Questions And Answers On Genesis

Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA

53-0729

1
Now, if anyone's got any questions that they want to hand in, why, just push them right on up, let some child bring them or whatever you want to. Or, maybe, if we get through.... I got about six here on one page, and then here, then we got two over there.
Now, we want to find out.... The reason we do this is to find out what's on the people's mind, what they're thinking about, see. That's what makes a good, strong church. You've got to have the times, just like when you got to comb the cockleburs out, you know, and get all the things out of the way so that you can move steadily. So now, that's the reason we have question night once in a while, is to find out.
2
Now, if there's any questions that.... Now, this time I kind of opened it up, way wide. Now, used to be I'd say, “Now, if anybody ... just anything pertaining to Scripture; answer it ... ask it.” (Thank you, brother.) And I said, “Just anything pertaining to a Scripture, answer it,” see... “we'd answer it.” But tonight I said....
You know, then they turn around, they say, “Brother Bill,” ask me a question, “do you think if So-and-so did a certain-certain thing, is that Christianity?”
Well, that's kind of pushing off on somebody. But I said, “Let them have that tonight.” See, that's all right. So we can just find out if there's any pushing being done.
3
Oh, I really feel good tonight. Mowed grass all afternoon, so I really feel good ... out in the hot sun.
We got a meeting coming up pretty soon now, don't forget. August the twenty-third, at the Stadium in Chicago, till September the fifth. Expect a great time in the Lord there. And it's been advertised everywhere now, and all the different papers is packing it. We expect a great time.
Now, I got one, two, three, four, five, six, I think, on one page here. And it all kind of pertains to the same thing, back in the book of Genesis.
4
Now, first is Genesis 1:26 ... or, 1:26 to 28, is where the person asked what it would be ... I mean, asked the question. Pardon me. And we want to read that first. Now, they've got it wrote out here. If you want to follow it right back, it's all right. But, “God created man, male and female created He them,” see. And then on the next he's got Genesis ... or, he or she, one, has got Genesis 2:7: “He formed man out of the dust of the earth.” That's another place. I'll read them all, so we can get them together here so you can see. Now, the first ... the first phase of this is, now said:
5
QUESTION: “God created man, male and female. Created man, male and female.” Now that's, I think, is the first point. Now, in Genesis 2:7, he says, “He formed,” (underscored) “the first He created.” He's got that underscored. “And He formed” (underscored) “man out of the dust, and breathed into his nostrils,” and so forth. Now, “What is the difference, or where is the connection in the above Scripture?”
Now, if you've got it wrote down: Genesis 1:26 to 28, and Genesis 2:7. Now, it's a very touchy thing, and I may not ... I just have my own idea of it, so I'll just give it to you the way that I feel that it is. And if you differ, well, that's just fine.
I want to compliment Brother Neville on the fine answers he give to those questions there. Now, they were fine.
6
Now, in this, Genesis 1:26, God made man in His own image. And if you notice, we will get it so you can read it, and 26.... If you'd like to read along with us, we'd be glad for you to do it, check me up.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, ... over the fowls of the air, ... over the cattle ... of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
7
I've heard that discussed many times, and around the world; discussions come up on that. Now in Genesis 2:7, watch what He did here. All right, here it is:
And ... God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Now, what kind of formation.... The questioner wants to ask:
QUESTION: What connection does this Genesis 1:26 have with Genesis 2:7? God created two men. And which was the man, and what connection does that have? How does it connect up in the Scripture?
Well, now, if you'll notice close now, in Genesis 1:26, let's get the first part first. God said, “Let us.” Now, “let us.” Us is a.... “Let us make man in our own image.” “Our....” 'Course we realize He's talking to someone, He was speaking to another being. “Let us make man in our own image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the cattle of the field.”
If you notice, in creation, the first thing that was created, of course, was light. You come on down through the creation, the last thing was created was what? A man. And woman was made after man. All right, the last thing that was created, of God's creation, is mankind.
But when God made His first man, if you notice, He made Him in the likeness of Himself; He was made in the image of God. And what is God? Now, if we can find out what God is, we can find what kind of a man He made.
8
Now, in St. John, the 4th chapter, you read this: Jesus speaking to the woman in the ... if you'd like to turn to it. Not having much time, I just didn't write them right down, just have to take it by memory. And you look them up now; if I can find it right quick. Now, let's begin about the 4th chapter, and the 14th verse:
And whosoever drinks of this water that I shall give unto him shall never thirst; ... and be wells of water springing up into everlasting life.
The woman said unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I ... come not hither to draw.
Jesus said ... Go, and call thy husband....
The woman answered....
9
I believe we have to get a little above that now, to find out ... find out what I want you to see here. Maybe not, maybe I can find it on down here. [Someone speaks.] What say? 23rd and 24th verse. All right.
Ye worship (That's it.) ... Ye worship and ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (And that's right, see.)
But the hour cometh ... But the hour cometh, and now is, that the true worshippers (Jew or Gentile) shall worship the Father in the spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Now, the next verse is where I want:
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
10
Now, if God created man in His own image and in His own likeness, what kind of a man did He create? A spirit man. Now, if you'll notice, after He had made all the creation and created a spirit man, and close reading of this now (to the one that asked the question) we'll find this, that God gave dominion of the cattle and the fishes and everything to the man. But, in His making up there, He made man in His own image to lead the cattle, lead the beasts of the field, just like the Holy Spirit leads the believer today, see.
In other words, Adam, the first man in the lower creations of God.... The first creation was God Himself; then out of God came the Logos, which was the Son of God; then out of the Logos, which was the Word (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”), out of the Logos came forth the man.
11
Oh, I got a beautiful picture in my mind now, if you could take a little trip with me. I believe I've talked on it before, but to get this to the place where you'll be sure to see it. Now, let's take a little trip and go back for a little while. Now, don't think about how hot it is; let's get our minds right on what we're going to talk about and think now.
Let's go back a hundred million years before there ever was a star, moon, or anything in the world. Now, there was a time when there was nothing here, it was just all forever eternity. And all of ever and eternity was God; He was there in the beginning.
Now, let's go out here on the edge of this banister and look over and see these things happen.
12
Now, “No man has seen the Father at anytime.” No man can see God in the bodily form, because God is not in body form; God is a Spirit, see. All right. “No man has seen the Father, but the only begotten of the Father hath declared Him”—First John, see.
Now, but notice now. There's nothing. There's just space. There's no light, there's no dark, there's no nothing, it just seems nothing. But in there is a great supernatural Being, Jehovah God, who covered all space of all places of all times. He was from everlasting to everlasting, He is the beginning of creation. That's God. Can't see nothing, can't hear nothing, not a move of an atom in the air, not nothing, no air, no nothing, but yet God was there. That was God. Now let's watch for a few minutes, and after a while.... No man has seen that, now. That's the Father. That's God, the Father.
13
Now notice. Then after a while I begin to see a little sacred light begin to form, like a little halo or something. You could only see it by spiritual eyes.
Look now, while we're looking, the whole church now. We're standing on a great big banister, watching what God's doing. We'll get right down to this question here and you'll see how He brings it in.
Now, no one has seen God. And now, the next thing we begin to see, by eyes of supernatural looking, we see a little white Light forming out there. What is that? That was called, by Bible readers, “Logos,” or “the anointed,” or “the anointing,” or, I was going to say, the part of God begin to develop into something so human beings could have some type of an idea what it was. It's a little light, moving. That was the Word of God.
Now, God gave Himself birth to this Son which was before there was even an atom, or air to make an atom. See, Jesus said, “Glorify Me, Father, with the glory that We had before the foundation of the world.” See, way back in yonder.
14
Now, in St. John 1, He said, “In the beginning was the Word, ... and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” God unfolding Himself, down to a human being. Now watch how He did it.
Now, back there, then, when this little halo comes. Now, we can't see nothing yet, but just by eyes of just supernatural we see a halo standing yonder. Now, that's the Son of God, the Logos. Now, I can see Him playing around like a little child, before the Father's door, with all eternity, see. Then in His imaginary makeup He begin to think of what things would be, and I can hear Him say, “Let there be light.”
And when He did, an atom bursted and the sun came into existence. She whirled for hundreds of millions of years, forming clinkers, and burning, and forming like it is today; still burning, still breaking atoms. If the atomic bomb would ever get let loose, the atomic chain would take ... this earth would be like the sun, yonder, just bursting and blowing. If you could stand over on another planet and look off at this, it would look like another sun, where the atoms was burning this earth. If that chain would ever get let loose, it'd just start turning, whirling like that. Millions and millions of miles lick these big flames of billions of Fahrenheit of heat that goes off that sun.
15
Now, watch this now. Beautiful! Now, He made the sun. Then, the first thing you know, a big clinker fell off of it, weighed about ... just about like this earth, went “Phew!” Then this Logos here now, the Son of God, is watching it. He lets it fall for a hundred million years and He stops it. Then another one flies off; He let's it fall for millions of years, then stops it. Now, we're standing, watching it come into existence.
Now, He's got something in His mind, and what's He doing? He's writing His first Bible. The first Bible that man ever looked to was the stars, the zodiac. And it's a perfect.... It dovetailed with this Bible here. It starts off, the first of the zodiac is the virgin. Is that right? The last of the zodiac is what? Leo, the lion. That's the first coming of Jesus, He came through a virgin; the second, He comes as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, see. Drawed it all out, the cancer age, and everything down through. Now, He put that all in the sky and placed it out. All these meteors, pieces of earth ... or, sun, hanging off here.
Now, when science goes to looking at those missiles that fall, that don't disprove God; that just proves it to me. See, that just makes it more real. Now, now notice. All these missiles hanging out there away from that hot sun, and going out through the air; 'course, they've collected. And first thing you know, it began this iceberg.
16
Now, that was this earth come into existence, just a big old piece of cinder flew off out yonder. Down beneath it now is nothing but a turning, burning volcano, completely; the eruptions come everywhere, volcanics. And science claims that this world, the crust on top of it, where we live, is just about like the peeling on an apple. Now, there's twenty-five thousand miles around; it's probably eight thousand miles (that'd be approximately eight thousand miles) thick. And just think of in there, it's a burning volcanic.
