E-1 Let's bow our heads. Dear God, we are happy this afternoon for this privilege that we have of assembling ourselves together once more. And You alone, Lord, knows how our hearts has yearned for this hour that when we can stand before Thy people again here, and bring this Message that we so vitally feel that it's so urgent in this hour. Thou has lotted us these few days now, and we pray, dear God, that Your hand of mercy will be upon us, to guide us and direct us. And give us those things which we have need of, Lord, for our hearts yearn to know You better.

E-2 We see the great harvest field, white, ripe, and know the grain is ready now for the great threshing time. Dear God, we pray that You'll open back the shucks from around us, let us lay in the Presence of the Son now, these next few days, and ripen to the Kingdom of God.

E-3 Bless every song that'll be sang. Bless every prayer, and answer every one that'll be prayed, Lord. Save all the lost. Call back to the house of the living God, and to fellowship, those who have wandered away.

E-4 We pray, God, that You'll heal every sick person that comes under our roof. Grant it, Lord. May there not be a feeble person among us at the end of these meetings.

E-5 And, dear God, then for ourselves, we who claim in this hour to be the Church, the Called-out, those around the world who has come from out of Babylon and to be partakers of this wonderful fellowship in this last day, we pray God that You'll bless our hearts in such a way. We're truly hungry, Lord, and emptied out from all the things of the world, that we know of. Lord, we've laid aside every weight that so easily beset us, and now let us run this race with patience, that's set before us. Grant it, Father. And may we be fuller, stronger, better Christians, at the end of this service, than we were when we entered. May God get all the glory, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

E-6 I think this is a grand privilege, tonight, that I've waited on for some time. The other day I was telling my wife, I said, "I get so nervous, waiting to get to the tabernacle." I just... I have other friends, of course, I do, around the world, but there is something another about this tabernacle here.
I was took out of this dust around here, when God gave me life here on the earth; and I guess, if He tarries, I'll be buried here somewhere. When He comes, He'll find me here somewhere.

E-7 But, look like, there is something, when I go to thinking about Jeffersonville. The other day I got so lonesome; I said to my wife, I said, "I'm homesick, and I don't know what I'm homesick about, unless it's those people praying for me." I said, "Well, I'll... Only thing I know to do is go back and have a few days of meeting, see if we can't find something from the Lord, maybe He wants us to know something."
And the great, vital subject that we got before us now is Marriage And Divorce. And if there is a question, there's got to be an answer. There can't be a question 'less there's an answer. No matter what it is, there's got to be an answer. If the Lord willing, I want to try to speak on that, Sunday morning.

E-8 And then, tomorrow night, I think we're to be up here at the... What is that school called? [Brother Neville says, "Parkview."--Ed.] Parkview auditorium. What, sir? ["Parkview Junior High."] Parkview Junior High. How many knows where it's at? Well, I guess they'll have signs out, won't they Brother Neville? ["Yes."] Be... It's just above here about--about three quarters of a mile, and there'll be a sign. You turn back, off the road. It's a nice, elevated building. It's got places where you can lay your arm out, and take notes of what you want to write, and--and--and things. And I'm sure you'll enjoy it a little more than you will be, kind of crumped up in the meetings here in the--in the tabernacle. There'll be plenty of room, plenty of parking room.

E-9 Now, I think they had a little regulation we had to promise to abide by, that was, not to come on the ground until about six-thirty. [Brother Neville says, "Not till five-thirty; not to be there before five-thirty."--Ed.] And what time... ["The doors open at six-thirty."] I believe it'd be a good idea for us to get there at six-thirty.
Now, they got another auditorium here in town that seats six thousand. If we be real good on this one, they might let us have the other one sometime for a big meeting, maybe sometime this summer when I get back from overseas.

E-10 And so I think we can seat up to... How many can we seat up there? [Brother Neville says, "We can seat about four thousand."--Ed.] Four thousand. So, you see, we'll have plenty of room. There'll be no rush. And so come up at six-thirty. And then everybody can come in at the right time, everybody together, and I'm sure you'll--you have a good seat. And it's elevated like this, and--and a place here where you can write and take notes down, and so forth. And that'll begin, if the Lord willing...

