E-1 Brother Russell, No, that... No. Yes, I mean... You said it that you was a little bit bigger, so I said... up this a way, but not quite out this a way.
Well, we certainly are happy to be here with Brother Ruddell and his church again tonight. And I got some fans if you got the electricity, so just make yourself really at home. I sit out in the car and waited till it was just time to come in, because I--I knew it would be warm. Looks like Indiana... We have winter, and then we have summer; and then we go right to winter again.
And so I'm double happy tonight to be in this pulpit with Brother Ruddell, because Brother Ruddell is almost like one of my own boys. I can remember years ago, when his dad and I worked together. And then when this boy come on, he got his education, went to God's Bible School--kinda hard for him to get started. Looked like he just didn't want to get out somehow; he's backward, bashful. But finally, he pressed out and this is the fruits of his pressing out. And I think (myself) that Brother Ruddell is just beginning; this is just the beginning. And it's hard to tell how far this will grow. I hope it covers the dark woods up here, as it...
E-2 I was saying to someone outside... Brother Mike Egan, a few years ago, I used to squirrel hunt right along in here. How things does take over; look like civilization just takes over. We won't have a place to squirrel hunt or rabbit hunt at all, if this place keeps growing around here. It's like it just...
A few years ago, up here in the old place where I was raised, why you'd have to walk a mile to a neighbor. Now, you can't throw the water out the back door, unless you throw it in his door so... It's just everybody all jammed up together.
It's good to be here, and I won't keep you long. Brother Ruddell has asked me sometime to come up here at the Tabernacle, pray for the sick. I think one thing it does to a young minister like this, when we come and pray for the sick (and especially if our Lord will just show us some of His glory), it'll strengthen this young church.
E-3 I see some of my friends here from the Tabernacle, and some of the trustees and so forth. And now these... Many of these people have seen the Lord heal the sick. And wi--if He will just do it for us again tonight, come on the scene in His glory, it'll--it'll strengthen the faith of the people. It--it will give them a--a hope. It'll help Brother Ruddell. Because Brother Ruddell is determined to preach the full Gospel, and I'd be disappointed in him if he didn't. I'm sure the Lord would, so... And then, he's going to stay right with it. And maybe these little meetings will--like this, when some of us old preachers (you know) can come in, why, it helps those young boys out.
And now, to the Tabernacle folks, I would be down tomorrow, but I just... I am... I'm not going to have any time off now until the fifteenth of August; it's just meeting after meeting. So I'll probably may come to Sunday school, but not to speak.
E-4 And I'm sorry to hear just about one hour ago, that Brother Neville (our pastor) his sister-in-law was buried today. I wonder if the Tabernacle knew that. I don't think Brother Neville is here; I've looked all around 'fore I said this. I wonder if they knew to send flowers down there; I just don't know. I just learned it a few moments ago. Billy told me that somebody told him that Brother Neville's sister-in-law was buried today. Certainly sorry to hear that; she was a distant relative of mine by marriage, and I'm sorry to hear that her going.
Two more of my friends laying down there tonight: Dave Wright and Mr. Henson. I didn't even know they were sick; they both died in hospitals, yesterday and this morning, I think. So it goes to show one thing: that we're not here for too long. We're moving right on down the line. And we don't know what time God's going to take our number out of the card rack up there; we're going to have to answer.
E-5 So as we enter this service tonight, I know it's hot, very bad. But let's remember, that we come here to do the best that we could, to show to God that we're sincere, and we love Him. And we want every person here that doesn't love Him to fall in love with Him tonight. And all that does not believe Him, we want you to believe Him tonight with all your heart, that this meeting might be something that would be a history mark up here at this Tabernacle, that you could point back to this time and say, "That night the Lord came to us and done so-and-so."
So now before we open the Bible for the reading of the Word... Can you hear me back there all right, way back in the back? Now, I wonder over here if--can you hear that all right? Is that all right there? I didn't see too many head nods. How about this, is that better? All right, we'll just keep it right out like this then.
Now, let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. And I wonder, in the solemnness of this moment, would there be any here would just like to be remembered in prayer by raising up your hands? God bless you, each one; He sees and knows.
E-6 Our gracious heavenly Father, we are coming into Thy Presence with reverence, with not only our heads bowed, but our hearts bowed. For we realize that it is written in Thy Word that "Wherever two or three are gathered, I'll be in their midst." So we are assured that You are here now, that the great Holy Spirit moves in this little building, because it's a promise of God.
And we pray that You'll bless our gathering tonight. Bless this little church, and its pastor and all of its co-workers, all the members. And may it grow and grow, until it'll be such a lighthouse for the Kingdom of God, until people will come from far and near to visit to see the works of the Lord. May it be as the temple of old, that people from all over the world came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and that many great things taken place. And wherever we are gathered in His Name, that is the meeting place, the temple of the Lord.
E-7 And we pray that You'll honor tonight your servants, and the prayers that we make to You, the songs that we sing. And bless the Word, Lord; as it goes forth, may it really fall on fertile ground. Right at this hour, Lord, we pray that You'll pull out every greenbrier, every root of bitterness, and all disbelief from the hearts of the people, that the Word might fall on good rich, fertilized soil, that it'll bring forth great results to this people.
Bless all that put up their hands; Thou didst see them and know their needs. Grant this to us, Father, through the Name of Thy holy Son, the Lord Jesus, we ask it. Amen.
E-8 Now tonight, you that have your Bibles, I wish you to turn with me to Saint John the 6th chapter. And let's begin about the 66th verse, and read a few letters, Saint John 6:66.
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away?
Simon Peter answering him, Lord, to whom shall we go? for thou has the words of eternal life.
And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
I'd call it a text, I would like to make it this: "To Whom Shall We Go?"
E-9 You know, people of today is a great deal like it is in that day. People walk about not knowing where they are going and seem to care less; just at leisure to go wherever they wish to, and--and kind of a pleasure seeking people. He's just about like he was when he left God at the garden of Eden and was left to shift for himself. He just simply leaves God out of the picture, and just goes wherever he wishes to and kind of a pleasure mad.
And--and he hasn't changed much in his notions; he hasn't changed much in his ideas. He still wants his fig leaf religion, you know. He wants to make it himself and cover his own self, and walk away as more or less, what I say, more or less as a contented, a self-made contented. If that word sounds sensible... He's making himself believe that he is contented, when down in his soul he knows he's wrong. He knows that anything that man has to do is polluted to start with.
And he cannot no more save himself, then he could take his boot straps and jump to the moon; he cannot do it. Trying to do so is like the leopard trying to lick his spots away; he only shows his sins more brighter. But he still... He doesn't want to listen; he just wanders around.
E-10 But Peter, in that day, could answer like a lot of us tonight. He'd found something different; he'd met Jesus. And he knowed that there was something more than just wandering. Anyone that ever meets Jesus, never wants to wander any more. There's something happens to him when he meets Jesus; he's never the same any more. And this Peter had met Jesus, and he had found something in Jesus that was different from anybody else. There never was a man like Jesus.
And he'd found this great something in Him that made him answer this question, "Lord, to whom would we go?"
Jesus said, "Now, if--if you want to go with the other seventy, you're at leisure; just go ahead and go."
But Peter said, "To where would we go? Whom could we go to? For Thou alone has the Word of Eternal Life." No one else had it but Him. And Peter had been with Him long enough, and had seen His miracles and signs and wonders from God, and knowed that that was truth, that He had the word of Eternal Life. Oh, if we could only get with Him long enough to recognize that: That He alone has the Word of Eternal Life.
E-11 Now, what did Jesus have that was so much different than any one else? Why was He different from the rabbi? The rabbi was a priest, a... He was a teacher, a scholar; probably (in the world's education) far beyond Jesus. We have no record of Jesus ever going to school or learning anything from man; He did not need it. He was God's Son; it was revealed to Him from heaven what to do.
And this heavenly revelation had brought such an impression upon these di--disciples, till Peter said, "Who would we go to to find this?"
And it's just as real tonight. Where would we go to find this, if we didn't come to Him? Now, I have wrote down here on a piece of paper, seven reasons, or seven things that--reasons that we must come to Jesus. I want to speak on these seven things just for the next twenty or thirty minutes, before we pray for the sick.
