God-Called Man

...sorry to keep you standing up along the walls. I passed by here on another appointment about a hour and a half ago, and the people were turning away from the doors, going away. I met Billy out there, and he said the place had been ready for the services to start since this afternoon. We just have this little meeting here. We never even put it in the local papers.

So, we just have a little time of fellowship. And now, it's always busy as the out-of-town people would know that here at the home place it's always on the jump, running from place to place, and squeezing.... So, I'm kind of getting used to it. I just get to a place till I don't let it bother me, as much as possible.

And you know, you have to spend just a little bit of time (and should be more) with the Lord. If you don't do that, then you don't come into the meeting with the freshness of the Holy Spirit. And when you come in (like today has been) where it's been just one great clamor, well.... It's kind of hard sometime for me to come in ... to keep from being just a little pinched and pushing, you see, and get myself upset. When I do that, then I just can't find the Holy Spirit anywhere in it.

So, I feel sorry, though, for people who stand in the aisles and around the outside; and they come up and look in, get in their car, and go back away.

I wanted to get the high school down here to hold just a few nights' meeting, but the school's going on at this time, and it's kind of hard for me to get it during that time.

But I want to say that I certainly do appreciate every one of you, inside and out, and for your fine cooperation, and for all that you have done. This morning in the Sunday school, I thanked the people for the offering that was give to me last night, which was an unsolicited offering. Frankly, I told the pastor here (our beloved pastor, Brother Neville) and them, I'd rather they would not do that, but they did it anyhow, so, I just wanted to report on it.

Now, this is a small place, and it won't seat over about three hundred people, I don't think, and the offering was $324.00, which means that they averaged about one dollar apiece. That's the best offering I ever had given me in my life for the amount of people. Usually it'll average about twenty-four cents a person. Twenty-five, twenty-seven cents is a great offering to a person, but this averaged around a dollar apiece, and I certainly do appreciate that.

Maybe I didn't get, this morning, to express to some of you. We found jelly (box of jelly) setting on the steps, and little presents has been sent in to us. The wife and I wish to express our thankfulness to you people. I'm sure that the best that we know how, all of it'll be for the kingdom of God.

And it makes me just feel like I wish that I had a great big place where we could just continue to go on for a long time and minister to the people, but even tonight after the service, I'm supposed to go (which I won't be able to leave tonight, but early in the morning) to go away. I get back next Saturday night and leave Sunday morning again for Colorado. And just one right after the other, going. Then my next overseas meeting comes in January, which is in Australia and New Zealand and through there. Now, I want you to pray for me. I certainly do desire your prayers.

And then, I want all of us to be grateful to Almighty God, who has done such great things for us in this little meeting. I believe, for the amount of time, there has been more accomplished in this meeting than any meeting I ever held in my life at this tabernacle. The Lord has just seemed to open up the blessings.

I have thought maybe during this meeting that from a vision that I have had, that my ministry is going to be changed to a better and greater ministry. Now, it's just going to happen just as sure as you people have heard these other three ministries predicted ... or, these other two. This one will be just like that, only greater. But the first night I just called the people up here to the altar—went right straight back to discernment. The second night, I taken them into the room—went right straight to discernment. And the last two nights, then, we have brought them here on the platform—just straight to discernment.

But just to report some things, a blind minister received his sight at the platform. And two little girls last night, sitting in the wheelchair with diseases that no one knows what it is (no doctor), their feet way big, and their toes dropping off, fingers dropping off, and nothing could be done for them. And just while the Spirit was anointing, I went over and in the name of the Lord Jesus cursed that disease; and up out of the wheelchair they went, and this morning walking around here in the tabernacle like any other child, and come over and was baptized with Christian baptism right here in the pool this morning.

I had a few minutes of study awhile ago and there was some friends of mine (Brother Hoover, a minister from down in Kentucky) just passed by and left word with my wife that last night in a calling line out in the audience, women who did not have any prayer cards or anything, just sitting out there praying; and there'd been one woman that had not eaten (for I forget how long) a meal (growths in her stomach, all filled up), and the Lord called her and healed her. And this morning she got up, and ate a normal size breakfast, and is here somewhere tonight. And others they were telling about. And oh, the time would not permit of the things that our Lord has done. So to us, that gives us courage to know that it's just near; something is fixing to happen great.

Last evening after the service, after the message, I never, at any time, ever seen the Holy Spirit ever anoint people any greater than it did last night. We're looking forward to another tonight. And now pray for me.

And I want to read some of God's blessed Word; and before we read the Word, let's just talk to Him with our heads bowed, just a moment.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to Thee tonight maybe just a little tired in the body, but oh, how our spirits are refreshed. The signs of the Living God, that He's with us and blessing us and giving to us that which He promised: the exceeding abundantly, above all that we could do or think. And if we have found grace in Thy sight through believing on Thy Son, the Lord Jesus, we would ask tonight that You would visit us again with a double portion of Thy Spirit. May it be poured out in great power and measures upon every person here to believe the Gospel and to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Save those who are savable tonight, Lord, and heal those who are ready for healing. Grant it, Lord.

And as we see the people pressing in, standing in the doors, hundreds turned away from the little church, it reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That in the days when He visited us here in a form of flesh, the press was so great, they could not even get to Him with a man and had to bring him through the roof of the building. And we pray, God, that tonight that everyone that's had to press in this way shall be rewarded as that man was.

Bless Thy Word as we read it, and may it be a lamp, a light unto our path; for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

It was just reported to me just now that the girl that I called on this morning, an alcoholic that had been called out in the meeting in Chicago.... It was that she was sitting in the balcony when the Holy Spirit spoke to her and said she was an alcoholic. And five great doctors of Chicago had given her up. The Alcoholics Anonymous had given her up. And she was called out of “thus saith the Lord”; she was healed. She has never craved a drink from that time on.

And another little lady up in the balcony above her, which was a friend of hers, that they lived in Calumet City (if anyone knows what that is, that's the borderlines where it's worse than Paris, France—all kinds of evil going on), and told her that she was a dope peddler, and she was a dancer to Fred Astaire. And her father resented it, but she raised up and said, “Dad, the man is exactly right.” She now is married (the little girl) and is on her road, out with her husband, preaching the Gospel.

Rosella is a mission worker from every jail service and everything that she can get into, telling alcoholics that there's a hope, and that's in Christ.

She's been very much burdened for her father. No more than day before yesterday on a ten-minute private interview (the girl has been a definite supporter of the meetings for the last four or five years) that she told me in a little ten-minute report out at the trailer, on a interview that ... said, “Brother Branham, whatever you do, I'm terribly burdened for my father. He loves you, but he just won't come to Christ.”

I said, “Rosella, God knows how to do that; He knows how to make him do it.” And the news comes now that he's buried beneath a carload of limestone. Let us pray for him. Lord, at that mouth of that faithful daughter, and him trapped down there that could die beneath it; God grant that he won't, but his soul will look up and remember that You are God Who can answer prayer under a limestone pile the same as You could in the belly of a whale, or in the furnace with the fire, or in the den with the lions. You remain the same. Bring him forth, Lord, a washed Christian. We know that all things work together for good to them that love You, and we pray that this will be one of those things, as we commit it to You, in Jesus' name. Amen.

In the reading of the Word tonight, in the book of II Kings, I wish to read in the second chapter for just a little text to find a context, God willing.

And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry ye here, I pray thee, for the LORD hath sent me to Beth-el. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Beth-el.

And the sons of the prophets that were at Beth-el came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ... your peace.

And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Jericho. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went to Jericho.

And the sons of the prophets were there at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to-day? And he answered, Yea, l know it; hold ... your peace,

And Elijah said unto him, Tarry, here, I pray thee, for the LORD hath sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on.

May the Lord add His blessings to His Word. My subject for tonight is: “God-Called Men,” and I will try to be just as briefly as I can, because we've got a great prayer line coming up just in a few minutes, but just to give you a little look at the times that we're living.

We hear this cry on the radio and in different places and coming from sincere hearts: “Lord, give us revival in our time.” And from letters from Christians around the world, we hear that cry, and it does something to your heart. It's inspiring; it's uplifting; it's quickening to the soul to hear the people of the Lord call for a revival.

And God has made a promise: “If the people that are called by My name shall assemble themselves together and pray, then I will hear from heaven.”