And two-thirds of the earth, (better than two-thirds of it), is in water; and one-third of it is in land ... about one-third. And just look at this crust that we're living on, it's full of dangerous explosives, gas, gasoline, oil, everything. Is that right? And two-thirds of it, (better than two-thirds of it), water. What is the formula of water? Two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen: explosives.
There's enough electricity in every room to separate the heat from the cold, and it'll make enough electricity to burst a room. You can put enough atoms in a golf ball to blow New York off the face of the earth. And then men, sitting on a pot of hell, hits hisself in the chest and defies God's Word, and says, “There's no such a place as hell.” (I got that down here in a little bit, and we're going to get to that, see) You're sitting on a big pot of it every day. And while you're here you're sitting right on it; hell's just beneath you.
17
And now, notice, but now when this was first found, when Jesus.... Now watch the little halo yonder. Now I can see it move out to this earth and get over the top of it and begin to move it over here close to the sun. It's nothing but a big ball of ice. And when it begins to get melting, then great big glaciers begin to cut through up in the northlands and come down. And when it did, it cut out Kansas and Texas and all them places there, and went on into the Gulf of Mexico. And the first thing you know, the whole thing was covered with water.
Then, now we get in Genesis 1, we get to the Bible now, out of our picture at the Bible. Genesis 1, “The world was without form, and void; and water was upon the face of the deep.” Is that right? “And the Spirit of God moved upon the water.” Now, He separated the water, brought up the hills and the lands and so forth; dried it off. Vegetation and everything, He made it. And He made the moon. And set its boundaries, of the sea, so it could not pass.
18
He got all those things together, made plants, made all the other things, all the animal life, the birds, the bees, the monkeys, and whatever it was, put them all here on earth. And then He asked this question now. “Let us” (Who? Father and Son) “make man in our own image.”
Now, if a man was made something like that little sacred light yonder, or something like that, it could not be seen (which is a spiritual Being). He manifested or unfolded Himself a little more, to make a trinity of Himself by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And here was God, unfolding Himself now, down into “let us make man,” which was His son, an offspring from Him, “man in our own image.” He was a supernatural being. “And let him have dominion over the cattle of the field,” and so forth.
Now, the man led the man ... led the cattle and everything, just like the Holy Spirit leads a real, true believer today. The voice of God out there ... the voice of man, rather, could speak and call the cattle this way, call the sheep over to this pasture, call the fishes to this water. See, he had dominion, everything obeyed him.
19
Now, but then there was no man to till the soil (Genesis 2), no man to till the soil. “And then God formed man” (Genesis 2:7) “out of the dust of the earth.” Now, He formed man out of the dust of the earth, and put this supernatural Spirit....
Now, he was laying there. I can have many pictures of it. I see Adam standing.... Let's take this way: See him standing like a tree. God had made him. He was dead as he could be; his toes, like the roots, sticking in the ground. And God said, “Let there be,” ... or, breathed the breath of life into him, and he jumped, came to himself. He breathed the breath of life into him, he became a living soul. Now, he begin to move on, move on.
20
And then God taken from his side a piece of him, a rib, and made a woman. Now, where did He get the spirit woman, see? Genesis 1:26: He said, “Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness, created He them (man) male and female.” He made the burly spirit for man; He made the tender, little, delicate, feminish spirit for the woman.
And when you see a woman act like a man, she's just got out of her place, you see, in the beginning, see. All right. She's supposed to.... I think it's a shame that women has lost their dainty, feminish place. It's a disgrace. I tell you, it is. You know, I'm going to say this. Now, I'm not talking about you women here, but, of course, if it hurts, it's yourself. But, look. Let me ask you something. It used to be that women was so feminish till a man would go to talking to them and they'd blush. Huh! What is blushing, anyhow? I haven't seen it in so long I wouldn't even know what it was if some women blushed. They haven't got any of that dignity anymore, all that there fine feminish spirit. They'll wear clothes like a man, cut their hair like a man, smoke like a man, drink like a man, cuss like a man, vote like a man, work like a man, so, become rough, burly. Oh, my! That shows where you've got to. That's exactly.
21
That little lady-like, you don't see her much more; she's a hard person to find. Isn't that right? Yes, that's the truth. So a woman is not supposed to stand up and act like a man, big and burly, because she's dainty. God made her that way. I can prove that by the Scriptures. Yes, sir. That's right.
But, of course, I get off this question, but I don't want to get too many off this question. But, see, there's where He made His first man, was in His own image.
22
And then, God, before there even was a star, knew that this world would be. And He knew that I'd be William Branham preaching the Gospel from the pulpit and you would be John Doe sitting there listening to it, before the world ever began. Hallelujah!
Now, that's where people sometimes—the legalists and Calvinists —get all mixed up, see. They say, “Why was some ordained to be lost?” God's not willing that any should perish. He don't want no one to perish, but yet, being God, He knows there's some that won't accept it, see. See, He had to know the end from the beginning in order to be God. Didn't He?
23
So He knew He was going to have some women, so He just made their spirit right there. The Bible said He did in one ... Genesis 1:26, “He created he him, (man, in a prefigure), male and female.” Amen. See, in a prefigure, He made the woman and the man before they was ever formed out of the dust of the earth.
And then God made the man, not in His own image. This body's not in the image of God; this body's in the image of beasts.
24
(Can I take off my coat? It's getting hot up here. I got a torn shirt on, but you won't notice that. Why, it's only ... Jesse didn't come get the laundry, so.... But, look, we're on a subject here now that means more than a torn shirt in the pulpit. Doesn't it? It means eternal life.)
25
Now, notice. God knew in the beginning that He was going to have men and women, and He knew that the Saviour would be here and He'd have to bring Jesus, and He'd be crucified. And Jesus told the disciples, when He was here on earth, that He knew them even before the foundation of the world, before the world ever come into existence.
And God said, also ... or, Paul speaking, in Galatians, said that He ordained us and called us in Him before the world was ever formed. Think of that! That God.... Anybody would like to hear what the Scripture says about that, raise your hands. It goes right along with the question. Get with me in Galatians, the first chapter. Looky here. I don't mean in Galatians, I mean Ephesians. Listen closely now what God said, Ephesians 1:
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Jesus Christ:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Now, here it is, notice:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, ... (Whew!)
That's pretty good. Isn't it? That's not pretty good, that's real good! Before there was a foundation of the world, God knew Orman Neville and knew that he'd preach the Gospel. Isn't that wonderful? Why, he's a member of the church, and God knew He was going to have that church. And Paul speaking to the church of Ephesus, said, “He has chosen us in Him.” Now, we're all the members of the body of Christ. Is that right? And God, before the world was ever formed, chose you and I in Him before the world was ever formed. Whew! My! Isn't that wonderful?
26
Now, the first man ... now, He made the first man in His image, and we are returning back to that image, (that's right), to our first created image.
When God created me, William Branham, it was before the foundation of the world, He made my being, my spirit. I wasn't conscious of anything as far as I know of, but I was there. Oh, I don't believe you're getting it. But now, just a minute, Jesus told the disciples that He knew them before the foundation of the world, and Paul said here that He chose us in Him before the world began. Now, there was some part of me, Orman Neville, and the rest of you all here, that's in Christ Jesus before the world ever began, And here's to my analysis of that. I think that the people today that are possessed with this Spirit ... or, the spirit, a part of these angelic beings, spirits which rotated off of God, that never fell in the beginning and resisted the devil's lie in Heaven.
27
And two-thirds of the earth is in sin, and more than that, which two-thirds of the angels was kicked out. And those demon spirits come into people and habitate their bodies. See what I mean? They're demons that once ... they once existed and they come into the people and give them a nature. Jesus cast seven of them out of Mary Magdalene: pride, boast (big people, you see), unclean, filthy, vulgarity, emulations, strife. All these things, see.
Them were spirits that was made up back there when God began to make man off there in His own image, create those supernatural beings, those spirits.
28
And then He put man in the dust of the earth, which was the first man, Adam. And that man was made after the image.... This human man here is made after the image of an animal. These human bodies are made in the image of animals.
We got a hand just like a monkey, and got a foot like a bear. Take a little cub bear, strip him down, pull the skin off of him and put up-side of a little baby girl and look at the difference. Brother, you'd sure have to look close. The whole diaphragm, the make-up, is almost the same, the way it's made and the form of it, and everything just exactly. It's in the image of animal life because he was made something on the order of the animal, because that was his duty to lead the animal.
29
And you take the Holy Spirit off of a man, he's lower than the animal, he's worse than the animal. That's a hard thing to say. But you take a man that's unregenerated in his mind, without the Holy Spirit to direct his thoughts, and things like that, he would throw a baby out of a mother's arms and ravish her for beastly lust. That's exactly.
And a woman that's no good.... You take an old mother hog or an old dog, (We've give it all kinds of names), but her morals are just her puppies, and the hog for her piggies, but an ornery no-good account woman is just as ... just filth all the time. That's right. So remember, that without Christ, your morals can drop down to below a dog. That's right.
The dog don't have to wear clothes to cover himself—no other animal. It was man that fell, not the animal life. But, the animal life being under the man (human life), was subject to it, because man was his guide and his supreme leader. And every beast of the field fears a man.
Somebody was asking me, sometime, about hunting, “Are you afraid of it?” Why, every animal that was ever created fears a man, because that's got to be from the beginning back yonder, see. Sure is. You run, and he'll run after you, (that's right), a dog, or anything you want to. All right.
30
But now notice. Now, that man when he come down here.... Now look, here. You say, “Now, what about it now, Brother Branham?”
Now, here you get God in just exactly, and between the oneness and trinity you'll get the thing just exactly right then. Now look! When God dropped ... unfolded Himself, unfolded Himself down till He come down to this man.... Now, man sinned not in his spirit, but in his body: lust, passions. Then when he sinned, he separated himself from his Maker. And then God, the Logos, the very Creator of him, came down and was made in the image of man. Man was made in the image of God, and then was made in the image of beast, and he fell. And God came down in the image of man, in the man Christ Jesus, to suffer pain. God could not suffer pain in the Spirit. How could He suffer physical pain in the Spirit? He couldn't do it. So God unfolded Himself and was made in the image of man, to redeem the man that was lost, see.