E-11 I think now, tonight, this being Wednesday night prayer meeting, we got... The place is just about filled up, so I think maybe we better start tomorrow night. We rented it just in hopes that maybe, if we would be enough to have an overflow here, we could go up there. But I believe it's... it'd be best to go on up, don't you think so, Brother Neville, to go on up tomorrow night? And how many thinks that'd be a good idea? And then you can have plenty of--of room. It's--it's already rented; it's paid for by some brethren here in the church. It just cost us fifty dollars a night, which is very, very... Wish I had that everywhere, could seat that many for fifty dollars a night, a brand new building, fine stage. And, but we are...

E-12 Course, we will take up a offerings, I suppose. And we don't want them man to pay for that themselves; we'll pay for... pay them back. But when we get our expenses and things, well, then, of course, we stop taking offerings. We don't...

E-13 If there's any strangers with us, we've made that a policy, to never beg, bum, push people for money. We pass the collection plate, which is just... That's a religious act. I've tried it, many times, not even to pass the collection plate, at all, but it don't work. See? Because, giving is a part of our religion. It's a part of our duty. No matter if it's just a dime, or whatever it is, or a penny, it's all...

E-14 So you remember, Jesus seen a widow passing by, one day, where the rich man was putting in much of their treasure in the treasury. And this widow passed by, maybe a couple little, hungry children walking by her side, and gave everything she had, three pennies. And Jesus said, "Who paid the most?" [Luke 21:2-4]

E-15 Now, if I had been standing there, I'd a-said, "Don't do that, sister. We--we, look, we got plenty of money." But He never stopped her. See? He--He knew He had something greater for her down the road. So, see, after all, she had a home in Glory, that she was going to. And He never stopped her. He let her put her three pennies in, because it was just she wanted to do it. And she had to want to do it; with children, and a widow, and only three pennies to live on. She, she had to want to do that. So, you see, when people want to give, you've got to give them the opportunity to do so.

E-16 But I think of these standing, and people saying, "Who will give fifty dollars? Who will give twenty dollars?" I think that's detrimental to your--to your intelligence. I--I think that the people realizes that it takes money to--to run a--a meeting. And I never would let them do it, the managers. I said, "Whenever you have to do that, then it's time for me to return back to the tabernacle. So, we won't have to do that." But I--I do think that we have to pass the offering plate, in--in order to make it a complete religious service.

E-17 And so they probably will pass a little offering plate each night, say something like, "Well, we're take up the offering now." And they'll pass the offering plate, and that'll--that'll be the end of it.

E-18 And each night, if the Lord willing, I think the Lord has laid upon my heart a very definite Message for the Church. I've been several days in prayer. And I won't go into that, because a great phenomena happened the other day that was really great. And I'm anxious to tell you about it. And now, the main subject, I suppose, which most all of them, Billy said, had been calling, was on the Marriage And Divorce. Which, it is a great--a great subject, and I--I didn't know how to approach it. And I went up to pray about it, and the Lord met me. And I know that I, by... I don't have it, but God has given to me; I have it now. God has given to me the correct answer, see, see, and I--I know that it's true.

E-19 And so I don't know just exactly yet, maybe, Sunday I might ask our sisters just to omit the meeting, themselves, but I--I don't know. It'd be depend on if the married women wants to come with their husbands. There--there is some real vital things has to be told, the truth about, and how... And so we want to absolutely lay it out, of THUS SAITH THE LORD, then you've got it then. You know just what is Truth then. And I'm trusting Him to do that.

E-20 And, now, I was up here at the restaurant the other day, eating, and--and Jerry and all of them looking for you all. They said, said, "Well, we..." Some, one of the boys was up, said, this fellow said, "I'm going to come out pretty good this week," said, "they got... Or, these next two weeks." Said, "They got a--a meeting here, of basketball, or something another." Said, then said, "Branham's down there, is going to have a meeting." He said, "I'll feed a whole lot of people." At the Ranch House, one of those places up there. And they were... been really nice.

E-21 And I appreciate you all, for they certainly did brag and say nice things about you.