And so, we tonight want to think on that, and remember that in the midst of all this cry, God cannot send a revival until He's got men in shape to take it. We cannot have a revival until we get men—God-called men, God-trained men—that's not trained up in the schools of theology and of education, but rugged men of faith that God has brought up in the school of His rugged training, men who are not afraid to face the fire, men who has come in the presence of God and knows His power and knows His omnipotence and knows His healing power—some men that's trained to know the living God. It's all right to train them by the Word, but the letter killeth; the Spirit giveth life.

And before we can have this revival, God has to call out and train men (God-trained men) to carry this message. And they don't care what the opposition is. They are willing to go to the fiery furnace in defeat, or to the lion's den, or wherever it may be; they're ready to go, because they've been in the presence of God and know that He is. Whether it's to victory or defeat, they still stand the same.

That's the kind of training God does to men. And it's very strange to think that God would do that (that God trains His men like that), but He does.

You know, we have an old song we sing: “Some through the waters, some through the flood, some through deep trials, but all through the blood!” God leads His people through great trials to purge them, and sometime it takes years to do it. And as for myself tonight, I believe that right now God is training such men to meet the front line, men who are going through and times shook from their feet. Sometimes looks like the whole thing is falling, but yet in the midst of it all, they know that living God and keep their face forward, keep moving on.

And many people praying for a revival, I wonder if there is sometimes (if those who are praying), if their own prayers don't stop up the wells of blessings: when they're cowardly and afraid to trust God, afraid to take Him at His Word, afraid to believe that He still lives today, when His Bible plainly says that He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God doesn't call (very seldom) the smart men, the educated, the intellectual. They play their part, and they're great men, but usually, when God wants the job done, He gets somebody who hardly knows his ABC's. Search the Scriptures; look through the histories. Men that amounted to something with God were not men who had great education, but men who had no education, only a desire in their heart to serve God. He got the plowman, the shepherd, the fisherman, the hunter—those who lived in nature, in that stillness and quietness of nature. There God could speak to them, and that's who He called.

And if they find that when He gives a call to a great intellectual, that person finally goes back to his intellectual conceptions, and after while when it comes to working the phenomenal, he's too mixed up with the peoples of the world to accept such. Therefore, he finally results to a denomination and goes on off and makes a minister. And, that's all right. And I have nothing against that person that would do that. But when God gets ready to do something in the supernatural realms, He usually gets a man that He can put His trust in, and anoints him and sends him out, and he's fearless at the job.

That's the kind of men we need today—not polished scholars, but men who know God in the power of His resurrection.

For instance, there was a man in the Bible by the name of Moses who had got all of his training. He knowed all of the theology. He knew everything that he should know. If he'd need any education, he could teach the masters in Israel ... or, in Egypt. He didn't need one thing. And the Bible tells us that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Why, he could teach their scholars. He could teach their scientists things. He was keyed to the very point when it come to intellectual, but yet it taken God forty years to beat all that out of him out there in the sands. And when he got all of his intellectual conceptions of God beat out of him out there in the sands, the metal was ready to be molded over.

That's the way God takes His man and beats out all of their fears and all of their intellectuals, and then the great Master Potter puts them on the wheel and begins to mold them over again: workmen worthy; it's God's men. Who could train a man more than God Himself? Watch the way He trains them.

We would think again of another by the name of David. God was training David when he was just a little boy. The prophet Samuel come up and poured oil on his head and anointed him because God was going to train David to be a mighty warrior; and look at the training He gave him.

I was reading some time ago (up here at Green's Mill, where I usually go to pray) where God said to David, “I took you from the sheepcote, from following those few sheep of your father's out there, and I made you a great name like great men of the earth.” And I think of the rugged training He did to David. He never so much as schooled him in some school, but He schooled him in His own school.

David was a hunter and a shepherd, and in the Psalms he wrote of green pastures and still waters, because there he was alone by himself. He wasn't contaminated with the things of the world. God has to get a man away from the things of the world, so He can get him quiet, so he can listen to God—that still small voice. Then once in contact with God, he becomes fearless then. Notice that he don't care what anyone says; he's been in the presence of God. He knows God in the power of His resurrection.

And then David, we see him.... One day God permitted a bear to come in and get one of his sheep. David just took after that bear! No doubt but what he prayed, because a little later on he confessed to it. And he prayed and asked God. He was caretaker over that sheep; he could not lose that sheep, and he must save that sheep at all price. And he grabbed his little slingshot and took after that bear and killed him! He must save that sheep. You see what God was training him for?

God wants His shepherds to save the sheep, regardless what he has to be called and what he has to go through. Save them sheep! Then He seen that David was gallant over this bear, so He just raised the power of the animal a little greater, and He sent a lamb ... a lion in and took one of the lambs, and a lion is a fierce animal.

Oh, in Africa, when I was hunting them.... A lion can kill ten men before you can say, “Jack Robinson.” Oh, powerful great beast. Just with a big roar and just ... men are consumed. And the one who dies under the power of a lion never feels any hurt. It's such a scare to hear that roar as he gives! Those great mammoth feet, just in a second he's tore down a dozen men.

And to think of a little boy (the Bible said he was ruddy; that means he was just a little bitty fellow) with a little slingshot (you know what it is: a little piece of leather with a string on each side) and a hungry lion with already the taste of blood in his mouth, run in and grabbed a sheep. David looked up to God and said, “I can't lose that one; You help me, Lord.” And he knocked the lion down with the slingshot, and when the lion rose up against him, that little boy (and the lion weighing about five hundred pounds or better, and that little boy weighing maybe seventy or eighty), he pulled from his little belt the knife, and when the lion raised up (which would kill ten men in a couple of slaps), he grabbed the lion by the beard and killed him!

Courage! God don't want cowards. He can't use you if you're afraid to take His Word and believe Him. He wants gallant men: won't pay no attention to nothing but what the Lord says. That's the kind He has to move with. Regardless of what the church says, what the pastor says, what the church stands for, He stands for God and righteousness and His Word. That's the men God will send these days for His revival that His people are praying for.

Later in years, when he went up to meet his brothers at the battle, there was a big old giant up there—fourteen inch fingers—and he bragged and he said, “Now, let somebody come fight me. If you can whip me, I will surrender (and vice versa) and we will serve.” Ever who surrenders, of course, will be the one that loses.

That's the way the devil likes to do it. When he thinks he's got the edge on you, he will tell you, “You can't get by with that. You can't preach divine healing in the Methodist church ... Baptist church!” Well, you Methodist preachers just get ahold of God one time and find out whether you can or not. You'll never do it with your theology that they teach. You'll have to get a hold of God and know that He is.

They say the Pentecostal people, a few years ago they was a bunch of people standing on the corner, not even a building they could get into. But did you read Life magazine the other day, what they said about them? It's one of the greatest phenomenas this age has ever known, is the rising of the Pentecostal church! Certainly. And they produce more converts in one year than all the rest of the churches do put together. That's what Life magazine said. Why? They may be mixed up in some things, but, brother, they're gallant! They stand out there toe to toe and call black black and white white! When the revival finally breaks, it'll break among them. You watch and see if it doesn't. They'll get straightened down one of these days.

And David ... when Saul put his armor on him and said, “David, if you're going to fight this Goliath ... giant,” said, “why, you're nothing but a boy, just a youth, and he's been a warrior from his youth. How can you fight him?”

Listen to this little David. You see, he did not say it like this, “Saul, your honor sir, my father sent me to grammar school, college, high school. I have a Ph.D. I'm equipped to do this. I'm a smart man.” He never said it like that. He said, “My lord,” he said, “when I was herding my father's sheep out yonder, a bear come in and got one, and I killed him. And a lion come in and got one, and I knocked him down, and when he raised up, I slew him.” He said, “The God that delivered me from the paws of the bear and the lion can also deliver me out of the hands of that uncircumcised Philistine.” A God-trained man!

There stood Saul with all the training that any man could have to know how to fight. David didn't know nothing about a sword. He didn't know nothing about a shield. Well, Saul went and put his great big armor on him, and little David was standing bowlegged almost. He found out that his ecclesiastical vest didn't fit a man of God; just mashed him down. And all of our creeds and things won't never match God's equipment yonder.

Oh, how we could go on and on and say many of many different ones, but straight to our text to hurry.

Elijah was getting old, and he knew it wouldn't be long till he'd have to leave the world, and God had found a man that was an honest man, that was a good man; his name was Elisha. Now, if you'll notice, one of them names is Elijah, and the other is Elisha.