E-12 Why... What was it Jesus had that was different? Why should He be the only One? The first thing: Jesus said, "I am the Way." Now, there is only one heaven, and there's one God, and one Way to get there. There's not many ways, but there's only one Way to get there. And Jesus said, "I am that Way."
Now, we try to make other ways; we try to say there's other ways. We have the way of the creed, and we try to follow that. Many of us in churches, we have the certain creed that we--we abide by; and that may be all right for a fig leaf covering. But if you're going to heaven, you have to come by Jesus, for He is the Way. No other way can be gone to heaven, only by Jesus.
E-13 We have ways that we call our denomination. You ask a man today, "Are you a Christian?"
"Oh, I'm a Methodist."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Baptist." "I'm Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or Nazarene, or something like that."
That isn't the question. To be a Christian, you have to be in Christ. And there's only one way you get into Christ, and that's not through creeds or through churches, but through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have to borned again. And when we are borned again, then we are in Christ. And if you're in Christ, you're in the Way, for He is the Way.
E-14 There was a man one time in the Bible, that Jesus in His famous parable spoke of. That He said that there was a rich man, and he made a supper for his son, which was going to be a wedding supper; and he invited people to come. And while the supper was ready and everything was ready to be served, all the guests had been seated, and at the table was found a man that did not have on a wedding garment.
(Now, many people who read the Bible are very much familiar with this Scripture.) And the king said to this fellow, "Friend, why are you here without a wedding garment?" The question was asked. "Why did you come without a wedding garment?" And did you notice? The Bible said that he was speechless; he had no excuse.
E-15 Now, I've had the pleasure of being at Oriental places and seeing Oriental weddings; they don't change--the same customs for thousands of years. Now, when there's a wedding supper to be given in honor of someone, the bridegroom furnishes robes for all the people that come in, because his friends consist of poor, rich, and indifferent. But everyone that he invites is given an invitation, and in this invitation has the bridegroom's name on it.
And he brings this invitation to the door, and there's a--a porter that stands at the door, and he has the garments. Therefore, one man comes up dressed real fine, and the porter puts on a regular robe on him. The next man comes up is mediocre; he isn't dressed too bad. But he gets the same kind of robe that the rich man got. And then the next fellow come up. Oh, no doubt but being invited to the supper in such an honor to his friend, until he washed his clothes, and oh, done so much to make hisself ready. But he only done it in vain.
So is it... We... There's nothing we can do about it. God has provided our salvation through Jesus Christ. And it's not by what we can do, or how many good things we can do (which is all right, nothing to say against it), but it's by grace are you saved through faith.
And then this poor man gets the same kind of robe that the rich man got, and the other man got. Then when they're setting at the table, all of them look alike.
E-16 Now, what happened to this man? What happened? He was speechless. Because he had climbed in at a window, or come in a side door, or come in some other way besides the provided way for him; and he had missed the robe.
That's the way it will be at the day of the judgment. There is other ways. There's ways of church; there's ways of creeds; there's ways of--of different things. But Jesus said, "I am that Way." Saint John 10, He said, "I am the door to the sheepfold."
And people today, just as they was then, they just refuse to take that way. They want their own way; they think it's just as good.
E-17 Here some time ago (I believe it was in Louisville) there was a young man, and he got something wrong with one of his ears. Well, he went to his doctor, and his doctor waited on him for a number of weeks. And it grew worse. Finally, the doctor said, "I've got to send you to a specialist."
And when the specialist diagnosed the case, it was some great medical name, that I don't believe if I knew it... If I could say it, I'd have to have it wrote out, and practice on it a hour to spell it, and then you wouldn't know what I said when I spelled it--or said it. 'Cause I wouldn't know what it was to begin with. But it was something wrong in his ear that would have taken his life.
And he said, "The case is far advanced. And I don't know of anybody that could give the case a thorough diagnosing to see if it's really the truth or not, but a certain man that lives in St. Louis, a doctor."
The boy rushed quickly to St. Louis. This doctor had retired and had went to New Orleans; he was a Southerner, so he went back down to New Orleans. The boy got a plane quickly, and rushed to New Orleans.
The old doctor looked at it and said, "They have diagnosed it right, son. And it's far advanced."
And the young fellow said, "Doctor, will you make the operation?"
He said, "No, son. I cannot do it; my hand is not steady enough." He said, "And I don't know but one man in the whole world that could perform this operation." He said, "That man is in New York City now, going in embarkation for six months vacation in Europe; and I don't whether you'd even catch him. And if you even catch him, whether he would even do the operation. He's the only man that I know of, of this rare disease, could perform this operation. And you cannot wait; you'll be dead within six months."
He said, "Get on the phone; call him; do something! I don't want to die. Get a hold of him somehow!" And they finally caught the doctor, and he consented to do the operation.
E-18 Now, when this young man was talking to the old doctor, and he told him what his trouble was, and there was only one man that could perform the operation, he didn't look at the old doctor like some people look at a minister, when he tells him that Jesus is the only way to be saved. He didn't look at the doctor and say, "Very nice speech, doctor; I certainly enjoyed your talk. I'll come back to hear you at another season."
Now, that's the way people take Christianity. But if you only realized, that it's death to reject that Way! That's the reason Peter said, "Who would we go to? For You alone has Eternal Life. You're the only One and the only Way that God has laid down; and that's Eternal Life."
Now, we must remember that He is the Way. And if you're in Christ, you come in Christ by being born into Christ. Now, there's no need of telling the people a Way and what is the Way, unless you tell them how to get into it. Now, you're borned into Christ; you become a part of Him. You become a new creature, or a new creation, when you're borned in the Kingdom of God. You become a part of Christ. When I was borned in the Branham family, I become a Branham by birth. That's the way you become part of Christ and the way you get in the Way--by new birth. That's right. That's how you get in the Way. And Jesus said, "I am the Way."
E-19 We could stay a long time on that. But the next thing He is: He is the Truth. There's nothing or nobody else has truth, but Him. Oh, I know we got religions today that go about and say, "Well now, we're the truth; we got the truth."
We go to one church and they say, "We have the truth."
Go to another church, they say, "Our creeds, we got the truth."
We go to another, "We got the catechism of old; we got the truth."
Jesus said He was the Truth; so you cannot have truth, till you have Jesus. How do you get Him? By being borned again. But you can't have truth, till you have Jesus. You can't have--be in the Way until you're in Jesus. How do you get into Him? "By one Spirit we're all baptized unto one body." Then you're in Jesus; then you're in the Way; then you're in the Truth.
E-20 Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and..." Another thing, the third thing Jesus... We have come to Him; He's the only Light there is. That's right. Oh, we want to different with that, but it's true. Jesus is the only Light there is.
You say, "I'm a Russellite, Campbellite." Whatever you might be, it's a false light. You might be in the Russellite church; you might be in a Campbellite church, or some other "lite" church. But until you get in Jesus, you're not in Light; you're still in darkness. You don't have light till you come to Him, for "He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light," and the only way to God: "No man cometh to the Father except by Me."
So you can't go to God; you can't go to heaven; you have to get in the Way, and Jesus is that Way. He is the only Truth that there is, and He's the only Light--the only true Light. The only true manifested Light is Jesus Christ. We have Mormon light; we have Methodist light; we have Baptist light; we have Pentecostal light; we have all kinds of lights. But Jesus is the true Light! He's the only Light.
E-21 We are the children... If we are borned again, we are the children of the day. The children of the world walk in darkness; they walk at nighttime; they love darkness. The Bible said, "The men love--people love darkness more than they do light, because the light would manifest their deeds." Let the sun come up, and every old lizard, every old bug, insects of the dark kingdom, crawls at night, will take under something. That's the same way when the Gospel Light begins to shine; every evil deed will try to crawl under something.
Oh, they say, "We got... We got light, because we--we live at nighttime."
If you walk in the light at nighttime, you're walking under a artificial light. There's only one true daylight--that's the sunlight. There's only one true Christian Light, and that is the Light of the Son of God. It's the only true Light.
E-22 Yes, in Him is Life. That... As sure as the sunlight produces life... All botany life comes out with sunlight. Last year, it was... And how the winters froze and everything, but as soon as the sun begin to bathe upon the earth, what happened? New life comes up; new...
