E-1 Thank you, very much. Let us remain standing just a moment now as we bow our heads for prayer. And while we have our heads bowed, and our hearts, wonder how many in here has a request, might make it known to God as you lift your hands? And then now just hold your request as we pray.
E-2 Heavenly Father, we are so happy tonight for this, another time that we can come to You, and have this assurance that what we ask we receive, if we will believe that we get what we ask for. And now, Lord, help our unbelief, that we might tonight be able to have these things that we ask for. My hands, with their hands, is up. And we pray, Father, to You Who understands the things that we have need of. Grant it, them, to us, Lord, tonight. We pray for encouragement, that when we're in this great hour of distress that we're in, the… and the world in the condition that it's in, we need Your most holy help, Lord. And we pray that You'll encourage us by Thy Word, that we might know how that we should act, just prior the Coming of the Lord Jesus. Grant it, Father. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
You may be seated.
E-3 So glad to be back again tonight, and to speak again about our most gracious Lord. It's good to be back here in Lane Tech again. This is almost like coming home; I've been here so many times. And now I see they've gotten many handkerchiefs here that's been laid up here to be prayed over. And now, last night, we had to, we closed our regular healing services, taken up our cards and things, because of having double services. You see, it kind of puts quite a strain on you, for having a—a double service. And now we sure will be praying for these handkerchiefs tonight, and trusting that the Lord will make each and every one of you, with faith that will receive what you've asked for in these requests.
E-4 We certainly going to miss Brother Mel Johnson tomorrow, and that fine singing. I really appreciate that fine voice that the Lord has given him.
E-5 And now, tomorrow, if you're visiting here, I'll say to the tabernacle people, there is… I got some friends here from down Jeffersonville. I think at the Philadelphia church, Brother Mead, our brother, I think they have service there. And I don't know whether you, you have service? There is service. You, what time? [Someone says, "Eleven."—Ed.] Eleven o'clock, there will be service there. And I suppose I'll be back about one-thirty, or two, some… Three, I—I'm to be on at three, three o'clock, and—and then seven again tomorrow evening. So we certainly want to cordially invite all of you to come to the services, if you have no service in your own church.
E-6 We certainly wouldn't want to pull you away from your own post of duty, because that's not our objective. It's to try to catch, mainly, those who are unsaved. Those who does not have the Holy Spirit, and you—you really believe that you need It, and then we're here to help you. Then the sick and afflicted, why, we're here to pray for them, out of all the churches. And you go back to your church, wherever you come from. If you received the Holy Spirit, or healed, go back with a testimony, tell others. Even though if your church doesn't believe in it, go anyhow. See? Where, it's easy to let your Light shine where there is plenty of—of Light, but we want Light to shine where there is no Light. That's when it gives its best influence.
E-7 And thank you, Brother Vayle. [Brother Vayle had adjusted the microphone, and now says, "Stay up like this, we got to watch it."—Ed.] Brother Vayle was thinking that they couldn't hear. Is that better? Well, fine, that's good.
E-8 Now, tonight, without a healing service, I think, I should get out a little earlier tonight. I—I been saying, every night, "I'm going to try to let you out about nine-thirty." And pretty near that time now, and so, nine o'clock, about five minutes of. And then time I get through, and then holding you this morning about two hours, I'll tell you, you'll probably be wore out and be glad when I leave the city tomorrow night. But I wish I could just bring myself down to them twenty-minute talks. But I only just have to keep speaking until that I get tired, and I know you're wore out by that time. So then I just never get finished; I just quit and go in, rest a while.
E-9 Now, tonight, I want you to turn in your Bibles, to the Isaiah, the Book of Isaiah, the—the 6th chapter of Isaiah. And now before we read, we would ask God to bless His Word and to—to make It real to us, as we bow our heads just a moment. Well, we'll read the Word first, and then listen close now as we read.
In the year that king Uzziah died I was… I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his trail filled the temple.
And above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD God of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips: and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Who shall I send, and who shall go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
E-10 Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we are not sufficient to break into this most gracious text, tonight, but we ask Your help now, Lord, for no other purpose but that the—the Gospel might be once more preached in the city of Chicago. Grant it, Lord. And may the—the influence be an everlasting influence. Grant it. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-11 Now I want to take a text from this, of: Influence. You know, there is something another that we are, we, what we do, we influence somebody else by what we do, the way we act, the way we talk, the way we live. And all that we do, we influence someone else.
E-12 And now, you know, many people won't go to church. They say… Well, they've got a wrong impression of church. They think it's the—the women down there are—are witches, and the—the men are—are black-robed demons, and they just got the wrong idea about it. But I tell you what they do do, they will watch your life to see what you do. I believe it was Paul that said, "We are written epistles of God, read of all men." When you're on the street, and when you're at your work, and wherever you are, somebody is watching you.
E-13 And especially after you have said and made your confession that you are a Christian, they'll watch you much closer then, and that gives an influence to—to the people that's around about you. And we should watch what we do. Because, if we produce the wrong influence, then we bring reproach, not so much upon ourselves, but upon what we claim to be: Christians. We bring it upon Christ. And no one, if we would think, you would never want to bring reproach upon Christ. But the wrong act, at the wrong time, will certainly cause a wrong reflection towards the person that's watching you. And everybody is watched, when you profess to be a Christian.
E-14 Now this text that we're speaking on tonight, of influence, it goes back, the real lesson of it, if you'd like to—to read it, you'll find it in Second Chronicles, the 26th chapter. It was the life of this Uzziah, the king.
E-15 Now, Uzziah the king was a shepherd boy. He was a young fellow, that, a king's son, and that loved outdoors. He—he liked the—the woods and he was a herdsman. And he also liked the vineyards, he liked to see things grow. And this young fellow was brought up under real good influence. Amaziah, his father, had been a great man, in his last days he let down a little, and picked up some gods from another country, and the Lord then taken him out of the earth. But this young fellow had had good influence, because his mother was a daughter of Jerusalem, his father a believer, and therefore the—the boy had been raised up with good influence.
E-16 And that's a good way to bring up a child, in the way it should go. And you know what? Your children is one of the main eyes that's watching you. They watch what you do. And whatever you do, they copy after you, because you're setting the example before them, to what you do.
E-17 Reminds me. Here not long ago, I was at a meeting of the Full Gospel Business Men, out in Los Angeles. And Brother Oral Roberts had made a statement about something on this line, and they asked me to get up and say something about it, about influencing. I said:
E-18 It reminds me of a story that I read once, where a—a man went out, Christmas eve, taking presents through the neighborhood, to his colleagues, neighbors. And on each time, where he went to a place, he—he taken a drink. He'd go to the next house, and he'd take a drink. And by time he got all of his—his presents give out, and the ones that he had collected; on the road back, he thought he would take a short cut through the park. And had fallen about four or six inches of snow. And he found himself, he couldn't walk straight, he was going zigzag because he was being influenced by these drinks.
E-19 He noticed, coming way back behind him, not able to keep up with him, was his teeny, little seven-year-old boy; and he was making big steps, and falling over, and zigzagging. So he waited till the little lad caught up with him, and he said, "What are you walking like that for, son?"
