great-great grandson down here, the seed of the righteous.
E-192 Now, here comes the seed of the--of the serpent. Now, remember, there'll be enmity, war between them. The seed of the serpent comes along, and what does it produce? Now, let's take the first few years. Now, watch what takes place to them. We'll read it right down 'cause I just checked it up.
The seed of the serpent produced Cain. Cain went to the land of Nod, produced giants, and then they come to the land of Noah. They were smart educated, intelligent people. Is that right? They were builders, inventors, scientists: Not through the seed of the righteous, but through the seed of Satan, the serpent. They were such men as--as scientists, builders, and great men, educators; the Scripture says so. They worked brass; they worked iron; they worked metals. They invented things. They tempered different metals, and built houses, and so forth. The Scripture says so. And they were scoffers at the seed of the woman: Noah, the righteous. Is that right?
E-196 Let's follow them a little farther. Then we get them up to the ark. Everything was destroyed: got in such a conglomeration of sin. And they took the rule, and smartest and intelligent, till God looked down, there wasn't very many left, so He just took Noah and his family in the ark and rained the water down, and destroyed the whole thing: took Enoch up beforehand. Is that right? There was all the seed, almost all the seed. But He has purpose has to be fulfilled.
E-197 Now, Noah and his sons which come out, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, come out in the righteous line. How did the seed ever get over? The seed come over in the ark, just like it did in the beginning through the woman, their wives. They carried the seed of Satan through the ark, just as Eve packed the seed of Satan to give birth to Cain, through the woman. You put them women in your platforms for preachers, the Bible condemning it. Paul said, "If any man thinks himself to be a prophet or even spiritual, let him acknowledge that what I write is the commandments of the Lord; but if he be ignorant, just let him be ignorant."
E-200 That is why I walked out of the Baptist church down here. Brother Fleeman who was here awhile ago; I think he was there that night. Doctor Davis said, "You'll stand up here and ordain these women for preachers."
I said, "I will not do it. No indeed."
He said, "Well, I'll throw you out."
I said, "I've been throwed out of better." I said, "This is the Word of God, and It condemns the thing. And I cannot hold up for what God condemns." No, sir. Ever who does it is showing they're false teachers, false prophets. The Bible said they would be: deceive the very elect if possible. There you are.
E-203 Notice this now. And out of there then come Ham, Ham with his wife and them. He had a curse put on him. From Ham come Nimrod, who built Babylon. Out of Babylon come the Catholic church, the beginning of it. Come on down through Ahab, come on down from Ahab into Judas Iscariot, wound it up--the antichrist. And in this last day, here is the spirit of the antichrist and the Spirit of the Christ. The spirit of the antichrist saying, "The days of miracles is past," the Spirit of Christ saying, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever."
The spirit of antichrist says, "It don't make any difference if you're baptized in the Father, Son, Holy Ghost; poured, sprinkled, or whatever it is. It means the same thing." The Bible said that God's infallible, and He can't change. Who you going to serve? It's up to you.
E-205 Now, you say, "Can they dwell together? You said that they're in that ark, Brother Branham. You had in there both Ham and Seth." That's right, exactly right; Ham was evil. Seth was religious and righteous. All right, let's follow Ham.
All right now, there's Ham and Seth in the same ark, one righteous, and the other unrighteous. There was a crow and a dove in the same ark. There was Judas and Jesus in the same church. There was the antichrist and the Holy Spirit in the same church. And today the same spirits work, having a form of godliness, very religious, but "having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof. From such turn away."
E-208 The Holy Spirit claiming Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, which side will you choose?
The antichrist says that this is just a book of creed. "We'll repeat the Apostles' Creed." I challenge any preacher to tell me where the Apostles' Creed's found in the Bible. "I believe in God, the Father, almighty, the Creator of heavens and earth, Jesus Christ, His Son. I believe in the holy Roman Catholic church, the communion of the saints." Where do you find that in the Bible? And yet you repeat it in your big Methodist and Baptist churches. It's a doctrine of the devil, and false prophets are teaching it.
E-209 I'm not... I hope I don't hurt your feelings, but I'm pinning that to this Tabernacle. You here at the Branham Tabernacle, abstain from such stuff. Anything that believes in communion of saints is spiritualism. There's One Mediator between God and man, and that's the Man Jesus Christ. I don't care how many Mary's there is.