Now, he never went down into the forums, and so forth, and went and found him in the schools of theology and up in the great high schools of those days. What did he do? He went out into the field and found a man plowing with twelve yoke of ox. Elisha, the one that was plowing, knowed how to appreciate a straight row, and he knowed if he turned and looked back, he'd wiggle off the road. And God knowed that a man that knowed how to plow a straight furrow knowed not to put his hands on the plow and even turn to look back. He never waited 'til he got his education (wiggled along the road). He just killed the ox and made a sacrifice and took off with Elisha as soon as that mantle went over him! He was ready, willing. God knowed He could make him able.

Now, God's got to give him some training. He'd been training how to keep his eyes on the furrow with twelve yoke of ox and one man plowing with them. He taught him some patience and how to be patient and train those ox to walk straight in the line. He had to train some men afterwards: keep them on the Bible, on the Word, lined up with God, stay straight in the line! And then, even God had to school him a little bit.

He said, “Now, you tarry here, for I'm going over to Gilgal; the Lord has called me.”

And the prophet, after he'd felt that power upon him, that robe of Elijah, he said, “As the Lord liveth and your soul liveth, I will not leave you!”

Went on to Gilgal, which is the place of Christian confession and baptism. And then he said, “Just stay here now. This is good enough. You've made confession and baptism. This is good enough. I'm going up to Beth-el (which means 'the house of God').”

Now that would have been all right for many a professor. “Oh, I've just come into the church and got fellowship; why not just stay right here?”

But, listen, Elisha couldn't think that way. He'd already felt the power of God. He knowed there was more for him. So he said, “As the Lord liveth and your soul liveth, I will not leave you.” Oh, how I like that!

And he went up to Beth-el, to the house of God, and there he found a bunch of scholars. They were all well-trained preachers, and they walked around and told him, said, “Sir, do you know what? You're on the little end of the stick. Did you know Elijah's going to be taken away from you. He's too old; he can't live very long? Elijah's going to be taken, and you're going to be standing out there as a fanatic.”

Let me tell you something now. A man that's ever tasted God will not be willing ... or, cannot quench his thirst at a man-made cistern. He can't do it! All their theology that they had there at the school of the prophets would not quench the thirst of that man of God, who had had a taste of God. And they kept persuading him. “Oh, you should stay here and.... Why, in six weeks we could give you your Ph.D. And you know, it wouldn't be very long till.... You take about four years of training here, and we could give you the right to preach. You know, if you proved out to be all right, we'd send you out in our denomination.” That won't satisfy a man of God! “We will train you to be a minister, if you'll just stay with us about four or five years here.”

He didn't have time for that kind of stuff. He was on his way to that fountain. He'd done come above that! He'd done had a taste of heaven in his soul, and he said, “Do you know your head's going to be taken away?”

And listen to what he said. “Yes, I know it, but hold your peace.” In other words, “Save your breath, don't try to tell me about it. Don't try to tell me what I'm doing. I know where I'm going and what I'm after.” God give us men like that: God-trained men who knows not to wiggle off on this and wiggle off on that. “I know where I'm going, and don't speak to me about it; just hold your breath. Don't try to discourage me, because it isn't going to do any good.”

Oh, if the people that's prayed for would just have that much courage. “Oh, the days of miracles is passed. That wasn't real. You watch, you'll get sick again.”

“Just hold your breath; don't tell me nothing about it. I'm moving on. The revival's coming. God's promised it.” Oh, you sons of God, move out into that sphere yonder. Fearless, fearless. Take God at His Word.

“I know he's going to be taken away, but that isn't what I'm.... You haven't got nothing here to interest me. All your degrees and Ph.D's and bachelor of art and all this stuff doesn't satisfy me! Just hold your breath.”

“Well, you're going to crack up out there.”

“Well, if I crack up, let me crack up. I'm on my road.” On he was going.

“You can't make it go over.”

“I know I can't make it go over, but God's going to take me over,” he said.

“Well, Elijah's going to Jordan.”

“I'm going with him!”

God requires Jordan in every life. So, Elijah come around and said, “Now, Elisha... (Elijah said to Elisha), You're just a young man, (perhaps something like this) and really you haven't had any schooling.” The old prophet was trying to try him out. He said, “You're just a young man; you haven't had much schooling. Why, you don't ... really, you haven't had a grammar school education. Only thing you know to do is how to plow. So, you'd better stay here and make ... get your bachelor of art, see. You'd better stay and get your degree.”

Not Elisha, not that man who'd once touched God, felt that power of the anointing upon him. He said, “As the Lord lives and your soul never dies, I will not leave you!” He had a purpose. He saw the vision. He knowed what was going to take place.

And they both went down to Jordan. Jordan means “death.” There they stand—the old man and the young man. It really represents Christ and His Church. And there they stood by the Jordan. There she is, coming down out of the Judean hills; the great ripples roaring like that, and Elisha with his gray hair hanging down his back and his dimmed old eyes looking across Jordan, and the young man watching every move that he made. One (the young man) was waiting for a vision to carry out the will of God. The other one was going home. They were both at Jordan.

Elijah, to him, he's going Home. Elijah had had a bitter life. That woman preacher down there had give him a rough way to go —Jezebel and Ahab—and the stones and all that he'd went through. Elijah was getting tired, and he knowed that he'd fought a good fight and he'd finished the course. Just across Jordan his retirement laid. But Elisha was watching, for that Spirit was on him.

So, if you notice, every believer, when you come to a place where you have to sell out, you'll feel the cold waves of Jordan lapping at your feet. Are you going to cross or are you not? Jordan is separation—separating.

And standing back on the hill was these preachers yet, hollering to Elisha, “You'd better not go over; you're going to go overboard.” You hear them remarks yet today.

But, Elisha said, “If God is God and backs His prophet, I've got to take his place, and I need his Spirit to do it with. I don't need their school. If their school would have done it, they'd be taking his place! But, God called me to do it, and I need his Spirit!”

If the schools of the churches would have took the place and the power that Jesus offered, it'd took it years ago—Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterian—but it'll never do it. Takes the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and you'll cross Jordan of every denomination behind it and everything else, and stand alone with God.

So, he stood with him at Jordan. Elijah, looking up there, knowing somewhere across there God would meet him. And he took off his robe, and he looked around to the young man, and he smote the Jordan. And when he did, the Jordan opened up, and they walked over on dry land.

See, the Jordan ain't so bad after all if there's something with you to open up the way. Oh, when they hit the other side! Hooked to every bush was a horse and a chariot. The King of kings had sent an escort to bring Elijah up home. It was all over for Elijah. He'd had enough of it—about eighty something years of fussing with them people down there and having to go through hungers and strifes and everything else. He was ready to go home.

And he looked around to Elisha, and Elisha wanted to see a vision, for he had all the schooling back there he could have stopped at. They wasn't getting nowhere. God was going to train him His own way. So when he looked over there, looked all them bushes, hooked around there with these chariots of fire and horses of fire, it done something to Elisha. He saw a vision. Yes, brother. And when God had taken Elijah up, he came back with a double portion of his Spirit. He was ready for the revival, then.

Notice the man then, being just a plow boy before.... God made his name immortal. All the prophets that stood around watching him had to bow to his feet because he had the power of God upon him. There's coming a hour when God shall make the world bow at the feet of men and women who have plunged through and crossed Jordan and separated themselves from the things of the world.

Brother and sister, tonight, whatever you do, whatever you think, you cross Jordan with God. Go on over and separate and leave the world behind. Let God train you for His own service. We are living in a day before this revival, but God's searching out, trying to find hearts.

Look, He found a man by the name of Paul, old self-styled Pharisee, but He had to work him over like, before he could become a disciple. Look what He done all down through the ages to men. He had to take them and pump their theology out of them. And Paul, as soon as he saw the vision, he didn't go up to Jerusalem to Gamaliel, the great teacher (the greatest in Israel) that he'd been taught by; he never went back to him to consult him. Why, he never even went to Jerusalem for fourteen years later. But he went down to Egypt in a prayer meeting. There God let him write many books of the New Testament. See, God's looking for men. He had somebody He wanted to write that Testament, so He just chose Paul, and He just got all of his theology out of him. And Paul said he had to forget all that he ever knowed to learn Christ.

God, today, is trying to empty the world out of us and get us to empty ourselves out and be fearless men and women who love God and will stay with God and will cross the separating line (Jordan) that He could use us for His glory.

This is the hour that I want you to think hard. And if you have never crossed this place, if you've never come across this line where you still say, “Well, my mother belonged to a certain church.” That's all right. That doesn't take your place, see. God is calling men and women today to the battle front. He's not calling them to Gilgal, neither is He calling them to Jericho or Beth-el. They will perish. But, He's calling them to cross Jordan, so He can get you out in the school of His own power and make you and mold you.