He said, "Daddy, I'm trying to step in your steps."
E-20 Now you see that that's more than just a—an example, because it is the truth, that, your children, you set the pace for them.
E-21 And if our American people are setting the pace today, before our children, of smoking cigarettes, the women and the men, drinking, and cards in the house, and—and dice, what kind of a—of a people will we have in the next race that is to come, or the next generation, rather, that is to come? It'll be a bunch of neurotics. And which I think the whole world is just about in that condition now. Then if this race, or this generation, rather, is like this, what will the next one produce? Then if there would be another, why, the whole human race, if it keeps going in the way it is, will become extinct, altogether, because we're killing ourselves and setting examples for others.
E-22 And even Christians today, who claim to be Christians, and smoke and drink, and—and cheat, and found dishonest. While we… Why, it's no wonder that Christianity is at one of its low ebbs at this time. It's the influence that the church people has—has placed upon the men that hasn't yet received Christ. Men wants to maintain their testimony and then live any way they want to.
E-23 But that's the reason the Holy Spirit is such a—a—a definite must in this day, because It is the One that lives your life. You don't live it yourself. It's Christ in you, then, after you have received the Holy Spirit. And, and if He doesn't have the preeminences in your life, then you just remember, you haven't received the Holy Spirit. Cause, if He is in you, He'll live His Own Life. You're no more your own. "You are dead, and your life is hid in God, through Christ, and sealed by the Holy Ghost." So there is no way at all for you to be yourself no more, what you were.
E-24 Now, this young boy, we find out, he, having this good, godly parent and training, it… When his daddy died, when he was only sixteen years old, and the people took and made him king. And he come on the throne of power when he was only sixteen years old. And if you'll read his life, he wasn't influenced by the politics of his country. He—he didn't take the popular opinion. "He sought after God," the Bible said.
E-25 Now, that's, that was what made him such a great example to this young prophet, at the same time, Isaiah. Isaiah the prophet lived in the days of Uzziah the king. And both of them being young together, the prophet and the king, they were great chums together. And Isaiah stayed at the palace, and he leaned upon the arm of the—of the king. And we find out that this young fellow's influence influenced Isaiah. He become a hero to—to Isaiah, because (he was) he made no differences in the people, he never let anything sway him from one side to the other. He was determined to serve God, and serve God alone. And that's a good person to take example of. The…
E-26 And we find out that he never compromised with any of the heathen worlds, the heathen world; after they seen him build his kingdom so great, and God was with him and blessing him.
E-27 And God will bless any man that'll stay with His Word. Now, that's, God is duty bound to do that, to bless any man that will stay with God's Word.
Now we see that Isaiah really liked this king.
E-28 And then the king's kingdom spread. I guess he was next to Solomon, in his kingdom, because his influence reached all the way down into Egypt.
E-29 It was a great help to Isaiah, the young prophet, to see that any man that would take a stand for God, and regardless of politics or anything else, he would stay straight with the Word. He certainly was an influence to the prophet, Isaiah. This young fellow, how God blessed him, because he stayed true to the Word.
E-30 Now we find that this king, oh, did like so many Christians of today. As long as he stayed humble, then God blessed him. But the Bible said here, that, "When he got lifted up." When he got everything secured, then he become lifted up in his own self, and then he was on his road out.
E-31 Now, that's so, it is today, with—with churches. It's always been, that when men feel that they have become sufficient, they don't have to pray anymore, they don't have to wait upon God for their ministry.
E-32 If you'll pardon this expression, I agree with a certain writer, that that's what has caused many of these men that's been in these latter-day revivals, or this last-day revival, to—to fly to pieces. Some of them found they've been claimed to being drunk in their pulpit, and—and some of them has done wrong. It's because they—they have such an influence on the people till they begin to feel that they're self-sufficient, that that's their little kingdom, and they can, they got the people so in their grip that they can just do anything they want to, and the people doesn't notice it. But God notices it, you see, that's the One. I might say… Like Nebuchadnezzar, one day, walked out and said, "Look what a great kingdom I have built," and then the Angel of the Lord smote him.
E-33 And when a man or a woman, no matter whether he's a bishop or a cardinal, or whatever he might be, when you begin to feel that you are self-reliant, then you better begin to watch and take heed. Because, God won't let you go like that, because He will not share His glory with anyone. No, sir. God takes glory, alone.
E-34 Sometimes God can bless a man and give him a little ministry that's maybe a little better than his brethren, or not better, but just something a little different from his brethren. And the first thing you know, the man becomes exalted, with his chest out, and, oh, my, he would, he would brush you off the street. And, that, that's the time that I believe that man is started out the door, 'cause God can't use a person like that.
E-35 This king, though being a godly man as he was, he felt self-sufficient. He felt like that he could hoist himself up in pride, that he could just take over and do whatever he wanted to, nobody else he had to ask.
But, remember, we're always under God. God is our God.
E-36 And we find out, he got lifted up, and he—he got so lifted up till he thought that, because he had been 'blessed of God,' he could 'take a minister's place,' so he took the censer and went in to take a minister's place. He got out of his place of duty.
E-37 That's what I've always said to these Full Gospel Business Men, "Don't you never try to be preachers." The preachers has a hard enough time to keep the thing straight. And then we're doing a very poor job out of it and then especially take a businessman that's not even called to the work at all. See, when you do that, you're stepping beyond your boundaries.
E-38 And you might take a lesson for this. There is many people out, even in the pulpit tonight, preaching, that oughtn't to be there, because it's more of a meal ticket, or to be popular amongst the people, or—or to have a—a—a little more than someone else has got, or have a few praise by somebody patting you on the back, or something. See, sometimes they become a priest.
E-39 Jesus said, "You devour widows' houses, and desire the high seats, and, for a showing, make long prayers." He said, "You will just receive that much more damnation for it." See?
E-40 We—we mustn't, never, get to that place. We must always remember that God wants us to be humble. The way up is down. Humble yourself, and you're exalted. And if you exalt yourself, you will be brought to abased.
E-41 Now we find out that this fellow tried to take the place of a minister, which he was not qualified.
E-42 Yet, God blessed him, he was a great man. He had strengthened his kingdom against all the nations of the world. They were bringing in glory and giving it to him, and sheep and cattle. And he had herdsmen, and vine—vineyard dressers and, oh, everything. He was living in luxury, then he begin to come puffed up.
E-43 We find out that even a church, a local church can be humble and have a—a little place serving the Lord with trueness of heart; and let them get just a little better, somebody help them and they get a—a fine church, or they'll try to make it a little better than the one down on the corner, and then the congregation walks around with their chest out. That, see, we—we must remember, that's the wrong thing.
E-44 God told Israel, "When you were, I found you in the field, you were bloody," and the condition it was in, "and then when you become fed up, and—and got prettied up, then it…" she turned her back on God, and be-… played the part of a—of a prostitute, and invited everybody to see her. And we see that God isn't pleased with that at all.
E-45 And even this great, mighty king of Israel here, when he tried to make hisself take a position that he did not… wasn't ordained to. And we find out the—the priests here, run in and told him, "That isn't your place. You're not supposed to do that, for God has consecrated men for this."