I was talking to a man (Mr. Wood, back there); we was down in Kentucky. I met a man, and he was supposed to be an infidel. I heard he just passed on. And he... Mr. Woods went up and asked him if we could squirrel hunt on his place.
He said, "Sure, you can squirrel hunt, Banks. Go right on."
He said, "I brought my pastor along."
He said, "You don't mean you've got so low down, Woods, till you have to have a preacher with you all the time." And he said...
I got out of the car and walked over there. And there was an apple tree, he and another old gentleman was setting under. And so I picked up a apple and begin to eat it, and he was talking to me. And I inter... Brother Wood introduced him as... Said, "Meet our pastor."
And I said, "How do you do, sir?"
And we talked a little bit, and he begin to talk about... Well, that he'd never went to church, and he didn't know as he'd missed anything.
I said, "Oh, yes, you have."
E-23 I let him talk a little while, and after while he said, "You know, there was a preacher who came here to Campbellsville, or to Acton (a little city) up here on the Methodist campgrounds." And said, "That preacher was never in this country before. And one night while he was up there preaching a three nights meeting, he looked back down through the crowd and seen a woman setting there, and told her that she was praying for her sister who lived up here on the hill, dying with a cancer. Said, 'You've got a handkerchief in your pocketbook.' And said, 'Take that handkerchief and lay it on the woman, and she'll be healed.'"
Said, "That morning, wife and I were up there." And said, "We turned that old woman in a sheet. She hadn't been out of the bed for two years or more--cancer of the stomach. She couldn't even keep water on her stomach." And said, "The sister got up from the meeting, and left that night, and came up, and laid the handkerchief on the woman."
And said, "The next morning, she was cooking eggs and bacon, and making breakfast, and eating." And said, "She's been up there," (This was three or four years ago.) and said, "she's still well."
He said, "Now, if he ever comes in this country again, I'm going to hear him." Said, "Because he produced something that made it look a little more than just a bunch of words to read. It introduced something that was a living and alive. How did he ever know she lived up there on the hill?"
E-24 I looked over at Brother Wood and shook my head. And I was standing there full of mud, and squirrel blood, and everything from hunting; he never had an idea it was me up there preaching. So he--he stood there a little bit, or set there, rather.
And I said, "Sir, you mean, if you could see something that was--looked God--God did something supernatural...?"
"Oh, yes," he said, "that'd make me believe."
I said, "Yes, sir." I said, "How old is this apple tree?"
He said, "Thirty something years; I planted it there so and such a year."
I said, "Every year it comes--brings up apples?"
"Yes."
I said, "This is just about the middle of August. We haven't had one freeze or one cold spell." I said, "We haven't had any weather at all but hot summer. And tell me why. How is it, that those leaves are dropping off that tree?"
He said, "The sap's gone back into the ground."
I said, "If it didn't go back, then that tree would die in the wintertime."
"That's right; sap stay up in the tree, it'd kill it. It has to go down into the roots and hide."
I said, "You tell me what makes that sap--here in the middle of the summer--what intelligent sends it down into the roots to live through the winter, to come back next spring to bring you another crop of apples, I'll tell you it's the same Spirit that told me to go tell that woman to go lay that handkerchief on her. It's the same God."
He said, "You're not that preacher."
I said, "Yes, sir, I am." I said, "You see, you look for something out in a meeting, but God's right around you everywhere. You just can't keep from seeing it." Watch nature.
E-25 Now, some people might refuse to walk in the sunlight. What if there would be such a person that would say, "Oh, the sun's not shining, no, sir. I don't believe it." and run into his basement? Say, "I'll only come out when it gets dark. When I come..." He refuses the help of the sun. Well, if he does, that's--that's just his own stupidity; that's all. The sun's shining.
Somebody come up to the window, and holler, "Come out, John. The sun is shining."
"I refuse to believe such nonsense; that's fanaticism."
Now, he certainly misses the warmth of the sun; he certainly misses the life giving rays that it gives. He certainly misses the beauty that it shows, and the life that it brings forth. That's the way a man or a woman trying to go to heaven through a creed, trying to go to heaven through a church without Jesus; you can't do it; He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light. As sure as--as the s-u-n brings forth all plant life, the S-o-n brings forth Eternal Life; and He alone has Eternal Life. That's why we should come to Him. We'll miss it through a church; we'll miss it through a creed. We only can come to Him to find Eternal Life: He alone.
Peter said, "You're the only One that's got it; that's the reason we're here for It. We come to You to receive It."
E-26 Now, you watch light... When that sunlight begins to shine, why, there isn't--there isn't a seed in the ground, but what will live. It can't help it. You put a sidewalk down your road--down your path; pour it over with concrete; make it four foot wide. And you let the sun go to shining and the grass come up, where you got your most grass? Right along the edge of it. What is it? It's those roots. You can't hide life from the sun. That sun goes to shining, them little roots wind their way out for a hundred yards if necessary, and they'll come up. That's the grass that was under the sidewalk; that's the one was under there. The light's a shining; and when light shines, life comes to its existence.
And when the Son of God shines upon a heart, Eternal Life comes to existence. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Light." There's three reasons we should come.
E-27 The fourth is: Jesus is the only safe and secure Foundation that anything could be built on. That's right. It's the only foundation that can be built upon; all other foundations is sinking sand. "On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other grounds is sinking sand."
A lot of people build upon riches. They try to work, see how much money they can make. They say, "If I can't spend it, my children can behind me." What does it do? It re--leads to a slavery; you become a slave to your money. Many people don't maybe...
You don't have to be a millionaire to do that; you can just covet money, and you're just as guilty as the millionaire. See? There's just as many "pennyaires" as there is millionaires will be in hell, because it's your attitude towards it, what God has given you. Now, if you build it upon riches, it'll fall.
E-28 Then there is a great thing that this America's trying to build upon. It's trying to build upon the foundation of popularity. Young girls, young boys, they look at the--the television stars, movies stars; try to act like them, dress like them, impersonate them. What does it do? Leads to a ruined life of chaos. It's stubbles of hay which will be burned at the judgment.
Jesus is the only Foundation, the only sure Foundation. That's the reason we should come to Him. Nobody else has that foundation; riches doesn't have it; popularity doesn't have it. And today, we've got so much building foundation. Oh, we want, we just... American people just can't do nothing Sunday; they got to... They got to build a fence; they got to do this. What are you doing? You realize what you're building is going to blowed to bits pretty soon? That foundation is crumbling sands.
E-29 Many of us building upon education... We can't even get teachers to go in school, we're talking about... Now, that's all right. School's all right in its place, but it'll never take the place of Christ. No, sir. Now, we got... Can't even get teachers. Our teen-agers are so rough, till people won't even try to teach them. Little Oswald, and--and--and Les, and all of them, they'll run the teacher out of the building. They'll set up a protest; they'll strike; they'll close up the school. I don't blame them; I wouldn't be a school teacher either, if I could get out of it.
But we're talking about education. Now, that's all right--education. We don't want a bunch of illiteracy, but we want education in its place. But the trouble of it is today, we tried to educate our pulpit. And when we did, we took the Way out: Christ is the Foundation and that Way. When we put education... Education's all right.
E-30 Now listen, many times education leads to the demon of education, and that demon of education leads you to a know all. And when you get there, then you become an infidel and deny Christ. So you can't build upon the foundation of education. Neither can we build it upon political powers.
You say, "Well, my... I'm so interest; I'm a Democrat."
"I'm a Republican; I'm..."
Both parties is rotten. There's only one Foundation; build upon Christ! This nation don't need to build upon any other foundation but Jesus Christ. Right. No other foundation is laid; no other foundation is--you can get to heaven on. No other foundation is secure, but the Foundation of Jesus Christ.
E-31 Some time ago in New York, I was riding along with a friend of mine, minister. I said, "Oh, that great building. Oh," I said, "looky, there's probably fifty stories or sixty. Oh, it's a mammoth big place; how beautiful it is." I said, "Well, there's no one in there."
He said, "No, and there won't be."
I said, "What's the matter?"
He give me the estimation of what that building approximately cost--in the millions to build that building.
"Well," I said. "Why didn't somebody move in to it?"