E-22 The manager up there at the Ranch House met me the other morning. I got in about two-thirty, from Arizona. And he said, "Well, Brother Branham," said, "I hear you're going to have another meeting." Said, "I got some extra help," he said. And said, "Then I want to say one thing, that those people that come from down there," said, "they really are nice people." Now, that made me feel real good about you, see.
Cause, after all, I kind of feel that you're my kids, and I--I... or, children, rather. And so I... Kid refers to a goat, and you're not a goat. You're my lambs. How is that? You're the Lord's lambs that He has let me feed. And I trust that it'll--it'll... that He'll let me do that. We're going on down the road.

E-23 And about this Marriage And Divorce, I've wanted to speak on it ever since the time that those Seven Seals. You know, the myst-... All mysteries was supposed to be made known in them, opening them Seven Seals, all mysteries of the Bible. And I'm thinking now, getting kind of old, I--I think I... I thought I'd better at least put it on tape, whether if something would happen to me, then the Church might wonder, "Wonder what he had on his mind? What would he say?" And all those subjects that seems to be so hard; I think, the... by the Lord's help, I'm going to try to bring them to you. And then--then if something happens, and if I happen to go before He comes, you--you'll have it on record then.

E-24 I think we got some new books out. I see Sister Vayle; I don't know whether the doctor is here or not. Is he here, Sister Vayle? He is probably in the meeting. I don't see him. But, oh, yes, way in the back. And Brother Vayle has wrote a book, and it's a... I thought, I believe they said today, two. Brother Vayle, is that right, you have two here now? Two books. Now, I don't know, I... The way I understand, that each person gets a copy. So I... If you... That's the way I understand. I may be wrong in that.

E-25 And then The Seven Church Ages has been finished (is that right, Brother Vayle?) and on print now. And I know you'll want to get them, 'cause they answer a lot of questions that's been in your hearts. And then after that, well, we're going to try to get the Seven Seals opened, you know, in the book, so that each one can read in form that they--that they want to, can understand and study it. I think when it's wrote out, if it...

E-26 First, we took it right off of the tape, the way it was written or spoken. You know, you can preach a sermon, is one thing, and then write a book is another. See, like I'd happen to touch on a subject, like I'd say to you, you'd understand, I'd say, "Now, the serpent's seed," see.
Well, now, the reader of that book, if you took that off, would wonder, "What is the serpent's seed?" See? And they wouldn't know. If that happened to go into such a place like Princeton or somewhere, and they--they would think we were unintelligent people.
So I got Brother Vayle to kind of help me with this and keep the line of the same thought, and give it grammar. And I'm sure my grammar they would... It would be a mystery to them, sure enough. So the... Brother Vayle is really good on that, so he's as a...

E-27 And then, in that, I think our precious brother must have picked up a little extra inspiration, somehow, and he said he was going to write a couple of books of his own, off of them, like. And so he wrote one called, I believe, The Twentieth-Century Prophet, and another one, Laodicea Church, I believe, or something like that.

E-28 And Billy told me that, tonight, that I believe several thousand of them arrived today; somebody brought them from Texas. And so, they, they'll be here. And they'll announce it, I think, whatever they are. I think they're sponsored. I'm not sure. And if they are, they'll be given away to you, you see, too, free. And we hope you enjoy it. And if you do, shake Brother Vayle's hand back there and tell him how much you appreciate it. I've never read it, myself. If I would read them, I might change my mind about that, so I'll try to read them this week while I got a chance, if I can.

E-29 Now being Wednesday night, our meeting officially begins tomorrow night. But I think, in being here among you, I--I--I just couldn't stay up there at the house and--and know that you all were down here. I... Just like, you know, like some of your kinfolks come in, you know, and you run down to the end of the lane to meet them, you know. And--and I--I thought I'd just run down and--and welcome you to Jeffersonville. And so this last week I about...
No, I beg your pardon, it's been about three weeks ago, I come home. I had been out trying to... Been on some meetings through Arizona there, and I come back to try to relax. And I went on a hunting trip, and I--I got the Arizona state record lion. I run him through twenty miles of timber to get him.