E-46 Oh, if the ministry could only get to that place, the consecrated to the service! If men could realize that preaching the Gospel isn't to get more members in the church, but it's consecration to a—the purpose of the task, that we must have newborn babes into the Kingdom of God. No matter what denomination they go to, or what about it, it's just to get those newborn babies.
E-47 Then we find out that today it's so hard when we see a minister rise up with a little, some kind of a phenomenon that God has placed in his ministry. We find carnal impersonations of that, that different ones will come in and try to—to say this is, they have this, or exercise something a little different.
E-48 I know of a man in the world today, a fine man, too, a good man, a real preacher of the Word, and I—I would say a—a real brother, and I talked to him not long ago. And he kept having sensations, and he built his ministry completely upon sensations, now they're baptizing to Eternal Life, "the people are not going to die." I'm afraid they're out on a limb that they'll never have no way to get back off of that, see, but because that's wrong.
E-49 "A man that's born of a woman is of a few days, and full of sorrows, troubles." And the living know they have to die. And we know, "It was once appointed to man to die, and after that the judgment." So, we know that we must.
E-50 I'm don't want to live in this old pesthouse that I been living in. It catches every disease floats through. I want one that's made not with hands, fashioned after God, that—that's not a hybrid plant like this is. I want one that's made by the hands of God, that diseases and sickness and death goes from it. Now, whenever He summons me, I—I'm ready, by the grace of God, believing that, "When this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting," that we move into, that can't die from it no more.
E-51 How would you want to live in this? Not me. My it's… We're going out of it, and I'm glad of it. And this old human, germ trap that we're living in, death trap and whatmore, is the groans and pains in it, and old age. And, why, my, who would want to stay in a body like that? I, I'm glad there is one coming. We got a body that—that's being prepared for us, in Glory. And as soon as the life leaves this old hull here, that Eternal Spirit of God that lives within, it takes its journey into that tabernacle yonder, and there it lives Eternally. Why would we want something like this? My! Yes, sir. Oh, I—I'm so glad that, that there, that there is a God Who has made all these things plain.
E-52 And we look here, we see they're just a shadow, anyhow. We are a shadow. I look here on the platform, see men that moves, and I look out on the street and see men and women that moves. They got life, but yet it cannot be real Life, because it's death in it. And—and David said, 'I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death." Now, it takes so much light to make a shadow. There has to be so much light. If it's altogether darkness, it cannot make a shadow. See? It has to be so much light, in the dark, to make it shadow. Well, now it depends on which one of those sides that you are leaning to.
E-53 If I see a man walking, fine-looking young man; in a few years, watch his hair turn gray and slip out, his shoulders droop down. A beautiful young girl standing, with a sainted, godly face on her, and stand and praising God; and I come back in a few years and find her stoop-shouldered, packing two or three children. Well, my, there, it shows that in that body there is death. No matter how well it is and how lovely it looks, it's still got death in it.
E-54 Now I watch which a way that spirit in there leans. If it's always representing the Light, speaking of the Light, talking of the Light, it'll go with the Light. But if it's always on the other side, of the world, the things of the world, influenced by the world, there is nothing but it to turn into darkness when it dies, into outer darkness. So you see, what we are, we must remember that we are only what we are by the grace of God, and none of us can brag about it. We can only bow in adoration and humility, before God, and give praise to Him for His goodness.
E-55 And we find that as long as this king felt that way, God blessed him. But when he got to a place that he wanted to not abide in his own calling, he wanted to take the calling of something else. And he thought, because that God had blessed him, that that was all right, he could do that.
E-56 But how sadly we make them mistakes! How, how bad! You, you must absolutely be honest. You mustn't, you mustn't do nothing unless God has directed you to it, and proves it, and vindicates it, and you know that it's God that's done it.
E-57 Usually, man of God, God has to run him down and catch the real man of God. It ain't those guys that wants a whole lot of something to do a whole lot with, you'd hard tell what they would do with it if they received it. See? But God usually has to catch His man, like Moses, and Paul, and like that, to run him down, to get glory out of his life, and let him become a prisoner to the Holy Spirit.
E-58 Now we notice that, this king, and another thing we learn here on Uzziah, that, when he was called down by the man who had the authority to take the censer in, the consecrated man for the service. When he called him down, he got angry with him.
E-59 Oh, what a—what a cursed thing that would be! When a man tries to point out to a fellow that you're in the wrong, and prove it to him by the Word of God, "You're in the wrong." And then the man, because that he feels in himself he'll do what he wants to, and won't submit to the Word, then he gets angry.
E-60 You notice what happened to the king? Leprosy broke out in his face while he was still in his anger. Leprosy struck Uzziah in the face, and the priests and those recognized it, and threw him out of the temple, and he died, a leper. That great life that started out so well, ended up to be a leper, and cast out, and had to live in a separate house out to himself, all the days of his life, the man that the life that God once influenced.
E-61 I'd say this, respects. We got men today on the field, young men, and middle-aged men, and old men, who started out on a good run, and tried, and made a good showing to God. But we find them, today, out yonder, alcoholics, and broke up, out there in the other, away from us. Some of them backslid, altogether. Some of them have went money crazy, and some went woman crazy and married other women that wasn't their wives. And—and all the things and disgrace that's been brought on, every denomination. We, one can't call the other one bad, because we're all guilty, the whole, or every denomination. We've found men like that, that's once been influenced by God and had a great influence to the people. And yet when they felt self-sufficient…
E-62 When a man gets a place where he can influence for God, he ought to humble himself, all the time, constantly.
E-63 And we find out, this king died in disgrace, a leper. Then, he was a lesson to the young prophet, not to put his hopes upon any man, but to look to God only. When he begin to look at to a man for an example, this man failed, yet being a good man.
E-64 So it's a lesson to us, tonight, to keep our minds upon God, regardless of what man it is. Let him be cardinal, priest, prophet, whatever he might be, he is not immune from mistakes and—and error, and even death, and sin. But there is One Who is, and that's Jesus Christ; He is the One.
By this, Isaiah learned a lesson, God orders His man to place.
E-65 A man has no right to take up and say, "Well, I'd make a easy living if I was a minister. I believe I'll study the ministry. I believe I'll do this, that, or the other. I believe if I can impersonate this gift that God has given, it would… I'd have great campaigns, and so forth." We see so much of that today.
E-66 But when you find out, Isaiah found a lesson here, that God places His man, Hisself. God does the placing, and He never made this man a priest. He made him a king, and he ought to abide a king. He must not—not try… Isaiah learned here that you mustn't try to take another man's place.
E-67 Then when he saw that his great hero had come to this disgrace and went down and died, Isaiah felt then pretty near all hopes for him was gone, so he went down to the temple one day to talk it over with the Lord, and that's where the vision happened. At the temple, he saw the One that he was supposed to be looking at all the time. In the temple, he, saw, in a vision, God setting high on a throne, exalted way in the Heavens, and His train was with Him. This vision he saw, high, lifted up, His throne, way above every earthly domain. God, that's the One he was supposed to look at, when he was in the vision.