Said, "As soon as the building got almost completed, all the outside polished and everything," said, "they come to find out that the foundation wasn't right. It'd been laid upon some kind of a soapstone, not a real stone. Therefore, the building was condemned." And said, "It's only served for one thing: That's for the contractor to climb up to the top of it, and jump off to commit suicide."
No matter how good the outside looks, there's not another foundation that's sure, but the Foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the real Foundation to be built upon.
E-32 Mexico, a beautiful city, I was in here couple years ago where the little dead baby... I picked up a man down in the city awhile ago, drunk as he could be; bringing him up.
And he said, "I seen you stand one time, Reverend Doctor something or other," (He was Cas... Catholic, he said.) And said, "Bring a little dead girl back to life again." And he said, "I've always respected you."
I said, "Do you know Jesus?"
He said, "I'm Catholic."
I said, "I never asked you what church you belonged to. I said, 'Did you know Jesus?'"
And I told him the story of this little Catholic woman standing out there at nine o'clock that morning with a dead baby in her arms, until ten thirty that night, it pouring down rain; and how the Lord brought that little baby back to life again. I wouldn't let them announce it till the doctor announced it--said the baby died, and he announced it dead at nine o'clock that morning. And this was that night at ten-thirty, and the little baby's living today, as far as I know. Now...
E-33 And in that city... It's a beautiful city, but the buildings are all beginning to set backward, because they were so interested in getting a modern day architect to get the building pretty and polished (Which I doubt if there's any place in the world could beat it in beauty.), but they failed to go deep enough to get on the rock.
That's what's the matter with our churches today, friend. That's what's the matter with the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Nazarenes. We've got to dig as individuals, and not depend on our churches. We've got to dig, ourselves, until we strike that Rock, that Jesus said, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He's the only true Foundation, truly.
E-34 Then another thing, fifthly, I'd have to say this: He's the only successful and secured Happiness and Peace. That's the reason we come to Him. Oh, I know you can laugh like an idiot, or you can get out here and laugh till you go into hysterics at some joke that some movie star popped off or something. Or somebody, you might get a little too much to drink and laugh like you was some loon. But that don't bring peace. There is no other peace and no other happiness like coming to Jesus Christ.
I've seen people put on. I've seen young women try to brush theirselves around with their new frocks on and act like they were happy; they're not. They're only building a painted fire; you can't warm by a painted fire. You've seen young men that try to think his muscles was so big that you could drive a nail down and never touch him, and a knife would bend its blade on them; just give him a few years, and he's turned back old and wrinkled. There's no eternal happiness outside of Christ.
E-35 Looky here--I'll put any of you here tonight in perfect health, your family in perfect health, all around you. What about mama that's not here? How do you know your dad's not dying now? How do you know that one of your children didn't get killed a few minutes ago away from here? How do you know that something else hasn't happened? How do you know you're going out of this building tonight? You may drop in a heart attack; you don't know. So there's no eternal happiness outside of Christ; that's the reason we must come to Him. You can have whiskey; you can have pleasure; you could have the things of the world, but they are not successful happiness. Nothing can give peace like Him; He gives a peace.
"Oh," you say, "I got peace."
E-36 If you've ever got real peace, you've got Jesus. If you haven't got Jesus, you don't even know what peace means, until you come to Him. I've seen people: Kings, potentates, great men, athletes, movie stars, and all that; they're not peaceful. Look at them; watch their eyes a few minutes; they're--they're neurotics. See? No man, no woman, no child, no one can have peace outside of Jesus Christ. "My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth I unto you..." See? Not as the world gives you peace, but He has eternal peace, a resting peace. If you live, if you die, if... No matter if the rain comes or the sun shines, you got peace anyhow. I like Brother Shakarian's old number he sings; great big old fellow sings, "I got peace like the river; I got peace like the river." Oh, that's right. When you got Peace, you've got Christ; Christ is your Peace. So that's why we must come to Christ to find peace.
E-37 Now, one more thing I want to say for the sixth thing. He... Or the... Yes, the sixth thing: He is the only lasting Achievement. Tell me anything that you could get, that's cou--you could achieve would be eternal, outside of Jesus Christ. Build a fine home; get a million dollars; be the most popular woman in the country; strongest man that ever walked on the streets; be the world's record prize fighter; whatever you want to be; see if you don't windle and twindle and die! Right. It won't take but a few suns to do it. So the only eternal Achievement there is is Jesus Christ. There...
If He's the most and the best that we can achieve for, let's--let's make that our achievement then. Let's be sure that we get Him. You might be a preacher; you might be a pastor; you might be a deacon; you might be a church member. But if you haven't in your achievement...
You might achieve and say, "I won't stop till I become a preacher." "I won't stop till I become a deacon." "I won't stop till I become a church member." Them things are all right, honorable. But listen here, brother. Don't you stop short of Jesus Christ, or you haven't got an eternal achievement. Because your pastor... that... Your work of a pastor will soon fade away; your work as a deacon will soon go; your church membership will be long re--dismissed from the minds of the people just a little while to come. But if you've achieved Jesus Christ, then you've got Eternal Life and you'll can never die.
E-38 Now lastly, I want to say this. Here's another reason we should come to Jesus: He is the only One that has translation (I'm so glad of that. Oh, that makes me feel religious.), the only One Who can translate. Yes, sir.
I'll tell you what. You go down to the store in the morning (or Monday morning, being tomorrow's Sunday). You go down to the drug store and get you some medicine that'll make you so holy until it'll translate you into glory. Let--let the doctor perform an operation on you that'll give you translation from the grave into glory.
You get so smart and educated, that you'll know how to build a--like a--the--another tower of Babel, and it'll end up the same way. Find out; try to go some other way and find out. It's only those that are in Christ will God bring with Him. The only translation that can be done from earth to glory is through Jesus Christ. He is the only Translation, only way to be translated. You can't buy it; you can't... You can't work for it. You've got to receive it; it's a gift to you. God's translation to take you...
E-39 Go down here and buy some medicine that'll turn you from an old man or woman back to a young man and woman. Find out if you can buy it; you never will. It never will be in existence in--in the medical realm. It never will be in existence in any realm outside of Jesus Christ.
But He said this: "He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood hath Everlasting Life, and I'll raise him up at the last day," translate him, take him into glory. "And if this earthly body be dissolved--this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one waiting." Translation, swapping houses, go from place to place...
E-40 He's the only One that has Eternal Life; He's the only One that has happiness. May I say this too: He's the only... In Him is the only place that you can go where you can see Him. The only place that you'll ever be able to understand Him, is when you get in Him. You have to come into Him to understand it. If not, you'll just--you'll just wonder and beat your head around. You'll guess, and you'll... It'll be a puzzle to you; you'll never understand it.
That's the reason those Jews in them days said, "Why, this guy's Beelzebub; this guy's this, that, and the other." They never did come to Him; they never did accept Him as the Way. They didn't accept Him as the Truth, as the Light, as the Foundation, as the First, as the Last, as Alpha, Omega, all these other things that He is. He's all in all. That's the reason they couldn't understand Him. When they see Him...
E-41 There come Philip up, went over and got Nathanael, brought Nathanael up, and Nathanael... Jesus walked... In the Presence of--of Jesus... When Nathanael came in the Presence of Jesus, rather, Jesus looked at him, and said, "Behold an Israelite in whom there's no guile."
He said, "Rabbi, when did You ever know me?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you under the tree, I saw you." The Ra...
The preachers standing around there, the priests, they said, "This man is Beelzebub. He has the devil in Him; He's a fortune teller."
Jesus said, "You say that against Me, I'll forgive you. But someday the Holy Ghost is coming to do the same thing, and one word against It will never be forgiven in this world nor world to come."
How can you... He said, "How can you condemn Me when your own word says that 'You are gods.' And if they were called gods who the Word of God come to, how can you condemn Me when I say I'm the Son of God? If you would've known My Father, you would've known Me also." That's right. He said, "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him."
E-42 No man will understand God except Christ--you accept Christ. You can't understand Divine healing. Why, somebody say, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever." Little pastor here might preach it.
Some of you might scratch your head, and say, "Ah, I don't believe that." See? You're in no condition to believe it. Just accept it by faith, and then you'll see it.
