Uniti sotto un capo
E-1 Let us remain standing just a moment
for prayer. O God our Father, we thank Thee again tonight for the
privilege that we have of assembling ourselves together and praying.
Thou has promised that You would hear from heaven and would answer our
prayers and would heal the land.
And, God, if there ever was a land that needed healing, it's the land
that we live in. And we pray that You will heal it by sending an old
fashion revival that will cure it of its diseases, its spiritual
ailments. Grant it, Lord.
Thou has give us plenty of food, good clothes, but, oh, how we long to
hear the Word of the Lord. Thou has said in the Word there would come a
famine in these days, and people would run from the north to the south
and from--from coast to coast seeking to hear the Word of God and would
fail to find It.
O God, anoint Your ministers afresh. Lord, may we get out into the field
with the Word, plant the real Word. If there's no Word, no seed sowed,
there'll be no harvest. Give us strength now while it is day, that we
might sow the seed of Life to the dying and perishing millions. For we
ask it in His Name and for His glory. Amen. You may be seated.
E-2 Those little handkerchiefs like
that, that's perfectly all right to lay them up here. We'll pray over
them and we will have a great blessing in doing it, and God has always
honored it. Such little simple things as praying over a handkerchief...
There's a young man here, a ministers brother's son from South Africa,
who was in my meetings down there. And I was at Cape Town, and we had
about eight big grass sacks full of mail. We didn't have time to
minister to each. And I was praying over those sack-fulls of mail.
And the paper said, "Brother Branham is rather superstitious. He was
praying over the mail." It's Scriptural to do so. It's the Word of the
Lord.
Now, tonight I want to try to get out early. I kept you late last night,
and I'm--I'm sorry if I caused you to miss your buses and so forth.
E-3 Now, tomorrow night if the Lord is
willing, I want to preach on the subject of "The Handwriting On The Wall
And The Signs Of The Time."
And then, Friday night I want to preach on the subject, if the Lord
willing, "Will The Church Go Before The Tribulation Period, Yes Or No."
Then Sunday afternoon I want to preach on the subject, "Will The
Eagle... As The Eagle Stirs Her Nest And Fluttereth Over Her Young."
I got to drive home Friday night. I'm bringing Mrs. Branham and the
children up. It's close; it's only about a hundred and forty miles home.
They don't get to see any of the meetings.
E-4 And I'm fixing to go to Africa right
away. And I just had a great message today that just thrilled my heart,
of about five nations sent word to me today for... And they're great
men of the nation, they're calling for the ministry, said that's what
would save their nation from communism. Oh, I was so happy to hear that.
I was in one of the nations not long ago and a little baby died that
morning at nine o'clock. And that night at about ten o'clock when I
finally got to the platform, the Lord God gave a vision of this little
lady, and her little baby come to life, and it was healed.
And, oh, when that struck the papers the next day, and the following
night there was twenty thousand at one time gave their hearts to the
Lord Jesus.
E-5 This young man, Mr. Thoms setting
here (He's somewhere. I seen, spotted him awhile ago.), I wonder, Tommy,
if you were in the Durban meeting when thirty thousand got saved. Was
you up there that time at the meeting? You wasn't there, but you heard
of it. I think your father was there. Tommy was just a little boy then.
He's over here in Bible school now. And he...
We was... Thirty thousand blanket natives received Christ as personal Saviour at one time. Oh, God is so good, isn't He?
E-6 I want to take a subject tonight
that the Lord put on my heart today: "United Under One Head." And I want
to read for some Scripture back in Genesis the 11th chapter and just a
phase of the 6th verse.
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one...
Now, may He add His blessings to the reading of His Word. The people is one. Now, "Genesis" means "the beginning."
E-7 And everything that there is today
had--that is, had it's beginning. And everything that there is begin in
Genesis. Remember, life began in Genesis. Death begin in Genesis. And
all thoughts begin in Genesis, right and wrong. All begin in Genesis.
If you study the Scriptures real closely, you'll find out that even the
isms and the cults of today had their beginning in Genesis. If you'll
just watch Nimrod and--and the different ones in the Scripture... All
them isms that we have today begin in Genesis.
Now, today they polish it up and make it look like something else, but
it's still that old evil spirit, if you'll watch the nature of it and
the way it acts.
You know, a few years ago when I was just a little boy I was--lived in
the time of prohibition. And they had old Charlie Barleycorn, they
called him. Many of you can remember that hideous looking person, his
hat all caved in, and his st... shoe--shoulders stooped over, and such a
horrible looking critter he was. That was Charlie Barleycorn.
E-8 But you know, today he's become a
polished-up man. He ain't no more in the little brown jug and out on the
corner where the red light district is. He lives in a bumper in
everybody's ice box, but he's still Charlie Barleycorn just the same,
same old evil one.
The Bible said... God in the Bible said, "My Spirit will not always
strive with man." And Jesus said in Matthew 24, "As it was in the days
of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." Did you
notice, the Spirit of God was striving with men, not men striving to
know the Spirit of God, but it was the Spirit of God striving to get to
men.
And, oh, how it parallels today. The Spirit of God is striving with man.
And I wonder if God doesn't think just about like He did in those
times. It grieved Him that He ever made man, to see how rebellious men
can be against His Spirit and His program and His way of life for men
and women.
E-9 Now, we see now in our text tonight,
that man had united themselves together. And they had come from the
east going west, and they come to the valley of Shinar. Civilization has
always traveled from the east to the west.
I wished I only had time... I'd like to speak on a message: "When The
East And The West Meets, What Happens?" And it's already met. The east
and west has met together. Man has traveled with the going down of the
sun, because he is a perishing creature. He's going with the sun, rises
and travels westward. Now, the east and the west has met. And as he goes
on, he gains knowledge all the time until now the wheel is turning
backward again.
Now, we see that they as they traveled they come to this fair land, and
they united themselves as one people. And that's all right, but they had
united under the wrong leadership. They had united under the leadership
of man. And God wants man to unite under the leadership of Himself. He
wants us to be one. But He wants to be the one with us. But man wants
his fellow man to be his leader and unite under the wisdom of his fellow
man.