E-68 And then we notice this, that the Heavenly Seraphims was flying back and forth, in the temple. Now, the Seraphims, actually the Hebrew word there is Burners. They were the One Who offered incense and the sacrifice. It's just a higher order of Angels, that—that makes the way for the sinner, as long as there is a sacrifice. And these Seraphims, specially, these Burners had a special office, They stayed right in the Presence of God. They're the same as the Cherubims, and They were right in the Presence of God.
E-69 And when this prophet felt the Spirit of God on him, and, he opened his eyes. You see, he was so born for that purpose, that when he opened his eyes, it was like dropping from here into a land like he was dreaming, and he saw God's throne exalted so high. And then he looked in the temple, and these Seraphims was going back and forth, through the temple, crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God! Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God!"
E-70 What a change, and what an influence this must have been upon this young prophet! When he saw the failure of man, and although good men would fail, but now he sees God, and he saw these Seraphims.
E-71 And notice the special covering that these Seraphims had. They was covered with two wings over Their face, two wings over Their feet, and They was flying with two wings. God is altogether holy. Think of it, even Angels has to cover Their holy face, to stand in the Presence of God.
E-72 I wonder, my brother, I wonder, my sister, if we'll look at that! When, holy Angels has to cover Their face, to stand in the Presence of God, in reverence and in respect. But today we find people who call themself Christians, even, has no respect at all for God, or His Word, or His people, or His ministry, or nothing. Where are they going to come up at in the resurrection? The Bible said, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where will the sinner and the ungodly ever appear?"
E-73 And when, Seraphims, the highest order of Angels, right by the Mercy Seat, the Burners of the sacrifice, had to cover Their holy faces, to stand in His Presence, and here They was. God setting up there on His throne, and these Cherubims going back and forth, screaming, day and night, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God!" Do you know what I mean? Notice. They, two wings, They covered Their faces. And why?
E-74 We notice today, that, because that people are… have no reverence. They'll come to church, people will come to church, and—and cut up, and laugh, talk, make fun, sitting where the Gospel is being preached, no reverence at all. And meet you on the street, and with… You don't expect any respects from people; we mustn't do that. But yet it—it shows Christian dignity to at least honor the people, say, "Good morning, brother," or whatever you wish. Some of them holler, "Hello, Preach!" Oh, that's so common.
E-75 Remember, Jesus said, "As you do unto these, you do it unto Me. He that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me. And he that receiveth Him that I've sent, receives Him. See, as you do to them, you have did it unto Me."
E-76 And the irreverence, you know what it is? It's the… They are not conscious of the Presence of God. The world has become so—so common, and religion has become such a low ebb, until there is no respects, just as it's always been.
E-77 Look at them soldiers. We could think, tonight, what a rashel and a horrible thing it was for those soldiers to put a—a rag over the face of our Lord Jesus, to make fun of Him being a Prophet and could know the secrets of the heart. They put a—a rag over His face, and set Him out there in a courtyard, and took a stick and struck Him on the head with it, and then passed it one to another, and said, "If You be a prophet, prophesy now, tell us the one of us that hit You." See, no respects at all. They couldn't feel no virtue.
E-78 But that little woman, with enough faith that could touch His garment, she got her desires. You see, we've got to be, we've got to be conscious of God's Presence.
E-79 This little five senses that we live in, that's just a little world of our own. See? But God… That's, we was only given these so we could contact our earthly home. But there is senses beyond that, another dimensions.
E-80 And God is always present. If we could only remember that. "The Angels of the Lord are encamped about those who fear Him." In this building, tonight, stands Jesus Christ. In this building tonight is hosts of Angels, thousands of Them gathered around. You don't see Them, but you can feel the influence of Them, telling you that They are here. If that isn't so, then the Scripture isn't so. And if the Scripture isn't right, then God isn't right. The Bible said, that, "The Angels of God are encamped," They don't leave, "They stay near those that fear Him."
E-81 Jesus said, "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'll be in their midst." Then that makes Him in a world that we cannot see, that our five senses doesn't contact. Jesus Christ is here, present. If we could be conscious of that!
E-82 And, remember, not only here, but when you're walking down the street, wherever you are, you that profess to be believers and fear the Lord, remember, the Angels of God are moving with you wherever you are. They watch everything you do, every thought that goes through your mind, and They know all about you. Therefore, we must be conscious of that.
E-83 If we're not conscious of it, then you act any way. So people mostly, today, too many people, are not conscious of the Presence of the Lord Jesus, that's the reason (they) we have these things that we have going on now, that's not right.
E-84 If we could only do like David said, "I put the Lord always before me." Oh, I like that. "The Lord is always before me. Where He goes, I'll follow. And I'm conscious that everywhere I'm going," other words, David said, "that the Lord is going before me."
E-85 "I will not leave thee nor forsake thee," said Jesus. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." He cannot leave us. He promised not to.
E-86 That's the very objective of these meetings. That's the objective, my brethren, of holding my ministry out from the denominations, is to try to let the people see that Jesus Christ is still alive, and He's here, to every believer, to every denomination that will believe Him… or the people in those denominations. "The Lord is before me," David said, "and I shall not be moved."
E-87 Notice now, with two wings They had over Their face, to stand in the Presence of God, 'cause that's where They ministered.
E-88 And if They had to cover Their holy faces, to minister to God, what kind of a person ought a preacher to be? How we ought to cover our face, in shame! How we ought to live! God is altogether holy. We must consciously, all the time, remember that. Outside the grace of God, we're naked sinners, but the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin.
E-89 Now They had two wings over Their feet. That represents humility.
E-90 Like Moses, Moses wasn't too much in humility until he met God in that burning bush. But when he truly saw that was God, and because this Light spoke the word of the promise. Do you get it? They knew, and Moses knew, that the time was at hand for this deliverance. And here comes a supernatural Being down, and repeats, and says, "I remember My promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And Moses took off his shoes, humility, his whole foundation. He took off his shoes.
E-91 Paul, when he saw that same Angel of Light above him, and called it "Lord," he fell in the dust of the earth. He recognized. The humility, "I'm no more!"
E-92 No wonder Isaiah could cry, "Woe is me, for I have seen the Lord God of hosts." Yet, being a prophet!
E-93 And yet, Paul, being a great man, a scholar, but when he come in the Presence of God, he humbled himself.
E-94 And when Moses come into the Presence of God, he humbled himself. He was a prophet. He respected God, the Word.
E-95 Notice John the Baptist. When John stood on the bank, after baptizing the people, he looked out and saw that same Light descending from Heaven. He cried, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." And when he humbled himself, and Jesus walked out into the water, by him.
E-96 Now here is a question was asked me the other day. It might come up in your mind. When Jesus walked into the water, and John said, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and why comest Thou to me?"
E-97 Now, an old Baptist brother of mine, that Doctor Roy Davis, used to tell me. He laid his hands on me when he ordained me in the Missionary Baptist church. He said, "Billy, what happened…" I asked him about that. He said, "Here is what happened. You see, John had never been baptized, hisself, so Jesus baptized John. And then John turned around and returns, baptized Jesus, because Jesus couldn't baptize John before He was baptized." Well, I thought that sounded alright.
E-98 But one day, about two years ago, out in the woods where I was sitting, the Holy Spirit came down, the Light, and then I saw what it was, when He revealed it.