Jesus said, "A little while and the world sees Me no more (That's the world order.)--will see Me no more, yet ye shall see Me ('ye' the believer), for I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world. The works that I do shall you do also; even more than this shall you do, for I go to My Father. I'll go away, and then I'll come again and be with you."
E-43 Nicodemus asked the question, "How can I be borned again? I'm an old man--enter into my mother's womb the second time?"
He said, "Except a man be borned again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
Now, that translation there is really "understand"--understand the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God's within you, so you couldn't actually see it, 'less you see it operating. But the only way you'll ever be able to understand it; you've got to be borned again. To be borned again, you've been filled with God's Spirit; then you're in Christ. And when you're in Christ, the Holy Spirit that wrote the Bible, that manifested Christ, is in you to recognize His own Self. Amen. That's why you must come to Him.
E-44 That's what's the matter with America today. These meetings have swept the country from east, west, north and south. That's the reason there's an atomic bomb planted yonder for this nation. That's the reason a destruction is at hand, is because that the works of God has been manifested and people walked away without receiving Him, because they don't want Him! They're ashamed of Him. Oh, they're not ashamed of their church; they're not ashamed of their religion; but they're ashamed of Jesus Christ.
When the apostles left their church and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, made them stagger like drunk men, speaking in other tongues, and carrying on, and going forth and healing the sick, and so forth. And they was called a bunch of--of--of illiterate, ignorant people; the Bible said they were both ignorant and unlearned. But they taken heed that they had been with Jesus, because they acted the same way He did. They knowed that His life was in them, because they were doing the works that He did.
Jesus said in Saint John 14:7, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, shall he do also. There you are.
E-45 That's why we got to come to Christ today. I believe Christ is soon coming; I believe we're at the end of the road. I believe the nations are breaking; I believe the end time is at hand. I know it is; frankly, I absolutely know it is. I'll go further and say, "I believe it; I know it." We're at the end of the road. Just how many days, how many years or weeks, I don't know; nobody knows, not even Jesus. He said, "God knows that only." I don't know when it will be, what hour it will be; but I know that it's soon, for these are the things that's supposed to take place just before His coming.
Let me persuade you tonight, my friend outside of Christ, if you want the sure Foundation, the Way, the Truth, and the Light, you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and be filled with His Spirit. Then when His Spirit goes to moving, you'll know His Spirit.
E-46 That's what was the matter with the men--they seen Him. The woman at the well, she knowed more about God than half the preachers did of that day. Why, as soon as she seen Him, she... He looked like an ordinary Jew, just an ordinary man.
And He said to her, "Woman, bring Me a drink."
She said, "Why, it's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans such."
He said, "But if you knowed Who you were talking to, you'd ask Me for a drink. I'd give you waters you don't come here to draw."
He went talking to her till He discerned her, told her what was wrong with her. Every one of us know what was wrong. We American people believe that she was an adulterous; she had five husbands, and living with the sixth.
So He said, "Go get your husband and come here."
She said, "I have no husband."
He said, "You've told the truth; you've had five, and the one you're living with is not your husband. You've said the truth."
She said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet. Now, we know when the Messiah cometh, He will make Hisself known to us that way. We know that He will tell us these things."
He said, "I am He that speaks to you."
She left the water pot, and into the city she went. What had she done? She'd accepted; she'd accepted it, the revelation, when it come to her; she run into the city and said, "Come, see a Man Who's told me the things I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?" She'd accepted it. There you are.
E-47 When the Pharisees and Sadducees turned around and said, "He's Beelzebub. We won't have nothing to do with Him," because their reli... They had a foundation; they had a way; they had a way. The Bible said, "There's a way that seemeth right unto a man; the end thereof is the way of death."
So don't take that way that seems right; come to Christ. Accept Jesus as your Saviour and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then when the Holy Spirit begins to move among you, you'll recognize It. That's the way to be healed: know Who the Healer is. Jesus Christ is the Healer. How would He act if He come here tonight to heal you? He'd act the same way He did back there.
A woman pressed through the crowd and touched His garment. He turned around and said, "Who touched Me?" And everybody stood, and He looked around until He found her. And He told her that she had a blood issue, and said, "Your faith has saved you."
That was Jesus yesterday; that's Jesus today, if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You can't believe that until you have received Christ in you, then He witnesses Himself that it's Him. You see what I mean? That's the way to get Him is to receive Him.
E-48 The seven reasons why we should receive Him now... "We can't go to no other; Thou only." You can't go to the church and get that; I don't know a denomination you can go to and get it. I--I ain't got nothing against the denomination, but many people just think because they belong to a church, that's all they have to do. You have to come to Jesus. He's the Way, not the church. He's the Truth, not the church. He's the Light, not the church. He's the Foundation, not our church foundation. He's Eternal happiness, Eternal Life, the only lasting Achievement, the only Translation, the only way to know God, the only way to see the revelation, the only way to be healed, come to Him. You must come to Him and recognize Him, believe Him.
E-49 Now, you say, "But, Brother Branham, I've never seen such works as that ever done." Well, I hope you do; I hope you see that. The meeting is just now fixing to start. I want you here that wants to find Him, to know Him, would pray to know Him... How many would like to know Him so you could recognize Him if His Spirit come in the meeting? Raise your hand, say, "I'd like to know Him in such a way that I'd recognize Him?"
Thank you. How would you recognize Him? Because that He would do the same works that He did when He was here on earth. Now, Saint John 5:19, what did He say?
He passed by a pool of Bethesda that had a great bunch of people crippled and twisted. Jesus walked by that two thousand or more people, walked by them. He seen a man laying on a pallet, for He knew... See? He'd seen him before. He'd been there all these years. And He said... He wasn't crippled; he could walk.
He said, "Will you be made whole?"
He said, "I have no one to put me in the water. When I'm coming, somebody gets ahead of me, can walk faster, get in first." He said, "While I'm coming, another steps down ahead of me."
He said, "Take up your bed and go unto your house."
The man picked up his bed and walked on. He walked away and left them there. Now, that didn't sound very good, did it? But that was Jesus. In the heart. Why? Now, if you'll just read on another verse, the 19th verse, you'll understand why He did it.
When they questioned Him, He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you: The Son can do nothing in Himself; but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son." You see it? "As the Father's worketh, I'll worketh hitherto."
In other words, "The Father shows Me a vision. I see what He tells Me to do, and I--I'll say just what He says Me say. I'll only do that what He tells Me to do."
Well, that's the Foundation; that's the Truth; that's the Way; that's the Light. Hallelujah! That's Jesus!
You say, "I've never seen it."
E-50 May I say this in closing. A few weeks ago down in Florida, near the Gulf of Mexico, somewhere down in there, or down in the Keys somewhere, there was a--a doctor (I think it was) that went down to go fishing. And he--he hired an old guide that was supposed to be a very good guide, that would know how to bring him in and out of the waters.
And the old guide just got in the boat and pushed off, and went off a little piece there with his oars and waited awhile. And it wasn't daylight yet, and the fellow begin to feel them funny winds as it comes on the ocean of a morning, twisting, he said, "Say..." He begin to think, "We're floating out at sea; the tide's taking us out." He seen the boat look like it was moving. He said... He thought, "I don't want to speak to that guide, but I'd better--I better say something." He got frantic. He said, "Say, sir. We're floating out to sea, aren't we?"
"Oh," he said, "I think not," calm, quiet.
A little while, he noticed the boat still going out, foggy and dark. He said, "We're floating out to sea. Do something! You're the guide; do something! Hurry up, we're going out to sea. Which way do we go back?"
The old guide, just calm as he could be, set there and said, "Well, just wait a little while; it'll be light. Then we'll know where we're at."
Just wait a little while. May the true Light of God shine in this building tonight. Then you'll see where you are; you'll see which way to go after that. Let us pray.
E-51 Heavenly Father, it is said in the Scriptures, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Light; no man cometh to the Father except by Me. I am the Door to the sheepfold. I AM, I AM, I AM..." on and on, until You finally wind up to say, "I AM the I AM."
That "I Am" was not yesterday nor tomorrow; It's ever present the same "I Am." In every age, in every generation, all through eternity, it's still "I Am." Now, You are still that great "I Am," not the "I was, or will be," yet You was and You will be. But yet You're ever present "I Am."