Look what He's doing right here now, sending down the Spirit of His Son. He's performing signs and wonders and miracles, which the world hasn't seen in the last two thousand years. The scientific world has caught the picture of it. The pillar of fire—the Angel of the Lord—hangs in Washington, DC tonight, of the Hall of Religious Arts—the only supernatural being that was ever scientifically proven to be photographed; puts forth His same signs and wonders.

What is it? It's crossing Jordan. Get alone with God. Lay in His own furnace of refinery. Get on the big Master Potter's wheel and let Him mold you. Tonight, while we're in prayer, while we're coming to that place, lay yourself right over on His wheel, and say, “Lord, here I am; mold me and make me after Your own fashion,” and God will do it, while we bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer.

Just before prayer, I'd like to ask this question to people inside and out: How many in here sincerely would like to go with Jesus down to the Jordan, tonight, and there cross over there to where you could see a vision and see what God really means? Would you raise your hands? God bless you. Just look; I guess there's two hundred hands in the building up.

Go down to Jordan, not down to the seminary. Elisha passed right by that. They said, “Tarry here.”

He said, “I don't want to. That's man-made.” Ah, it'll never quench that thirst of a man who's thirsting for God. No seminary experience, no degrees of art or so forth will never, never quench that thirst till you drink from that fountain of life.

You that raised your hands, pray with me, now.

Dear God, in this few minutes of service, men and women standing around the walls, boys and girls, and on the outside leaning against the windows—hot, but yet there's something in them that You've caught their attention or they'd've walked away. They wouldn't stand there like that, Lord God, because they know that they're just human beings. And, we read in the paper where one of our honorable ex-mayors listened to the Vice President speak—was taken away. Another at a ball game the other night—a noted man—went quickly, and their souls is somewhere tonight. God, that'll be our way someday. Maybe not in the same manner, but we must go.

And let men come to themselves and realize that just belonging to the church isn't what You require. You want men to be filled with the Spirit, born, hewn out, burned in with the Holy Spirit, branded, men who's crossed the line—God-called men. And we believe that You're going to send the revival that Billy Graham and many others are praying for when You can get men out to themselves away from their school of theology, away from their self-styled ways—fearless men, men of character with You, who believes You and takes You at Your Word.

God, may many of them be standing present now that'll give all that they've got to the Lord Jesus and sell out to the world, go on past Gilgal, the place of confession and Christian beginnings, go on past the school of the prophets that set back there with their theology, go on to Jordan to an open vision when they crossed—find that the Living God still lives!

Later we find this prophet looking all around him, and there were those same angels of fire and chariots down at Dothan one day. They're still here tonight, Lord. Call Your men; call Your women, Your boys, Your girls, Lord. Speak peace to their hearts and let them cross over beyond the things of the world, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.

I want to sing that, just a moment, real quietly in worship:

Have Thine own way, Lord,

Have Thine own way!

Hold over my being absolute sway!

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

All together now in a way of worship.

Have Thine own way, Lord! (Now dedicate

yourself to that song ... by that

song to God.) Have Thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Quietly now, in worship, now. Don't look around, just look to God.

Have Thine own way, Lord! (really mean it)

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

I believe it'd be real good. Do you love the worship? The message is over now. Let's just worship a minute with our heads bowed—that song again. Mean it from your heart.

Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after Thy will,

While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Lord, grant this. May everyone, from these little children to the oldest man and woman in divine presence, may the Holy Spirit just now operate on their faith and take away all of the doubts, all of the little failures, and may they be molded after Thy will. While they're on Your great molding wheel, we lay our souls for dedication—remolding. Grant it, oh God, in the name of Jesus, Thy Son. Amen.

I just love this, don't you? Just quietly feeling the Holy Spirit. Oh, after a rugged message and then that sweetness of the Holy Spirit. It comes by the Word. I'm going to sing a verse of that ... or, try.

It's dripping with blood; yes, it's dripping with

blood.

This Holy Ghost Gospel, it's dripping with blood.

The blood of disciples, who died for the truth;

This Holy Ghost Gospel is dripping with blood.

The first one to die for this Holy Ghost plan,

Was John the Baptist, but he died like a man;

Then came the Lord Jesus; they crucified Him.

He preached that the Spirit would save men from sin.

There was Peter and Paul and John the Divine;

They gave up their lives so this Gospel could shine.

They mingled their blood like the prophets of old,

So the true Word of God would honest be told.

Then they stoned Stephen; he preached against sin,

He made them so angry, they dashed his head in,

But he died in the Spirit; he gave up the ghost,

And went to join the others, that life giving host.

The souls under the altar are crying, 'How long,

For the Lord to punish all that's done wrong';

But, there's going to be more who'll give their

life's blood

For this Holy Ghost Gospel and its crimson flood.

(All together now.)

It's dripping with blood; yes, it's dripping with

blood.

This Holy Ghost Gospel, it's dripping with blood.

The blood of disciples who died for the truth,

This Holy Ghost Gospel is dripping with blood.

What were they? Men who God trained and called. How can God ever use a coward to put His Word into? He's scared. That's the reason he know nothing about it. Men who are not scared, who God has circumcised by the Holy Spirit, God lives inside. He'd just as soon seal his blood as not ... his testimony with his blood; doesn't care. It's Christ that he lives. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” That's the way they feel about it. Amen.

Now it's time for the prayer line, and it's an early prayer line —just about twenty after eight. But we're wanting to pray for the people. And I want you now, this.... All the preaching that we could do would not compare with one spoken Word from God, Himself.

Now to start the prayer line, which we've promised to pray for all. That we will do, God willing. We, each night, have give out prayer cards and saying in this that each night we've called a group out of there for discernment. But the people then, some of them would leave on that night. We'd have a great meeting, and the Spirit would fall, and the people would leave, and the next night we'd have to give out more.

And if I'm not mistaken, am I not looking at Fannie Wilson standing back there? I remember taking that woman about seventeen ... oh, more than that, about twenty ... 1932, dying with TB, and the doctor of this city had give her up, and she'd hemorrhaged till the blankets and everything was laying wet with blood.

Her husband and daughter come and got me one morning; went out there and called over her the name of the Lord Jesus, and about a few days later, in a cold winter time, I baptized her in the name of the Lord Jesus, at the river; and she come down the road in the back of an old cattle truck, wet as she could be. She lives yet tonight, because Christ did it. First time I seen her in a many years. Looking around over the audience seeing it. God still lives. That's right. And He said, “Because I live, you can live also.”

Now I would like to just ... to kind of place to you what this is, because if I don't, then you might go away saying, “Well, I don't understand that.”

Now, my contentions is this, that Jesus Christ remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, if He is the same, He's got to be the same in every principle, the same in power, the same in might, the same in everything that He was. And when on earth here there was some Greeks one time who came and said, “Sirs, we would see Jesus.”

And I believe that that is the desire of every man or woman that ever heard of Jesus—wants to see Him. And if He isn't the same, then we cannot see Him; but if He is the same, we can see Him or He told something wrong. “Yet a little while and the world won't see Me no more. Yet ye shall see Me, for I (the personal pronoun) I will be with you, even in you to the end of the age.” And then Jesus promised to be in His church, doing the same things that He did then, until the age end.

Now He said, a little while the world won't see Him no more. Well then, how would we see Him? We'd have to see His Spirit, if He's in us, and that Spirit would have to do the same that He did then, or it wouldn't be the same Spirit. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” And if we bear ... if the branch is in the vine, the branch will bear the kind of fruit that the vine produces to it. When the first vine come forth.... The first branch that come out of the vine was a Pentecostal branch: visions, powers, healings, baptism of the Holy Spirit, great signs and wonders. The next branch will have to be the same kind of branch. On down to the end, it'll have to be the same; that's what Jesus said.

Now, let's see what He was yesterday. If we can find what He was yesterday.... (I'm taking a short cut because of time; going to give about five minutes of instructions.) And if we can see what He was yesterday, then we can see what He is today and will be forever. Is that fair enough?

Now, when He was here on earth, He came as the Messiah, was baptized by John the Baptist (had done no works yet), and He entered His early ministry. Who was He sent to? The Jews.