See how that woman's seed back there did? See how the woman's seed carried over there?
Look at today in America. America is the seat of the devil. What is it? She's a woman's nation. You've heard, "This is a woman's world." That's right. It's a woman's nation. They set the pattern.
E-212 I went over here not long ago in Switzerland. The women saying... One little Holy Ghost woman said, "You know, if I go over in America, they say the women's got freedom."
I said, "Let me tell you what it leads to."
I begin to tell her; she said, "Oh, mercy, I don't want any of that."
I said, "That's where it leads to." You know they don't do things there like they do here. What is it?
E-214 Let me show you that America is a woman. On our coin is a woman's picture. Everything in here is a woman. Tell me, there isn't enough bootleg joints in the country would have. You can put forty bootleg joints in this city and put three prostitutes, of good looking women that twist theirselves down the street; they'll send more souls to hell lusting after them than all the bootleg joints you could put in the city. That's exactly right.
Who is it then? It's woman. What is she? She's the god of America.
E-217 Take some of these old movie actors and get up here, married four or five times, living with three or four different husbands at the same time. And some of these magazines exposing them and tell them, taking their pictures naked out here, and you little girls set that as your example? Why? Because your mammy before you perhaps, your grandmammy before you...
You see where that seed of the serpent works in? Sure it did. And what's it done? If iniquity is to visit to fourteen generations under the law, what will the iniquity be visited in this day? When the seed of the righteous is about worked out; and God said it'd come a time if He didn't cut the works short, there'd be none of it left. We're at the end time.
E-219 Hunt the righteous tonight. Go through the city. Oh, you find church members just as loyal to the Baptist, and Presbyterian, and so forth, as they can be. But they have no more to do with God than a rabbit has to put on snowshoes, know nothing about it. All they know... "Are you a Christian?"
"I'm a Catholic."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm a Baptist."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Presbyterian."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Pentecostal." That don't have nothing to do with it. You're a Christian because that God, by His grace, saved you, and you know about it, and something has changed your life that you live different, and you're a new person and creature in Christ Jesus.
E-221 Certainly, but you see where the seed of the serpent... What was the seed of the serpent? Adultery. You follow it? Adultery with Eve. What happened to that? What brought that forth. What is it tonight?
Look back yonder a few years ago when the first song come out. You older people, when the... They used to censor songs before they'd let them be sung on the radio. And the first one come out was that "Roll them, Girlies, roll them; showing your pretty knees." And all like that. "Laugh at Pa and Ma, and give 'em all a ha-ha-ha." That's the first one they let slip through. Where do you think the guy is tonight that wrote that song? He's dead. What do you think of Clara Bowe, who come out the first and said, "the dangerous curves" and the "striptease" that sent thousands of souls to hell? Where do you think she is tonight? She's been dead for a long time. Where's she at, when that body of hers laying yonder, cankered in the dust, and the worms and maggots has eat through it. And her soul lays yonder before a just God.
E-224 Where is the man that took that woman and made them old dirty looking clothes that they put on, to push them all out in one way and the other and misfit them? Said, "What did they do it for? Why do you wear those kind of things for?" 'Cause you want men to look at you. No other way to prove it.
And do you know that when you do that, and some old sinner looks at you, you know what has happened? At the judgment bar... You say, "Brother Branham, I'm just as true to my husband as I can be." You'll be counted guilty of committing adultery.
Jesus said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." When that man has to answer for committing adultery, who's going to be the one that caused it? The way you dressed yourself and presented yourself. Now, I don't mean to say you have to dress like some something or other out of an antique box, but you can look more like a lady.
E-227 And get out here and strip your little shorty shorts and tie a little ribbon around it like that... Your baby, with its eyes like a cigarette tray, with a cigarette in your mouth, walking down the street... You don't do that for no good purpose. You might be innocent of the fact, but the devil's using you for a tool, just like he did Eve.
Why is it a woman's nation? Because it's leading right up to the domination of Catholicism. What is it today? You never hear them mention Jesus. "Hail Mary, Mary, mother of God." Saint Cecilia, all kinds of saints, dead saints...