No wonder the apostles said, "Whom could we go, Lord? To whom could we go? We see You do these things. We know that no man can do these things except God be with him."
Nicodemus declared the same, "Rabbi, we know Thou art a teacher that come from God. We know it; we Pharisees, we church members, we know it. We can't accept it; we'd be put out of the church. But we know that You're a teacher come from God, 'cause no man could do the works that You do, 'less God was with him."
Truly, Lord, that's the same today. You're the same Foundation, the same Way, the same Truth, the same Light, the same Foundation. You're the same happiness; You're the same translation; You're the same of all. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever, The same One that knows the secret of the heart, the same yesterday, today, and forever, the same Healer, the same Saviour.
God, there may be sinners here. Twenty or thirty hands went up awhile ago when I asked who would want to see You. I placed them off a little while longer upon my last remark, "Wait till the sun shines, then you'll see where you're at." Don't be frantic; don't run out of the church. Don't be--oh, say, "It's too hot to set here any longer." But let's wait a little while. Let the sun shine; let the light come up; let Jesus come on the scene and perform and do like He did here when He was on earth. Then we'll see which a way to go. Grant it, Father. We ask this in Jesus' Name and for His glory. Amen.
E-52 I know it's hot. We don't have too much time. How many believes that those statements are true? There's no other way to turn; there's no other way. Well, how can you be sure? I've condemned the church as an organization. I've condemned the foundation it's built upon, upon the doctrine of bishops and so forth. "Having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof." Because they do not believe in Divine healing; they do not believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They do not believe in the Full Gospel doctrines. They're a denomination.
The Pentecostals is getting just as far away. That's right. Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, they're drifted, because they begin to accept the doctrine of man, fig leaf religion, men strolling: "Where can we go?" Are you going to be like the seventy that would turn away, or will you be like Peter tonight? Said, "Lord, where would we go? Who else could we go to? We've seen that You have the word of Eternal Life; You're the only One that has it."
E-53 And Jesus is the only One that's got your soul in His hand. Your church can't help you; Christ helps you. Where can you found--or ever believe or see a foundation that can achieve anything after death? What can a church do for you after death? What can a church do for you when the doctor's turned you down? What can any man do for you when the medical science has turned you over, eat up with the cancer? There's nothing.
But there is a Foundation; there is One. There is a Way; there is a Light; there is a God; there is a Healer; there is a Saviour; there is a glorified One. And He's in our midst tonight, because He promised He'd be when He said, "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'll be in their midst. The works that I do shall they do also. A little while and the world (that's just the church, the outsiders), they won't see Me no more. Yet you shall see Me, for I (And anybody that ever went to grammar school knows that 'I' is a personal pronoun. See?), I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world. And the works that I do shall you do also."
What works did He do? As the Father showed Him. That's the reason I said on my last statement, "Wait!" I've not preached to you in vain. If Jesus doesn't do what I says--what the Bible said He did, what I quoted for you the Scripture He did, then I've told you wrong. Then the Bible's wrong. Then let's go out and find Mohammedan religion; let's find Buddha or some other religion that is true.
E-54 Let me tell you right now, brother, before you start: There's only one Way, only one Truth. There's only one religion that exists that can prove that their founder raised from the dead and lives forevermore. Amen! That's the Church of the living God. They're made up of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, and whatevermore--Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Pentecostals. Every man that's borned in the Kingdom of God, that's received Jesus Christ, is built on that foundation and can never pass away. Rest in that Eternal hope, even though they might throw dirt on your casket in a week from now, yet it'll never bother you one bit. You just move from this old building to a new one, that's all. He will raise you up at the last day.
Jesus Christ is the only place to turn. I turned to Him with all my heart, with all my strength, as I would be if I had five hundred thousand (as we did in Bombay) here in this little church tonight of a hundred and fifty people or something like that (maybe not that many), the same way, to rest myself upon Him that He will reveal Hisself some way tonight that will make you understand that He's here.
E-55 (Prayer cards... Did you get to give... That's right you said you'd give out how many?) Brother Ruddell, I was expecting tonight really, by its being so hot, people'd be jammed and packed and packed in here and so--so forth, but it--it isn't that I guess they...
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] Like I did first, I wanted to go get my wife, and I drove by to see if there was--how many was here, I seen it was full; I just come on back in (See?), come where, turn around and come back.
E-56 Now, it's hot. But, oh... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] Just a few and then maybe we can get a few more, few more and pray for them. Now, I don't say the Lord will do anything outstanding for us; maybe He will, maybe He won't. I don't know.
(Now, what... Did you start from one? One.) All right, who has prayer card number 1? Would you just raise your hand? Somebody with prayer card number 1. (Are you sure of that?) Number 1? Oh, I'm sorry. All right, lady, you come right here.
Number 2? Who has number 2? Prayer card number 2, would you raise up your hand? The little girl? Oh, I'm--I'm sorry. Prayer card number 2, would you raise up your hand? All right. You mean prayer card number 2 is not in here? This lady? All right, come right here, lady, right over here.
Number 3? Look, quickly now. It's might be somebody deaf or somebody can't raise up. Number 3, raise up your hand, please, prayer card number 3... All right, sir. I know this man.
All right, number 4, raise up your hand, prayer card number 4... Somebody that has got number 4, please? This lady here? I believe I know that lady. I'm not mistaken, I think I do. Number 4...
Number 5? Back in the back? All right. Number 6, prayer card number 6? All right. Number 7, prayer card 7? The--the gentleman coming. Number 8? (Billy, would you go down there and fix them, so he can have a place to stand or something another.) Number 9? Who has prayer card number 9? This lady here? All right. number 8. All right.
E-57 Number 9? Who has prayer card number 9? Look around; somebody may be deaf. Number 9? Number 9? Did they walk outside? Look around at your... Say, anybody that's got a prayer card in their hand, look around; it might be somebody can't get up. Prayer card number 9... We don't want to miss any one. Does this lady here have number 9? Look... (No, no, that's--that's way up there.) Number 9... You want to just come if your number's called, if you will. Number 9...
I know this lady. Miss Ford, do you have number nine prayer card? Somebody see--maybe she can't hear. Bi... (Gene, would you go down here just a minute, and see about..? Or, Brother Fred, come here and help Billy a minute.)
All right, number 10? Who has number 10? Number 9? Number 10? Where's everybody at? All right, we'll start with these then, get these. All right?
E-58 Now, how many of you there in the prayer line knows me? You know me, and he knows me. All right. How many out there in the audience that doesn't know me, and I don't--you know that I don't know what's wrong with you and yet you're sick? Raise up your hand. All right, all right. Now, you that doesn't know me and I don't know you, I want you to do this: I want you to look up this way and do like the woman did, while we just have this little prayer line.
Now look, them people are sick; I don't see no crippled people, but--but there's people sick. Now, if they need healing, well there's one Guy can heal them; that's Jesus Christ--one Man. Now, How can He done it? How does He do it? Because you believe that He has done it; that you believe that He has. Now, if He lives, then He's still the Healer. Is that right? Raise up your hand. If He still lives, He's still the Healer. All right. Then if He can prove to you that He's alive here tonight, if He can prove... to Himself...
E-59 Now, He can't be here in a body form, because His body's setting at the right hand of God. How many knows that? And know that the Holy Spirit that was in Him is back here now doing the same works that It did when It was in Him? That's what He said. All right. Now, if He will do that same works that He did in us...
Now, you that don't have them prayer cards and don't know me, and raised up your hand, you look this way and say, "Lord, I believe that You're in here, and I want to touch Your garment. For the Bible said that You are right now a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of my infirmities. Now, I'm sick and I need prayer; and I want to touch Your garment. Then You speak through Brother Branham and tell me what to do." Just--just do that; find out whether He's here or not.
E-60 Who's the first in prayer line? All right. Is the la--this the lady in the chair here? All right, all right. First thing I--I believe, I don't... I don't know you; I don't think. We're strangers to one another? We're strangers. All right.