E-30 But then to think, though, that I never thought when I was a little boy... Just to show how these things happen, a little place that the Lord has given us up there, for the months that we're out there, and school for the kids.
I was a little boy. I guess Jimmy Poole is here tonight, maybe his dad is here, big Jim. We went to school together, and I remember setting there, as a little old ragged kid, and shoes, tennis shoes on, toes out of them; borrow a piece of paper from one, and a pencil from another.

E-31 I used to write poetry. And Mrs. Woods, here, had me to recite that this afternoon on tape, about my old Ford, you know, and it's--it's a good one. Now, she said, "Well, you ought to send that to Mr. Ford."
I said, "There is too much truth, I believe," about a rattle in the front, and a grind in the rear, and a Chinese puzzle for a steering gear. But I... It's--it's a... But I always said, only thing I had to do is count four tires, and shake it enough to get it to start and then get in it. I said, "It was good when I would start up a hill with it, just go a pulling real slow, saying, 'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.' Then start, the other side, saying, 'I thought I could, I thought I could.'" See?
That's the way we pull this hill, like Pilgrim's Progress. So we...

E-32 I had a little poem I wrote, something like this. And said... Now, just think, I was only about twelve years old. And standing up there, the other day, looking up that canyon; and thinking, "That lion will be setting right here in this den room, looking out the window," in a glass window. I was thinking of a little poem. I went back and picked it up, something like this. Just think how God...

E-33 Do you believe God is in all inspiration? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] God has to write a song. Do you believe God is in songs? ["Amen."]
Jesus said so. He referred back to David, "Don't you know what David said in the Psalms? You know, has not..."

E-34 Look at the very crucifixion. David sang it, in the 22nd Psalm, "My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me? All My bones, they stare at Me. They pierce My hands and My feet." You know, and that was a song. Psalms is a--is a song. [Psalms 22:1, 16-17]

E-35 And in this poetry, just watch how it come to pass. Setting there, a little old kid with a borrowed sheet of paper, I said:
I am lonesome, oh, so lonesome for that far away southwest,
Where the shadows fall the deepest over the mountain crest.
I can see a lurking coyote all around the purple haze;
I can hear a lobo hollering down where the longhorns graze.
And somewhere up a canyon I can hear a lion whine,
In that far off Catalina Mountains at the Arizona line.

E-36 Forty years later, I'm setting right there at that canyon, that lion looking me in the face.
O God, there's a Land beyond the river somewhere, friends. It's just... It's got to be there. See? There's--there's too much speaking of it. All these things are not just myths; they are... They are real. They are realities. I'm so glad to be here tonight, to be with these people that I'm expecting to live over There forever with, where there'll be no more sickness, or death, or separations. And travel will be nothing to us then.

E-37 Now, I think no meeting is complete without reading the Word and having a little...
Brother Neville, I just walked up here. Billy said you wanted me to speak. Was that right, Brother Neville? [Brother Neville says, "Amen. Yes. Sure."--Ed.] I maybe taken a little too much for granted, but I--I just felt so good about it. ["Well, amen! Sure do!"]
So, now, you that's got songs and things, you see Brother Neville when you're going to sing, and then just have it, up there. And have just about a half hour preliminary, and let's get right into these real deep Messages and see what we can see the Lord will do. And I just trust...

E-38 I--I believe we have Truth. I'm satisfied of that. And I believe the wheat is, absolutely, the shuck is pulling away from it. You know. And, see, I may give a little prelude on that, tomorrow night, see, how the shuck is pulling away from the wheat. But the wheat has to lay in the Presence of the Son, to ripen. And that's what we're here for, friend, stay in the Presence of the Son till our little group of people here, till it becomes so ripe to Christ, it become bread on His table. That's what I want it to do.

E-39 And now before we approach the Word, after reciting poems, and so forth, let's pray again. Then we're going to take a text.

E-40 Dear Jesus, help us tonight now, in these few words, as we wait upon Thee. And we pray that Your grace and mercy will be with us, Lord. And tender our hearts; move back all the shucks, the thorns, the thistles, let the blessed sunshine of God fall in upon the Word, Lord. And may we have such a great meeting till there'll not be an unsaved person among us, all the children will be in the Kingdom of God. Those without the baptism of the Spirit, may they receive It, Father. May all the great mysteries that we are supposed to know at this age, Lord, be unveiled to us; and we'll see the plainness of God, so that we'll know how to behave ourselves and act, correcting ourselves and bringing the members of our body into discipline to the Word, that we might know how to live in this present day at the approaching of the Lord Jesus.