E-10 And it is very striking to see how
that man wants to be one. The reason that he wants to be one is because
that God designed him for that purpose. God designed man, made him up to
be one, to work together, to cooperate together. That's the makeup of
man. That's the way God made him.
But man always wants to have his idea about it. He wants to project
something that God never intended him to do. He wants to figure his own
ways out. He wants to make his own plans. He won't accept the plan that
God made for him, because it's his fallen nature.
God told him in the garden of Eden that the very minute that he even
touched that tree that trouble was in the road. But man taken from that
tree, and he become a scientific worker. And the very first bite that he
took, he separated himself from his Saviour, or his Creator.
And so is it tonight that man still lives by that tree. And there's no
way in the world for a man to be saved by that tree. And why do we put
so much emphasis on scientific research, how to save ourselves, to make a
bomb that's better than Russia's, to make a plane that can fly faster.
Trying to save ourselves.
E-11 Knowledge will never save you. It
takes you farther away from God all the time. There's only one way of
salvation. That's back to the Tree of Life. Knowledge even isn't--even
isn't in the picture. It's back to the Tree of Life.
There was two trees; one was knowledge; the other was Life. As long as
the man eat from this tree he lived. When he bit from that tree he died.
But you see, it's his nature to try to do something to save hisself. There's not one thing that you could do to save yourself.
Man said to me one time; he said, "Oh, I sought God and I sought God."
I listened at him for a few moments, and I said, "Sir, I don't want to
disagree with you, but I have to. You never did seek God." And no man
never did. It isn't man seeking God; it's God seeking man.
It wasn't God going up-and-down the garden saying, "Adam, Adam where art thou?"
It wasn't man going up and down the garden saying, "God, God, where art Thou?" It was God calling Adam.
E-12 And God said in His Word, "No man
can come to Me, except My Father draws him first." You're seeking to
find what's drawing you, but it's God has to draw first. The Scripture
says that, and how true it is.
But we find out here that they have united under one great leader. And
when you get man under leadership of man, then he gets some ideas of his
own, trying to achieve something that he can design or do himself.
And Nimrod had built them a tower. And it's very strange to think that
how that all the things that the Devil has, he stole the copyright from
God to make it. Satan cannot create. Satan is no creator; he's a
perverter of something God created.
E-13 That's the reason that there is no
one that knows his Bible or knows God, that would say that the Devil can
heal. Healing is creation. And if the devil can create, he could create
himself a world and some people. But he cannot create; he perverts what
God has created.
What is unrighteousness? It's righteousness perverted. Everything that
you see that's wrong, just do opposite and you'll be right, for
unrighteousness is righteousness perverted. Then you've got the right
two.
And remember, that anything that man does that's outside the plan of
God, it's perverted. No matter how good it looks, it's still perverted,
because God's got His original idea, and He gave it to man, and man
wants to make something of his own self. He wants to have something to
do into it.
Israel made it's greatest mistake in the 19th chapter of Exodus. After
grace had provided a sacrifice, grace had provided a saviour, Moses,
grace had provided a deliverance, and yet they wanted something to do
themselves. "Give us the law." And they never did keep it, and they
couldn't keep it. But it's all falls back to it's God Who does all good
things.
E-14 United under one head, the wrong
head... Did you notice, the Devil always wants to use a man's head, give
him some knowledge. Oh, many people go to choose their minister, the
one who's coming to your church. "Oh, he has a--a Ph.D. Oh, he's just
the guy for our church." I'd rather have a man that didn't know his
abc's and knowed God. But you see, you'd think it's because that he's
got an education. He looks at the eye.
Now, that's the same lie that the Devil told Eve. He said, "It is
pleasant to the eye." And the eye always is by the head. And all that it
is, is death dressed up. It's garbage with a little whip cream over the
top of it. It's right.
They'll see these pictures along our roads, of lovely young women
standing, saying, "We smoke Chesterfields." And it makes the young woman
today want to be like that, because she wants to be popular. Why? It's
the same lie and the same liar behind it, the Devil, that makes sin look
pleasant. It's only death dressed up.
E-15 And they'll put some kind of a sign
board out, of some little lady, nice looking in some kind of a little
immoral looking clothes. And she thinks, "Oh, that's just pretty." It's
looking at it through the eye, but it's death dressed up. That's all it
is: death formed in the form of beauty. And remember, beauty is
deceitful.
It was Satan's idea to make a better and a more prettier kingdom than
Michael's. Beauty was the downfall to begin with. And the Devil has used
that ever since. What a thing it is today to see that the kingdom of
the Devil is made so pretty. And lot of people fall for it.
Now, remember, the Devil is religious. Many people likes to go down to a
church that's got great big high steeple on it and seats set so
plushed. No wonder the preacher can't preach but fifteen minutes, you'd
go to sleep in such a place. And with a great big million dollar pipe
organ, and with the pastor with his collared buttoned in the back and a
long robe on, with some kind of a little ear tickling something of some
society or about some politics...
What? We don't want that. The real child of God, if he has to stand on
the street corner or in a little old mission and hear the Word of God
preached in the power and demonstrations of the Holy Ghost, he will pick
it.
E-16 But it's science; it's man's
organization. Man organizes himself. Oh, how good it is to hear...
Sometimes the people say, "I am a Presbyterian. I am a Methodist." Not
slamming you, my brethren, I'm only trying to show a truth.
But if you had to say you were Pentecostal it would dampen your spirit.
And that kind of a spirit ought to be dampened. You say it kills the
spirit. Well, any spirit that could be killed by the name of Pentecost,
ought to be killed. That's right.
Pentecost is not a organization. Pentecost is an experience that comes
to all the borned again children. Oh, I know that man's tried to
organize it and has did it. They organized the group of people, but they
can't organize Pentecost. Pentecost goes to Methodist, Baptist,
Presbyterians, or whoever wants it. But they make an organization out of
it.
That's man, the Devil working on his head, something that he has to see.
"Our denomination is bigger than the other fellow's." Can't you see
that old devil don't die? It lives on. "We are greater than somebody
else."
