God Being Misunderstood

The Lord bless you. Pray for me. We had just a little shower, enough to cool off, in which we're grateful for, and I trust that we'll have one of the spiritual showers on the inside to kind of help us out a little bit.

I believe, Brother Neville, if we'll turn that around on you, how about that? Me speaking, I get a little . . . get that air on me and then I . . . this bald head of mine lets that come down and stop up my throat.

Now, I gave out some . . . for some questions tonight, and answers just to kind of. . . . The reason we do this is to kind of find out what's on the hearts of the people.

I think that's very good for a pastor to give out this, and then he finds out just about what the people's thinking about if they'll write their question if they have something. And I think every one of us is duty bound to expel our thoughts to our pastors and our spiritual leaders, and so forth, and anything that we see, that's so we can make everything run smooth and fine, for the kingdom of God's sake.

And then up till about a half hour ago I only had about two or three that Billy had picked up after the service this morning and he brought them up to me. And then I went in and studied on the Scripture, thought I'd speak then a little bit tonight, being I had mentioned it, of being up here. Then he called me a few minutes ago, said, “Just hold it, I got a handful now.”

So I'll try to get right in on these and answer them the best of my knowledge. And then if I get finished in time, I have a text I'd like to speak on for just maybe twenty or thirty minutes, just a short text.

And then, remember, if the Lord is willing, next Sunday morning I want to do my best, by the grace of God, to explain the seventy weeks of Daniel. As I said this morning, it's a great scripture. And it's not so much to speak on, but to place it where it belongs, to make it fit with the rest of the Bible.

And we have started from Revelation 1, got over in the sixth chapter. And, of course, we get in now to the seven last seals. And those seals will run from the last part of the sixth chapter, unto the nineteenth chapter, inclusive. So it would take a long time. Now, I could take, say, seven nights, and run the seven seals, opening them up. But if you do it that way, then the people will miss the great part back here that fills in this. And if they're not really taught, it might not be good. But the first three or four of them is just happenings that we could take all right, just coming right in a row; but the next of it, then you have to go back into Daniel again, come back over into Genesis, go back over into Revelation, come back down into the Gospels, and just weave it in there, because it's the trace of Israel, God dealing with Israel. For when the church goes up, that's the last of the church until she comes with her Lord as bride and bridegroom in the nineteenth chapter; during this time it's dealing with Israel. And to get the seventy weeks of Daniel in now, it sets the picture for this coming opening—first seal.

Then I thought, the Lord willing, next Sunday I'd speak on that. If I don't get finished Sunday morning, then I'll try it Sunday night again. And that would open the way then, if the Lord should lead us. We wouldn't have to stop with that part, we'd go right straight on into the seven seals and just carry it on, as long as we seen the Lord leading.

Now, tonight we've got some questions, and they're all sensible, reasonable questions. There was one here that I'd like to speak of first, just a moment. It was someone asked. . . . It's not a question. It's just someone asked me: “Where are my keys? Please tell me. They had lost them this afternoon.

Now, I tell you, a few weeks ago, about. . . . A few days ago I was here at the Tabernacle. I used to go into prayer and wait on the Lord and find out where those things were for the people. I have found people's cars. The Lord would speak to me, where the people would. . . .

Brother Welch Evans come up here and lost his car. Somebody stole it in Louisville. He and Brother Fred Sothmann and some of the brethren. . . . Brother Tom Simpson, I believe, was along that day. Or . . . wasn't you, Brother Tom? And they come up to the house. And there was Brother Evans—without a car, without clothes, everything that he had was in that car. And they pulled in over at Miller's and somebody took it.

Well, we got a racket, or ring, in Louisville, where they pull these cars off, and they'll run them down to Bowling Green, or somewhere like that, and re-spray them. And in Kentucky you don't have to have a title, anyhow, to your car, and they can change those cars in a few minutes and sell them any way they wanted to.

Well, Brother Evans with his little car and all he had in it—and the Lord gave me the answer for it. And before they even got home, the car was sitting out here about half empty of gasoline, where He turned them around on the road to Bowling Green, and brought them back; and set the car right back out there with everything in it, not a thing missing, just what gas they'd used.

Many times people have said that . . . certain things, and they'd ask. And I'd go before the Lord and wait for those visions, now, waiting till they come. But I find out that that has brought a great stumbling block before the people. Really, the people of America are not ready for such a ministry, the churches. That's right. It's beyond their time, see. And it causes everything. Some call you a devil, some call you a spiritualist, some call you a son of God, a god, and everything, see. So I just promised the Lord that I'd let it go, and just wait and use that ministry in Africa, or on personal interviews when I have them here.

Now, we're here for personal interviews. That still goes on such things. But in . . . a way to obtain them is not come through the church. You go to our secretary, or my son, Billy Paul, and he'll give you a little . . . a ticket, tell you just when it's to be and so forth. And anything like that, that's on personal interviews. Here or in the field, can only come through that way. There's a board of it published, or a book, or a note on the bulletin board there, of how to do this. But just to come up here to the platform. . . .