E-99 Now here is what it is. See, there was the two most important people on the earth: there was John the prophet; there was Jesus the Messiah. And they, two, of the men that had the Message of the day, met face to face in water, when their eyes caught one another. And John, in humility, did say, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and why comest Thou unto me?"
E-100 Jesus said, "Suffer that to be so." That is right. "But thus it behooveth us, or it is becoming to us…" Behooveth means "becoming." "It is becoming to us that we fulfill all righteousness." Why? Jesus being God; John being the prophet. Quickly Jesus knowed when He said that, John being a prophet to who the Word come to, knowed he would understand it. Because, the sacrifice, according to the law, had to be washed before it was presented. And Jesus had to be baptized before presented. He said, "Suffer it to be so now. That's right. For thus it is behooving us, becoming to us, to fulfill all righteousness."
E-101 Oh, if we could take that for a text for a few minutes! That we see today, as—as believers in the Light in the hour that we're living in, it's becoming to us that we fulfill all righteousness. It's becoming to a pentecostal church, that we fulfill all righteousness, seeing that we have been called by the Holy Spirit. It's unbecoming that we separate ourselves from other brethren. It's unbecoming that we denominate ourselves and won't have nothing else to do with our brother who has received the Holy Ghost the same as we did. [Blank.spot.on.tape—Ed.] It's not becoming to us. When we see God moving and performing, and doing exactly what He said, and because the person is not connected with our organization, that we misbehave ourself, that's unseemingly. It's not right.
E-102 We should be Christians. We should be gentlemen. We should be God-fearing people and men. We should be ready to reach across and give any man a handshake, and stretch the blanket on his side of the bed, too. Yes, for thus it is becoming to us to fulfill all righteousness. Now we know the…
E-103 That was because that He was the Sacrifice. And John knew it, because he seen that Light over Him. And John humbled himself, being the greatest man till that hour. But when he seen this great Lord Jesus coming, he said, "I have need to be baptized of You."
E-104 But when He told him, "It's becoming that we fulfill all righteousness."
E-105 Then John turned, knowing, as a servant of God, as a prophet, he must fulfill the Word of that hour, because he knowed That was the Sacrifice. He had just said so, "There comes the Lamb of God, the sacrificial Lamb that's going to take away the sins of the world." And the Lamb had to be washed in the laver before it was presented to the priest. Amen.
E-106 It's becoming to us that we fulfill all righteousness, when you take on the Name of Jesus Christ. Let every man or woman, that takes the Name of Jesus, depart from sin.
E-107 Our confessions today has begin to come just like a—a I-don't- know-what, some riddle or something. We go down and pray a prayer about two minutes long, and get back up; do something wrong, say, "O Lord, You know I didn't mean to do that, but, hallelujah, I'm alright," go along. No, that's not it, brother.
E-108 You've got to be godly sorry. You've got to confess that thing. You've got to make it right. You cannot do it… Jesus said, "When you go to the altar, remember the brother has ought against you, go to him first before you offer your gift here, be reconciled with the brother." See? It's becoming us, to us, that we fulfill all righteousness.
E-109 And you women with short, bobbed hair, do you know what? It's becoming to you that you let your hair grow out and act like a lady. You that wear shorts; take them off, put on dresses. It's becoming to you that you act like Christians, that's right, 'cause the Bible said that's wrong. A woman shouldn't do that.
E-110 And you men that's smoking cigarettes, that's unbecoming. And you men that's letting your wives do that, and then say you're "sons of God," a man?
E-111 The great, the great vow that's took at the marriage ceremony, "love, honor, and obey," is gone. In America, the woman has the right-of-way. Well, everywhere she has got the right-of-way. The Bible said she would have it that way.
E-112 They say that the women is the most careful drivers that we got in the land. That's wrong. My son and I, crossing the nation, back and forth, keep a book, and every time there is what we call a boo-boo pulled on the road, if it's the man we put it under man, and woman under woman. And under three hundred boo-boo's across the nation, there was two hundred and eighty-one of them women.
E-113 How did they base theirs? Because of the reports that's turned in. Certainly, them cops ain't going to arrest them nice-looking women if they got a telephone number. They won't turn them in. They let them go, and that's the reason.
E-114 You see, it's become a woman's world. The Bible said it would be that way. Exactly. So the preacher in the pulpit is just about the same thing, he is afraid to say anything against it.
E-115 But it's becoming to us that we fulfill all righteousness. It's got to be said somewhere. You don't look at your fame and popularity here. You are a—you are a love prisoner to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and duty bound. You're a prisoner to Him, and you can say nothing else but what the Holy Ghost says, and preach the thing that's right. Right. You become a love prisoner to Him. Then you don't care what it is, you've got to fulfill all righteousness. A minister should speak that, you Pentecostal people especially, that—that knows better than—than to let that get by like that.
E-116 Now here sometime ago, a great famous man come to me, said, "Won't you leave them women alone?" Said, "Come here, I want to lay hands on you and pray for you, that you'll go ahead, and go ahead praying for the sick." Said, "Why, the people regard you as a prophet."
I said, "I never did say I was a prophet."
E-117 He said, "But the people regard you as that." Said, "You ought to be teaching them people how to get great spiritual gifts."
I said, "That's what's the matter with the church today."
E-118 Said, "Not tell them about they're cutting their hair, and this, that, the other. I…" Said, "You ought to be teaching them great, high things."
E-119 I said, "How can I teach them algebra when they won't even learn their ABC's?" That's right.
E-120 You've got to start from somewhere, so go down to the bottom and build up. Don't try to start on the top; you haven't got any foundation. And that's the trouble with it today, brethren, they don't take This, "It behooveth us to fulfill all righteousness."
Notice these Angels now.
E-121 And John the Baptist, Paul, different ones, when they saw that Glory of God and that Light, they bowed to It. They, yes, they honored It, they respected It, because that they humble themself.
E-122 And these Angels, even, that minister in His Presence, cover up their feet and cover up Their face. Oh, my! Now notice, quickly now, He had two more wings, and, by this, He could put Hisself in action.
E-123 Now what a real servant that is, of God, knowed, show the prophet how His prepared servant should be. What should be prepared servant be? Now these servants look at… He had looked at a—a man on earth here and see what a failure he made, then God showed him a Kingdom in Heaven, a throne. That's the One to look at. Then He showed him what a real servant ought to be, that served in His Presence. And here was these Seraphims, then, covered their holy faces, covered Their feet, and with two wings They went into action; reverent, humble, and in action. Amen. If that ain't a dressed-up servant, I don't know what is; reverent, humble, and in action. Oh, my! I tell you!
E-124 Like the little woman at the well, when she recognized that gift of God, and this Man that spoke was the Messiah, it sure put her in action right quick. She forgot about her waterpot. She run into the city, saying, "Come, see a Man Who has told me the things I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?" Oh, what an action she went into!
E-125 Peter, when he took Him at His Word, as we was speaking on this morning, out there in the boat. Did you notice? When Peter took His Word, and dropped the net down in there, and caught the—the big load of fishes, the multitude of fishes, quickly Peter left the net and got into action. Before he done that, he fell down before the Lord, and said, "Depart from me, O Lord, I'm a sinful man."