E-17 A little girl, she looks like, she
was an alcoholic. And she was in one of the greatest Protestant churches
in the states the other day giving a testimony. And the people wept
when she told them how that she'd been brought from a drunkard's grave,
where five of the best doctors in the nation said, "She's hopeless." The
A. A., Alcoholics Anonymous give her up as a hopeless case.
And when she come to the platform, the Holy Spirit said, "Rosella
Griffith, you are an alcoholic and so-and-so and such a things has
happened. But THUS SAITH THE LORD..." And she was delivered. She gave
her testimony. The people wept. And after while somebody said, "Oh, she
was a darling child, but she's Pentecostal."
Don't you see that old manmade green-eyed devil? Oh, you can't polish it
up. It's still sin and unbelief. I don't care if it was a Jehovah
Witness, or any other kind of a witness, as long as God's there I'll be
with it. Correct. When God moves in the Spirit, His children moves with
It.
Someone's recorder... I'm sorry. I'm not excited, but I feel real
religious. Oh, there's just something about it gets all over you. The
Word... Not all over you, but all in you, It moves every little fiber
inside of you.
Man works by his head and looks by his eye. See the Devil said to the woman, "Oh, the tree is pleasant."
She said, "It's good to look at." See that same Devil, if he can get you
to stop just for a minute, he can make you reason it out. He can make
you think with your mind. But God doesn't use a man's head. God uses his
heart. God works on his heart while the Devil works on his head. God
chose the heart. The Bible says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is
he."
E-18 Here sometime ago, years ago, the
scientists said, "Well, God sure made a mistake there, because there is
no mental faculties in the human heart to think with. Yeah, He meant
your head." If God would've meant head, He'd have said head. But He said
heart, so I believe He meant heart.
Then you know, about five years ago I was in Chicago. I seen a great
piece in the headlines of the paper where that science had found that in
the human heart, not the animal heart, in the human heart there's a
little compartment that doesn't even have a blood cell in it. It was the
abiding place of the soul. So man does think with his heart after all.
God was right.
E-19 And we'll find out every time that
God is right. He thinks with his head, but he believes in his heart.
Now, the Devil thinks through his mind to show him something with his
eye. But his heart will make him believe something that would be
impossible to look at, because it's the faith that he has in his heart.
He believes with his heart for things that he can't see. And the Devil
turns around and takes his head and makes him scientifically prove
something. And his heart turns around and denies it.
Oh, if we could get away from our head knowledge and head religion, to
heart religion where God could go to work in the Church... Out of our
head into our heart... A man believes in his heart. He thinks with his
head, believes in his heart.
Now, the mind reasons things. The heart doesn't reason at all. It just
believes what God says. But you see, today we're so scientific, oh, we
Americans anyhow. We are so scientific; it has to be all proved out to
us.
E-20 In the old days when someone said
the Lord did a miracle they just believed it. They thought, "That's all
right. Thank the Lord for it." But today, oh, we've got to scientific
take it down and prove it. And if it can be proved scientifically, then
it's not faith anymore. Oh, I hope you get that. If it's scientific, it
isn't faith anymore.
What if Moses would've said, "Wait a minute here. Let me stop for a
minute. What kind of a chemical spray has been put on that tree? Them
leaves are on fire, but they're not burning. You know what I'll do? When
it quits burning, I'll pick off some of those leaves and take them down
to the laboratory. And I'll have them, the chemicals analyzed, and just
find out what kind of a scientific thing this is."
If he would've had that kind of a thought, God would've never said,
"Take off you shoes." What did he do? He walked up humbly. He didn't
care what the fire, how it was burning, or whether the tree burned up or
not; he was searching for God. And every other child of God will
believe it the same way. He heard a voice that said, "Take off you
shoes, Moses. You're on holy ground."
E-21 If you go down to the meeting
tonight, and you come down to find some kind of a fault... "The people
make too much noise. The preacher preaches too long. I can
scientifically tell you there's people there that's weary. They oughtn't
to stay up that long at night." Go ahead. But those who come with their
shoes off, with their head knowledge left behind, and a heart open for
God, you'll hear a voice say, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."
"I'll go down and count how many members of my church attended that
revival. And I'll hurry right back to tell the pastor that our good
Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist brethren are down there. What a
disgrace." Well, there you go again, back with the head. God deals with
the heart.
E-22 Now, the reason that that little
compartment that's in your heart... God molded you that way. That was
for a purpose. That little place in your heart... All the rest of your
body belonged to hi... to you, but that heart belongs to God. That God
made Hisself a little room in there, so He could set in the controlling
tower that He could guide you. Blessed be His holy Name. Oh, if we would
let Him be the pilot and the Holy Ghost the co-pilot, we would be
guided over the sea of life. It's His control room.
But what did man do? He listened to his fellow man and accepted the
Devil in there. And the Devil come into it, and he guides him to the
things that he can see. God guides him to the things that He said.
No wonder people can't believe in Divine healing with the Devil setting up there saying, "Don't you believe it."
"Yes, sir, Mr. Devil, that's right."
But God sets in the heart and makes His Word real to every one that
believes it. Though it may not come to pass, maybe they can't do it, but
they believe it anyhow, because God said so.
E-23 Abraham when he was told he was
going to have a baby by Sarah... She was sixty-five years old then, and
he was seventy-five. What a ridiculous sight, an old man sixty-five or
seventy-five, and a woman sixty-five going downtown buying up all the
pins and the Birdeye: "Going to have a baby."
Well, what do you think the doctor would've thought. He'd said, "Sir, we
want to make arrangements for the baby. Ever had one before?"
"No."
"How old are you, Sarah?"
"Sixty-five."
"What? How old are you, Abraham?"
"Seventy-five."
"What you doing with all those little booties and things?"
"We're going to have a baby."
"Oh, I can scientifically prove to you she's twenty years a past menopause. Why, you're ignorant."
E-24 But Abraham called those things
which were not, as though they were, because God said so. And as the
years went by, he got stronger. The first thirty days Abraham said,
"Sarah, how you feeling, honey?"
"No different."
"Bless God, we'll have it anyhow." That's right.
The first year passed. "Sarah, how you feeling, honey."
"No different."
"Praise God, we'll have it anyhow."