E-229 Here not long ago down--I was down in Mexico last year. Here come a poor woman dragging, her knees all drug off like that, (the hide), crying, and holding her hands, and the father walking along, packing two little children, them crying, mother suffering so 'cause some woman that they call a saint, died. They had her statue up there on the hill. Some lover killed her. And as soon as she gets killed like that... 'Course she was a saint; she was Catholic. So then she was going to do repentance, and she had to drag two miles over cobblestones to do repentance.
Brother, if there is one thing that I have to do, Jesus Christ died in vain. Grace I am saved, and that not by myself, but by the will of God, and by the goodness and mercy...
E-231 Them reporters asked me, said, "Mr. Branham..." (The--the little dead baby had been brought to life and a few things there.) Thirty thousand Catholics... No, I beg your pardon, it's twenty thousand (Thirty thousand was Africa.)--twenty thousand Catholics received Jesus as a personal Saviour at one time when that happened, standing in Mexico City. And those priests, they couldn't send too many; it would start a riot. Had too many on the side, so they said, "Mr. Branham, do you believe that our saints can do the same thing that you do?"
Knowing their doctrine, I said, "Sure, if they're living." (See? So you can't be a Catholic saint until you're dead, you know.)
So he said, "Oh, you can't be a saint till you die."
I said, "Where do you read that at? Paul said, 'To the saints that are at Ephesus and them that are called of God. To the saints which are at Ephesus (he was reading his letter) and the saints that are other places, at Galatia, and--and the saints in Rome, and so forth.' the saints, the sanctified ones, what about that?"
E-234 He said, "Of course now we ain't supposed to argue the Bible because we're the church, and what the church says... We don't care what the Bible says; it's what the church says." Said, "What is your opinion then of the Catholic church?"
I said, "I wished you wouldn't ask me that. 'Cause you ask me, and I'm going to tell you the truth."
Said, "Well, I want you to tell me the truth."
I said, "The highest form of spiritualism I know."
He said, "How do you get that?"
I said, "Anything that intercedes with the dead is a spiritualist."
I said, "If that saint talks back, then he's in hell; because those that's crossed the path, my--my Bible said that he could not come back." That's right. And I said, "If it is--if he was a saint, it's the devil talking like a saint, and it isn't a saint after all."
And he said, "Well now, just a minute." Said, "You intercede with the dead too."
I said, "Where?"
He said, "Jesus Christ died."
I said, "But He rose again. He's not dead, but He lives to make intercession, by the only Mediator between God and men."
"I am He that was dead and is alive again, and is alive forevermore. I have the keys of death and hell. Whosoever will, let him come and drink freely from the waters of Life." My, that's our God.
E-240 That's our God, and the seed of the righteous is about run out. Talk to people about these things; talk to people about going back to the Bible way; talk to the people about miracles; talk to the people about that; their church don't believe it; so they're bastard children to God. The Bible said if we cannot bear persecutions, and trials, mockeries, and called holy-rollers and so forth like that, if you can't stand it, you're bastard children and not the children of God. The Bible said so.
Call me a holy-roller if you want to; call me anything you want to; as long as my heart's right with God, and my experience matches God's Bible, I'm moving right on in the same direction.
E-242 Yes, sir. That's what we believe. That's the church of the living God, which does not come by theology; it does not come by some manmade intellectual conception. It comes by absolutely the revealed truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
If I only had just a intellectual conception because the Baptist church or the Methodist church taught me that there's so and so things... When I hear this Bible, if the Bib--If I'd been baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost and read this Bible, and a preacher told me that there was no one in the Bible ever baptized but in the Name of Jesus Christ, and I read it and seen that was the truth, I'd hit the water just as fast as I could. Yes, sir.
E-243 If somebody told me that--that Jesus Christ was a great Healer, and my church told me, the days of miracles was past, and I had a need of healing, I'd run just as fast as I could to that altar to get healed. I sure would.
If I was a preacher and had a--a woman preacher in my pulpit, and I read in that Bible and seen that a woman wasn't supposed to preach, I'd take her out of there if it took the hide off my back.
Remember setting right back where Sister Wright's at one night that a woman was going to throw me out the door for doing something like that. Yes, sir. I said, "You're not coming in my church with your old..." When they used to wear or cut their dresses way down like this, and with that funny looking stuff and about half of their body exposed, I said, "If they ever come in my church, I'll sure put them out." And some little old snicklefritz down here (She died not--after that, and she called on me, dying. She was a Catholic girl.) walked up there and set down with that like that. I looked back and spied her setting up here (They was singing.), took off my coat, walked back there, put it up around her shoulders. I said, "Madam, if you're going to listen to me preach, would you please wear this coat while you're in the church of God."