E-41 As I read of Thy Word tonight, Lord, I might, by a partial education, be able to read in some of the words, and maybe mispronounce others. But, Lord God, You alone can pull the context out of there. You're the only One that can do it. There's no--no way for a human being to ever do it; it lays in Your hands, Lord. So give to us, each night, them things that's hid in Thy Word, that we might be better Christians and live according to the time that we're living in, as examples of Christianity. We ask in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

E-42 Now, many of you, in your Bibles, I want you to turn to the Book of Jonah. It's a... We always talk so much about Jonah being a backslidden and everything. I've always took up for Jonah. I do not believe that Jonah was backslid. I--I do not believe that. I believe it's just... We just sometimes use it, say, "He's a Jonah." But if we... I've already spoke on it, in another way, in telling how that I thought, Jonah, what took place.
Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. [Jonah 1:1-3]

E-43 Isn't that a sad ending? A Man Running From The Presence Of The Lord, and that's my subject.

E-44 Now, first we want to think of this. Jonah was... The reason, the principal reason, that I believe that he did this great thing here, was because Jonah was a Jew. And he was asked to go to a Gentile city, to cry out against it; thinking that he would not be received. Because, the Gentiles would think, "What's this Jew got to do with us?" But, you see, another thing, it gives us a great thing here to see, that God not only is God of the Jew, but He's God also of the Gentile. He is God of all people.

E-45 He just chose the Jews. The Jews was called God's chosen people. They were chosen for a specific cause. And that cause was, to give to them the law, and they could not keep it. And He just showed, by that people, that the law could not be kept, and that He was a--a--a God of righteousness. And the law demanded righteousness, but there was no grace in law, to bring a man out. No penalty was paid by the law, but it taken grace to pay that penalty, or to where the law put us under.

E-46 And Jonah here was called on, as this, one of the minor prophets of the Bible, to go down to this city.
And here we find an example of all of us. Every one of us, we always are running from something. We run from trouble. We run from responsibilities. We, we're all prone to do that. We, we are, we are more prone to run than we are to stand and face it out. See, we just... We--we--we find ourselves running.
Sometimes we find ourselves prone to run from work. We don't want to, we don't want to work. Some people just thinks they can make their living without working. But, I think, Solomon it was that said we could find here the answer, in watching an ant. [Proverbs 6:6-11]

E-47 You know, a little ant, they tell me if that (every) ant doesn't work and lay in, that ant doesn't eat that winter, either. So, everybody has to--to work. [Proverbs 30:25]

E-48 We got so many things we have to do, so much responsibility that we have to face. Everybody has got to face a certain responsibility.

E-49 When you--when you come to--to choose your wife, to get married, or choose your husband, you--you've got to take a responsibility. And then you must remember... Maybe you build a home; it's a nice pretty home. And then, remember, as a married woman, you got to think of the responsibility of raising children. And you got to think of them pretty, slick walls is going to have little, dirty handprints all over them. Then you got the responsibility of educating your children. You got the responsibility of clothing and feeding.

E-50 Everything is a responsibility. And it's so easy, when the responsibilities face us, to shirk from them. And we find out that marriage is a responsibility, in all manners.

E-51 Even, many times, we find... This is hard to say, but it's true, that ministers, many time, shirk a responsibility for standing for the true Word of God when they're confronted with It. They'll shirk that responsibility. When Truth of the Word of God is brought face to face with we human beings, we have... we are prone to shirk back until the last resource.

E-52 I just got through talking to my little nephew up there. He's a Catholic, and he... And I baptized that boy, in the Name of Jesus Christ, here a few years ago, and he got with some little girl and turned Catholic. And I held his mother's hand while she was dying over there. She said to me, the last words, "Take care of Melvin." And he's just been dreaming dreams. He just can't... Every, every day, the last week, he's been dreaming dreams. Said, "I'd walk into your church, Uncle Bill, and you was standing there preaching. I'd run up, to start to make a confession. I'd wake up." He said, "I--I been wrong."
I said, "Melvin, you don't need no interpretation for that. Your place is down there where you belong." That's right. See?