Twenty years passed. "How you feeling, Sarah?"
"No different."
"Praise God, we'll have it anyhow."
E-25 Why? God said so. It wasn't in his
head; it was in his heart. God don't speak in the head; He speaks in the
heart. That's where God lives. If God's on the throne, He stirs you. He
makes you go where--and see the things that He wants you to see. And
you turn your eyes from things that Devil talks about. You stay right
with God. Oh, how...
And we being Abraham's children... The Bible said that we being dead in
Christ take on Abraham seed, and we're heirs according to the promise.
And we can't believe God for twenty-five minutes. And Abraham believed
Him for twenty-five years, and then had to take the child up to kill it
to confirm the oath again.
And then we're the children of Abraham. I wonder sometimes. If we were
the children of Abraham, we'd have Abraham's faith in God. And we'd call
the things contrary to God's Word as though they were already happened
if we were the children of Abraham.
E-26 Now, I know that this is rude,
friends, but it's truth. Now, we notice then God takes the heart. He
takes control. Now, when sin came in and upset your heart and--and the
Devil come in and blocked it all off, but then God sent His own Son made
in the likeness of sinful flesh to cleanse that heart, so that He could
come in.
He made a way, appropriation or preparation, come down and appropriated a
way that He could cleanse your heart so that He could come in. He can't
come into your heart with all that sin and unbelief there, with all...
"I'm a Presbyterian. I'm a Pentecostal. I'm a Nazarene. Glory to God.
Hallelujah." I want to be a child of God...?... But as long as you've
got that idea, God can't come in there. You're just a Presbyterian.
You're just a Pentecostal. You're just a Nazarene. But when all them
ideas can get out of there, then God can get in and get a hold, go to
stirring you right. See? God has to come in to be ruler.
We unite under the heads of different denominations. God wants us united
under His head. We unite under our own head. And God wants us to unite
us under His leadership of our heart. What a difference man has made in
it.
Now, you can't stand neutral. I want you to understand that. You cannot stand neutral. You have to have one or the other.
E-27 Sometime ago the great evangelist
Billy Graham, who I believe to be a servant of God, and other great
evangelist... But Billy Graham said in Louisville, Kentucky, at his
breakfast... He picked up the Bible; he said, "This is the standard." He
said, "When Paul went and had one convert, he went back a year later
and he had thirty out of that one." Said, "I can go in the city and have
thirty thousand and come back in a year and not find thirty."
Well, maybe they was Billy Graham's converts, maybe they were William
Branham's converts, if they are they're not going very far. I'll say
that. But if they're God converts, they'll remain forever. I thought,
"Billy, I'd like to say something here."
Billy, Oral, myself, other men, evangelists, pastors, what do we do? Go
out into the field and we preach. And when it is... The man repents of
his sins. He comes up to the altar and says, "God forgive me." And He
does forgive him. Then what happens? The unclean spirit goes out of him.
Then what do they do? They turn him over to some old morgue. I hate to
say that, but that's the truth.
E-28 I always felt sorry for a corpse.
They take them into them old morgues dead, and then they're going to be
sure they stay dead. They put fluid in them to be sure they can't come
back to life.
That's about the way with some of these old, cold, formal churches you
got around here. It's injection of some old manmade doctrine to be sure
that you stay dead...?... That goes for every denomination. Go in there
and indoctrinate them with some kind of an old doctrine. Oh, you say the
doxology, and you repeat the Apostle's prayer or--or creed, and you...
Where is the Apostle's Creed found in the Bible? There's no such a
thing. If the apostles had any creed, it was "repent." I think Peter
spoke the Apostles Creed in Acts 2:38. He said, "Repent, everyone of
you, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise
is unto you, and to your children, to them that are far off, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call." They had a creed; that was it, but
not one of these manmade creeds.
Isn't it strange to see how that the Devil takes his pattern? Here
sometime ago, noticing at the grave of Mohammed, at Mohammed's grave
there's a white horse that stands there. It's been there for two
thousand years. They change the guards about every four hours. What are
they doing? They are expecting Mohammed to raise someday and get on this
white horse and ride the world and conquer it.
E-29 Did you know Jesus is coming on a
white horse? See how close it looked, how the church and all of its
creeds and denominations, how close it can look, just like the real
thing? The Bible said in the last the days the two spirits would be so
close it would deceive the very elect if possible. It isn't communism.
It's churchism. That's right. That's the deceiver.
Notice, communism, Russia. Russia wants to unite all of the world in
one, 'cause they've got a oneness desire in their heart. But they want
to unite them all under communism. That's their idea. See, that's man's
made. Well, the U.N. wants to unite them too, all under the U.N. To
what? Unite them together in a military power.
Man is not surviving by military power. Man survives by the power of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by military power, by
sputniks and so forth. We survive and live by the power of Jesus Christ.
But see how they... Notice, how they do it? Look here at Nimrod. He
wanted to unite the people under one and build a tower. What was it type
of? Jacob's ladder from earth to glory.
E-30 What about the Catholic? They want
to unite the whole world under one: Catholicism. What about the
Protestant? He wants to unite them all under one, under the federation
of churches, just as wrong and black as the Catholics are. It's the same
old lying Devil. It's true. That's a fatal mistake.
What do they want? They want them all to be a--a federation of churches,
"We're all under one head, as long as I can be ruler." Catholics want
them all under one head, pope to be the ruler. Russia wants them all
under one head so communism can be the ruler. U.N. wants them all under
one head, so we the United States can kind of be the boss because we're
the biggest nation.
It's all the same Devil, and every nation in the world is controlled by
the Devil; so the Bible says. Here we have no continuing city, but we
seek one to come.
I stood up over the grounds of the pharaohs and the caesars and have to
dig twenty feet down to find their, where their thrones set. Every
earthly throne will fall; every nation will fall; every building will
crumble; every manmade creed will die; but Christ will remain forever
and forever.
Why unite under something like that? It's lost to begin with. But all of them wants united under that.
E-31 Now, you can't stand neutral. You just can't do it. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks in dry places.