E-246 She stomped out of there, spread them little lips as she went out of the building; she said, "If he's got religion, I wouldn't let my cow have that kind of religion."
I said, "Don't worry, she won't have it."
When we had the tent, they called for me when she was dying. She had a heart attack, and she was dying. Her husband come. He said, "Come quickly," (And I was right in the meeting), a big tall boy, standing at the door waiting for me. I run his--got in my car and run up there. As I went up, I met that old nurse out there that lives down in Howard Park yet. She said, "Reverend, there is no need of coming." (That's been about twenty years ago, maybe a little better.) Said, "She's dead." Said, "She's been dead about three minutes." Said, "She screamed as hard as she could for you." Said, "I got a message for you."
I said, "What?"
Said, "Tell that preacher that I said that about, please forgive me."
E-250 I went down there to look at her: beautiful woman. And she had suffered so hard she had little freckles across her nose. A pretty woman. And the freckles looked like stood out. And her eyes had pushed completely out of the sockets and was halfway turned back. 'Course her bowels and kidneys had moved, and the steam coming up all over the bed like that. And her husband looked at me and said, "Brother Branham, say a prayer, 'cause she wanted to see you."
I said, "A prayer for her now would do no good. The way the tree leans, that's the way it falls. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap."
E-253 Do you see where it is? Now, what's happened? Look at a woman who would do that. Look at women who lived back yonder as a chorus girl. What was her daughter? A flapper. What's the flapper's daughter? A rock-and-roll teen-age. What's her daughter going to be? Hum. What is it?
See the seed of the righteous? Look at you Baptists. Go back a little while ago. Go back to John Smith, your founder, you Baptists, when he prayed for the iniquity of the people until he cried and prayed for the people until his eyes swolle shut, and his wife would have to feed him at the table, his breakfast.
E-255 And you Methodists, around here with jewels in your nose and over your ears, and look like side saddles for the devil, and going out, wearing shorts and things like that... When old John Smith, one of the elders of the Methodist church, before he died at eighty-five years old preached a short sermon (four year--four hours). They had to pack him and set him in the pulpit. And here was his last words: He said, "I am so shocked at the action of the Methodist church." Said, "Even the daughters of the Methodist church are wearing gold rings upon their fingers." What would he say now, with shorts on, singing in the choir? You did run well. What did happen? You're acting like your mammy. That's exactly it.
That's the reason we don't want none of these denominations hanging around this, on tacked on here. "We're Methodists." "We're Baptists." We're just of Christ. Leave it that way, be free.
E-258 Now, see the seed of the serpent? What would a woman like that pay now? What would that do? What did... They kept coming on down? That pushed the Baptists back, pushed the Methodists back, pushed the Presbyterian back. What'd they do? They all went right back like their mammy, the old prostitute. There they all are doing the same prostitution. "Well, it doesn't make any difference. They've been immersed; they've been sprinkled. They--they've come made confession. They took their six months' probation. They didn't drink too much during that time, and so forth. They made good members. They pay good on..."
Oh, my. That has nothing to do with the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit is faith, believing Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever; love for the brethren, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience, meekness, temperance. That's the things, the fruits of the Spirit.
E-260 "And we take a man... Well, he--he lives a good life in the neighborhood." So did Esau. Esau never harmed nobody, and Esau was of the devil. But Jacob, out of the same womb, was of God: the seed of the devil, the seed of the woman. The seed of God come through...
Now, see, it's all got down to this, "Well, what is it left in the world today?" I'm going to say this real harshly; drive this down. Then we'll start the revival after this in the next meeting. It's got to a shape... And please, I don't say this sacrilegious. I don't say it to be mean. It's got to the place to a big religious bunch of illegitimate bastard children. There's my final remark.
E-263 That's exactly what it's come to. You know that to be the truth. It's come to a place until it is church-join, church-member, having a form of godliness, denying the power thereof, till it's come to a bunch of religious bastard children. That's exactly what is it.
What's next left? There's a rocket hanging yonder, several of them, cobalt bombs and everything else; they're just waiting for that power to arrive. And there'll be a destruction by fire like there was by water.