And then God suffered in the flesh. I Timothy 3:16, “Without controversy,” that's “argument,” “great is the mystery of godliness. For God was manifested in the flesh, seen of angels, preached on, and believed, and received up to the right hand of the Father.” Is that right? God Himself came down and lived in a human body and suffered temptation. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.” See what love is? The love of God!
31
Now, I think that would get that man, and woman. Now, a woman is.... Let me get this in right good now, so you can see it, see. Woman is subject to her husband. And the Bible said that a man should rule over his wife. But how they've changed that! The woman rules over the man. “Now, you stay home, John! You're not going!” That settles it. “Yes, my dear,” see.
But let me tell you something, mister. You are going to have to answer for your wife, but your wife is never going to have to answer for you. You are the head of the woman, and God is the head of man. Therefore He said, “Let the man cut his hair because of Christ. And let the woman have her hair, for if she cuts her hair she dishonors her husband,” see. See what I mean by what the Scripture says?
32
I had a hot one on that, down the other day at Shreveport. They was talking about the women, and should women wear long hair. And I said, “A woman that bobbed her hair, her husband had a right—and a Bible right—to divorce her.” That's right. That's what the Bible says. That's exactly right. Oh, my! Holy Ghost women sitting there. Just the way they been taught, that's all, see. Yes, that's slipped loosely.
He said, “Now, if they would cut it, if there's something wrong they have to cut their hair,” said, “let them take a razor and shave it all off and make her hair real slick until it comes out again.” That's right. That's what the Scripture said. And it says, “If she cuts her hair, she dishonors her husband.” And a woman that's dishonorable has a legal right to be put away and divorced. But, he can't marry again, now. But he can put her away in divorcement. That's right. That's Scripture. O brother, what we need is some question nights! That's right. That's I Corinthians, the 14th chapter, if you want to read it. All right. Now, this woman....
33
God created man, male and female; you see what He done? He made the man. Now, that's the first question, see: “Created He them,” and so forth: Genesis 1:26. Genesis 2:7: “He formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils.”
QUESTION: What is the difference, or where is this connection in the above Scripture? What connection does the first man have with the second man?
The first man is the second man made manifest in five senses, see. Now you can't touch God with your hands like that; you can't see God with your eyes. He didn't give it to you to do that.
34
Did you ever hear an old saint dying, when they say, “There's mother. I haven't seen her for years”? Did you ever hear that when people...? See, what it is, these eyes are fading away and the supernatural eyes are setting in, see. And then sometimes, if God so makes.... We see visions where that natural eye fades away. Right in front of us, when we're looking right straight, and there's a vision before us, showing the supernatural things of God. See what I mean?
So then, look. “When this earthly tabernacle here....” Now, some of you women and men here is getting old. Look. “When this earthly....” I think of old dad there, ninety-two years old. When this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, there is a spiritual man, a spiritual body waiting for us which cannot perish. I'll see you there. I'll walk over....
35
I can't touch Brother Neville up there, because John saw them, they were souls under the altar, crying, “How long, Lord, how long?” You know why; we went through Revelation. And how that in there they desired to return and be clothed upon with mortal bodies. They were crying, “How long, Lord?”
Now, they knew each other, but they couldn't talk, shake hands ... or, I imagine they could talk, but they couldn't shake hands and so forth.
Here's the image to prove it. When the witch of Endor called up the spirit of Samuel, and Saul looked at him, he recognized him to be Samuel. And Samuel recognized Saul and said, “Why did you call me out of my rest, seeing that you've become the enemy of God and God's departed from you?” Is that right? And there stood old Samuel with his prophet's robe on, and he looked at him.
The witch seen him and fell on the ground, said, “I see gods raising up out of the earth.”
He said, “Why did you disturb me?”
He said, “Well, I want to know how the battle's going.”
Said, “Tomorrow you'll die in battle, and your sons would, and by this time tomorrow night you'll be with me,” see. Now, he was conscious, and he looked just like he did when he was here on earth, to that witch that was standing, looking at him, and Saul.
36
Now, notice. Many times.... How about dad or mother when they were dying and saw their loved ones standing there? They recognized them. But it's in the supernatural body.
But now here's the glorious part. On the return of Jesus at the resurrection, it won't be that body. That body then, that supernatural being that God created in the beginning, that will return to the earth to get another body not born by a woman, but created by God (Hallelujah!), to never get old or have a wrinkle, never have a gray hair of your head, but be perfect forever! Hallelujah! O brother, that would make me shout on a hot night! That's right! Oh, this robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise and seize the everlasting prize! What in the world we got to worry about?
37
There's the whole plan laying right there, how God created me in the beginning. I come down here on the earth, taken my place as a Gospel preacher, or you as a man or woman with salvation, when you live the life by the grace of God. Hallelujah! And that same Spirit leaves here that was back yonder in the beginning. I go back to the conscious of knowing I been here, (Hallelujah!) and then wait there under the altar, blessed forever, in rest. And then when returning back, I take up my body in its very peak of best, before death ever struck it.
Death strikes you about twenty-two or twenty-three years old; you start failing. You're not the man you used to be and the woman you used to be, after you get about twenty-five; something set in. Wrinkles begin to come under the eyes. You can't wash like you used to. Thirty, you can notice it a whole lot. Wait till you get up to forty-four, like me, and then you're really noticing it, But, O brother! Wait till I get eighty, ninety, on that cane, sitting there. What is it? God's just putting me in the race to run, but some glorious day.... That's death setting in.
38
I was once straight-shouldered, had black hair (and a head full of it), and no wrinkles under my eyes; look at me now, shrinking down, shoulders stooping, getting fat, and wrinkles under my eyes, bald-headed. Why, look what death's doing to me for about in the last twenty years. Death's doing that. Wait till I get eighty, if God lets me live, and look what I look like, standing like this on an old cane, shaking like that somewhere. But (Hallelujah!) some glorious day, death will take its full toll. Then when I rise in the resurrection, I'll be what I was, what God made me here on earth at my very best, in a body not made by Mrs. Branham and Mr. Branham, but created by God Himself; free from temptation, free from sin, free from anything else, never to have a sickness, heartache. Oh, my!
Then I will take hold of my little wife's hands and walk down through the paradise of God like that, anew. You'll do the same thing. Not with that old gray-headed woman you're leading around tonight, calling your wife, but she will be just as beautiful as she was the day you married her at the altar. Hallelujah! Whew! That's enough to make a fellow shout. Isn't it?
39
All right. That's the connection. God is determined. When God makes up His mind to do anything, it has to be. Satan spoiled this picture by sexual desire, by the woman, to bring forth children. He spoiled this. But go ahead with it, that's all right. This habitation is to pick up these coats. The only thing that you do in this life is pick up your form and image, what you are. If you're red-headed now, you'll be red-headed then. If you're black-headed now, you'll be black-headed then. See, what you was at your best. Satan interrupted the picture. You didn't even get what God intended for you to be—you'll be. Oh, how glorious! There's your man.
40
Now, Genesis 2. (Say, I got to hurry. I'll get them.... You got something you got.... You got them to answer? All right.) Genesis 2:18-21:
QUESTION: God made Eve from Adam's rib (Genesis 2:18-21.) Did God create men and women then ... make Adam and Eve?
QUESTION: And did Cain go to the [unclear word] creation of man and woman for his wife?
Now, the person's probably present who wrote this. Now, when God.... The first question here:
QUESTION: Did God make men and women, of Genesis 2:18-21?
No, but you'll see here, 2:18-21. Now notice:
And the LORD God said, It is not good that ... man should be alone; I will make him an helpmate for him.
And out of the ground the LORD ... formed every beast ... and so forth.
Now, God made Eve from Adam's side. The woman has one more rib today in the anatomy and the make-up than man does, because a rib was taken from Adam's body. Adam had already been made and was living, and was lonesome, and then God said, “It's not good that man should live alone.”
41
So these priests and so forth which are denied the rights of having a wife.... Now, the Roman church can do whatever.... That's them; they're the one that has to answer for that, not me.
Well, I was asked by a man recently, said, “What do you think of priests?” Said, “What do you think about that young priest here in town that took that woman, that girl, a Jeffersonville girl here, and went and married her?” In the Irish church, you remember. I forget what his name was.
I said, “He had just as much right to get married as I have. That's exactly what I think about it.” I said, “The only thing I think he done wrong, he ought to have went to the church and resigned his office and then went and married the girl, instead of just running off like that.”
Now, you remember when it taken place a few weeks ago here in Jeff, the Irish Catholic priest down here. He's a young fellow, and he had some girl sweetheart down here. And when they give him a great big love offering, going to change parishes with him, send him up to Indianapolis somewhere. And he just took the love offering, girl and all, and went off and got married, and never heard from him no more. Well, he had a right to get married, but he didn't have a right to do that. He shouldn't have done that. He should've went to the church and said, “Here, I'm resigning this office as a priest. I'm going to get married, and that settles it.”
42
But, now, God making Adam and Eve at the same time, the only thing He made was the supernatural, the spirit Adam and the spirit Eve, the man and woman. Then when he put Adam in here. It wasn't good for.... See, it's God's picture unfolding all the time, everything like this. It's just coming right down, just unfolding right out, coming out through the Millennium over yonder and right on into eternity. Just God's picture just unfolding, God unfolding Himself.
Here, God manifested Himself in Christ Jesus to show what He was. What was Jesus? A man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, loving. To the prostitute, “Where art thy accusers?”
“I have none, Lord.”
“Neither do I accuse you. Go, sin no more.”
Tired and weary from walking about thirty miles that day, through the desert sands and things; there was a woman of Nain coming out; and her only boy, dead, laying there. He stopped the funeral procession, laid His hands upon him, said, “Rise.” And the boy who was dead rose up again. That's our Lord Jesus. (Thank you, Teddy, son.) And that was our Lord Jesus who was never too tired, never too weary to do anything good. All right.
43
Now, here's another thing:
QUESTION: Did Cain go to the first creation of men and woman for his wife?
Now, there is an awful ticklish question. Now listen real close. Now, oh, you've seen people put in the paper: “Where did Cain get his wife?” Oh, I used to say it.
And I never taught there was a burning hell for about four years after my conversion. I had to see it in the Scripture. If I don't know, I won't say nothing about it, see.