Now we realize there is only three nationalities of people in the world. That's Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan, which is Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people—Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan. You remember, Peter called on them with the keys to the kingdom on the day of Pentecost (to the Jews): “Repent every one of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Philip went down and preached to the Samaritans. They all believed and repented and had been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, only the Holy Ghost hadn't come on them. Peter had the keys. He came down and laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

And then Cornelius (the Gentile) had a vision that he was to send and get a man called Peter (Simon Peter) that dwelt in a man's house who was a tanner. And when Peter came up there, while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them. Then said Peter, “Can a man forbid water? These have received the Holy Ghost like we got it at the beginning.” Every branch coming forth just the same, see.

Now when Jesus met.... Now, He did not come to the Gentiles. How many knows that? He forbid His disciples to go to any Gentiles. How many knows that? “Go not in the way of the Gentiles, but go, rather, to the lost sheep of Israel, and as you go, preach, saying, 'the kingdom of heaven is at hand'”—to the lost sheep of Israel.

Now, who was looking for Him to come in that day? Not the Gentiles; we were heathens, Anglo-Saxon. We were Romans, worshipping the sun and so forth. We wasn't looking for any Messiah. But the Jews and the Samaritans was. Now, how did He declare Himself to them people that was looking for Him? Let's go back now to St. John the 1st chapter, and just for a moment now and listen close.

The first Jew that was ever brought to Him.... When Philip ... or, Andrew got converted and went and found his brother, Simon Peter, he brought Simon in front of Jesus, and Jesus told him what his name was and what his father was. How many knows that? What do you think that done to that man that would later have the keys to the kingdom in his hand? That's what He proved Himself to be: Messiah. Quickly then, Philip got converted and went and found Nathanael. (That's thirty miles around the mountain.) And he come up to the house, and I can hear him say, “Oh, Mrs. Nathanael, where is Nathanael?”

“Oh, he's out in the olive orchard.”

Run out there real quick: “Nathanael, where are you?” And he found him under a tree, and Nathanael was praying. And he waited till he got through praying, and he said, not “How do you do, Nathanael? How's the crops doing?” Oh, he had a message! That's the way a man who's met Jesus has. He's got no time for foolishness. He said, “Come, see who we found: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!”

And now I can see Nathanael brushing off his clothes from prayer. He said, “Now Philip, I know you to be a good man and an honest man. Now, could there be any good thing come out of Nazareth? Why, you know if the Messiah would come, He'd come to Jerusalem, to the church.” (That's what people think today, see.) “He'd come through Jerusalem. Caiaphas never announced it at the last meeting. So none of the theologians announced it. So I've known you to be an honest man. Have you went off on the deep end?”

“Oh no, you come find out.”

He said, “Could anything good...?”

He gave him the best answer any man could, said, “Come see for yourself.” Now, on the road around, I can hear Nathanael say ... or, Philip say to Nathanael, “You know what, you remember that old fisherman down there that couldn't even sign that receipt when you give him that ... bought them fish from him?”

“Yes.”

“I believe his name was Simon.”

“Yes, that's it.”

“I brought him the other day up in front of that Messiah, and as soon as He seen him, He said, 'Your name's Simon. Your father's name is Jonas.' And it wouldn't surprise me but when you come before Him, He wouldn't tell you who you were!”

He said, “Ah now, wait a minute, not me.”

So, the next day they arrived, and Jesus was in the prayer line, as usual, praying for the sick. And when he could, he come up and got out into the audience. Jesus looked up, and He seen Philip coming, bringing a man up through the aisle, and He looked at him, and He said, “Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”

Ain't that a strange doctrine? That was Jesus yesterday. That's Jesus today if He's the same. And that man stopped. I can see Nathanael ... Philip nudge him, and say, “What did I tell you? What did I tell you?”

He said “Rabbi....” (means “teacher,” whatever we call it today, you know. Really the right Hebrew word means “teacher”), said, “Rabbi, when did you ever see me? How do you know anything about me? I never seen you in my life. How do you know that I am an Israelite? How do you know that I'm just and honest and truthful? You've never seen me in your life. How do you know me?”

He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you”—thirty miles around the mountain, the day before; what eyes!

Now, what did he say? He said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”

If the Jews recognized that.... Now wait, that was the elected Jew. How many believes in election? Oh, there's many people that will never receive it, see. The Bible said so. But that man had the Spirit of God in him, and he confessed it; said, “Rabbi, You're the Son of God; You're the King of Israel.”

But, there stood the theologians of that day, the priests and the great teachers listening at Him, and you know what they said? They said, “He's a fortune-teller. He's got the spirit of Beelzebub on Him.”

They never spoke it out loud. No, no; but Jesus turned and looked at them. He said, “You can call Me that and get by with it, but there'll come a time that when the Holy Ghost will come, and when you speak one word against Him doing the same thing, it'll never be forgiven in this world or the world to come.”

So then, what are we dealing with?

That was the Jews. The real true and honest Jews believed Him to be the Messiah. The teachers and theologians, what were they?—the seed of the serpent, as we went through. He said, “You are of your father, the devil.” Yet, they were smart, brilliant, holy men. They wouldn't move a straw—holy. They wouldn't break the Sabbath; they wouldn't eat no meat. They were holy men, but they failed to see.... See, they had been trained by men. God trains His men rugged. That's right. God-called men!

Then one day He had.... That's what the Jews thought. That's the way He made Himself known to the Jews. How many knows that's the Scripture? All right. Now, if He made Himself known to the Jews, that was Jesus yesterday with the Jews. Now you said, “The Samaritans was looking for Him to come.” Yes, they were, but not the Gentiles; just the Samaritans.

And when He first met the Samaritans.... He had need to go by Samaria, and He stopped and sent His disciples away for food about twelve o'clock; He set down on a well. Out come a woman. Now, we know her in this land to be a woman of ill-fame, a street lady, you know, prostitute. And so, she come out and started to let the bucket down in the well to get some water, and she heard a voice saying, “Woman, bring Me a drink.”

And she looked around, and there sat a middle-aged Jew. He was only thirty something, but the Bible said He looked fifty. They said, “You're a man not over fifty years old and said that you've seen Abraham.” He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He must have looked kind of old because of His work—His human body.

And she looked around, she knowed He was a Jew. She said, “Sir, it's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans such things as that. We don't have any dealings with one another.”

He said, “Woman, if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask Me for a drink. And I'd give you water you don't come here to draw.” What was He doing? Contacting her spirit, see. Watch; He's going to declare Himself to the Samaritans, now.

And she said, “Why, you say 'worship at Jerusalem'; we say 'in this mountain.'”

He said, “The time is coming, and now is, when you're not in this mountain or at Jerusalem—worship God—, but in the Spirit and truth, The Father seeketh such.” What was He doing? Catching her spirit.

And after awhile when He found where her trouble was.... How many knows what her trouble was? She had had five husbands, and she was living with the sixth one. So, He said, “Woman, go get your husband and come here.”

She said, “I don't have any husband.”

Said, “That's right. You've had five and the one that you now live with is not yours.”

She stopped and looked at Him. Now, she didn't say, “You are Beelzebub, sir. You are a fortune-teller.” She knowed more about God than half the preachers of Jeffersonville. That's right—being a prostitute. She said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” Watch: “A prophet,” and if you'll run that word back, you'll find it “the prophet” that Moses spoke would come, see. “The Lord, your God, shall rise up a prophet liken unto Me.” She said, “I perceive that You are a prophet.” She knowed that He didn't know that no other way—couldn't know it. Said, “I perceive that you are a prophet.” (Now, listen here.) “We, the Samaritans, (not Jews now, Samaritans) we know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things.” See what kind of a sign they were looking for? The sign of the Messiah. “When the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things, but who are you?”

He said, “I am He that speaks to you.”

And she dropped her water pot and run into the city and said, “Come see a man that told me the things that I've done. Isn't this the Messiah?”

If that was the sign of the Messiah then, it's got to be the Messiah's sign today. Now remember, not one time was that miracle ever performed before a Gentile. It was forbidden. Why? The Gentiles had two thousand years of “churchology.” But now the end of the Gentile dispensation is here, and Russia (the Communists) has a bomb pointed right toward you to end it too. Don't worry, it's coming. The Bible said so. It'll be here with your name wrote on it. It'll go into powder in one second's time—the whole nation. It'll be completely annihilation.

Notice. That's God doing that. I know they're liberty monarch, they're a bunch of heathens, but didn't God raise up heathen nations to straighten out Israel in days gone by? The Bible claims that Russia and communism is playing right into the hands of God to absolutely rid the earth of the people, but before that can take place, the rapture comes and takes the church home, before that can take place. And if that is so close at hand, how close is the rapture? Closer than that.