The man goes down and gets saved. He's taken back to a church. Well, now
to be sure that he doesn't get straying away under some other church,
they indoctrinate him. "Now, if you're going to be in this church,
you've got to follow our creeds. You've got to keep all this other stuff
out of your mind." Don't tell me. I know.
"You got to follow our denomination. You must be baptized by, pour a
little water on top your head or--or some way." Some of them baptize
three times, face forward, sometimes three times backward. What
difference does it make anyhow? But you fall out and fuss about it.
Shows it's manmade. It's got to fall. For every plant that my heavenly
Father hasn't planted, will be rooted up. It's got to be.
"But upon this rock..." What rock? The spiritual revelation of Jesus
Christ. "Upon this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell
can't prevail against it."
E-32 The Catholics says it was Peter.
The Protestants says it was Christ. But Jesus said, "Upon the... Flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven
has revealed this to you..." a spiritual revelation of the Lord Jesus,
"Upon this rock I'll build My church."
Not because some man told you. "Flesh and blood has not revealed it to
you." Not because you learned it in a communion, not because you learnt
it eating kosher bread, not because you learned it in a bunch of creeds,
but because the Holy Ghost has revealed it to you. "Upon this rock I'll
build My church, and all the gates of hell can't prevail against it."
Showed they would be against it, but they'll never prevail.
Now, as we go on... The unclean spirit, then what does he do? He goes
over and he gets into this person and he begins to tell him this. And
you know what he does? It's just like what Jesus said, "You compass the
seas to make one proselyte." And what is he when you get through with
him? A more twofold child of hell than he was to start with. You can
deal better with a street harlot. You can deal better with a prostitute
on the street or a drunkard in some dive, than you can with some of
these old moss-backed, so-called Christians. That's exactly right.
E-33 They set down there and blow up
like a toad frog eating buckshot, and just carry on awful when they know
no more about God than a Hottentot knows about Egyptian knights. You
know that's the truth. Go down and see the glory of God and somebody get
healed and say, "It's psychology." How can you believe when you've got
nothing to believe with? If God's on your heart's throne, I tell you He
will agree with every word. Knowledge will say, "It can't be done."
Science says, "It can't be done."
"God so loved the world, He give His only begotten Son."
Unbelievers say, "I doubt that."
God says, "Amen."
The Bible said, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever."
The Holy Spirit say, "Amen."
The church creed will say, "I... Well, He is in so much He is." "I'm the Lord heals all thy diseases."
"Well, He used to."
But the Holy Spirit on the heart will say "Amen" to every word of God, 'cause He wrote it. He is the Writer; He's the Author.
But the unbelieving, scientific, polished scholar with D.D.D., Ph.D.,
double L.D. all that kind of nonsense, they'll disagree with it because
they don't know no different.
Like the old colored man was down in the south, he kept singing. And his boss said, "Sambo," said, "what makes you so happy?"
He said, "I got heartfelt religion."
Oh, he said, "There is no such a thing as heartfelt religion."
He said, "Boss, you made one mistake."
Said, "What was that?"
"You should've said there's no such a thing as heartfelt religion as far as you know." But he knowed different.
E-34 That's the way it is with the true
borned again experience of God. Man says there's no such a thing as the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. It shows he hasn't got It. He trusts his
creeds. We trust what God said.
Now, what happens? You can't stand neutral. You've got to be filled with
something to survive. Notice, you might be filled with one thing over
another. You say, "Brother Branham, I'm kind of on the fence." No,
you're not. The Bible plainly says that all that was not sealed with the
Holy Ghost received the mark of the beast. All that didn't have the
seal of God in their forehead, had the mark of the beast. You've got one
of it now.
I'd like to test it just a little bit and see where we're standing. Oh,
the mark of the beast, remember, is a religious mark. Certainly it is.
And you might be filled with religion. You could have all kinds of
religion. That doesn't save you at all. You can just be a religious
fanatic, if you want to be. Touch not, taste not, handle not, smell not.
That don't have one thing to do with the Holy Ghost.
E-35 You might be filled with a bunch of
malice. You might be filled with a bunch of prejudice, so full that you
can't even set and hear one sermon preached. You might be filled with a
lot of hatred. You despise everybody that don't agree with you. You
might be filled with a lot of nonsense too. You might be filled with a
lot of Arthur Godfrey's dirty jokes, so much that you think, too
much--so much of that, you won't go to church on Wednesday night or
something.
You might be filled with Elvis Presley's rock-and-roll. That's true. But
you're filled with something. And your own life bears you record of
what you're filled with. "By their fruits you shall know them." You're
filled with something. You might be filled with a bunch of laziness,
just too lazy to do anything about it.
E-36 Well, you don't have to be that
way. Christ died that you might be cleansed from all of those things.
You might be filled with a bunch of creeds. You might be filled with a
bunch of denominations. But God don't want you filled with that. God
made a place in there to put Himself in. God wants you to be filled with
Himself.
What takes place when you're filled with God? When you're filled with
God, you're filled with the Holy Ghost, you're filled with power, you're
filled with love, with joy, with peace, with longsuffering, with
goodness, with meekness, with gentleness, with worship. You're filled
with joy.
David said, "My cup runneth over." And if David had a cup running over before the Holy Ghost come, what would it be now?
You're filled with something. And when you're filled with man's ideas,
if you're filled with churchanity, if you're filled with creeds, you're
only building yourself a Babylon that's got to fall. If you fill
yourself up with a modern world, if you fill yourself up with lust, if
you fill yourself up with pride, if you fill yourself up with your
denomination, you're lost. There's only one way to endure; that is to
put the original thing that God made that compartment in your heart to
be filled with, and that was the Holy Ghost. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
E-37 The disciples said one day, said, "Will You at this time restore the Kingdom?"
He said, "It is not for you to know the hour the Father has put in His
own mind. But you shall be filled with the Holy Ghost then you will be
(not until then), then you'll be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judaea,
in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world."
E-38 My loving friends, may I say this
to you tonight? God wants us one, but He wants us one, not under the
foolishness of man-head, but He wants us one united under the holy
Godhead. United as one person, one man, one woman, one church, one
people, one view, one purpose, one motive, one objective, that's Jesus
Christ. One thing, to serve Him, one love, the love of God, one
brotherhood, brotherhood of man, one fellowship of the Holy Ghost, then
we're united.