But, now, “Where did Cain get his wife?” That's the analysis of this question. “Now, did Cain go to his wife to the creation of men and women, for his wife?” See? Now, one of the first....
44
This Mrs. DeArk, you all heard about her healing the other night, how God blessed her and everything. She was laying, dying. They came got me at two o'clock in the morning.
And so, now, that's how I come.... Her boy, George ... the boy was a medium; Ed, also. (They were in the store.) And I heard a discussion back there, where the first ... where Cain got his wife. Well, the one that had the floor seemed to be the best of the argument. He said, “I tell you where Cain got his wife.” Said, “Cain went over and married a great big female ape.” And said, “Out of that ape come forth the colored race.” Said, “You notice the colored person's head is kind of peaked like that, like the ape is, in the head.”
Well, I stood there. I was just about two months old in the Gospel. I said, “I don't want to differ with you men, because I'm not a student; I just got saved. But,” I said, “if that be so, then the colored race of people would have ceased to exist when the antediluvian destruction, when the world was destroyed with water, for Noah and his family was the only ones that was in the ark. That was the only ones that was in the ark. The colored race would have ceased to exist,” I said, “if that would be so.” I said, “No, sir! The colored race never come from there. No, sir. The colored race is off of the same tree that we're off of, and every human being, the same one.” There's no difference. Exactly. We're just all.... One may be yellow, and the other one brown, the other one black, and the other one white, and the other one pale, and the other one red, and just like that, but you're all from that same tree. That's just the physical part out here. That's right. You're human beings just the same, created here by God.
45
And now, notice. Here not long ago, standing over here and some doctors in Louisville, I was talking about in Africa how those poor people, the cannibal type, especially, how they had a woman there, took a little baby.... They had found a little baby, and she'd beat it like that and tied it up to a bush and let it rot for a few days, you know, till it become contaminated before they eat it, you know. Anything like that, they let it rot a little while, gets soft.
Don't think that's too much about the cannibal. In England they do the same thing: They kill pheasants and hang them in the trees, so once the feathers will drop out of them, then they eat them. That's the mother race of the Anglo-Saxon people in England. That's right. Don't think.... You don't have to go to England, just go down here in the southern states, you'll find the same thing. Certainly. Any man could eat a snail or a rattlesnake can eat anything else.
46
Now notice. Let me tell you. But, here's what happened. The colored race has nothing to do with this. Cain....
Now, I want you to watch. They said, “He went to the land of Nod.” Now, Cain was in Eden. And Eden, the Garden of Eden, laid east of Eden. Is that right? The Garden of Eden was east in Eden, the east side of Eden. And the Cherubim was placed, and the Tree of Life was at the east gate of the Garden. And there's where I think Cain and Abel made their sacrifice. And there's where the Cherubim with the flaming sword wouldn't let them come in anymore: east of the gate!
Did you notice, Jesus will come from the east. The light rises from the east. Everything coming.... Civilization started in the east and traveling west, until it revolves around and catches itself again. We are the Western Hemisphere. That's the Eastern. The Eastern is the oldest civilization. China's the oldest civilization known of, by historians, in the world today. East!
47
Oh, how we could dwell on these questions for hours, on one, but it wouldn't just the others. But notice. Here's.... How many would like to know what we believe that Cain ... who Cain's wife was? Let's see. All right. I tell you what Cain done, and it's the only sensible answer you can figure: Cain married his own sister. He had to, for there was only one female on the earth then; the Bible only gives record of three being born, Ham, Shem ... or not ... (I beg your pardon), was Cain, Abel, and Seth. But if there wasn't any.... The Bible seldom records a girl's birth. You know that.
48
Now, I'm sure picking on the women tonight. But, look. The world worships women, but women was the devil's instrument in the beginning. And an unjust one today is the best instrument he's got. She will send more preachers to hell than all the bootleg joints there is in the world. Let a little flapper with a cigarette in the corner of her mouth, her hair all cuticured up like that, and great big long eyelashes that blink up-and-down, brother, a little ... kind of nice-looking physique on her, watch what she'll do.
Preacher, you better cover yourself up with the blood of Jesus Christ. That's right. Now, don't tell me! You're men! I've seen too much of it. Now, watch here. The best thing to do is keep your mind centered on Jesus Christ and let your thoughts be pure.
49
Like Paul said over there, said, “We know that we have the power to lead a sister. I have power to do it, but” said “I won't do it.” See, he wouldn't do it. He said, “I know that the ministry should live by their.... Not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.”
You know, we sometimes think, because we're preachers (Not you and I, I don't say, brother), but preachers think because they're preachers that they're somebody bigger than one of the lay members of the church. You're no bigger and you're no more in the sight of God than that drunkard that was converted an hour ago.
That's one thing the reformation never purged, was these things. I know I sign my name “Reverend.” That's exactly right. That's just a custom thing of the day, but it shouldn't be done. “Reverend” and “Bishop” and “Doctor” and all those things are man-made titles, and they're nonsense! In the Bible they were “Peter,” “James,” “Paul,” “John,” and all the rest of them.
50
Paul said, “Now, here, I know I preach the Gospel; that's my duty.” I'm a preacher, he's a preacher, Brother Neville's a preacher, but.... That's our duty, to be a preacher. Well, that's just what we're supposed to do. “But let me do something,” Paul said, “that's beyond that.” “Now, I've got a right to take up money,” Paul said, “but I'm going to make tents just to show you; like a sacrifice.” He said, “It's honorable, marriage is honorable among all, the bed's undefiled. It's good for a man to be married.” He said, “I got a right to be married. I could be married. I got a legal right to be married, but I just won't get married. I want to do another sacrifice for the Lord,” see. Then he said, “Every man knows his calling. Let him do as.... Some's eunuchs for the Word of God's sake,” and so forth.
We want to do something beyond our duty. And if you are really born again of the Spirit of God and say, “Well, it's my duty to go to church; I guess I'll have to go.” Oh, my! Why, I want to do more than that; I want to win some souls for Christ. I want to do something. I want to visit the sick or do something for Him. It's my duty to preach funerals, it's my duty to preach the Gospel, it's my duty to pray for the sick. Let me do something else; let me get out and do something where God will honor me by it.
51
Now, back to Cain, [Blank spot on tape.] ... for Eve was the only female that was created by God, and if she didn't have any daughters, when that last female (the only female) died, the human race would've ceased to exist. Is that right? There'd have been no more females. So she had to have daughters. And Cain married his own sister, for he had to; there's no other place for women to come from.
And it was legal and lawful in those days, even for Abraham, and even on down to Isaac. Isaac married his own blood cousin. And Abraham married his own sister, blood sister, (His father's ... was different mothers but the same father; and the germ comes out of the male sex) Sarah, which brought forth the wonderful Isaac. Is that right? There was nobody on the earth then.
That was all in type, showing that the.... Here it is, brother! Isaac ... Rebekah is a type of the church, and Isaac is a type of the Bride... Christ. Is that right? And they must be blood relation! Hallelujah! Amen! Blood relation!
52
So Cain married his sister, and then they went over there into the land of Nod. Now, we get into a deep subject if we went a little farther, and I'm glad you never asked any farther than that, (like, “Where was those giants that was in that land that day?” Josephus and different ones has many arguments on it.). Amen! If I didn't get that right, brother, hand it in again Sunday morning. All right
53
QUESTION: Would you explain Sunday is the first day of the week and Saturday is the seventh day? Christians go to church on Sunday, the first day of the week. Shouldn't they go on Saturday, the seventh day of the week?
Well, now, dear friend, ever who asked that, that's a very good question. It's an old question which is argued among thousands of students today, but could I...? Just let me give my version. You see, that's all I can do. If I'm not right, well, you bear with me; and God forgive me, you see, if I make it wrong.
54
Now, as far as a law.... Now, it's probably a Seventh-day Adventist person sitting here. That was my first study, was Seventh-day Adventist. That's right. Was Seventh-day Adventist, what I studied first. And when they come and told me that the Saturday was the seventh day, brother, that was according to the Jewish calendar. And the Roman calendar didn't fix it up, and Saturday really was to be Sunday. Well, they had me sold on something that I thought was right. And as long as I was reading their literature I was right in for it, a hundred percent. But one day I got a hold of a Bible, and I seen that was different then.
Now, Saturday is the Sabbath day according to the cycle of the week. Now, we don't know. It's been changed, and we've got so many changes you'd never know just which was, see. Now, the Jews claim that we're just about ... it's right now about 1970 something, according to their cycle, their calendar. The Roman calendar takes it 1953. And they had another calendar that takes it somewhere else. But that's what makes it proof of Christianity, it's all based back to the birth of Christ, you see. That's where we take it.
55
Now, but now as a seventh day.... Now, there's a lot of Pentecostal people that's Sabbatarians—keeps the Saturday Sabbath. Now, they say there is no word in the Bible for you to keep Sunday as a day. And I'll say the same thing about the Sabbath in the New Testament, see. Now, Saturday was the Sabbath day that was given to the Jews. Now, it was only given in a space.
Now, this may raise another question to fire back at it. But, notice. When God rested on the seventh day, then the seventh day was not observed, as far as I know into the Scripture, on until nearly fifteen hundred years. And in the wilderness, God gave Israel the seventh day for a sign between ... God.
56
And God rested the seventh day, His memorial rest day. I'm saying that like that on the benefit of this might be a Seventh-day Adventist brother or sister, see. And they have a lovely church. But now, notice. I just differ with them a little bit on this question.
Now, God hallowed the seventh day. Six days was man. Seventh day was God's rest day, which was a type, a type of the Millennium. Now, notice this, how it blends in. Now, when Jesus came to the earth, what crucified Jesus was that He didn't keep the Sabbath day. The only two accusations they had against Jesus was that He broke the Sabbath day, and made Himself God. And He said He was Lord of the Sabbath. He was also God's Sabbath, and He was God. So they had no way of accusing Him.
57
Now, let me just settle this for you to show you what day we're to keep. Now, is there a Scripture? I'll ask this for your benefit:
QUESTION: Is there a Scripture, Brother Branham, telling us and authorizing us to keep Sunday just like the Jews kept Saturday?