So, you see why I'm preaching the way I do, why I'm struggling as hard as I can, why God is doing everything that He can do to press that into the elect to draw the seed of the woman out, so the seed of the serpent can take the punishment. That's exactly right. That's what He promised to do.

Now if Jesus declared Himself before the Jew and before the Samaritan by them signs and will let us go without declaring the same sign to us, He's unjust. If He lets us just get by saying, “We're Methodist;” “we're Baptist;” “we're Catholic;” we're Presbyterian;“ no, sir. If He lets us get by with a cold theology.... He has to come with signs, wonders, just like He did in the first place, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We have arrived at that day. We're here now. By the Bible, by the witness, by the Spirit, by science; everything proves that it's here. Oh, I wish I had the strength to push that into the people to let them see it!

You people here in Jeffersonville are my people. I've been raised with you. And I love you. Don't think me to be a fanatic. You think these predictions are.... Look back at the thirty-seven flood, you people, when you laughed right here at the church when I said there'd be twenty-two feet over Spring Street, six months before it happened. Tell me one time that anything was ever said of “Thus saith the Lord” that wasn't exactly the truth. Tell me one thing He's ever said. Never; it's truth. And it still remains the truth, and it'll always be the truth.

Now we can't bring.... I guess there's hundred or more people here to be prayed for. We can't bring them all at once. We will bring what we can at a time and then keep bringing them till we get them all here.

Now, I'm going to start into, I believe.... Wasn't Billy Paul here? Is he back in there? Tell him to come out here. I want to see if he give out.... Did you give out ... what prayer cards? Q's. Prayer card Q. Look on your prayer card. It's got a Q, one to one hundred. All right, we can't bring them all up at one time, but we can bring just a little at a time until we can get them all up here. We want them to come one by one until they're all prayed for.

Now look, I want everybody inside and out to think of this and the closing of this meeting. I'm committing this church over to the pastor, Brother Neville; committing you to him and him to God, Brother Neville here. I invite all of you back. Brother Neville is a gallant soldier. He's a real servant of Christ, a former Methodist preacher, I believe a student from Asbury, and he's been trained in all the theologians, theological seminary, with experience of what they teach. But one day he come to a place to where he knowed he had to have something different, and he crossed the line. He's the pastor here, a man filled with the Spirit, a real preacher, a real theologian, and I ask you, the people of this city and this community, if you have no church, and you want to hear the real Gospel, come hear Brother Neville. He stands for this same thing that I do. Absolutely, a real gallant soldier. We all here love Brother Neville. He's been here with us a long time, and we love him.

Now, if Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, will return here tonight and do the same things that He did when He was here on earth to the Jew and the Samaritan, if He will do the same thing to you Gentiles, how many of you will say, “I will believe Him with all my heart and accept it right here”? I don't care what church you belong to. That has nothing....

You say, “Do you want me to quit going to the Methodist church?”

“No, sir.”

“Baptist?”

“No, sir.” You go anywhere you want to, for God's got children in every one of them churches. Certainly He has, and you, perhaps, are one of them. And I love you, just the same as if you was a member of the Branham Tabernacle. Doesn't make one speck of difference to me. You know that by my ministry everywhere. I believe God loves His children no matter what kind of a brand they're holding. It's what you are in your heart, but we just invite you to the fellowship. You're welcome to come.

Now, anyone knows ... and you people of Jeffersonville know, after all the many things that's been said and done, and predicted, every one of them coming to pass just as perfect as.... How many here in Jeffersonville knows that to be the truth? Raise up your hands, that knows around here now. Now, you people out-of-town, you see what I mean? How many out-of-towners that's ever been in my meetings and see that it happens just exactly the way it said, raise your hands to the Jeffersonville people. See? The Bible said, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.” Around the world it's been. Then, what are we waiting on? We've got everything right in our hands by the Lord Jesus. He's given us all things freely.

Now, we will start the prayer line, and if Jesus Christ will perform here tonight.... Now, how many of you know about the picture of the Lord Jesus, that light? All of you know about it, practically. It's in Washington, DC taken by the best man that Edgar Hoover has had in the past few years, George J. Lacy, on fingerprinting document. We got his signature right on the paper that the actually.... He said, he'd once thought it was psychology; I was reading people's mind. He said, “But Mr. Branham, the mechanical eye of that camera won't take psychology.” Said, “The Light struck the lens.” And we've got it all wrote out on paper, (goes out with the picture); the light struck the lens.

How many's still living, when it first appeared before man kind down here on the river when I was baptizing them hundreds down there that day, in the building?—raise up your hand. There's three or four hands—still living from years ago—down here on the river when it come down, and the message of the Lord came. Still just the same. Did it do just what it said there?—that the ministry I would be preaching would start a revival around the world just before the second coming of Christ. Look what it's done, see. There come out of there Oral Roberts and all these others, see. And around the world it's went—every nation, every people, every language. The revival fires are burning, great healing services, see. Now, be ready. Inside, outside, wherever you are, receive Christ, will you, tonight?

Now, from henceforth, I commit myself to the Lord Jesus, that I might be able to yield myself to the Spirit to only magnify Jesus Christ, not myself, but Jesus Christ, that these people, my people, my friends, in and out of the city might know that the Gospel that I have preached is absolutely the truth and Christ is here to vindicate it to be truth by His Word and His Spirit.

We'll have to call them just one at a time. So we'll have to... We'll start with number 1, Q-number-1, who has it? If—if you can't raise up now, the elders will pack you. We want to get every one of you. Q-number-1... Brother Hickerson, Billy Paul... Or wait, Doc's going to help him here. Q-number-1, would you raise up your hand, ever who has it? Are you sure that was Q, or... Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. All right, come right up. Show him how through the aisle there. Q-number-1...

All right. Number 2, raise your hand, please. All right, a lady setting way back in here. All right, lady, come, make your way right out over here if you all will let her. The boys there will help you, the ushers and so forth.

Q-number-3, raise up your hand. Number 3, would you raise your hand, ever who has Q-number-3? See if this lady going here, if she has the card. You—you don't have it? [The lady wants to give her card to someone else—Ed.] You—you can't do that. No, you have to hold it and listen to the instructions. We'll get the baby anyhow. See? You just come when your number's called. The baby can come when it's called. See? It's all right.

Number 1, 2... Who has number 3, raise up your hand. Number 3, number 4. Well, that's mighty lovely of you sister, ever who that was, that lady that wanted to do that. See? But, see, if—if they're number's called, they'll come just in... If they're not called, we get them anyhow. See, we want you just in your place, so you can have your place too. You see, see?

All right, number 3, number 4, number 5, Q-number-5, raise up your hand: way back, a young woman. Number 6, all right, the young man. Number 7, the man right here. Number 8...

We have to do this. You see, you can't do it; you just get all jammed up. You say everybody wants to be prayed for. Let me show you something, if you want to see why we have to line them up.

Everybody in here would like to come up and be prayed for, raise up your hands, everybody, no matter who you are. Looky there. Who's going to come first? See? There has to somebody.

Billy comes down here, takes these cards, and mixes them all up before you, and he gives anybody a prayer card that wants one. You might get 5, 6, and sometimes we start somewhere else. And it don't make any difference where we... It's... And then them out in the audience really get healed before these on the platform sometimes. How many knows that, both strangers and... Why, sure, has nothing to do with it.

Number 6, that one come? Number 7, number 8, who has prayer card 8? Already got it? Number 9? 8, number 8, we want you get it now. Maybe somebody outside, if they are, somebody raise their hand or some somebody outside who couldn't get in. Number 8? Brother Collins, is there anybody back there, prayer card number 8 trying to get in? All right, prayer card number 8. All right number 9. Prayer card 9, raise up your hand. Maybe they went out, couldn't get in. If they come in, put them in the line.

Number 10, raise up your hand. The man way back in the back. Come, sir. Glad to see you called into, standing back there, limbs cramping and... Number 10, number 11, raise up your hand ever who has prayer card Q-number-11. All right, 11, 12, Q-number-12, way... All right, 12, 13, 13, just raise up your hand, please so I can see you. Prayer card 13, Q-13? 14, 14, 15... How many cards you give out, Billy. Hundred? 13, 14, and 15 is missing. Prayer card 13, 14, and 15, are you here? 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20? Q first, then they get J, and then just go on down the line. I think they're trying to get these through first, they... After we call that, we'll get into the others just as we come.

What say? That's it. You see, we give the cards out this morning, and the people didn't get back maybe. See? All right. Let's start on that little... How... You're just about level with your line there now? All right.