That's where God is building this day, regardless of what the Devil
does. He's building a tower, and that tower is made out of the united
people, made out of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostal,
Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness. It's made out of all the born again people
that's got the baptism of the Holy Ghost in their heart, filling that
little apartment, and looking straight to God for deliverance.
E-39 We're united then as one. We won't fuss no more then. We won't argue no more. We'll act like man. We'll dress like man. We'll dress like women. Sons and daughters of God, our character, our conduct, our faith will prove. When God says anything we'll say amen to it. If the Bible says for us to do certain things we'll do it. We won't argue back; we'll just go and do it. That's what God wants us united under. Oh, how we ought to act in this present day.
E-40 Here sometime ago, down in the
southlands, they used to have the slavery for the colored folks. And the
Afrikaans, the Boers that went down into Africa, bought those slaves,
or captured them, and brought over here and sold them to the southern
people for slaves. And they just sold them like you would a automobile.
It never was right. And they--they sold them down there for slaves. And
they were sad. They'd have to whip them and make them work because they
were sad.
They'd go around and--brokers, and would buy a--a human being just like
you'd go to a used car lot to buy you a used car. Oh, it was wrong. And
when he would buy them, buy four or five here for a certain price and
take them and sell them to another man for a certain certain price...
Buy the great, husky, healthy, breed them big men to bigger women to
make bigger, huskier slaves, like animals...
One day a certain broker come by an old plantation, and he said, "I would like to know how many slaves you have for sale."
He said, "Oh, perhaps, maybe a few."
Said, "May I look them over."
Said, "You may."
E-41 And he went out on the plantation,
and he begin to look around. And he found them out there hollering at
them, scolding them because they were sad. They'd never go back home no
more. Mama was over there; Daddy was over there; maybe baby was over
there, husband over there. They'd never see them no more. They were here
for slaves; they'd die in the soil and bury here. They were sad.
But this slave buyer happened to notice one young man. They didn't have
to whip him. He had his chest out and his chin up, just everything just
at the moment. And the slave buyer said to the owner; he said, "I'd like
to buy that slave."
Oh, he said, "But he's not for sale."
He said, "He's so much different from the other."
Said, "I know it."
Said, "Just--just set your price, what you want for him."
He said, "I told you, he's not for sale."
He said, "Is he the boss over the rest of them?"
Said, "No, he's just a slave."
He said, "Do you feed him a little different from the rest of them?"
Said, "No, they all eat out at the galley together."
Oh, he said, "What makes this man so much different from the other slaves?"
He said, "You know what?" He said, "I wondered about that one time
myself till I found out." Said, "I found out that over in the homeland
in Africa, his father was a king of the tribe." And said, "Though he's
an alien and he's away from home, but he still knows in his heart that
he's a king's son. And he conducts himself like a king's son."
E-42 What ought we to do? How should we
act? How should we conduct ourselves? As sons and daughters of the King,
we should dress, act, live, talk, testify like sons and daughters of
God. Though we're an aliens, we're in a strange land amongst the dying
world, but yet we're sons and daughters of the King, Jehovah God. We
ought to agree with His Word. We ought to say "Amen" to His Spirit. We
ought to unite ourselves together as brethren and as sisters and conduct
ourselves as king's sons and daughters.
Oh, my. This is kinda hard for a Baptist. But I feel real religious
right now. I believe I could almost shout. You don't think they shout,
you ought to get around me sometime. Oh, I feel good, for I know the
Spirit of the living God is here. I just seen something happen to set my
soul afire. Oh, blessed be His Name.
God will have a Church...?... It's not far down the road. We will be
one. Our purpose will be one. Like the great temple when it went
together, there wasn't a buzz of the saw or a sound of a hammer for
forty years.
E-43 God's cutting them out of the
Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, all funny looking blocks, but one of
these days the Holy Ghost will come, that rejected Cornerstone and the
building will go together without a murmur one of these days. Just
exactly.
The Stone that's been rejected is the Chief Cornerstone. You builders of
these denominations, remember that. The rejected Stone is the Chief
Cornerstone. He's here tonight. I believe Him.
E-44 Oh, how wonderful. How glorious. I
know that He's present. Oh, I wished you felt like I do. I know you
think I'm... I may look silly, but I'm not. I may... You may think that I
don't know where I am, but I do. Oh, it is the Spirit of the living
God. I just can't preach no more. There's just something, the joybells
of glory has just set in on me. I never had it to happen like that.
There's just something...
I know there's coming a time. There's coming something that's going to
take place. I see it in the near future, the Spirit of the living God
falling fresh on His Church, there's going to be something take place. I
hear a sound in the mulberry bushes.
E-45 Something just spoke to my heart
and said, "Fear not, preacher. They'll be one one of these days. They'll
believe." It may take persecution and things to drive us together, but
God will drive His Church together just as certain as I'm standing in
this pulpit, under one, that's Christ. Christ will be the Head. No
denomination will be the head. Christ will be the Head of every
believer. Hallelujah.
Don't get scared at hallelujah. "Hallelujah" means "Praise our God." He's worthy of every praise that we can give Him. Yes, sir.
Here sometime ago, I was preaching, and a lady walked up to me and she
said, "Brother Branham..." She belonged to a certain religious cult. And
she said, "There's just one thing about your preaching that I don't
like."
Oh, I said, "There's a whole lot I guess, lady."
She said, "But just one thing, you brag too much on Jesus."
Oh, I said, "Lady, I can't brag enough. If I had ten thousand million tongues, I couldn't praise Him enough. He's so real."
She said, "But you try to make Him Divine."
I said, "He is Divine."
She said, "He was just a prophet."
I said, "If He was a prophet, He's the world's greatest deceiver. But He
was more than a prophet. He was the God of the prophets."
E-46 She said, "You try to make Him Divine." Said, "You said you were a fundamental."
I said, "I am."
She said, "If I prove to you by the Bible that He was just a man, will you accept it?"
I said, "If the Bible said so."
She said, "Saint John 11..." She said, "The Bible said that when Jesus
went down to the grave of Lazarus, the Bible said He wept."