No, sir, there is not. Not a Scripture in the Bible, for in the New Testament, for us to keep either Saturday or Sunday. But the reason we keep Sunday, is a memorial of the resurrection.
Now, you would say, “The Roman Catholic did that.” They claim they did it, but if they did, Saint Paul was a Roman Catholic; so was Peter, John, and James, and the rest of them, for they met on the first day of the week for their worship. And, according to historians, the only way they could tell between a Christian Jew and an orthodox Jew (they both went to synagogues), but one went on Saturday (which denied the resurrection of Jesus), and the other one went on Sunday (which believed that Jesus rose from the dead). And that was a mark. And it'll be.... It's a mark yet, and it might come out in being a mark of the beast.
58
Now, I know that our dear Seventh-day Adventist brethren think that that's the seal of God. They said, “They're sealed by keeping the Sabbath.” There's not a Scripture in the Bible says that.
And here's a Scripture in the Bible that says that you're sealed: Ephesians 4:30 says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of your redemption.”—the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Now I'll prove to you that God's seal is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, see. That's the baptism of the Spirit, is the Seal of God. Now, Isaiah 28, he said, “Precept must be upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.”
59
Now watch, dear friends. Now, the people who quit working.... See, men are trying to find something to save himself. There's not a thing you can do about it. You're saved by grace. God does the calling, God does the saving. You just follow the footsteps of God, that's all. That's what's the nature of a man is. They try to quit eating meat, they try to keep Sabbath days, they try to quit doing this. You're not saved by not eating meat. You're not saved by this, that or the other. You're saved by grace! God, by grace, gives you the new eternal life. See what I mean? And eternal life is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
60
Now let me show you. What does the word Sabbath mean? Anybody know, will just raise your hand? Sabbath? [A sister says, “Rest.”] Rest. Exactly. S-a-b-b-a-t-h, Sabbath day, means “r-e-s-t, rest day.” Get your marginal reading in the Bible and look—“Rest” day.“ Now, let's go to Hebrews, the 4th chapter, right quick now. And we'll....
This is my last question right here. And see if Brother Neville has got them there. I know a couple of them is short ones, so we won't keep you too much longer. Now, excuse me till I go.
Now, when you see the word here, rest, then you know that means “Sabbath.”
Now, here's the New Testament. Jesus, in St. Matthew, He begin at the 5th chapter of St. Matthew, and He begin like this: “You have heard them say, them of old time, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'” What was that? The law, commandments. “But I say unto you, that, whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her....” Changed it, didn't He? “You've heard it said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt not kill,' but I say unto you....” Changed it, didn't He? Thought He didn't change the law. All right. He said, “But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause has killed already.” That never was back under the Old Testament; that's New Testament. He just swept it on yonder beyond that, see. He went ahead and give those commandments out, but He missed ... He skipped the fourth one, which is the seventh day. Now in the seventh chapter, where....
61
In the Beatitudes, here's what He said, He said, “You've heard them say, them of old time, 'Thou shalt,' and 'thou shalt not,' and I say unto you different. You've heard them say, 'A tooth for a tooth, and an eye for an eye,' but I say unto you.... You heard them say this, but I say unto you....”
Now, at the end of it all, He left out the fourth commandment. Now, that is, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Now, He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest unto your soul.”
62
Now watch. Whosoever commits adultery must be stoned. They had to be right in the act of committing adultery. Is that right? That had to be physical done. “Whosoever kills,” he had to be a murderer.
But Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman....” His soul, spirit, nothing in his body now. His soul's redeemed. It wasn't then; it was a schoolmaster, see, the law was. Now He said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart.” Now He said, “You've heard them say, 'Thou shalt not kill,' but I say, 'Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause has killed already.'”
63
Now He said, in other words, about the Sabbath, He said:
Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest unto your souls—Sabbath unto your souls. (Not to the physical body; to your soul.)
Now, listen at Paul now. If you can just.... I know it's hot and everything, it's hot up here, too. But, now, let's get this close now so we'll be sure to settle it. Now, Paul, writing to the Hebrews.... Who was the Hebrews? Speak up. The Jews. Is that right? Now, them was the law-keepers, the Sabbath-keepers. Is that right? Is that right, brother preacher? They were Sabbath-keepers, they were the law-keepers. All right.
Now, Paul is bringing the Jews, by shadows and type, showing what the law typed: “The law having a shadow of the good things to come.” And he goes ahead and gives it, there in one place, as the moon and the sun. As the moon is just a shadow of the sun shining on some other country or some other world, and it's reflecting back here. Now, but now, it could not ... Hebrews 9.
64
Now, notice now in Hebrews 4, he comes to the sabbath proposition. Now look:
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us to enter into his rest,...
Now, Paul speaking to sabbath-keepers now, the people that kept the Sabbath day. “Let us fear, lest, a promise being left us about a sabbath day,” in other words. Or if you'll notice your marginal reading, or the “keeping of the sabbath.” It's “j” in mine, the Scofield Bible, or the “keeping of the sabbath,” see. All right.
Let us ... fear, lest, a promise being left us ... to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them (back under the law): but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith to them that heard it.
Now, that's back under the law. They didn't have faith, because there's nothing to base it on, see. All right.
For we which have believed do enter into his rest, as he said,...
Now, “His” rest. Now, “His.” It's Christ's rest. All right, His rest, His “sabbath.” And every time I use “His rest” is wrote there, I'm going to use “His sabbath” so you'll understand about keeping of a day, see.
For we which have believed do enter into his (sabbath) rest, as he said, ... I have sworn in my wrath, (the believers) they shall enter into my rest: although (Now, watch Paul's going after God's sanctified day) ... although the works was finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day for a rest, (or a sabbath ...) (Is that right? I'm going to lay that there, see.) For he spake in a certain place (in the law) of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest on the seventh day from all his works.
65
There's your seventh day. Now, Paul would admit that. God give it to them; there was the seventh day. And God did rest the seventh day, He blessed the sabbath day, He hallowed it, He sanctified it, and made it a day of rest. God did do it, from all His works.
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest (Jesus speaking).
Now, there's another sabbath somewhere. Where is it? Now, remember this here, “God's rest,” that seventh day. Paul said, “They had that in a certain place.” But now again he said, “If they shall enter into My rest,” speaking of Jesus in Matthew. All right.
Seeing that it remains that some must enter in, and to them to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Now listen close! Everybody listening, say “Amen!” Listen:
Again, he limiteth a certain day,...
He limited a day here. What was it? Everybody say it at once. The Sabbath! Is that right? He limited the seventh day of the week as a Sabbath in this place.
And again, he limited a certain day, saying in David (in the Psalms), To day, after so long a time; (till Jesus comes, you see, the first time) ... it is said, To day if ye ... hear his voice, harden not your heart. (There's another rest coming; not a physical—a spiritual.)
66
Now, watch. Oh, you say, “Why don't we have the seventh day, too?” Now, hold it just a minute. Let's read the next verse, see; don't get it too fast. All right:
For if Jesus had have given them ... For if Jesus had have given them rest (rest day), then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
When He changed the law, from the law to the grace, wouldn't He have given them a day to rest, a rest day, a certain day? But He never said nothing about the Sabbath. He never said nothing about Sunday, He never said nothing about Saturday. But here's what He did say, Paul said. Now watch, “There....”—the 9th verse:
There remaineth therefore a sabbath to the people of God. (That's today!) There remains ... a sabbath to the people of God.
For he (you or I) who has entered into his rest (Jesus' rest, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest”), he (you and I) ... hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his at the beginning. (Amen! There's your sabbath. Is that right?)
Let us labour ... (said Paul) to enter into that rest, lest any man should fall after the same example of unbelief (of days and so forth, see).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul ... and ... a discerner of the ... of the ... (let's see) of the spirit, and of the ... (just a minute) dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and to the joints and the marrow, and ... a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
Neither is there any creature ... is not manifested in his sight: for all things are naked and opened before the eyes of him in whom we have to do.
67
Now, look. God rested the seventh day, created the seventh day, give it to the Jews for a memorial. I'm speaking of Saint Paul now, see. Hear it. Now, you think he was bringing it? Do you think he had a right? Now, what'd he say in Galatians 1:8? “If an angel from Heaven would come and teach you any other Gospel than that what I have said, let him be unto you accursed.” See, the gospels are plain. Now, watch.
“Well, Brother Branham, now what do I do? Just believe Jesus Christ?” No. That's not the rest.
68
Now, how many would like to know what the Christian rest is, say “Amen.” Now, you can mark it if you want to: Isaiah 28. He said, “Precept must be upon precept,” speaking. “Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, and hold fast to that what's good.” The prophet speaking of the time coming, about rest, sabbath. Read the whole chapter, you see. He's saying, “Times there when the sabbath day will be done away,” and they'll sell shoes on the Saturday the same as they did it on Monday, or whatevermore, you see. Said, “When will this sign be?” Said:
... precept upon precept; ... line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Hold fast to that what's good.
For with stammering lips and with other tongues will I speak to this people.
And this is the sabbath—the rest—that I said that they should enter into. And for all of this they hardened their hearts and wagged their heads and rejected it. Just the same thing they did on Pentecost when the Holy Ghost fell upon the people, and the Holy Ghost was first given to the people back there on the day of Pentecost. That is the rest, the sabbath, to the people of God.
69
So the only reason that we keep Sunday, started by our ancient fathers of the Bible, Saint Paul, John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and all them, they went from house to house, they taken communion on the first day of the week when the disciples come together, and it was called not a Sabbath, but the Lord's day.
John said, on the Isle of Patmos (it had already been officially established in the church), “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.” That's right, see.
And, now, the Lord's day is the day that the Lord arose. Now, you go get the historians, Josephus, Actibus, many of those other ... or, not Actibus, oh, I can't.... Any of the ancient writers, and you'll find out back there. The historians of the church, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, many others, and you'll find out there that the only difference.... Here went a group of Jews. One of them, they called “cannibals”; that was the Christians. They said there was a man that Pontius Pilate killed and the disciples come and stole His body. They got it hid, and every Sunday they go eat a part of it. They was taking communion, you see. They was taking His body, you see. They said they was taking the Lord's body, the communion. And they didn't know what it was, and he said they were cannibals. Said they go eat on the first day of the week; they meet together and eat this man's body.