E-264 And friends, whatever you do, if you are a Christian, and you've got God in your heart, and you know that you've passed from death unto Life, you ought to be the happiest person in all the world. When the Holy Spirit in you...
When the Bible says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever," the denominations say, "But we believe the miracles are passed."
The Holy Spirit says, "Amen. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So be it."
E-268 As the Bible say, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, you shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you and your children, to the Gentiles... all afar off, as many as the Lord our God... As many as the Lord our God shall call." Not "as many as the Methodists call, the Baptists call," but "as many as the Lord our God shall call" shall receive this Holy Ghost and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible says.
When that strikes you, you say, "Amen."
The church said, "Oh ,it don't make any difference."
But this Holy Spirit in you say "Amen" to His Word. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but the Word that proceedeth from the mouth of God." There you are.
E-270 I want you to show me one Scripture where it ever said a apple started the thing to going now. I want you to show me that they eat apples. I showed you that where Cain thought the same thing, and where his seed still thinks the same thing. But the spiritual revelation of God proves by the Bible that it was sexual intercourse between man and woman, illegally. There's where your giants come from. That's where your sin come from. That's where your corruption come from. That's where it's come down.
Now, notice, and all... Just--just look. The--the serpent was twice as smart. His seed has always been twice as smart. And I'd like to climb up on this pulpit, and grab this microphone in my hand, stick my feet over the pulpit and say this: "And today where is your great intellectuals?" Your pastor that's gone down and got a lot of intellectual knowledge, and he stands up. He's the pastor of the biggest churches there is in the country, and so forth like that... Where does the seed of the serpent staying at? In the smart intelligent places like that: smart, shrewd scholars, there's where he is at. That's where he lays. "Not by power, not by might, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." See? There's where you...
E-274 And you take the little brother standing down on the corner, crying his eyes out, and maybe standing down there beating an old guitar saying, "Brothers, come, find the Lord."
Pastor walk by, "Humph, I wouldn't have my congregation... Why, I wouldn't associate... wouldn't let--wouldn't let Liddie and Johnny and them see me around such a place as that."
Go on, seed of the devil. You're headed for your eternal destination anyhow. That's right. I could have said another word there, and said bastard children. And that's just about where it's at. For you see, you... "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him. And all that comes to Me, I'll raise in the last day. There's nothing going to be lost. I got it. I'll keep it." No man can do it except this. All lays in Him. You all can't say I done one thing. It's the grace of God that done it all. So nothing I done. I never had a thing to do; you never neither. You never merited one thing. God did every bit of it. You never turned your finger for one part of it.
You can say, "Well, I come out of a good family. I did this." That don't have one thing to do with it. God is the One Who did it. God's mercy.
E-278 I'm sorry now, it ain't quite eleven o'clock, but I'm going to close anyway. See? How many understands that the Bible speaks of these things to be the truth, you Branham Tabernacle people especially? Now, that's just about one-sixteenth of what we teach and believe. But remember, to you bystanders I might say this, you people that doesn't come here as a member: the way we believe this, that this is the Bible, and the Bible is God's Truth.
And we believe that in the Old Testament now, they had a way of knowing what was the truth and what wasn't the truth. Now, we all know that they had the written Law. How many knows that? The law, the--the commandments was in the ark and so forth. All right. And the law on the commandments... It said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery. Ever who commits adultery is stoned." See? That was the --the commandment and the law on the commandment. Now, the ark was setting like this. The commandments was down in there, and the laws of the commandments was in the pockets on the side of the ark. If man come down here, and committed adultery, they reached down here and got what the law said. "Stone him." They took him right out and stoned him. That's what the law was on the commandment.
E-282 Now, they had two more ways of knowing. (There's always three is a confirmation.) They had another way of knowing, and that was either by a prophet or a dreamer. How many knows that? "If there be one among you who's spiritual or a prophet, I the Lord will make Myself known to him in dreams and speak to him in visions." That's right. Now, he prophesied.
Now, if a man come around and said, "Oh, hallelujah, I got it. I'm prophesying now in the Name of the Lord. I've got the revelation," they didn't let that go like that, like you people do. They examined that by the--God first.