Now, we have gifts in the church. We have Brother Neville here who has received a gift of prophecy. Brother Higginbotham sitting here, who has a gift of speaking with tongues and interpreting tongues. I would advise you. . . . I'll pray that God will give you your keys. But I advise, maybe, that if the Holy Spirit would speak tonight, maybe, through Brother Neville or Brother Higginbotham, or some of these gifts in the church, (that we got some questions on in a few minutes), that maybe they could do that.

But, for myself, I made a promise to God, no more in America in public meetings, see, because it just caused me to leave the field. And some will run you plumb out to be a devil; the others will make a god. And so you see . . . and they're just not ready for it. And so God cannot work that, and I'm sure the person that asked it will understand. Now, maybe the Holy Spirit yet tonight. . . . You just be praying. I'll pray that the Holy Spirit will show you right where your parcel is that you're waiting for. I pray that you'll find it, and I do believe you will find it, see.

And then, Billy Paul, if someone has such a thing like that, if they would call him, he would refer them to the church. I try to take the emergency cases when I'm at home.

Now, let us, now before we approach these questions. . . . First I want to say that any answer that's not according to your faith, or in the Bible, it's not according to the Word, then you don't have to receive it. And so that I can get down and maybe get to the text also tonight, I'd like to go along and answer them. And those I think that got scriptural to answer by, well, I'll answer them, everything that I can. But I just got them a few minutes ago, all but three. And neither three of those had any. . . . just little things about someone had dreamed a dream or something, wanting to know if they should tell it, or something another like that, you see.

So let us bow our heads now as we approach His mercy.

Lord, we are thy people that are called by thy name. We are so glad tonight to know that we have a heavenly Father who watches over us and cares for us, and loves us as His own dear children. And so I am happy, Lord, that I am numbered with these people, to be their brother, and they are my brothers and sisters. I am so grateful.

There is one, Lord, who has lost some keys. Thou knowest right where they are laying. I pray that You will reveal it and will bring them right straight to those keys. It's a precious thing to them, it's to their car. And I pray, Father, that You will grant this request to those people.

Now I pray that You will bless our pastor, our beloved Brother Neville. We're so glad to see You working in our midst in these great spiritual gifts in our church, the part of the body of Christ that is worshipping on this corner of Eighth and Penn. We are so glad to be numbered with that group of people, and to know that God reveals His secrets to His people. I pray that You'll bless Brother Neville, our pastor, and Brother Higginbotham, Brother Funk, Brother Junior Jackson, and our sisters, who are speaking with tongues and giving interpretations. We pray, Father, that You will continue to manifest Yourself through these great gifts, that our church might be known as a spiritual church, that where people that are weary could come and sit in the presence of Almighty God, and know He speaks and reveals the secrets of the heart.

And, Father, I pray that You'll bless us tonight in answering these questions. Some of them, Lord, are mild, and some of them are strong. To each one that asked the question, it's a strong question. It's something that's on their heart. They want it settled. And, Father, we are all insufficient of these duties, but we know that Thou art more than sufficient. So we pray that You will interpret these questions to us, that we might give the people the correct answer, that they might be helped and the church be magnified, God's name be honored.

Now, Father, if it's your will, I pray that You'll deal with us this week and will help me as I'm studying on that seventy weeks of Daniel, that I might be able next Sunday morning, if it be thy will, to open the Scripture to those people. God, grant it, that their souls might be refreshed. Teach those, Lord, who are seeking deep things. Save those who are lost. Heal those who are sick. We're all waiting on You, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, this first question is not exactly a question. It's just a little thing for. . . . Say, do I stand too close to this? Does that blur, back there in that back? If it does, raise up your hand.

QUESTION: “Brother Bill, please say something about both children and adults being so noisy in moving about during service. This Tabernacle needs some lessons in reverence.”

Amen! Children, do you not know how to obey yourself in the house of God? Do you not know this is the sanctuary of God? God is in His holy temple, let everybody keep quiet. It's the place of God where people are coming, meditating, trying to find salvation to the soul; trying to find the problems of the people's lives, trying to help someone. The least you can do is be reverent, be quiet. Get you a drink of water before church starts—I know little ones have to have drinks. Mothers that's got those little fellows, if you'd sit near the back, keep them just as quiet as possible. And there should never be a whisper, never one whisper. We're all guilty. But when that Bible is read and that minister enters the pulpit, we should be silent, waiting on the Lord. Now, please try to do that.

I know, you little fellows, you've got to squirm around a little. If you do, make it . . . just be real nice. And, you remember, mother don't want you to do that, and daddy don't want you to do that. And so. . . .

And I know, I got little ones, too, that squirm around. And Joseph . . . and Meda says, I don't get anything out of the service, trying to keep Joe quiet.“ Well, she's trying to do that so somebody else can get something out of the service, see.

And we always want to respect one another, honor one another, and above all things, honor God and honor His house.

Now, this next question is:

QUESTION: “The two children, aged six to eight years, were here at the altar this morning. How soon is it advisable to have them baptized?”

Just as soon as you can. “Repent immediately and be baptized,” that's in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, that's question number one. I would advise that. But we find out in the Scriptures. . . .