70
And the only way you could tell whether they were law-keepers and bitterly denied the resurrection, or whether they was Christians and believed the resurrection, one went to church on Saturday and one went to church on Sunday, which was a mark between them.
That's pretty strong, isn't it? All right. Hope that gets it. The Holy Ghost is....
(Now, you got something there, brother? Do you want to get up and answer them? [Brother Neville speaks to Bro. Branham.] Let's see, right here. Oh, yes.
71
QUESTION: Will the Jews still have an opportunity to be saved after the Gentile dispensation comes to a close?
Oh, my, if that ain't a dandy! We ain't got time to go into it real good, but let me tell you. If you'll take my word, I'll show you. If you'll take my word, as I explain it, then you go look it up, see, and then you'll find out, 'cause I imagine.... I can't see the clock, but I imagine it's past.... (What time is it? What? Half past nine. I got to go to the hospital yet, and got to go to New Albany yet. I got to get up at twenty-five minutes after three in the morning. And I haven't been to bed under two or three o'clock any night this week.)
72
Now notice here, quickly now, to get this: Yes, my dear Christian friend, the day of the Gentile is finished, finishing right now. And God will return to the Jews. And let me say to this little church, and I'm praying constantly. And prophecies from different parts of the country are pouring in here concerning this. I believe that the Jew.... Now, keep your coats on just a minute, now.
The Jew has never been able to conceive this one thing of the Christian church. The Jew has told me, many times, “Brother, you can't chop God in three parts and give Him to me.” The Jew has one God, that's Jehovah.
And the Gentile has misconstrued that so much till he's caught it in a way, yet, with knowledge. I believe he has a conception of it, that there is no three gods. There's one God, three manifestations. Three personalities in one Person. And when you can get the message.... I said to Hyman Appleman (Many of you know him).... He said, “Brother Branham, if you take that message to Palestine with the signs and wonders,” said, “there'll be a million Jews receive Jesus Christ as personal Saviour.” See, that's right.
73
Now, here's the message we have here. Jesus was Jehovah enveiled in flesh, come down enveiled. Now, God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) is not like your finger—one—like some people think. The whole thing's just like.... No, God is.... I just unfolded it for you a while ago, see, that there's a trinity in the One.
I'm a trinity in one. I'm soul, body, and spirit, in one person. Is that right? Sure. I'm made up of cells, blood, and nerves, and yet one being, see. Everything you look at is in a trinity, and a trinity in one.
There was a trinity in the ark. The bottom floor, the creeping things; the second floor for the fowls, flying things; and the third floor for Noah and his family. Everything!
In the tabernacle. There was a congregation, the holy place, the Holiest of holies, see.
And there's been three dispensations: the Fatherhood, the Sonship, and the Holy Spirit dispensation. See what I mean? But those three all.... We don't say, “our Gods.” That's heathen, and the Jew knows that. But when you can make it to him that this Jesus is God, Jehovah God, not a second person or a third person. It's the same Person all the time making Himself manifest, see. And then with signs and wonders to prove that Jesus has rose from the dead.
74
And this Doctor Reedhead....
Brother back there, the teacher at the church ... teacher over ... a school teacher, here in the church tonight. And I see him here, I shook hands with his wife and baby back there. He was out there to hear him preach the other night. I think they're here, if they haven't gone, I believe he's a school teacher in Louisville. Anyhow, they were out there to hear him.
It's remarkable, the man come to my house, him and a Jew, a few months ago. And he said, “Brother Branham, I got so many degrees in Bob Jones, out of Wheaton.” All the education that could be piled into him! Said, “I've believed God since I was a boy.” And said, “Still my life is vacant!” He said, “Has the teachers been wrong?”
75
And here is the conception. If some of you was over at the Open Door the other night, when they were preaching, together. He said, “When I got my say-so....” Now, listen, little tabernacle, for your prayers and things that's helped out, listen to this. He told me that before, here at the house.
He come to my house, he said, “Brother Branham,” said, “I've been dumbfounded.” He said, “Is there something greater than this what I have believed and accepted, Christ as my personal Saviour? And I believe that I'm born again of the Spirit, but I have no witness of anything.”
I said, “Brother, as bad as I hate to say it, the teachers has deceived you, your schooling.”
Look, I can say that, I don't believe in thumbing your way to Heaven. “Do you believe this, in the churches?” (Now here, something here....) “The Bible says this, do you believe that?” The devil believes and trembles! It ain't what you believe. Your spirit's got to bear record with His Spirit that you're sons and daughters of God, by being born again and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
76
He said, “Brother Branham, what do you think about Pentecostals?”
And I said, “That's the reason I'm dealing with them. That's the reason I'm fooling with them: They got something that you haven't got.” I said, “With their fanaticism and everything, they got a truth that you know nothing about.” And I was talking to one of the greatest men in America, right then. Yes, sir. He's the president of the Sudan Missions, which is the greatest in all the world, fundamental to the core. He knowed the Scriptures, and the death, burial and resurrection, just preach it like a house on fire. That ain't it. The devil can do that, too. The devil's just as fundamental as he can be.
But, brother, Jesus Christ said, “Except a man be born of the Spirit of God, he will not see the Kingdom of God.”
Not just because you say, “Yes, I believe that. Yeah, I believe that's that way. I believe that. Yes.” That don't do it. It's got to be a actual experience of the new birth. It's got to be something between you and God that you know you've passed from death to life.
77
Said, “Brother Branham, could I receive the Holy Ghost?”
I said, “Just laid hands on Hyman Appleman down there, and he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”
This other Jew commenced to cry, and broke the glass on the little coffee table there, and cried a big puddle on there. Both of them said, “Brother Branham, how do we receive the Holy Ghost?” Scholars! Sharpest, witty! The best there is in the land!
And I said, “The apostolic way of receiving the Holy Ghost is lay hands on them.” That's right.
“Laying on of hands.” Ananias come to lay hands on Paul that he might receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Philip went down and preached down there, and baptized a whole bunch down there in the name of Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost had come on none, because Peter had the keys. And he come down, and he laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Is that right?
78
Paul, in Acts 19, after he had passed over, Apollos, (was Billy Graham type up there), was having a great big revival and a good time. He said, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” to that bunch of Baptists.
They said, “We're John's followers. We know! Apollos is our preacher, he's a converted lawyer, smartest man in the country.”
He said, “But have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?”
He said, “We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
Said, “Then how was you baptized?”
Said, “We been baptized unto John.”
Said, “He baptized unto repentance, saying that you believe on Him to come, on Jesus Christ.” And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And Paul laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost, begin speaking in tongues and magnifying God. That's as plain as I know the Scripture.
79
Now, look, friends! You might be a little difference here in your opinions, because we're mixed up with everything. But let's lay it out, not try to put your interpretation. Say what the Bible says, just read it this way.
I said, “The only thing I know, brothers, is to lay hands on them that's seeking the Holy Ghost.”
He said, “Will you lay hands and ask God to bless us and give us the Holy Ghost?”
I said, “I will.” And we knelt down on the floor, and I prayed and laid hands on them. And about a few weeks after that, both of them received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And when this Doctor Reedhead received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, come through speaking in other tongues. Yes, sir.
80
And your Sudan Missions said, “We have no place for a man that would speak in tongues.”
And he come to me and said, “'Somebody speaking in tongues'?”
“Why, why,” I said, “they have no place for Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ spoke in unknown tongues; and died, speaking in unknown tongues.”
They couldn't accept Paul's teaching. Paul spoke with tongues more than all of them.
One said to me yesterday, said, “I'd rather speak five words with understanding.”
But Paul's teaching said, “Covet prophecy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.” And they are forbidden to speak with tongues!
81
Speaking in tongues is a divine gift of God which belongs in the church just the same today as it was back there in the beginning. That's exactly the truth. Yes, indeedy! That's the Bible teaching. It's a divine gift, and you deny that just the same as you deny the new birth, you deny everything that Jesus taught when you try to cut that out.
Now, you can go wild on that; many of them have. But I'm saying, “That has its place.” It's just like a pair of shoes; when you buy a pair of shoes, the tongues are in them. That's right. When you're into the body of Christ, God has the whole table set. Over here, He has love, He has joy.
If I went to your table and sat down there, and you said, “Preacher, come eat with me,” I believe you love me. And you had beans and potatoes and carrots and fried chicken and pumpkin pie and ice cream, everything sitting there. Why, I believe I'd be just as welcome to the potatoes as I was to the beans. The only thing.... I believe I'd be just as welcome to the chicken as I was to the pie. It's all on the table. And the only thing I have to do is say, “Would you please pass me some pie?” I believe with a good free heart, if you love to me, you'd say, “Certainly, my brother, have a nice big piece of it.” Is that right? If I'd say, “Would you pass me potatoes?” “Why, certainly, my brother, here it is.”
And every redemptive blessing that Jesus Christ died for and purchased in His atonement at Calvary, is sitting on the table; and every believer is sitting before it. Hallelujah! If I need healing, I say, “Father, pass me some healing,” and I pour it out on the plate and eat a big ... Now, if you want to starve to death, go ahead. Yes, sir. And prophecy, speaking in tongues....
82
And then the man wrote in there.... He didn't know that I had spoke with tongues myself. And he's writing his book; you'll find it'll scatter the nations. And besides that, this man has got twenty-five outstanding ministers of Moody Bible Institute seeking the gift of speaking in tongues. The fundamental people's turned up-side-down. The Christian Life this month.... Look at Christian Life magazine this month, on page nineteen, and look at that great doctor of divinity said, “Shall we accept this? Have we lost something?” Hallelujah!
I hear the abundance of rain coming! You people twist it around the corner, but it's come to a place that God's giving the Gentile world a shake with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, pouring it out with all of its fullness and powers and signs and wonders. The reason that Pentecost has been pushed out on the corner and went wild on different things like that, the time wasn't ripe yet. That's the reason they've had all this fanaticism. But that's God's divine promise and God's divine Word, and it has to come to pass, for God's done said so. And I believe just before the ending of the Gentile dispensation that God will pour out on fundamentalists
83
You can read it in Reader's Digest this month, this August issue of it. Go look at it, how the Methodist preacher down in the pulpit there, praying for that man laying there dying on a hospital bed, and the witness of the Holy Ghost come and the man was healed instantly. Hallelujah! Sure. God's got divine healing sitting on the table here! He's got prophecy sitting on the table here! He's got speaking in tongues on the table here! He's got nine spiritual gifts in the body, and you're welcome to every one of them! Hallelujah! Yes, sir. Here we are.