E-126 If that ain't the very words, like, that Isaiah the prophet said, "Woe is me, for I have seen the Lord God, and I'm a man of unclean lips."
E-127 Don't you see what the Presence of the Lord does to real believers? We don't even want to confess; we just want to say, "Well, we are Pentecostal, we are Baptist, we are Presbyterians," and live on. But a real genuine, called servant of God, humbles himself in the Presence of God. He doesn't criticize It.
E-128 Look who criticized the Lord Jesus, was the Pharisees, sectarianism, they was the one who criticized Him.
E-129 But the man who was really willing to be His servant, humbled himself and went into action. Jesus said, "You'll follow Me, and I'll make you fishers of men." When he saw that That really was God, he went into action.
E-130 The blind man that was healed, the Bible said that he "scattered His fame all throughout the country abroad." He went into action when he found out that God had Representative here on the earth, that could open the eyes of a blind man, and going around testifying, giving God praise. And the Pharisees caught him, and what it was going to be to him, and as I said this morning. "Why," he said, "I cannot explain, argue theology with you. But this one thing I know, wherein I was once blind, I now see." He was into action, certainly, because he had scattered His fame everywhere.
E-131 And, sometime, maybe you're not a minister, to scatter His fame, but your life will scatter His fame if you'll just live right.
E-132 The poor people at Pentecost, those bunch of fishermen and—and tax collectors, and so forth, with humble jobs. They went up there on a promise of God, and they waited in the upper room for ten days. "And all of a sudden there came a sound from Heaven like a rushing wind, filled all the house where they were sitting." And they went into action, because that they had seen a promise of God made manifest. It was vindicated to them, the promise of God, and it put them in action. When His promise was fulfilled, it put them in action.
E-133 Friend, may I say this. What we have seen in the last year or two, in the Kingdom of God, ought to put every born-again Christian into action. But the thing of it is, we don't—we don't respect it, to realize that it's God. We're—we're just kind of a little curious. We like to see little things, and give a sensation. We like to feel good. We like to do these things. But when it really comes to really respecting It and believing It with all of our heart, it puts us into action.
E-134 Well, when the Angel met Mary that morning on the road to the well, and told her she was "going to have a Baby, knowing no man," it put her into action. She went quickly, telling everybody that she was "going to have a Baby, knowing no man." She didn't care what it meant to what the people said. She had actually met an Angel of God, and it put her into action. She was conscious that the Holy Spirit was upon her, creating in her a Life.
E-135 Oh, if we could only realize that, that the Holy Ghost is upon us, creating in us a faith, trying to present Himself in so many different ways and gifts, to create a faith for a rapturing Church. It should put us into action. But wonder if we're just doing it the way He wanted it to be, with reverence and humility?
E-136 The Pillar of Fire in this last days ought to put the whole church into action, It being vindicated, signs of His Coming at hand.
E-137 Israel has gone back to her homeland. Jesus said, "When the fig tree puts forth its buds, this generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled." When Israel returns to her homeland and becomes a nation, that generation would see the Coming of the Messiah.
E-138 I got a piece from a rabbi in Palestine, the other day, was very striking. There's a little vine, this year, has growed up in Palestine that hasn't been seen there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And it's been predicted, by the Jews, that when that vines grows again, the Messiah is on His road.
E-139 The wise men that come from up in Babylon, and they were studying the stars. They were astronomers. And as they studied the stars, they seen these three stars line up. Ham, Shem, and Japheth's star, that they were borned under, lined up, and they knew. Those scientific believers watched the heavenly beings, how they moved, and when they seen those stars come into line over Jerusalem. For, if they was at Babylon, they looked right straight towards Jerusalem, towards the West, to see it. And when they seen that come in, they knew that when those stars come in line with one another, the Messiah was on the earth. Glory!
E-140 And when we see Israel going home, and the Holy Ghost being poured out in the churches, the ecumenical news of going together, and the Council of Churches, and things, and Roman Catholicism and Protestantism uniting together, the Messiah is going to come to catch away His Bride.
E-141 And God is sending gifts, to try to create in us a faith that will move us out of here, someday, into a Rapture; healing the sick, opening the eyes of blind, raising up the dead!
E-142 Great signs in the heaven above, Angels coming in constellation! And scientists looking off at it, predicted months before it happened. There it was. There it's in the magazine. Told months before it happened! Seven Angels come down, and said, "The complete revelation of the six-seal mystery of God would be unfolded." And there it was just exactly like He said, predicted before it happened.
E-143 And they look around, they find all kind of mystic sights, and call them supernatural beings of some kind. They call it flying saucers, fearful signs in the skies, on earth. Signs, the signs pointing to us that the Coming of the Lord Jesus is at hand.
E-144 Now a little vine crops up. Israel is a nation of her own. She has got her own nation, her own flag. The old six-point star of David, the oldest flag in the world, flies again, for the first time for about twenty-five hundred years. They've got their own army. They've got their own currency. They are near… represented in United Nations. They are a nation, for the first time for twenty-five hundred years. And while they were gathering in…
E-145 I got a tape of it, a picture, we call it Three Minutes Till Midnight. And in that, they asked these Jews, bringing them in, old, on their back, packing them. They say, "Did you come to the homeland to die?" "No, we come to see the Messiah." Amen. When you see them questions, that's God's calendar-piece, that Messiah is fixing to appear. Oh, my!
E-146 We ought to be humble. How we ought to be reverent! How we ought to be in action, trying to get every soul saved that we can, scattering seeds from right to left, and doing everything we can.
E-147 But instead of that, we say, "Glory to God, I don't feel like going tonight. I believe, well, I believe I'll stay home and see this good telecast tonight. It's prayer meeting, but…" A sleeping church, a Laodicean, rich! Oh, my! There we are.
It should put us into action.
E-148 We, like the prophet, seen come out of self-exaltation, the denominations. We see exactly today, in the church, what's happened, like Isaiah saw. He saw a man yet being honored of God, but we saw him, he saw him exalt hisself and was stricken with leprosy. We today, we see the same thing, of self-exalted denominations, "We're the biggest one of the bunch. We got more members than the rest of them." Self-exaltation, see the leprosy of unbelief strike them, and they are cast out.
E-149 Then we ought to have looked for a vision from Heaven, that will show us Jesus Christ among us, His promised Word that He would do it, yes, sir, influenced not by some man-made system, but influenced by God Himself.
E-150 We find them, like Uzziah, lose their hold on the Word, because they've exchanged It for creeds, trying to make themself like Uzziah of old, try to take the place of the anointed office behind the platform, and reject the true Word of God. They have no more business back there than Uzziah did in that, by that altar, with the incense. A man that claims to be a Christian, and will deny the facts of the Word, has no more business in the pulpit than what Uzziah had with that—with that censer. A man that claimed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and blessed of God, and will stand up and deny that Bible and the Truth of It, has swapped It for a creed or something, he is just as full of leprosy of sin and unbelief as Uzziah was.