E-283 Now, on Aaron's breastplate they had what they called the Urim Thummim. How many ever heard that word? What was it? Was twelve stones, six on each side of the twelve patriarchs: Jasper, Judah, and so forth, on down to twelve stones. And then they took this prophet or a dreamer, and they hung this breastplate up, and they stood him there. And they said, "Now, prophesy and tell your prophecy."
"The Lord spoke to me and said a certain-certain-thing." No matter how real it seemed. It might sound like it's just perfectly the truth. But if them lights didn't come together and make a rainbow color across there--the Urim Thummim, them lights conglomerating together, the supernatural working, confirming... See, God's always confirmed His Word. See? And that supernatural light didn't flicker on there, then I don't care how real it seemed, it was wrong.
E-286 If a dreamer said, "I dreamed a dream, and this dream said that Israel should move and go to a certain place 'cause the Syrians are going to come in on this side and besiege it," they would take that dreamer down there, he told his dream. If them lights didn't flicker across there, he was wrong no matter how... If the Syrians was already setting in battle yonder, he was wrong. No, sir, they absolutely--it had to be proved by the Urim Thummim.
Now, everybody knows that the old priesthood was gone a--done away with, and the Urim Thummim went with it. We know that, don't we? And the new priesthood was come in. And what do we have a Urim Thummim today? Yes, sir. God's Word. Yes, sir, this is it. If any man has any kind of a revelation, or speaks anything, or any doctrine that's not according and co--and coping with this Bible throughout the entire Scripture, he's wrong.
I don't care what denomination he is. How good he is, how smart he is, how educated he is, he's wrong.
E-289 And when any man tells you these things that we've taught here in the church now, and tells you that if you're sprinkled, it's all right, he's told you a lie. That won't flash on the Urim Thummim. When he tells you that pouring's all right, he's told you a lie. If he tells you to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost is all right, he's told you a lie. If he tells you the days of miracles is past, he's told you a lie. If he tells you it's all right for women to preach, he's told you a lie. If he tells you it's all right for you to go ahead and stick to your denominations, he's told you a lie. It won't flash on the Urim Thummim. And dozens of things that come out in that old mother harlot and come down there... And there's why we stay away from the denominations.
E-290 We love our brethren and sisters out in those denominations, but you don't go and say, "I'm a Methodist and make you a Christian to me." You're a Christian because you are borned of the Spirit of God. You don't have to be Methodist or Baptist. You don't have to be either one. You just have to be born of the Spirit of God. Do you believe it?
Upon these basis, if anybody's here and wants to cooperate and come into the fellowship of this worship and wants to be--wants to be immersed, baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, here's the pool. They're going to baptize just in a minute. If there's any man in here, anybody that wants to come in any other way... We're here... That's right.
E-293 Now, we're--we don't have any membership; you just come here to this church. We believe that Christ is in the Methodist church, the Baptist church, the Presbyterian church. He's got members in every one of them. And what's lacking today... Is false prophecy, bringing those things out, the teaching of those churches, which is absolutely contrary to the Bible.
Now, if somebody made that that plain to me, I'd certainly get myself... I believe there is enough Spirit of God in me to search that Bible out and come and make it right. If I just walked up and shook hands with the preacher, and put my name on the book, and still had hatred and malice in my heart, and still had envy and strife, and still disbelieved Jesus Christ to be the great Healer and so forth like that, I'd go get straightened up with God right quick. I sure believe I would. I--I'd be that honest about it. I'd go get right with God. If I just hung on because I was a Baptist or a Methodist, I'd go down and get Christianity in my heart. I'd do it. Yes, sir.
E-295 Now, remember, the coming revival which will begin, the Lord willing, this coming Wednesday night, that's upon these basis. Listen, friends. There is a true and living God. That's right. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is in the church today. Now, if I just had somebody to tell me that, I'd have a right to doubt it. But listen, one day yonder as a little boy I was standing under a tree. I seen Him. I heard Him. He told me, said, "Keep away from them foul women. Keep away from the cigarettes; keep away from cursing, drinking, and all these things. I got a work for you to do when you get older." I know He's a real, living God that copes with His Word.
E-298 When I got a little older, how He met me, how He talked to me. How I seen Him yonder at the burning bush and that fire moving around yonder. How I seen Him speak and tell just exactly what would take place and every time hits perfect, just as it can be perfect like that. The same One that says those perfected things like that, is the same One Who inspires me to teach this Bible just the way I teach It. That's right. So it comes from God.