I said, "Is that your Scripture?"
She said, "It certainly is. He couldn't be Divine and weep."
I said, "Lady, your argument is thinner than the broth made out of the
shadow of a chicken that starved to death." I said, "That has no--no
water with God."
E-47 I said, "You fail to see when He
went down to the grave of Lazarus, He wept. That was a man weeping, but
when He pulled them little shoulders together, said, 'Lazarus, come
forth,' and a man that'd been dead four days... Corruption knew its
Master, and a spirit knew its Maker. And a man had been dead four days
stood on his feet. That was more than a man. That was God speaking
through a Man. He was both God and man." It's true.
When He come down off the mountain that night, hungry, looking around on
a bush to find something to eat, that was a man hungry. But when He
took five biscuits and two little fish and fed five thousand, that was
more than a man. Yes, it was.
E-48 He was a man when He was out there on that sea that night, when He'd been so tired and virtue going from Him from healing the sick all day long and visions; He was a man tired, laying there when the waves didn't even wake Him up, when ten thousand devils of the sea swore they'd drown Him while He was asleep. He was a man when He was tired and sleepy, but when He put that foot up on the brail of the boat, looked up and said, "Peace, be still," and the winds and the waves obeyed Him, that was more than a man. Sure He was.
E-49 I want to unite under His power. I
want to unite with you men and women tonight under His power. He did cry
at the cross, "Father, why has Thou forsaken Me?" He died as a man. But
on Easter morning, when He broke the Roman seal and rolled away the
stone, and rose triumphantly He proved He was God. He's thrilled the
hearts. He looked like God. He acts like God. He is God. That's true.
No wonder the poet said, "Living He loved me; dying He saved me; buried
He carried my sins far away; rising He justified freely forever; someday
He's coming. Oh, glorious day!" That's right.
E-50 No wonder, blind Fanny Crosby could
say, "Pass me not, O gentle Saviour. Hear my humble cry; while on
others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Thou the stream of all my
comfort, more than life to me, whom have I on earth beside Thee? Or whom
in Heaven but Thee?" That's right.
"On this rock I'll build My Church. I'll unite my Church together under
the domain of the Holy Ghost, and all the gates of hell can't prevail
against It." Certainly. Amen. That's Who I want united under, under the
power and the leadership of the Holy Ghost to witness to every Word of
God, that It's true. Amen.
I believe that God could electrify this people in here just now to a
healing service like you have never seen before if we just believe it. I
believe that His Presence is here. The King, there's a shout of the
King.
E-51 Many of you denominational
preachers look down upon this bunch that scream and shout, and you got
the same idea that Balaam had. They've done wrong; that's right. So have
you, but you got a way of hiding yours. That's right.
You say, "Oh, that Pentecostal preacher run away with another man's
wife." So did that Baptist and that Presbyterian. But the papers keeps
yours still. Some man's sins goes on before him, you know, some follow.
Give me the united power of the Holy Ghost and take all the rest of it
away.
I'll agree with Eddie Perronett when he said, "All hail the power of
Jesus' Name! Let angels prostrate fall; bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown Him Lord of all." Amen. Certainly. That's it.
E-52 That's it, brethren: united under
one head, God, one leadership, Holy Ghost, one purpose, the Kingdom of
God. That's Him. Oh, how glorious. How I'd love to see Him. His great
powers are in here now. I'm not going to even call a prayer line. God
will call you from this platform. I believe that the King is in this
camp.
Balaam looked at the morals. He failed to see that brass serpent and
that smitten rock. That's what's the matter with the churches today.
They're stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears. They fail to see
that Holy Spirit going ahead of the Church. Where God is, supernatural
signs take place.
Christ, the Head of the Church wants to unite us together tonight as one
heart, one purpose. All you Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian,
Pentecostal, we ought to unite together as one heart and one person,
under one King, God, one domain, heaven. All the Church of the living
God, Presbyterian, Mennonite, all that you are, God wants us. He's here;
His Spirit is here. May He prove to you tonight that I've told you the
truth.
E-53 How many people here is sick, raise
your hand. All right, believe. Just believe. Believe that the King is
in the camp. Believe that the nail scarred Christ, His Spirit is in the
camp. Let Him come into that little apartment of yours that He wants to
come into. Let Him come in and say, "I'm the King. Don't pay no
attention what the bishop says. I'm the King. I'm the King. You believe
My Word. I'm the same King that walked in Galilee."
"Art Thou the King of the Jew?"
He said, "You said so."
E-54 Believe now, all you that's sick.
Let's start over on this side. Some of you sick people over here, you
believe God? You believe that Jesus has raised from the dead? Have faith
now; believe.
What about this little lady setting here with her head down on the end
of the row? Do you have a prayer card, lady? You don't? You believe God?
You believe He's the King? You believe I represent Him as a servant
like these other men do, these preachers and so forth?
E-55 I'm not a preacher, as a preacher
would be, a educated man. But I do know what I'm talking about. I only
got a seventh grade education, but I read all the seventh grade books.
See? I might not know His Book too well, but I know the Author real
well. That's the main thing. If I know the Author, He will reveal His
Book.
You don't have a prayer card, you say? You believe God could tell me
what your trouble, if you believe it was the resurrected Jesus? If you
believe that, that female trouble will never bother you no more. You
believe it? You accept it, raise up your hand.
That's your husband back behind you. That's right. You're man and wife. I
don't know you, never seen you. If that's right raise up your hand,
sir. You believe God? You believe what I tell you is the truth? You got a
stomach trouble. If that's right, raise your hands up and wave them,
both of you now, if that is right.
E-56 What is it? The King is in the
camp. Why? He said, "These things that I do, shall you also." What about
over here? Do you believe? Way over in the balconies there, do you
believe some of you? Have faith in God.
What about that man setting there with his shirt collar open, right up
here in the row. You believe, sir? Yes, sir. You had your head back,
praising God. You look like an honorable man to me. I'll see if God will
speak. You be the judge. You are... You're praying for a condition in
your nose. You got growths in your nose. If that's right, raise up your
hand. Am I a stranger to you? Wave your hand. All right. Go on and be
healed now.