QUESTION: At the close of the Gentile, will the Jews be returned?
Yes, sir. Many Scriptures, sister, brother, ever who it is. Joel, for one: “What the palmerworm left, the caterpillar eat,” and so forth, that tree. And Jesus said Himself how they would be turned away and everything. Oh, the whole Scripture, Daniel and everywhere, speaks of it. Yes. Jesus said, “When you see the fig tree putting forth its buds, know the time is nigh.” I believe this other one deals something with it:
84
QUESTION: Do you believe that the Jews' return to Palestine is a fulfillment of the Bible prophecy? We heard you were going to Palestine. Is that true?
Yes. Yes, sir. Let me tell you something: One of the greatest.... If you want to see what time of year it is, look on the calendar. If you want to see what time of night it is, look at the clock. If you want to see what day we're living in, look where the Jews are. That's God's timepiece.
And look! The very night, the very day, that the angel of the Lord met me, 1946, on May the seventh, at Green's Mill, Indiana, that same day the treaty of peace was signed for the Jews and they were established nation for the first time for twenty-five hundred years. Hallelujah!
And, tonight, the oldest flag in all the world, the six-point star of David, flies over Jerusalem for the first time in twenty-five hundred years, since the carrying away of Babylon. Jesus said, “When you see the fig tree putting forth its buds....” There she is! There He said, “Learn a parable. You say 'summer's nigh.' When you see this, know that the time is at the door.” We're right at the end of time.
85
Look how the abomination of Daniel, and so forth. You know, when Jesus said, “When the great Prince shall come, He will prophesy a thousand and two hundred and threescore days”?—which is three years and six months. And that's exactly what Jesus preached. He come to the Jews alone, then He will be cut off for a sacrifice for the people. “And the abomination that maketh desolation”; the Mohammedans set up the Mosque of Omar there. “And they would tread down the walls of Jerusalem until” (Whew! Until what?) “the Gentile dispensation be fulfilled.” And then He will return to the Jews again, and there's when the Battle of Armageddon takes.... He called the Gentiles, to take a people out for His name, His bride. Notice. Yes, sir. The hundred and forty-four thousand are all redeemed Jews that's got to stand there yet.
86
Then when the church is taken up, Moses and Elijah appears (Revelations 11), and preaches Jesus Christ to them. And the Holy Spirit's took from the Gentiles, and the rapture comes for the church to be taken up. And the Jews that's left here will be preached for three-and-a-half years, because he said, “There's seventy of weeks still determined on Thy people, and Messiah shall be cut off in between them.” When He's taken away, the Gentiles will be given a place, and then they got three more years and a half to be preached to, of Jesus Christ.
Sure, the Jews are coming. And I believe, brother, that when we get there to Palestine this time.... Oh, pray! They're reading that Bible.
Just one more statement, then I got a little, short question here, that's all. This one here I think is a prayer.
87
Look at this! Doctor Reedhead said, standing there talking to a smart Mohammedan....
Now, put your ears up close. A Mohammedan. I had around twenty thousand of them come to the Lord Jesus when they seen the signs and wonders there in Africa. There was about twenty thousand; it's thirty thousand in all; I guess it was ten thousand of them come, 'cause the big majority was Mohammedan. And when they stood there, and I said, “Which one of your prophets at the temple can make this man whole?” I said, “Which one of your idols, to you natives, can make this man whole?” I said, “Neither one of them! No prophet at the temple ... and no priest, rather.” And I said, “No idol could do it. And neither could I. But God of Heaven has raised up His Son Jesus Christ who is alive among men today, who's made him perfectly whole as you see him standing.” A man with a chain around his neck—leading like a dog—in one minute's time was standing on his feet, normal and well.
88
And Doctor Reedhead told me the other night when we was sitting there in the car, he said, “Oh, my!” thinking of it. He said this Mohammedan come to him, and said he was talking to this Mohammedan, a very scholarly man. He said, “Well, sir, why don't you renounce your old dead prophet, Mohammed?”
Now, remember, Mohammedans believe in God. Out there in Africa, a great “bong” ... a “bong” hangs up like that. And they take a great big rubber hammer and hit it like that, and it rings all over the country. And every Mohammedan stops, and a priest walks out to talk to the people, and says, “There is one true and living God, and Mohammed is his prophet.”
That's Ishmael's children, see. Hagar. They're sons of Abraham out of Hagar, see. They believe in a true Jehovah God, but they think Jesus ... (That was ... Hey, He's our Redeemer, sent to the Gentiles through the free woman—Isaac, see, and ... through Sarah). And now, they was through Hagar, Ishmael, and come the Mohammedans.
And at the grave of Mohammed.... (You should go look; it's striking, the great tomb there.) And for two thousand years there's been a white horse saddled, standing there. Mohammed promised that he would rise from the dead someday and would jump onto that horse and conquer the world. And every moment they just change one horse from another; waiting there with a faithful guard, standing, waiting for Mohammed to rise from the dead. Two thousand years has passed since then.
89
They believe in Jesus, they said He was a prophet. On the walls of old Jerusalem there's a great big shrine built; that's for Mohammed to come to. And a little bitty shrine down here; that's for Jesus, see. They said, “Jesus wasn't crucified; they was all mixed up that.” Said, “He got on a horse and rode off,” see. Now, they believe that.
They got a red dot between their eyes. The folks there that's going to India, you'll notice it. My, they'll stand there by the thousands.
90
And then Doctor Reedhead said he was standing there, and he said, “Now, why don't you forsake that old dead prophet and receive One who's rose from the dead, a living Christ?” Now, he was a scholar and he knowed how to place his words.
Said the Mohammedan looked at him, (smart, educated man, right here in America, had been educated here) he said, “Sir, kind sir, what can your resurrected Jesus do for me anymore than my dead prophet has done?” Said, “My dead prophet promised me life after death. That's what your Jesus did.” Well, he had something. Said, “Now, both of them wrote a book. You believe the one that Jesus wrote; I believe the one Mohammed wrote. They both promise life.” Said, “What can your Jesus do any more for me than my Mohammed can?”
Well, the man, in simple facts, is the truth. He said, “But just a moment, kind sir.” He said, “My Mohammed never promised me things like your Jesus did. Your Jesus promised.... They said He rose up, and was going to be with you all the time, to the end of the world; and the same signs and wonders that He did, you would do also, plumb to the end of the world. You would heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cleanse the lepers, and cast out devils.” Said, “I studied Christianity, thoroughly.” Said, “Now let me see you teachers produce Jesus Christ, and I will believe He rose from the dead. But, outside of that ... Mohammed never promised us such things as that. He just promised us life after death. And that's the very same thing that you teach, and bypass the other.” The man was right; the Mohammedan was exactly right.
91
Doctor Reedhead said he stood and cried. Said, “Brother Branham, I thought of you.” And he rushed over here, and went in there, and I laid hands on him, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost come upon him. And now he even sees visions and everything. Now let the Mohammedan meet him! He's a different man.
I say our Jesus rose from the dead. He's living today. He does the same things today He did then, all kinds of signs and wonders. And you fundamental people are sitting around trying to explain that away, and missing the very fundamental part of the Bible. That's exactly right. Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God, can speak with other tongues through you, He can prophesy through you, He can show visions through you, He can interpret unknown languages through you. And all of that is part of Him.
And to take this part of Him and leave that part off of Him, would be like cutting me half in two and taking my hips and my legs down and say you've got me, when this part you won't receive.
You either have to receive me fully.... And that's the reason I'm a full-Gospel preacher that believes that everything God said is the truth. Amen! Glory! I feel like a holy-roller right now. Yes, sir. I believe it.
92
QUESTION: Matthew 24:29, speaks of “The sun being darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” Will this happen before or after the rapture, or just before Jesus comes to reign on earth?
To my humble belief, now, I wouldn't ... I don't know, I think he's speaking of Matthew 24, there. Now, Jesus speaking of the stars and things falling, I believe that is just before the tribulation period sets on earth.
Now, I have a real funny thought here that many of you are going to disagree with me on this. I imagine some of the old-timers heard teaching that we went through it. See, I don't believe the church will go through the tribulation period. I believe the church will.... Look. The only way I teach the New Testament is by the Old Testament shadow, just like the Holy Ghost here for the Sabbath day and so forth. Everything is a shadow back there.
93
Now, look back in the Old Testament. When you see the plagues falling, they were in Egypt. Wasn't they? And God was bringing His people out to the promised land. Is that right? And Israel never received one plague. Just as the plagues.... Before it went, they went into Goshen. Is that right? And the sun never did dim out, no mosquitoes come, no frogs was there, no lice was there, no storms was there, no lightning was there, no killing of the cattle was there, and everything they had was preserved in Goshen. Is that right? It's a type of the church going just before the tribulation period. Jesus said, “When these things begin to come to pass, lift up your head, your redemption is nigh,” see.
I believe that the moon, the sun and stars.... Then they said that.... Go ahead and read, said, “And men run and hid themselves. And fell upon their ... sought to kill theirselves, and couldn't do it,” and everything. I believe that takes place just before the tribulation.
Now, watch. The tribulation comes.... When the tribulation strikes, the church goes up. Now, remember, just an ordinary church without the Holy Ghost goes through the tribulation period. It's only the elect that goes through.
Oh, I could rub something hard here, just for a minute. Would you give me three more minutes? What is the raptured people called? The remnant. Is that right? All right ... I mean, it's the bride. Now, the remnant was left.
94
Now, when a woman goes to cut out a pattern for a skirt, you talk about it. She lays the goods out (is that right?), the piece of goods. And she lays her pattern down on this. She does the fixing where the pattern is to be cut. Right?
O brother, this really do you good. Who does the electing? God does the electing! Is that right? It's not me to say; it's Him to say. And He places the pattern over who He will. Is that right?
Now, there was ten virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom. Is that right?