Now, here's a woman that I do not know. I know nothing about her, never seen her in my life. She's a stranger to me. And we're here as a picture just like it was in the Bible. Here a man and a woman meets like Saint John 4 (if you want to read it). Jesus met the woman at the well. And He never seen her, and she didn't see Him before.
So He said, "Woman, bring Me a drink." What was He doing? Contacting her spirit.
And she said, "It's not customary for Jews to ask Samaritans such. We have no dealings."
He said, "Go get your husband and come here."
She said, "I have no husband."
Said, "That's right, you got five; the one you're living with is not yours."
She said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Now, we know, we Samaritans, we know that when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things. But Who are You?"
He said, "I am He that speaks to you."
And she run, told all the city, "Come, see a Man that told me the things that I've done. (Or something about her) Isn't this the very Messiah?"
Well, if that was the sign of the Messiah in that day, and He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, wouldn't it be the same as--today as it was then? Wouldn't He do the same thing? How many of you in this building--sinner or not--would believe it if He would do it the same way? Let's see your hands.
E-61 Now, here is my hand. As far as I know, I've never seen the woman in all of my life. I... She's standing here saying, "Thank you, Jesus." She may be a Christian; she may not be. There's a lot of people say, "Thank you, Jesus" knows nothing about Him, many of them. See?
He said, "Many will come to Me that day, saying, 'Lord, Lord.' I never even knew you," He said.
Now, if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He's here in our midst, if I can humble myself before Him to submit myself to Him, then He'd work through me just like He did His... God would work through me like He did through Jesus with the woman at the well. Is that right? Now, here we are; both of us never seen one another. Would it make all of you believe? Would it strengthen your faith? Then if He's here, if He's alive, then He's still your Saviour, still your Healer. Is that right? Now, see if He will.
E-62 Now, God, this is in Your hands now. The rest belongs to You, for we know that man cannot do these things. It has to come from You. Please, Father, tonight, for the benefit of the people that's setting here, for the glory of the Gospel, let it be done tonight, Father; that the people might know that You still remain Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And may the--the darkness that may be in some of their hearts now, not knowing, guessing, wondering, if You'll just come and shine the light, may they see that Way then, and move into You. If they're sick, may they be healed. If they're lost, may they be saved. "We'll see the way back to the shore when the sun rises." Grant it, Lord. May the Sun of righteousness rise now, with healing in His wings and spread forth His great Being over this place. Grant it, Father. We ask it for God's glory, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
E-63 I want you reverent, for we realize we can't... This is not playing church; this is calling the Presence of Almighty God into this little building. Now, you see where I stand? There's a hundred and fifty people here. I've said this before tens of thousands and hundred thousands, and as many as five hundred thousand at one time--where they're setting there with atheist, unbelievers, infidels, snake handlers and everything else. He won't fail.
Now, He's got to prove that He's the God of the Bible or He isn't the God of the Bible. And if He is the God of the Bible, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. If He can tell this woman what she's here about--I never seen her--or tell her something that she knows I don't know nothing about... If He can tell her what she's here for--like He did the woman at the well--if He can explain to her something that she knows... If I don't even know her and she don't know me, then here we are standing here for the first time in life--surely that would shake you so hard till all the fog would go away from you. May He grant it, is my prayer.
E-64 Now, the lady that's here to be prayed for... I want each one to believe now. Now, not knowing the lady, I would just like to talk to her just a moment as our Lord did the--the woman at the--at the well, just in order to contact her spirit.
Now, we are probably... We've never met before, but yet the Lord knows you and He knows me. And if He can tell me what you have come here for to ask me about, something that--that you know, and I don't know nothing about you. Now, if He's sent you here, and brought me here to... maybe can explain to you, or He can speak through me and tell me what you come up this platform for, would it make you believe Him? If He would; make you believe.
E-65 Now, see, and the audience said they'd believe. Here we are, ready for something to happen if God's still God, the same thing that Jesus Christ did.
I can see the lady now. She wants me to pray for her eyes; she's got something wrong with her eyes. Now, that wasn't a guess. That's right. Her sight's failing her, and she wants to be prayed for her eyes. That's the truth. That's... If that's right, wave that handkerchief to them, sister.
Now, I never seen her before in my life. What did that? What did that? She seems to be a nice person. You think I guessed that? All right, we'll see.
Now, lady, that the all suspicion might be taken out of this church from henceforth, that when Brother Ruddell preaches that Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever, that it might be known by this pulpit that Christ Jesus manifested His glory and proved it to be so... Now...
E-66 Yes, I see she's... Her eyes is going bad. It's astigmatism that's in her eyes. Then another thing she's got something wrong with her; she's got a... She's had an operation of some sort that's made a great scar of tissue. She isn't from this city, neither is she from this state; she's from Kentucky. That's right. And she's got a daughter she wants prayed for, a little girl about eight or ten years old. She wants prayer for that daughter because the daughter's up for an operation. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD.
See if that's true or not. Was that true, lady? If that's true, wave that handkerchief again to the people. It's a little girl. All right. You believe that God can tell me what your name is? If God...
Here, I'll tell you something else. Here comes a man standing by the side of you; that's your husband. He's standing right back here. That's right. He's also needing healing. He's got rheumatism. That's right. See? Your name is Camphor, that's right, and you're from Kentucky. Go back down in Kentucky and receive... Take that handkerchief and lay it on the child. Believe with all your heart...?... Operation, amen.
Do you believe with all your heart? That's almost an encyclopedia of the woman's life. I hold my hands; I never seen her before in my life. That's right. Uh-huh. Now, see? What did he touch? What did he do? He touched that High Priest. He touched that One that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Now, healing is God's own witness, His own glory.
E-67 All right, you... I believe you're a stranger to me; I don't believe I know you. God knows you. If God will reveal to me what your trouble is, or what you want, whether it's sickness, domestic, or whatever it might be, you'll believe with all your heart? Will you, lady?
Now, here's another lady that I do not know, and she does not know me. We're total strangers to one another. This is our first meeting time in life. But if the Holy Spirit can come present, come in here now and tell us something about this woman... Now, to heal her, I could not do that. She... God did that when He died at Calvary. If she's a sinner, I could not save her, because Jesus did that at... That's already finished. But He can come in the Presence of His Being to show that He is still alive and His works are still real to make it real to us. If we can believe it. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible." If you can just believe now. Have faith in God; don't doubt.
E-68 Now, somebody's feeling good, just... That's all right. I was going down through the state of Kentucky the other day, I heard a man come up through the bushes screaming.
I said, "Is that man... What's the matter with him?"
Said, "He's just drunk and feeling good."
So is this man, but he's drunk on a different drink, just drunk and feeling good...?... "Be not drunk upon strong drink, but be drunk on the Spirit," said the Bible.
Now, this woman here, being a stranger, if God can tell her what her trouble is, or something about her, that she knows that I do not know, let her be the witness. She'll know whether it's true or not. Is that right, lady? Would it help you if--if God did that? Now, to heal you, sister, if I could do it, I'd do it, but I can't. I'm just a man.
E-69 But the lady is here to be prayed for. She's got a gall stone condition. That is right. And she's also got diabetes. That's what you want prayed for, isn't it, lady? If that's right, raise up your hand so the people can see. You believe God can tell me who you are? Would that help you? It would? Then Miss Johnson, go back and take your seat, and be healed, if you believe it, in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
If you can't believe, I don't know what's wrong. There's something wrong. Don't you see the sun light is shining? That's the same thing that Jesus Christ is.
E-70 I know this man. I was... His mother-in-law is here, and--and I know his wife. I haven't seen him for a long, long time. His Name's James Morris. But I don't know what he's here for; I don't know what's wrong with him. I haven't seen Jim in so long, but I... He knowed me when I was a little boy.
But Jim, if the Lord can reveal to me what you're here for, will you accept it as... get... You believe then you'll get what you ask for? You're here for a son. That's a mental condition. Do you believe he will be healed? Go believe it then, and may he be healed.
E-71 I know this lady; she's the wife of a very dear friend of mine. Her name is Himmilhaver. I seen you in a store here not long ago. I have no idea what's wrong with you. I know you; I know your husband. Your husband and I come up together as boys. And he studied, I believe, a chiropractor--to be a chiropractor. That's right. And I--just to know what's wrong with you... But if the Lord will reveal to me...