To me it's God Almighty, and He's the same yesterday, today. and forever. Jesus said, "I come from the Father and I go to the Father." When He was come... When He was God in the wilderness, He was a burning light. How many knows that? He was a burning light, Pillar of Fire. And He come here on earth, and He said, "I come from the Father and I go... I come from God and I go back to God."
E-303 When He died, buried, rose again; and Paul, on his road to Damascus met Him again, what was He? Still a Pillar of Fire. Yes, sir. What did He do when He was here on earth? What did He do when He met Paul? How did He send him? He sent him to a prophet that told him how to be baptized, told him what to do, laid his hands on him and healed him. He told him he saw a vision.
That same Jesus is here today, doing the same things and still the same Pillar of Fire, teaching the same thing and confirming it by His Word and by signs and wonders. I'm so glad to be a Christian; I don't know what to do. I'm glad that you are a Christian.
E-306 You Tabernacle here, I told you we're going to change the name of this. It's not right for it to be "Branham Tabernacle." That's just a man. See? We're going to change the name of it, make it some other name. We'll get on that after while. I just want it to be a--a church of the living God. I don't want it "Methodist," "Baptist," "Presbyterian," "Pentecostal," I... All those people I love with all my heart. I don't know which one's which. I can't tell you.
E-307 I just have to preach the Word. I cast the net and pull it in. There's frogs, and there's water spiders, there's snakes, and there's some fish too. That's up to God to decide that. I just pull the net, just preach the Word and pull it in and say, "Here they are, Lord, all around the altar. You know Your Own. You've known them since the foundation. I don't know which is which. You do, so it's up to You, Lord. That's the best I can do. I'll go over here and seine somewhere else now and get another group in. That's all I can do." All right.
Oh I feel like traveling on,
I feel like traveling on.
My heavenly home is bright and fair;
And I feel like traveling on.
E-308 Now, remember, anybody wants the appointments, just call Mr. Mercier here: Butler 2-1519. We'll be glad to see you. If your loved ones come in and have to hurry out during the time of the revival, now I'm going from tonight to go to myself and be gone for two days now to myself.
I just get in there and go to studying like this: "Lord, You're near me. I know You're here. Your Word said You'd draw nigh unto them that draw nigh unto You." I keep praying and watching till I see that Pillar of Fire begin to move. I know it's ready then. Then I walk in to the platform for the healing service to pray, to do what I can to help the sick and afflicted.
E-310 We appreciate all your kindness now, and when you come, come believing. And we're expecting to have a great meeting. I want to say that Brother Jefferies... Is he here tonight? We want to appreciate Brother Jefferies and his work. I guess he's gone back to the islands and so forth. Glad to see Brother and Sister Wright and many of you people here. I seen attorney Robinson here awhile ago, come in awhile ago. I wanted to compliment him on his--on his message he had the other day. Nobody ever did say who it was. I was ashamed. He had a real good message on prophesies, something like I'd been preaching tonight. And I...So... Then there was another minister here this morning, or last night, Brother Smith from the Methodist church-or from the Church of God over here. I don't know whether he's here tonight or not. If you ever stand up in this pulpit and look back that way, it's kind of hard to tell. It's flat. You see? You can't tell it. If you're here, Brother Smith, we appreciate you.
E-315 And isn't this setting right here this little brother from Georgia, back--back here setting by Brother Collins? Glad to see you up here again tonight, brother. And the rest of you, all of you. Each one knows who you are.
I believe this is the sister and brother here who went and prayed for the girl that time, right here, a doctor setting over here on the side. The Lord bless you, doctor.
E-318 Now, please don't feel offended at me, you ministers and brethren, because the way I strictly drive this in just as hard as I can. This is our Tabernacle. It's what we stand for, and we want to lay it right on that Word and shake them with it. Then, if you ever get out of line, we're going to come back and say, "You knowed better. Here it is on the tape. There you are. Here it is on tape."
We got a whole lot more ought to go on there, you know. And so... But you got that much. You stay right with that, and we'll get the rest of it after while. Like the man was eating watermelon, said, "That was really good, but there's some more of it." So we got a lot more of it yet coming.
E-320 The Lord bless you real good now while we... Going to have a baptismal services now. Is that right, Brother Neville? Is there someone here to be baptized just now? We don't care who you are, we're--we're ready to baptize. Raise up your hands, the ones that was to be baptized. Someone, I believe there's a... Here's a lady here. And was anyone else? Now, we got clothes here for both men and women.