E-151 He was put off from the office, but they try to fulfill that office by intellectual. "I'm Doctor Ph.D., LL.D. So-and-so." See, they try to take that and usurp education for the anointing of the Holy Ghost. You see, therefore, a man can take that Bible, and some big institution can explain it and take it apart, and lay it out here and fix it up to make it look pretty good to you. That's intellectual. That is because he studied and studied, of these angles and things, how to put it together.
E-152 But let me tell you something. When God comes down into His Word, He don't only put it together, He manifests It out there and makes It alive, and vindicates It and proves It, that it is the Truth. That's the truth of the Word. That's when God Hisself says.
E-153 The vision affected the prophet. Oh, the effects the vision had on him! It caused this prophet…
E-154 Now, remember, he had been looking at a man. But when he saw something real… He had watched a man's holy life, he watched him fail, he seen him take leprosy and die. You're looking at the same thing in your denominations. You see where every one of them are gone?
E-155 Now this great ecumenical move. If a church isn't in this ecumenical move, in a time of—of an emergency, that church cannot be used as a church. "And no minister can minister to anybody, he'll be put to death by doing so. If he ministers any blessing to the people outside, he is with the ecumenical move." That's exactly in the writings today, by the Lutheran; I forget his name. See, that's right. "Your church cannot be worshiped in; it'll be made a storeroom." See the mark of the beast already coming in effect, and we're looking at it. The time, oh, it ought to put the church in action. Certainly, it ought to.
E-156 Watch the effects of the vision now, what it did to the prophet. It caused him… after watching that man, and see it fail. He saw God angry with the man, and withdrawed from him, and smote him with leprosy.
E-157 Then he went down to the temple, to say, "Lord God, I know You are God. And I've been looking at the wrong thing." And then God showed him a vision. And not only a vision, but the vision was vindicated; because, in their midst was the Seraphims flying back and forth, and even Their voice rocked the building when it come together, the posts of it.
E-158 And then, see, he saw something real. And, yet, he was a prophet. He was a… The—the prophet is who the Word comes to. But he had never went out into a sphere no more than what he had been looking at, his hero, Uzziah, looking at the pastor, the—the big fellow. And when he seen the failure there, of the Word, and seen the Word rebuke the man because he was usurping an office that he had no business to be, then what happened? He looked up, and he saw the Lord.
E-159 Can you read between the lines? Can you see what I'm saying now? The Lord Jesus that promised, "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." The very God that wrote the Bible, said, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." And He said, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he also." Do you get what I mean?
E-160 Then that honest-hearted man saw the Glory of God, he saw It in action. And he cried out, as a sinner, and confessed himself to be a sinner. He had never seen anything like that, so real, before. He confessed that he was a sinner.
E-161 Then what happened? When the prophet got ready to confess, then come the real cleansing.
E-162 Until the people gets ready to confess, there is no need of having these healing services. If you will confess your sins, confess your unbelief, confess the things that you are doing wrong, then God can do something. But until there is a confession, there can be no cleansing.
E-163 And as soon as Isaiah said, "Woe is me! I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell with people of unclean lips." Then come the confession, that, then come the Cherubim with the Fire. Did you notice? God never used a seminary to cleanse him with. He never used a—a book of laws to clean him with. He cleansed him by Fire.
E-164 God always cleanses His servants, when He is ready to put them in duty, by the Holy Ghost and Fire. God cleanses by Fire; not by books, not by education, not by intellectual conception, not by denomination. But by the Fire of the Holy Spirit, God cleanses His servant.
E-165 Then notice, then, after the confession, after the cleansing, then come the commission. Then was the commission. After confessed and cleansed, it was then that the clean Isaiah answered God, and said, "Here am I, send me." After he was cleansed, confessed, cleansed by the Fire, then that clean Isaiah was ready for work. He was ready to be an example. He was ready to—to have to put his life out, that others could be influenced by him.
E-166 But until he had confessed it, until he was cleansed, then he was a very poor influence, just as a puppet for the king.
E-167 Now he is cleansed, now he is confessed and cleansed, and called and commissioned to be a prophet. And God let him write the entire Bible, in sixty-six Books of the Bible, there is sixty-six chapters of Isaiah. He starts out in Genesis; the middle of the Book come John the Baptist; and goes plumb over into the Millennium reign, in Isaiah 65 and 66, that's right, the Revelation. He wrote the entire outline of the Bible. Why? Because he humbled himself when he saw the Presence of God.
E-168 What did he do? And his, after he did that, and humbled himself and was cleansed and set aside, and cleansed and commissioned, he has influenced millions of people. Here is his Book, here is Isaiah's Writing that's influenced men from that time down to this. His influence goes on.
E-169 The Bible said, "Their works do follow them." As the Holy Spirit told John, on the Revelation, or on the Isle of Patmos, "Thou must prophesy yet before kings and nations and people." The Book of Revelation is still prophesying. "They rest from their labors, but their works follow them." Their influence that they had, still follow them. See? Certainly, it is.
E-170 And now, today, we find the same thing, influences. We've got to influence.
E-171 Before we can influence, we've got to recognize God, we've got to be clean, we've got to be humble. We got to get ourself down, and know, just keep imagining and knowing how little you are. You are nothing. I am nothing. And none of us is nothing, but He is all. He is worthy of all praise, O Lamb of God. What we need is to go back to the temple, we need to go back to the altar of God and to make an altar in our own hearts, where that we can surrender ourselves, and then see the Lord God of hosts come down in this last days and do what He did when He was here first. Then you'll understand it, and cry, "Woe is me!"
When the coal of Fire had touched the prophet,
Making him as pure as pure could be,
When the Voice of God said, "Who will go for us?"
Then he answered, "Master, here, send me."
E-172 Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Let's sing it.
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I'll… be quick to answer me;
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I will answer, "Lord, send me."
Listen, friends.
Millions now in sin and shame are dying;
Listen to their sad and bitter cry;
Hasten, brother, hasten to their rescue;
Quickly answer, "Master, here am I."
Now speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I'll be quick to answer Thee;
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I will answer, "Lord, send me."
E-173 Do you love Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Let's bow our heads now, just a moment, and hum this. [Brother Branham starts humming.]
The coal of Fire had touched the prophet,
E-174 Let's hum it now. [Congregation hums as Brother Branham continues singing—Ed.]
Making him as pure as pure could be,
When the Voice of God said, "Who will go for us?"
Then he answered, "Master, here, send me."
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I'll be quick to answer Thee;
Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,
Speak, and I will answer, "Lord, send me."
E-175 Heavenly Father, we are waiting for a cleansing of all unbelief, for truly millions now in sin and shame are dying. What good, Lord, does it do, that we—that we profess, without having what we profess to have? How good does it do for us to try to imagine with our intellects that something has happened, when we really know it hasn't happened? Our Heavenly Father, we pray that You will cleanse us now from all of our unbelief, and all of our carnal things of life, that we might be clean by the Blood of the Lord Jesus.