Now, Mrs. Himmilhaver, for the sake of--of--of--of Gilbert and for his sister that I used to go with, if for--for their sake, if I could heal you, I would do it. But I can't, but He will if you'll believe now. And if He will let you know that--that... Of course, I know your name, and I've known you for a long time, but I don't know what's wrong with you. If God will tell me what's wrong with you, will you believe Him with--for your healing? Arthritis is what's your trouble; I see you stiff, trying to get out of the bed at morning. That's exactly right. All right, go back home and receive your healing, Mrs. Himmilhaver. The Lord God make you well; believe with all your heart. The Lord bless you.
E-72 Do you believe with all your heart? Have faith in God. All right, here's a lady. Look here, sister. No, I don't know the woman. I suppose that we don't know one another, but God does know us. Is that right? We were born years apart. But this is our first time meeting, as I know of, or you know of. This is our first... You can see her shaking her head, "That's right." This is the first time I ever seen the woman in my life, and...
But--but God knows us both. He knowed us since we were children; He knowed us... He knowed us before the world was ever formed. He knowed we'd be standing right here tonight. He knowed this instant would take place, before there was even a--an atom or a molecule. He--He--He knew it. See? Because He was... He's infinite. He knowed everything before the world was ever formed, He knowed everything that ever happened. He knowed every gnat, every time it'd bat its eye. He knows everything, 'cause He's infinite. See? And you can't confine infinite to anything. He's just... He's... It's just perfection of perfection dwelling in. He's just arrived; that's all. See?
E-73 Now, if He can tell me what your trouble is, then will you believe with all your heart? You will? With all your heart? All right. You are suffering with a heart trouble that you want prayed for--heart. That's right. Now, there's something else on your heart though. That... See, I caught that. See?
You thought, "Is he going to turn me back 'fore he says this thing?"
No, I'm going to tell you. You're here for a boy, your son. That's right. And that son's not here; that son is in Ohio. He's in a TB hospital with TB, and he's not saved. And you're praying for his soul and for his recovery, THUS SAITH THE LORD.
I challenge you to test that out and see if that's right or not. That's true, isn't it lady? It's the truth. All right. I can't heal; will you believe? Then go and receive... Just as you have believed it; that's just exactly what you will receive. Go, in the Name of the Lord. Amen.
E-74 You believe with all your heart? See, He... The--the--the Light's a shining; we know where we are now. We're in the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
You say, "He's reading their minds."
All right, I won't even look at this lady. Put your hand on mine, lady. If the Lord will tell me this way, looking this way, what's wrong with you, will you believe it and believe that you'll be healed? It's in your back. That's right. If that's right, raise up your hand off of mine. Go, be healed; Jesus Christ makes you well. See? All right.
He's--He's just the Lord Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. All right.
E-75 This man coming, you want to be cured of the arthritis. You believe that God will heal you? Return back and get well; that's just how simple it is. Just believe it. Go back to your seat, and say, "I believe with all my heart, with all my mind." You'll get well. Just believe it with all your heart; don't doubt. All right, sir?
This woman here... 'Course you see she's shaking; she's got palsy. Maybe there's something else wrong; let's see. Yes, sir, she's got sugar diabetes. You believe God will heal you of that sugar diabetes, mother?
Lord God, we condemn this evil thing in the Name of Jesus Christ. May she be healed. Amen. Return to your seat, and get well, sister. You believe with all your heart?
E-76 What about you setting there? You believe? You believe me to be--to be God's prophet? There's... If you can believe... You that don't have a prayer card, you that's--that's sick and needy, have faith in God. You can believe it.
All right. You brought that boy for healing. It's in his back. That's right. He's crippled. You believe you can take him back down to Arkansas, and he'd get well and he'd be all right? You want to give up them cigarettes, and say, "I quit," and be--and serve the Lord and do what's right? Will you do it? All right, all right; then go. Lay your hand over on the child now while you're setting there. May the Lord God of heaven heal the child, and make it...?...
I challenge you to believe! There's a lady setting here looking with her eyes down, looking--looking at me. You got trouble with your leg. That's right. You believe God can tell me who you are? Would you believe me? Mrs. Wooley. All right, sir. That's exactly right. Never seen you in my life. That's your husband setting behind you there. He's a preacher; I never seen him in my life, but that's true.
You believe God can tell me what's the matter with you, sir? You got a place on your face; you don't know whether it's cancer; you don't know what it is. Got a rupture too. That's right. You want to be healed. That's true, Mr. Wooley? All right. Do you believe with all your heart? Then go and receive your healing in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right.
E-77 What about your eyes? You believe God will make you well back there, setting there looking at me? All right, if you believe with all your heart. Just have faith in God; that's all you have to do.
Oh, my, it's happening all over now, if you can just believe it. It's just getting so much in here now, everybody's trying to believe. Now, do you believe that He is the Son of God? Do you believe He's the same yesterday, today, and forever?
Now, is there a person here that don't know Him as your Saviour and you want to be saved? Would you want to do that? You never have received the Holy Ghost and you'd want to come and be in Christ so you could be a believer? Raise up your hand if you say, "I would like..."
E-78 God bless you. Come up here at the altar right now. (Give us a little chord on that piano there just minute, 'fore we finish up.) I invite you to come here to the altar here. Come right here and kneel down. That's it young fellow. Rise right up... Come here, little girl, you... That... Look at this little boy; that ought to be a shame to some. You want to go over and apro...
You want to come close to Him? Come right on now; come right on up. Amen. Come right up now in the Presence of the Holy Spirit. That's right, brother. Come on, now; won't you to come up here and kneel down before the healing service goes on. Come right up here now and get healed in the soul, then watch what takes place. Come into Christ. He's the Way, the Truth, the Light. No man comes outside of Him. Say, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutherans, whoever you are that hasn't received the Holy Ghost, now's the time to do it. Come on up now and come into Christ.
E-79 You'll wonder at this; you won't know how to take a hold of it. You won't understand it, 'less you receive the Holy Ghost. Come now. If I've told the truth, God spoke to me; God spoke through me. I've told the truth. He is the only Way; He is the only Foundation; He is the only salvation. There's not salvation in any other Name given under heaven, but in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Won't you come receive Him now? How many backsliders is back there and would like to come up here and kneel down now? You that's backslid and went away from God, would you come right now? Come on up; this is the hour.
Now look, if you turn this down, I don't know whether's any--be any hope for you or not. And I ain't saying it, because I'm standing here. But I'm telling you, friends, what more can God do? This is the time; this is the hour. God's speaking to people.
E-80 That's right, sister; that's right, sisters. Come right on. This is the hour; this is your time. You'll never be any closer to Him till you die and go in His Presence. He's right here proving Himself alive. Won't you come?
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that I come...?... to believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one...
Don't have one dark blot of unbelief. Come on! This is it!
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come! I...
How could you turn Him away, after He's come through the Word, come in Person, let you know that He's here, speaking to you, speaking to you now? That little voice Who's speaking to you, that's God. He wants you to come. We ain't got much longer to be around here friends. We're leaving here.
Won't you come and kneel with this bunch of people, and say, "God be merciful to me. I now want to accept Christ; I want to be borned again. I want to be filled with the Holy Ghost...?... I want to be real."
Come on right now down around the altar as we sing this next verse. Will you come now while we come?
E-81 Now, some of you good Christian people, come up here around with them. Some of you sick people, come kneel down too. Some of you people that's Christians, come up and kneel down with these as we pray.
... receive,
Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because (You come with them, sinner. Come with them, you... ) I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! (Come right down here in now.)
Just as I am...
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God... (You'll miss out of a blessing if you don't come.)
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
All right, let the whole church now, bow your heads every one in prayer. Pray for these people around the altar, each and every one.
Everybody here at the altar now, you've come upon the basis of the shed Blood. You've come here to receive the Holy Spirit; you've come to be forgiven of your sins. God, Who is just and willing... There'll be water waiting; you could come to the pool tomorrow to be baptized down at the church if the pastor wants to bring you there.
"Repent every one of you and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them that heard it...?... God of heaven, Who was with the apostles, Who is God forever more, is here tonight.
I want everybody bow in prayer. Everybody just raise up your voice and pray while the pastor leads us...