What did you think, setting next to him there, mister? I seen you watch
him so close. Then you bowed your head to pray. Am I a stranger to you,
the man next to him? All right. Setting right down here, the second row,
you don't want prayer for yourself. You want prayer for somebody else.
That person's not here. You believe God will tell me who it is?
Would you believe the King was in the camp, that'd be His, the one who
touched His garments. You're touching Something, you know it. You're
praying for your wife. And your wife has high blood pressure. That's
exactly right. If that's right, raise up your hand. All right. Receive
it. Believe it.
E-57 "If thou canst believe, you can
have what you ask for." Oh, how wonderful. All of you in here, wherever
you are, start believing now. The King is in the camp, the Spirit of
God. I can only speak as He shows me, certainly. "If thou canst
believe," Jesus said, "all things are possible."
Now, what did the Bible say? The woman touched His garment. She went and
told others, "Touch His garment." He turned around and found who she
was. He didn't know who she was, but He knowed what her trouble was and
told her she was healed. The Bible said, "He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever." If thou canst believe. If thou canst believe... He
certainly is the great I AM.
E-58 There's a little man scratching his
ear there, looking at me. What do you think, sir? Do you believe? You
believe me to be His servant? The Light's hanging over you, sir. If God
will reveal to me what's your trouble, will you believe me to be His
servant? Stand up on your feet. You...
All right, you won't be hard of hearing if you'll listen just a minute.
Not only are you hard of hearing... Now, you hear me? You got asthma
also, don't you, coughing (Uh-huh.), makes your heart flutter. You're
not from this city. You're not from here. You're not from this city.
You're from another city. That's right. You believe that God will make
you well? You believe that God will heal you? Come here.
E-59 Bow your heads. Eternal and blessed
God, we don't ask for miracles. We ask for mercy. Give unto this man
mercy. Take the enemy away from him. Take the deaf spirit out of him so
that he can hear for the glory of God, in the Name of Jesus. Every head
bowed.
How long you been that way? You believe that God can heal and make you
well? He's already done it. I'm just barely talking. Now, now, you're
all right. Now, I want you to go back to Franklin, Ohio, where you come
from, and Mr. Wesley Miller, that's who you are, from Franklin, Ohio,
you return back. You've got your hearing; you're well. Your asthma's
gone. Go, rejoice now and be happy. God bless you. He can hear a
whisper.
E-60 Oh, how great... What'd you think,
sitting there by him? Do you believe with all your heart? Yes, you have a
kidney trouble, and also a heart trouble. You're also from Franklin.
All right, Mrs. Baker, rise up to your feet and be well, in the Name of
the Lord Jesus.
If thou canst believe, all things are possible. Do you believe? Have
faith in God. He's here. He's marvelous. He's great. He's powerful.
I see a lady setting on the end with her handkerchief up, looking this
way. There's the Light over the woman. Do you believe, lady? Am I a
stranger to you? You got gall bladder trouble. That's right. You're not
from this city either. You're from a place called Hamilton, Ohio. Your
name is Mrs. Henderson. If that's right, stand on your feet. Now, go
back home and be well, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Have faith in God. What did you think, the little lady setting behind
her, rubbing your nose with a handkerchief, weeping? Do you believe God?
You do? You touched something then. Have you got a prayer card? No. You
don't need one. Do you believe that intestinal trouble you've been
suffering with has left you? If you do wave your hand back and forth.
All right, then you can go and be well.
I challenge you to believe it. Hallelujah. If thou canst believe...
E-61 What do you think, setting here,
jerked your head just then looking at me, handkerchief in your... You
got a heart trouble, don't you? You're from Lebanon, Ohio. Mary, if you
believe, you can go back and be well. Stand up on your feet, Mary, and
let the people know who you are. All right. God bless you.
Let's say, "Praise be to God," if you believe it.
Here this lady setting right here, you got a nerve trouble, setting
there wiping your eyes. You believe that God will heal you of that
nervousness, little thin looking woman? If thou canst believe, you can
have it.
Put your hand over on the lady setting next to you there, while the Holy
Ghost is close to her there. She's suffering with diabetes. That's
right, lady. Raise up your hand if that's so. Raise up... That's right.
You believe?
E-62 What do you think, setting next to
her too. Do you believe, with all you heart? You've got a liver trouble
and a nervous trouble, the lady with the white looking coat on. Do you
believe that God will heal you now? Raise your hand and you can receive
it. Go home.
Hallelujah. The King is in the camp. King Who? King Jesus.
Way back in the back, several rows back, there sets a little lady
setting about three in, setting next to two, them two colored ladies.
You got sinus, lady. You believe God will make you well?
E-63 The colored lady setting there next
to her has got varicose veins. Do you believe that Jesus Christ will
make you well, colored lady? If you believe it, you can have it. If thou
canst believe.
The colored lady setting next to you there's got stomach trouble, don't
you... Back here, can't you see who I'm talking to, the Light? If you
can believe it, you can have it. I challenge any person in here to
believe it.
E-64 What are we? United under one great Kingship, that's Christ. Christ is here. Oh, my. That little heart that's in you, that little thing that beats down here that's got all kind of superstitions and doubts, all kinds of fears, how many would like to unite that heart to Christ tonight, raise up your hand. Amen. How many wants all the world took out of your heart, all the sin took out of your heart, all the unbelief took out of your heart, and you want to take all the denomination and creed out of your heart so you can unite to Christ? Thanks be to the living God. Stand on your feet then. Amen.
E-65 Just a minute. I seen something.
Lady, you stood to your feet then. Do you believe me to be God's
prophet? You got trouble in your side, don't you? That's your husband
setting there on that stretcher. Sir, you're going to die laying there.
That's a cancer; it's killing you. Do you believe me to be God's
servant? Would you take my word as God's servant? Pick up your cot, and
go home, and be well in the Name of the Lord Jesus. The Lord, the King
is in the camp. All right.
Jesus Christ... What about the rest of you? What is that got him united?
Under the power of the love of God. Look at him running, and praising,
leaping and praising God. The King is in His glory. Hallelujah. The
rest of you stand to your feet. Give God praise...?...