E-53 But to face up to responsibilities, sometimes it takes the very hide off of us, to do that. As a father, to face up the responsibility, to give your child a whipping. Them little fellows, you don't want to do that. But as a father or a mother, you've got to face the responsibility of raising that child, because the Bible said, "Spare the rod and you'll spoil your son." And that still stands good in the sight of every psychologist there is in the world. That still remains God's Truth. If there had been more of that practiced, we wouldn't have had so much juvenile delinquency and stuff, and the rot we got in the world today. But the old golden rule of the home has been broken, long time ago, and they let the kids do whatever they want to. [Proverbs 13:24]

E-54 But even as I said, ministers, they'll come face to face with Truth, and then walk away from It. See, they're--they're just have... There seems like there is something that they--they don't want to face up to it.

E-55 Many times I've had people come, say, "I know that's right, Brother Branham, but if I did that, they would kick me out of the church." What of it? If you don't, they're going to kick you out, up There. So you got to be kicked out, somewhere, see. So you might as well face up to it, instead of running from it and say, "Well, I'll go over here. I won't go back." Go back, sure, listen to some more of It.
Search the Scriptures. Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, for in Them you think you have Eternal Life, and They are They that testify of Me." But we find that people won't face up with that. [John 5:39]

E-56 Being brought to, into the Presence of God, and see when God made a promise, and God is obligated to that promise. And when He brings that promise to pass, then people are afraid to face up to the responsibility of coping with the Message of the hour. We find that everywhere.

E-57 How about you Lutherans? How many Lutherans was afraid to, people was afraid to face up to Luther's Truth when he come forth with justification? Look what it cost you, maybe your own life, to come out and confess Jesus Christ and--and become a--a Lutheran.

E-58 Look at you Methodists, how it used to be, you all were called holy-rollers. I guess you knowed that. And they'd get under the Spirit, and jerk back and forth. And they said they--they had "the jerks." The Meth-... That, no, that ain't Pentecostals; that was Methodists, long years ago. And they jerked, and shook, and fell under the power of God. And they throwed water in their faces, and fanned them with fans, thought they passed out. And, now, you were considered a bunch of holy-rollers. But you had, your mothers and fathers, had to either accept It, face up to the Truth and facts, or turned her down.

E-59 What about you Pentecostals that received the restoration of the gifts, when the baptism of the Holy Ghost come out, with speaking in tongues, and the gifts of the Spirit coming back in the church? Why, the Methodists wanted to kick you out, and they did do it. But you had to face up to it. It's something you had to do.
What about the issue, when it come out, about the baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ, and you saw it was the Truth? You have to face up to it, or do something about it.
You have got a responsibility, everybody has, and you must face up to these things. All right.

E-60 And when you see then, in this day now, when the Word of God has made these promises of things that we see happening now, then we've got the responsibility to either face up to It or get away from It. You have... You just can't stay neutral. You've got to do something about It. Said... Some move has got to be made.
You can't come in that church door and go out the same person you come in. You're either further away, or closer to God, every time you come in or go out there.

E-61 Oh, how easy it is for people to shirk these things. And I want us to think of these when we start into the official services tomorrow night, that, I want you to notice when something is confronted, if you... if there's a question about it. If there's a question about it, there's got to be an answer.

E-62 Say, for instance, I said I was going west, and you pointed me this way. Well, the first thing you know, I would run plumb a pass my target, and I'm too... I'm northwest. Well, what if somebody points me down this way, and I go that way? I'll pass my target again; I went southwest. Well, as long as there's a question, which a way is west, there's got to be a direct answer somewhere.
And when these questions confront us, about the Bible Truths, there's got to be the right answer somewhere. That's right. It's got to be there.

E-63 And when we see Something presented. I think, instead of just run away, say, "Ah, nonsense! I couldn't believe a thing like That. I couldn't believe That." Why don't you take the Bible, and set down and face up to It. Study It. You're here in the meeting now, just look It over. Check It out, yourself, with the Word. Check the Word, by the Word. That's the only way to make It tell the Truth. And It must tell the Truth, from Genesis to Revelations.