E-321 Now, we're not saying leave the Baptist church, leave the Methodist church. We don't say... You go right back to your church. But if you haven't been baptized according to the Scripture in the Name of the Lord Jesus, not in the Name of Jesus only, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ (That's the Scriptures.), you're baptized wrong.
I don't want no trouble when I come to the river. I want everything as clear as I know how when I'm holding that ticket (See?), 'cause I want to get aboard at that time. I'd advise you to do the same. Go back to your church. It's up between you and God. That's all I can tell you. But no one in the Scripture was ever baptized in any other way but the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who were baptized was commanded by St. Paul who said, "If an angel preached anything else let him be accursed," commanded to them to come and be rebaptized again in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right, and he did it. And what he did, he commissioned us to do. That's what we will do God willing.
E-327 We believe in feet washing. We believe in Communion. We believe in the second coming of Christ, the visible corporal body of the Lord, not spirit, but the corporal body of the Lord Jesus coming again in glory. We believe in the physical resurrection of the dead to receive a body, not old and wrinkled as we go into the grave, but a new one in the very bliss of youth to live forever. We believe in the immortality of the soul, absolutely. We believe there's only one form of Eternal Life and that's the Life that you get from Christ Jesus. That's exactly right. Therefore, we do not believe in eternal punishment. We believe in a hell-fire, brimstone burning, but we don't believe it burns forever. If it does, you got Eternal Life.
There's only one Eternal Life; that comes from God. That's right. You'll be burnt maybe for a million years, ten million years, I don't know; but you can't have Eternal Life. You can't burn forever... You can burn forever, but not eternal. There's a difference between "eternal" and "forever." "Forever" is forever and forever (conjunction) means "a space of time." But eternal... You do not have eternal punishment. You have Eternal Life, 'cause there's only one form of Eternal Life, and he that has Eternal Life lives and is blessed of God forever. But the soul that sinneth, that soul shall what? Die. Then it hasn't Eternal Life. Certainly it has. It has its punishment, but not Eternal Life. So you see there's many things yet to be taught; we'll get later on. The Lord bless you.
E-332 Now, let's sing this good old song while our sister is going there... I believe this lady here... Rosella is that your mother? Why, bless your heart. Glad to see you, sister, doing this. That's very fine.
Rosella Griffin, one of the finest little friends that we've had. She is the young woman that was a alcoholic, to some of you people here might be a stranger. Rosella don't care for me saying that. When she come onto the platform up there at--at--up here in Indiana, you never seen a wretch, she was one of them: a walleyed alcoholic. Where four great doctors of Chicago said, "She's..." The Alcoholics Anonymous and everything else give her up. But one night when she come into the meeting, the Holy Ghost unraveled her life, and told her right there; that settled it. Look at her now. I guess thirty-something years old, pass for eighteen, lovely, beautiful young woman. Never tasted whiskey since, no more desire, living for Christ, going around in the streets everywhere, testifying to the glory of God, to sinners and alcoholics all through skid rows and everything else through Chicago doing something for the Lord. She was baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and her mother comes tonight to do likewise. If a God could heal her, if Jesus could heal her...
E-337 Whatsoever you do in word or in deed, do it all in the Name of... That's what the Bible said. That's right. All right. Now, we're going to have the baptismal service. We're going to turn the lights out just for a few minutes while we make ready for the service to be baptized, and--and then we'll expect a good time in the Lord. Are you going to...?... All right. You'd better--you'd better get ready now. I'll start, I'll lead the songs and things, while we're going ahead then. Are there... Baptismal clothes, Doc, right quick" All right. Let's just sing one of these good old songs... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] And so we do that as we leave. We must do what?
Take the Name of Jesus with us,
Falling prostrate at His feet,
King of kings in heaven will crown Him,
When our journey is complete.
All right, up to our feet.
Take the name of Jesus with you,
Child of sorrow and of woe.
It will joy and comfort give you, (I tell you what let's do. Turn right around there and shake hands with somebody there, and say, "How do you do, brother? I'm sure glad to be in the service.")
... (Precious Name,)... (O how sweet!)
Hope of earth and joy of heaven.
Precious... (Precious Name) O, how...