E-176 This group here in Chicago, by that vision the other morning, Lord, I know there is part of that Bride waiting here, and I don't know just how to catch it, Lord. I'm just sowing seeds wherever I can. I pray, God, if there is them here, tonight, that—that doesn't—that doesn't have this experience, that they've never been and seen the real Kingdom of God being manifested, never felt the results of it, and see their lives to cope to all the Word, and can, and so forth; Lord, grant tonight that this will be the night that they will do it. Grant it, Father. We pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-177 Now reverently. I—I'm sure you know me well enough, or I hope you do. I am not a fanatic. If I am, I—I don't know it. And I don't believe that God honors fanatics. All these years, and on the field, there would have been something happen. I am your brother. But I—I do believe with all my heart that… Now I can't say the Lord told me, but I believe that this generation living now will witness that Rapture. That's how close, I believe. I can't see nothing else coming. See, everything has done moved right up to its place.
E-178 Remember the last thing that taken place before Sodom was burned? The Lord was manifested in human flesh. Now, He was a Man. He eat meat and He drank the milk from the cow, and eat corn bread, and eat the calf of the cow, and stood there and eat. And yet Abraham, who talked to Him, said that it was "Almighty God." In human flesh? Yes. He was showing an example of what He was going to do in the last days. Jesus referred back to it.
E-179 And watch the ministry that He did. The first thing, He referred back to His promise. Hum! Do you see the theology side of it? See, He said, "I made you a promise, and now I'm here to confirm it." And now how we know that promise is… Watch that. They were waiting. Just before the fire fell, Abraham and Sarah was waiting for a promised son. God appeared in human flesh and done signs before them, that Jesus referred to would be the same thing at His Coming, that He the Son promised. And we've noticed that now for, going on, fifteen years.
E-180 And still the church gets worse. No wonder, we can actually see we're in the Laodicea Age.
E-181 Now the Holy Spirit is here. There may be ones in here… We're, we're, we have, we—we have been praying for the sick, but I'm making an altar call. I'm making an altar call to both professors and those who have never made a profession. I'm asking you to go with me to the temple of God, which is within you. Go to the confession booth of your heart, and say, "Lord God, cleanse me. And send the Angel, with a coal of Fire, and—and take from me all unbelief, that this night I might recognize the Presence of God, as Isaiah the prophet did when the Angel touched him." I want you to do that, and really be sincere.
E-182 And now we've got a promise for this age. We haven't been promised a great bunch of theology. We've been promised…
E-183 Look, the—the Hebrews had two thousand years of theology, but they had a sign given to them before they was destroyed. Lot and them had another sign give to them. They saw the same sign. And now if God lets the people… When Jesus was here, He made that same sign to the Hebrews, He made it to the Samaritans, and not to the Gentiles.
E-184 Now this is the end of the Gentile Age, like it was then to their age. The Gentile Church is being called. Now, God cannot change His program, because He is infinite, and He is perfect, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and infinite. If He isn't, He isn't God. So, you see, He has got to do the same thing He did then. That's the reason they knowed in every generation that He manifested Himself, was the same way, knowing that He is the same.
E-185 Now, if Jesus Christ stood here, tonight, at this platform; if He stood here, the only thing that He would do, would be the same thing He did when He was back here, to make the people understand that He was the Son of God.
E-186 Now He is here. He promised to be here, and now the only way that He can work is by His promise. "I am the Vine; ye are the branches." And the branches bear record that the life is coming from the vine, or it doesn't have any life in it. But if it's energized by the life, it's got the same life that the vine has got. It's—it's compelling itself, or pushing itself up into the branch.
E-187 Now be reverent a moment. And may the God of Heaven help me, that, you on this sermon that I've preached, that when… Isaiah, that believer, when he come to the place that he had seen the failure of man who tried to represent God, then he saw God come down, and a reality to it, then he cried, "Woe is me!" Because, God had made the promise like that. He made it to each generation. He is making it to us, in this our generation. We see everything exactly in order for His Coming.
E-188 Now do you believe He is here? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Now may He help me.
E-189 And I want to know how many sick people is out there, raise up your hands. You have faith. And now I ask you to take this Scripture, Hebrews, that, "He is the High Priest of our confession, and He can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities."
E-190 Now you pray, "God, let me touch You. And then You, in return, speak back through Brother Branham, like You did through your real Son. He is just an adopted child, like I am. But You've promised that in this last days You would do it. Now, Lord, let me see something real." And you pray.
E-191 May God of Heaven, upon the basis of my heart being poured out to Chicago and wherever I go, may He confirm it to be so.
E-192 That man that just raised back in his seat, he is a big fellow, set right straight in front of me here, that got his hands up. No, the one back, white shirt on. It's not exactly you yourself, but you're praying for somebody else. It's a minister. Do you believe I can tell you what's wrong with him? He's got heart trouble. If that's right, wave your hand. Believe for him now.
E-193 If you'll just believe it! But you've got to believe it. If you don't believe it, it won't work. The man in sincerity.
E-194 Here, here, here sets a woman sitting right down here by this end, second woman back in the second row here, right here. She is suffering with a colon trouble. It's an infection in her colon. The little lady on the end there, kind of grayheaded, stand on your feet so the people can see you. Yes, that's you. That's the truth. It's an infection in the colon, and also you have other things wrong, complications. If that's right, raise up your hand.
E-195 Now who did she touch? Not me. She touched Him. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-196 Here is a lady setting right back here. She has got a trouble, roaring in her head, nervous, complication. Mrs. Pfeiffer, you believe with all your heart. Stand up on your feet. I don't know you, but Jesus Christ gives you your desire. I've never seen her in my life; she is a stranger to me. It'll stop. Don't worry. Your faith healed you.
E-197 Do you believe? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Don't you see that's what He promised?
E-198 That man setting back there. There, don't you see that Light? He is very bad. He has had a tumor in his throat. He has had an operation; the doctor don't give him much hope for it. Do you believe that God will make you well? Do you accept it, Mr. Stonelake? Do you believe with all your heart? All right, stand up on your feet, Jesus Christ will make you well.
"If thou canst believe!"
E-199 This lady laying over here on this stretcher. Of course, you have no prayer card, there is no such a thing now. You are paralyzed. Do you believe this to be the Truth? Do you believe what you've heard tonight is the Truth? If you lay there, you'll die. But Jesus Christ can heal a paralytic. Do you believe He'll do it? If you'll believe it and will accept it, then you can get up out of that cot and go home, in the Name of Jesus Christ, and be made well.
E-200 There she comes, raising right out of it. Somebody give her a little lift there now, she is paralyzed. Somebody… There she comes by herself, up out of the chair, made whole, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
E-201 Do you believe with all your heart? [Congregation rejoices—Ed.] Then stand on your feet and…
E-202 There comes a paralyzed woman walking through the audience!…?…
Speak, my Lord, anoint.
Do you believe with all your heart? [Congregation rejoices—Ed.]
E-203 There is another man, that was paralyzed, out of the cot; come up out of the cot, glorifying God!
Do you believe? [Congregation rejoices—Ed.]
E-204 Where is there another one? All the cots are empty, everything! Everybody is on their feet, praising God!
When the coal of Fire had touched the prophet!
E-205 There is a paralyzed woman walking up to the platform! Praise be to God! Give Him glory and praise!
E-206 Here is another man coming up the platform. Look at him walking up the steps, Brother Fitch.
E-207 Let's give God praise. Raise up your hands and give God the glory. [Congregation continues praising God—Ed.]