Now, who has 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 in Q's? 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, now just be ready just as soon this over. We got a line full here now, and then we'll come right to them. Go right on down the line then jump right into the—the rest of the cards is J's where we left off, and right on down till we get to the end of them out.

Now, just be real reverent for a few moments. Now, I wish we had seating room. I wish there was some way that I could do that, but we haven't got it. But...

Now, I want you to be just as reverent. Now, it's early yet. It's ten minutes 'til nine. The service will be out in another half hour; so this is the closing of the service. And so now be real reverent; be real quiet; don't move around. And how many in here does not have a prayer card and yet you want to be prayed for? Raise up your hands. Well, they're just everywhere. Now, if you don't have a prayer card, I want to give you some Scripture.

One time our Lord was going over to raise up a little dead girl, which wasn't dead, yet. That's Zacchaeus's daughter. And a woman said in her heart, “I believe him to be a holy man; I believe Him to be the Messiah,” and she'd had a blood issue for many years and she slipped through the crowd and touched His garment. Ever read the story? And Jesus stopped and said, “Who touched Me?”

And Peter rebuked Him and said, “Well, all of them is touching You. Why do You say, 'Who touched Me?'”

He said, “I have gotten weak; virtue (strength) has gone from Me.” See what it does to you? Visions—“I have gotten weak; strength has gone from Me.” And He looked around over the audience until He found the woman. She was scared. She thought she'd done something wrong. But He looked at her and He told her about her blood issue and said, “Thy faith has saved thee.” How many knows that's the truth?

Now to you Bible scholars. Does the Bible say that Jesus Christ, right now, is a High Priest, our High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities? How many knows that? Well, if He is a High Priest, now, that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, how would He act if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? He'd have to act the same way He did then. Is that right? Well now, He hasn't got a corporal body now, for it's at the right hand of God. But He has our bodies that He works through, and it's His Spirit working through us, like He said it was: “I will be with you, in you; the works that I do, shall you do also. More than this shall you do, more for I go to the Father.” He'd stand in our place, see. But He would anoint us with the Spirit.

Now, you out there in the audience, you just look this a-way and just don't look at me as Brother Branham. You just say, “Lord Jesus, You're a High Priest and You're in this building and I want to touch You with my infirmities.” Tell Him “I'm sick, and You confirm it with me, and just let Brother Branham turn around like, by Your Spirit, and tell me like You told that woman; that'll settle it.” I challenge your faith in the name of the Lord, to do that.

Now, see if it's right or not. You ask God that and see if it comes out just that way. Now, be just real reverent.

Now you can bring your patients or ... was this the man? All right. First thing in the line, this part of the line....

Now, there's a lot of people in here; we try to keep the people away (the Jeffersonville people), just let.... The out-of-town people are pressing to get in, because in this kind of a line, if the persons was from here around Jeffersonville, they'd say, “Why, Brother Branham knows them people. Sure, that's what it is.” But of course, they've never been in Africa and India and Asia and Europe and all around the world in other places. But I don't know that....

I believe all these people in this line here now looks to me like they're strangers to me. Are you all strangers to me? Just raise up your hands if you are. All right, that's good. How many out in the audience are strangers to me or you know I don't know what's wrong with you—just anybody, don't matter who it is? Sure you do. But He does. Now, I don't say that He will, but if He will, then that makes Him present right here.

Now, this man here, I believe, raised his hand that he and I were strangers to each other. We are strangers. I've never seen the man in my life. He never saw me in his life till just now. We come into the building and we've seen each other now for our first time.

Now, here is a perfect picture of Philip getting Nathanael, and Nathanael coming before Jesus. Now, not that he's Nathanael, or me Jesus. Now, don't think that. But it's years later by a promise that was made then. And here's two men that's never met in life, just like them two men were then. And if Jesus remains the same, he can yield his spirit to faith and I can yield my spirit to faith, to Christ, by a divine gift of the Holy Ghost, that can perform the same miracle. Is that right? And it's supernatural.

Say, “A miracle?”

Well, how would I know it if I've never seen him? Here's my hands. We've never met before. Here we stand for the first time. God knows him; I don't. Now remember, be praying for me.

Now sometimes in these.... The time the Spirit anoints, and been doing it so much now, till it's kind of ... well I just want you to sit still. Be real reverent; watch; be in prayer.

Now, I just want you, sir, not knowing you, but you're here for some reason I don't know. But whatever it is, and the Lord Jesus will tell me what you want of Him without you telling me, that would make Him just what I said He was: the same yesterday, today, and forever. You believe that? All right. He believes that. And now the audience believes that. And the Lord has said He would do it, in His Bible.

Now, here's where I'm found either telling the truth with God's Bible, or the Bible's promised something that it can't stand behind, or I'm a hypocrite; one or the other, see. That's right. See where you put yourself? I've did that before many, many thousands of people, critics and all. But I know that He promises, and He keeps His promise.

I see it begins right here now. I see people around you on the platforms. And in outside meetings we never have nobody around, see. There's sick people here. Just as soon as it starts, you can feel it. It's the Holy Spirit. Be real reverent now; just reverent, now, as we can speak.

Yes, sir, the Lord Jesus loves both of us, for we're two men which He died for. And our first time meeting ... and if you're in need, God is able to supply that need, because He promised He would. But now the man, if honest in his heart, he's aware that something's going on. He can't just exactly think what it is. But that Angel that you see on the picture is coming nearer and nearer to the man, and he's fading away from me. And the man is suffering with a heart trouble, and he has diabetes. That's right. That's “thus saith the Spirit.” If that's right, raise up your hand.

Now, if I never seen you, how would I know anything about you? Some way, the same way He knew there. Is that right? Does the audience believe that? Now, why not just take our time just a little bit so that you'll see that it just wasn't a guess something. Let's take something else, and just see if the Holy Spirit would reveal something else to us. Let's just talk to the man standing there, just a minute. Maybe there's something else in his life, maybe something else wrong with him; I don't know. I really don't know what I said. I'd have to see it on the recorder here because see, it's a vision; you see where he was at. Yes, I see it now; it's something about his blood. It's sugar; yes, diabetes. He's got sugar diabetes, and it's developed to a heart trouble which is caused a nervous heart. He's had that for some time. And he's not from this city, but he's from Indiana, from a place ... near a place called like Borden; I see Borden. You're from Borden. That's “thus saith the Lord.”

And there's something wrong in your life. Here's another thing. I see a woman appearing here in the vision, because you're in.... It's your wife, and she needs some healing. And she suffers with some kind of a coughing.... It's asthmatic, she has.

And you have something wrong in your life that you've been trying to do. By faith, you're Pentecostal, because you see at a Pentecostal meeting where they're shouting and clapping their hands. And you're trying to lay down.... You smoke. That's what you're trying to get rid of: smoking cigarettes. That's exactly right, that's “thus saith the Lord.” That's the truth, isn't it? You believe He's here now, present? Are you ready to accept your healing? Let's bow our heads.

Lord God, who raised up Jesus Christ Who is present now, this man, Lord, who is here for the blessings of God to rest upon him, we pray that You will give him the desire of his heart, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Return to your home, find it just as you have believed. That's the way it's going to be. God bless you.

Do you believe? The Almighty God Who wrote this Bible, Whose Spirit is present, know that I never seen the man in my life, knowingly, till this very minute. But I know one thing: the Holy Spirit is right here. I don't know what He will do, but I know that He is here.

Is this the lady? All right. Are we strangers to each other? You saw me at meetings, but I don't know you. That's right. All right, then you're here for some purpose. Now the woman might be here.... She may be a Christian; she may not. She may be a critic. If she is, just watch what happens, see. And I don't know what she's for.

My mother's sitting somewhere in the building, an aged woman. Would you think I'd try to harm that poor thing? You think I'd come to her as a deceiver? I certainly wouldn't. I'd rather just walk off the platform and go home. I done preached the message, but that's not all goes with the message. Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Don't care what the world says about it; we got to stand for it anyhow. God said do it.

Not knowing you, and of course you sitting in the meeting perhaps where there's hundreds and hundreds of people, I'd have no way of knowing you. But here's the picture now of St. John four: a man and a woman meeting for the first time, our Lord and the woman of Samaria meeting again. Now they talked. He contacted her spirit, knowed what was wrong with her, and told her, and she recognized Him to be the Messiah. Would you do the same thing? You would. Will the audience do the same thing—every woman out there? May God grant it.

Yes, the woman is suffering with a nervous condition. She's had that for a long time, many years back. I can see her yet as a young woman, but that's not the main thing she wants me to pray for. It's arthritis that's crippled her up. That's what you want me to pray for.