What is “virgin”? Virgin means “pure, holy.” Is that right? What is a virgin girl? It's a girl who's never been touched; she's a virgin. What is anything that's pure, like virgin olive oil? It means it's been distilled until it's in it's virginity, it's pure. What is virgin gold? It's when all the dross.... It's went through the heat and everything and boiled out all the dross. Is that right? All the iron and the pyrite, and everything else, has been boiled out; it's just in its virgincy.
95
Now, there were ten went to meet the Bridegroom. Jesus said so. That right? How many agree with that, say “Amen.” Ten went to meet Him. Now, watch. All of them were holy. Well, in order to be holy they had to be sanctified, because that's the only cleansing, holy stream, that God has, is sanctification. Is that right?
Now, watch. All ten of them were sanctified, but five didn't have any oil in their lamps, and five had oil in their lamps. Is that right? What does the oil represent? Now, not the purity, the virgincy. Oil represents the “Holy Spirit.”
96
Now, if I say this and hurt a little bit, I don't mean it in the way I do. Now, you excuse me, and don't stay away from church. I'm only in the pulpit here to try to help you, see. Now, look. Let me show you.
There's not a church on earth could live any more pure than the Nazarene in their teaching—Pilgrim Holiness and them. Is that right? They absolutely believe in the purity of sanctification, not even to their women wearing rings, and anything. Purity and sanctification, every way, they believe it. The Holiness organizations, all the legalists, that's their teaching, they believe it. Holy! Women with long hair and long skirts. Men ain't even supposed to roll his sleeves up, many of them. Everything, not even touch ... smoke, drink, any.... Nothing of it, see. Holy! You couldn't live any cleaner.
But that same Nazarene church, if a man would speak in tongues in the church, he'd be shot out the door. They said they wouldn't even sit with one. Now, that's true. If you don't believe it, try it once, find out. Find out once. They hate the very thoughts of it. They said, “It's the devil!”
97
Five of them.... Ten of them were virgins. Five was wise that had oil in their lamp, and the other five was just as pure and holy but they had no oil (they were sanctified, without the Holy Ghost).
“There's three that bear record in earth: the water, the blood, the Spirit.” St. John 5:7 ... I John 5:7, rather, said, “There are three that bear record in Heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, these three are one.” But there's three that bear record in earth: water, blood, and Spirit, they're not one, but they agree as one.
Now, you can't have the Father without having the Son. You can't have the Holy Ghost without having Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They are one. They're inseparable.
But you can be justified without being sanctified. And you can be sanctified without having the Holy Ghost; be clean, live a pure life, and have a form of godliness, and deny the power of healing and speaking in tongues and the great gifts of God—and every one of them in there.
98
There's your five wise virgins who had oil in their lamp; rapturing faith, believing all the signs, wonders, prophecies, and everything. And these five cut out of the remnant was taken away.
And the rest of them were still virgins and will not be lost, but will go through the tribulation period. Jesus said “There'll be....”
And they said, “Give us some of your oil. We want the Holy Ghost now.”
Now, anyone knows that the Holy Ghost.... Zechariah 4, and, oh, James 5:14, all knows that it represents the Holy Ghost. Now, they said.... That's the reason we anoint with oil, representing the Holy Ghost. Now, “The oil of the Spirit,” the Bible said.
99
Now, these had the Holy Ghost; and these were sanctified. These were sanctified plus the Holy Ghost, believing all the phenomenals and everything of God's power. Everything God spoke of here, they had it, believing it. These were taken out.
And these said, “Give to us now.”
Said, “We just got enough to get in with,” and away they went in the rapture.
And it said, “Go buy from those who sell,” they said. And they went to try to pray through then, to receive the Holy Ghost, but the Gentile dispensation had been finished and the persecution rose. And He said, “They were cast into outer darkness where there'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” But in the second resurrection they'll be the sheep that's separated from the goats, but never the bride, never the elect. That's the remnant of the seed of the woman.
100
What is a remnant? The piece that's left. Same kind of goods. Is that right? You go to cut you a dress out of calico, you put out a big piece of calico and cut it out. It's your business where you lay the pattern. It's God's business where He lays the pattern; He cuts it right out. Is that right? And now the rest of this calico left here, is just as good a calico as in the dress. Is that right? But it's God's election. God elects His church; God predestinates His church; God foreordains His church, and He takes that church out. And the remnant is left to go through the tribulation period.
101
And that's where many Bible scholars today get mixed up, thinking that the bride's over yonder in the tribulation. A fellow said to me, said, “I couldn't tell you, Brother Branham.” Said, “I seen the bride up in Heaven. And the dragon spurting water out of his mouth to make war with the bride. And the hundred and forty-four thousand, which is the bride, standing on Mount Sinai.”
I said, “Oh, no, no, no, no. You got it all mixed up. The bride was in Heaven.” And the remnant of the woman's seed, not the pattern, the remnant was there, and the persecution (the Roman Empire) when Catholicism will consolidate and they'll unite their powers together with the great church.
102
Why, they got it right.... It was on television the other night. The Methodist church is trying to unite Methodist and Baptist and all the full churches of Christ ... are trying to unite with Catholicism and stand before one plain altar. What did the bishop say when he was put on trial the other night, over there, to be a Communist? I was standing, looking at it on television myself. All the bunches of them! And when that time comes, there'll be a persecution rise and the Holy Ghost will fall on Methodist and Baptists. And all will speak with tongues, praise God, and heal the sick and prophesy, and all the signs and wonders will be coming. The elect will go up, and the remnant will be left here to go through the tribulation period. And at the end of the time, when they see what has happened, they'll have to go down in martyrdom.
103
Then look. You say, “Well, now, Brother Branham, do you mean to tell me there's going to be ... that people that's going to be there at the white throne judgment?” The bride will never be judged. No, sir. She's in Christ. How do you get in Christ? “By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.” Is that right?
Now, look, look here. The Bible said, “Judgment was set, and the books were opened.” Is that right? Books of sinners. “And another book was opened,” which is the book of life, and every man was judged thus. Is that right? And who was doing the judging? Jesus and the saints. He said, “He came to minister, the Ancient of Days whose hair is like wool.” And said, “Ten thousand times ten thousands come with Him, and ministered to Him in the judgment.” Here Jesus returns as King and queen, the wedding's over, and He's married. Here's King and queen standing here. And there stands that sanctified bunch. God said, “Stand to My right side.” That's the book was opened, was sinners, “Get over on My left.” Here's the ones that had their names written in the Lamb's book of life.
104
You say, “Brother Branham, my name's written there. I will go!” Wait a minute! Judas Iscariot was sanctified. Whew! Brother, wake up now. Pay attention, so you can get this, you see.
Judas Iscariot, his spirit is the antichrist today. You know that. Jesus was the Son of God, came from God and returned to God; Judas was the son of perdition, came from hell and returned to hell. Jesus taken the repentant sinner with Him; Judas taken the unrepentant with him. “If thou be....” If! If! “If You be a divine healer, do this. If thou be this, do this.” Yet question mark's across God's word. “The days of miracles is past. If it is, show me this.” If! If! If, see. “It's all true,” God said.
105
Now watch. Judas Iscariot was justified by faith, and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized. The Bible said, “Jesus baptized the disciples.” All right.
St. John 17:17, before He could send them out, He said, “Sanctify them, Father, through the truth. Thy Word is the truth.” And He was the Word, even before the atonement was made. In other words, “As a preview, Father, of My shed blood, I sanctify these.”
He give them power against unclean spirits, and they went out; and they cast out devils. Is that right? And they healed the sick. Is that right? And they come back, sanctified, rejoicing, jumping, shouting, and praising God. Is that right? And said, “Even the devils is subject to us.”
And Jesus said, “Don't you rejoice because the devils is subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in the book of Heaven.” Is that right? And Judas Iscariot was with them, one of them, called-out, sanctified, and his name written in the Lamb's book of life. Read Matthew 10 and see if that's not right. He called each one of them, Judas and every one of them, right down there. He sent them out, give them power against unclean spirits.
106
Now watch! Put on your shock-proof vest. But when Judas come right up through that church there, as the treasurer of the church, working with the pastor, Jesus. But when it come time to Pentecost, he showed his colors. He showed what he was. And with enough decency about him, he destroyed himself and hung himself on a sycamore tree, to fulfill the prophecy. And that spirit of Judas will come right up and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Jesus said, “The devils believe and tremble.” He will come right up and teach sanctification, just as pure a holy life as it can be; but when it comes to the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the gifts of the Spirit, he will deny it! He will show his colors every time. There's that spirit.
And Jesus said, “Beware!” Matthew 24, again: “The two spirits will be so close together till it would deceive the very elect....” Is that right? Where that pattern's laying.... Brother, better believe in old-fashioned, Holy Ghost preachers around here and get right with God. That's right. Don't have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof. Amen!
107
Everybody feeling good?
When we all get to Heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
When we all get to Heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Hallelujah! Let's stand just a moment. How many loves Him with all your heart? Raise up your hand, say “Praise the Lord!” [Congregation repeats after Brother Branham.] “Lord, I believe the full Gospel.” [Congregation repeats.] “Help me to be Your servant.” [Congregation repeats.] Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Do you love Him? In the Bible they....
108
A woman said to me one ... or, boy.... (He may be listening tonight; he just lives across the street.) He come up there. And Sister Lula that used to come here to the church; she'd be shouting back there. I was preaching, Brother Neville. And that boy said to me.... Now, he was a Sunday school teacher down here at First Baptist church. He said, “Billy, I was enjoying your sermon till that woman began to crying and hollering, 'Thank You, Jesus! Praise the Lord!' And every once in a while” said “some man said,” (Brother Seward) “hollered, 'Praise the Lord! Amen!'” I was preaching on “Losing Your Birthrights,” Esau sold his birthright. And I was going on, and they was just shouting, going on. And said, “Ooooh,” said, “that just makes chills go over my back.” Said, “I couldn't stand that.”
I said, “Brother, if you'd ever get to Heaven you'd freeze to death.” I said, “There sure is shouting in Heaven, day and night.” And that's right, brother. Oh, yes, sir!
Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of Glory let me lift my voice;
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.
Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,
There to sing forever of His saving grace;
On the streets of Glory let me lift my voice;
Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.
Amen! All right, Brother Neville. God bless you. Get right up there and close.