Now, do you believe? Let's talk to her a little more. May the Holy Ghost grant this. The woman is actually of a foreign ascent. Her name is Hansen. That's true. Norwegian or Swedish, one. You're not from this city. You're from a place called Canton. And that's in a great country where there's a lot of wheat, and it's Minnesota. That's where you're from. That's true. Now go back home; you're healed. Jesus Christ makes you well. Tell the people what good things the Lord has done to you.

I do suppose that we're strangers to one another. I don't know you, but the Lord does know you. You're here for some purpose I do not know. But if the Lord Jesus will reveal to me what you're here for, you'll know whether that's the truth. If I come here and said, “You're sick, woman.” Sure, you're standing in the prayer line and that shows you're....

Your examination shows that you got something wrong with the liver. He said it was cirrhosis. That's right. (Just talk to her a minute.) Do you believe that the Lord Jesus that talked to the woman at the well is the same Jesus today? You do? Seem to have a fine spirit. You're not from here. You come from the east, from Ohio. That's right, Dayton, Ohio, to come here. That's right. I see a.... You're praying for somebody else; that's a boy. He's got heart trouble. He has ulcers, also—a nervous type of boy. That's right. And you're praying for his soul, because he's unsaved. That's “thus saith the Lord.” That's true, isn't it? [It's my son.] You're healed. Go on back. Tell him to be of a good courage, Jesus Christ....

Not knowing you, lady. Not knowing you, God does know you. If God will tell me what's your trouble, you believe me to be His servant just vindicating Him? See, what I want to do is get these people that's coming up in the prayer line to see that He's here.

Something happened in the meeting. There's two women standing there with both glasses. Somebody touched Him with the feeling of their infirmities. If I can just see the woman.... Your ear trouble; it's gone now. Look at the lady, how much she looks like this one. They were standing there. I could see them, but one was doing this, and there was nothing to this one. The reason of it is, this woman's standing for somebody else. That's right. And that woman's your neighbor, and she's got arthritis, and you're standing for her. And I see you praying for her, because she's not saved, and you're praying for her. That's a gallant thing. Put that handkerchief on her, that you have in your hand. Tell her not to doubt and to surrender her life to Christ, and her arthritis will leave her.

Weeping for it, Sister.

Do you believe God? Do you believe me to be His servant? Do you believe God can tell me what you're weeping about, and what your desire is? If you believe that, raise up your hand. Do you believe that rupture will leave him? If you'll believe it, it'll go. Just have faith. Just don't doubt.

How do you do? I guess we're strangers to one another. The Lord Jesus knows us both. You're a mighty young woman. But you're not here for yourself. A see a hospital coming up—a bed. That's your mother you're praying for. And she's shadowed with death. She's suffering with gall bladder, tumors, and.... She's got cancer, too. A black shadow of cancer. Take that handkerchief in which you're weeping over, lay it upon her. Call on the name of the Lord and don't doubt. If you won't doubt, God'll bring her out of there, and make her well. Don't doubt, now. Go in the name of the Lord and believe Him.

Are you convinced that Christ lives? There's something like.... Oh, it's a woman sitting right back behind there in that seat. She suffers with headaches, and she's been praying to the Lord, there trying to take care of that child. He heard you, Sister. It's all over now. Just stand up to your feet to give God praise for it, lady. Just give God praise for it.

See, what did she touch? She never touched me. But she touched that High Priest. I don't know the woman; I've never seen her in my life. But God healed her just then. Does that make Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever? Sure, it does. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe.

It hits the audience; somebody praying. See, it depends on where the strength is predominant. Where the Spirit ... I can only follow, and say as He says. I don't know.

What's the woman putting on her glasses from weeping. The reason she was weeping, because the Spirit's on her. There it is. That intestinal trouble that you've been suffering with, have faith, it'll leave you and never return.

I don't know the woman. I've never seen her. She never touched me; she touched the High Priest. If thou canst believe.

It struck another woman. I want anybody that wants to, look here. Look at the woman weeping. Look at the other woman sitting normal. Look at the other woman next to her weeping. She had heart trouble. A little lady sitting right there, looking at me with your frown.... Yeah, that's right. You had heart trouble, didn't you? It's gone from you. Your faith struck fire with God and you touched Him. Oh, this is wonderful!

See that lady sitting right there with her head down, praying. Gray-headed woman. Stranger to me sitting there. Yes, you turned around and looked at her. She's got gall bladder trouble. She's been praying for God to take it away from her. And you was praying then, “Lord, let him call me.” Right. If that's right raise up your hand. How did I know your prayer? It's gone from you. Your faith has healed you. Go home and be well.

Do you believe? If thou canst believe, all things are possible. But you have to believe.

Still moves in that district ... or, that setting in there.

Right here, second from the end, high blood pressure. If you'll believe with all your heart, Sister, it's over. Do you believe God? Take Him at His Word? All right. Raise your hand up. That's what you was praying for, “Lord, let him call me next with this high blood pressure.” I'm a stranger to you. If that's right, wave your hand. All right. It's gone from you. Go home and be well. Do you see what it is? It's faith, if you can believe it. Do you believe? See those people out there, no prayer cards or nothing. Are you ready to believe? Is that the way the Lord Jesus did when He was on earth?

Here. Is this one ... man come? All right. You don't know what that does to you all, to the Branham Tabernacle. Now, just look here on top of the hand. See? You know I don't get like that. What is it? The Spirit of the Lord. It's anointing. Many people don't understand what anointing means. They think it means to shout. That's joy. Power comes solemn. That's the joy of the Lord. This is the power of the Lord. Healing making well.

Look what it done to the little girl sitting the other night, crippled up. To the blind man, to the others, throughout everywhere.

How do you do, sir? I suppose we're strangers to each other. We don't know each other. I don't know you, and you don't know me? If that's right, raise up your hand. All right. Our first time meeting. Reverent now.

Here's the man and he and I ... much younger than I. With our hands up to each other before God that this is our first time meeting. Jesus knows the man. And there must be something wrong; he's standing there. I don't know. But if I've told the truth, which God has confirmed by many witnesses that I've told you the truth, that by His stripes you were healed. It's a past tense. You've got to get that rugged faith to climb above these things. Look at the cancer disappearing here tonight. Now, you just watch the testimonies come in from it.

Them black shadows for death. Your lovely doctor might've tried all he could do to save your life. But when God says anything, that's it. It wasn't me. I have nothing to do with it.

Now, there's about two hundred here to be prayed for. I want to rest just a minute now. Then we'll just start praying for the people. Bring them up. Not run them through a line, but stand here praying for them. I want to pray for everybody that wants to be prayed for. But through the audience, and those on the platform, I want you to recognize that Jesus Christ is here. Are you all aware of that? Everyone's aware of that.

Now, that it might be settled forever in your mind. This man and I here with our hands up to God. Our first time meeting. If He will speak the secret of his heart, just like He did to the woman at the well, or to Philip, or anywhere down through His ministry ... if He'll do that, will it confirm to you all that it's absolutely Him, the Lord Jesus?

Will it to you, sir? I have no way, no idea, what your trouble is. I don't know whether you are a sinner or a Christian. I could not tell you. He does. God does. But I can't tell you. But if He does tell me.... But you are a Christian. Because as soon as your spirit catches the anointing of this Spirit that's on me, it welcomes it. So I know you are a Christian. And you're under a deep shadow. It's something wrong with the blood. And you've been to doctors, and they're wanting to perform an operation. And that operation is.... I hear them, two doctors consulting each other, and they want to take out a organ out of your body, which is called the spleen. That's right. And you're not from this city. But you're from a great city where there's a great institution of some kind of religion. It's Wheaton. And your name is Carl Rhodes. Something like Carl Rhodes. All right, sir. If you will believe with all your heart, you can return to your home, and God will spare your life. Do you believe it? Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, I now cast away this evil from our brother. And in the name of Jesus Christ, may he live to the glory of God. Amen. God bless you, brother. On your road, rejoicing.

How many believes now with all your heart? Now, is that all that's going to be prayed for? All right. Well, your back trouble left you while you were sitting there. So you can go on your road and rejoice if you want to. Go on saying, “Thank the good Lord.”

You go eat your supper. Your stomach trouble left you coming in the line. So you can go have your way.... Just believe with all your heart.

Your arthritis won't bother you if you believe it. Just go right on rejoicing and praising God if you would.

All right. Do you believe with all your heart? How many believes God? Now, I'm just going to step here just a....