You say, “Is that scriptural?”

When Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were saved and baptized the very same time. “As many as believed on the Lord were baptized.” So as soon as you believe on the Lord and accept Him as your Saviour, go right straight to the water and make your confession, start right there—young or old, no matter who it is.

You say, “Well, these children might be very young.”

Jesus said, “Suffer little children to come unto me, forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of God.” I would daresn't put my hand upon a child that wants to come to the altar or be baptized, at any age. I don't care what age they are.

Now, question number two:

QUESTION: “A minister friend of ours baptizes in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Would we be held responsible for not telling him of his error?”

I believe, as a Christian, as a duty, and if he is a personal friend of yours. . . . Not to pick an argument with him. If you do that, then you're not right. Your spirit's not right. But if you love that brother, which you must, because you said, “A minister friend,” then. . . . (No names is signed to any of these notes. I do not know who they come from, these questions.)

Now, I would advise you, whoever it is, if this minister friend baptizes like this, and you visit his home and so forth, I would just mention the question some time. And that might give you. . . . Just talk up to it, just keep talking around, about, round about; and let the Lord open it up, and then it's the Lord telling you to do it, see. Just wait till the Lord opens up the question. Then you say to him, you say, “Brother, I just wonder, in the scriptures of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 2:38, and continuing on, is there some contradiction there? Could you explain why that one said here, 'Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,' and the other one said, 'The name of Jesus Christ'?”

Now, don't try. . . . If you're not really a student, and you don't know what you're talking about, better leave it alone, see. You just tell him, say, “Well, I wish you would come up. . . .” If he seems to be sincere, say, “Wonder if you'd meet our pastor, or someone, and discuss it?”

I tell you, it's a deep thing, see. Don't take is upon yourself, because you might wind yourself around. Now, if you know what you're talking about, and firmly settled and know the Scriptures, all right. But don't offend him, for whatever you do, don't offend him, see. Don't bring offense. Just tell him that. . . .

And, of course, he is in error. That's true. The man is in error when he baptizes like that. Any man that baptizes in the name of “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” is scripturally in error. That's right.

Question number three:

QUESTION: “In a statement of faith, they said, 'We believe in one God, eternal, existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19, 18 and 19; I Corinthians 13:14.' Should this not be three offices instead of three persons?”

You are correct. There is no three persons in the Godhead. And there cannot be a personality without being a person. It takes a person to make a personality. There is no three Gods. There is only one God, and that God is Jesus Christ. God is a Spirit that lived in Jesus Christ, and is living in His church, you and I, today, separating Himself to us in the form of the Holy Spirit, which is God Almighty, Himself, living in you.

Now, you are right, it is “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” is three offices of the same God, but not three Gods. That is scripturally wrong.

QUESTION: “Can a Christian go to heaven if he or she does not pay tithe?”

Now that's one that I could not answer scripturally.

Now, this “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” if the minister is sincere, just let us know, you see, we'd be glad. . . . Brother Neville and myself, or Brother Beeler, or Brother Collins, or any of these ministers here who are ordained to this ministry, and so forth, can do so.

Now, but now, does a Christian not get to heaven because they do not pay tithe? I could not say “yes” or “no” to that. But I do believe that every Christian is obligated to pay tithing because it is a commandment of the Lord. “And blessed are they that do all his commandments, that they might have a right to enter into the life, the tree of life.” Now, I do believe that tithe paying is essential to a Christian experience. For . . . I'll get to that in another question in a few moments. I know there's another one in here pertaining to that.

QUESTION: “Brother Branham, I am saved and have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, but how do I get away from a stubborn spirit that I can't seem to break away from?”

Well, my Christian brother or sister, whoever it may be, now, most times when you find people that's got stubborn spirits, it's usually a complex that causes this. Either they have inherited it from a mother, father, uncle, aunt, or grandmother, grandfather, somebody like that. . . . If you'll trace back down through your life, you'll find. . . . Now, I've taken this by experience, under discernment, because I have met cases on the platform, thousands of those that had that spirit. And the first thing you know, I'd trace that spirit right back by discernment, and find that there was a granddaddy, there was a grandmother, there was somebody else back down there, and you inherit that by nature.

Stubborn—stubbornness is not of God. And now the only way to get away from that is you have to have faith to overcome that. You are a Christian, you are a son or daughter of God, whichever you may be. And you'll never be able just to stand and rebuke it and rebuke it and rebuke it. It's just like tantalizing a rattlesnake. He's laying there ready to bite you. If you'll just ignore him and walk away from him, he can't hurt you, see.

So when you feel that you got a stubborn spirit, lay the thing on the altar, and believe God that the thing is dead and you'll never have it no more. And go on and don't even pay any attention to it no more, and the thing will leave you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you—that's, get away quickly. So that would be my advice how to overcome it. We overcome the devil by faith. That's what we overcome all evil, is by faith.

QUESTION: “Why do you baptize in the name of Jesus Christ in place of the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?”

Well, there is no such a thing as the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That's the reason. There was nobody in the Bible ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Every person in the Bible, or three hundred years this side the Bible, was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Not one apostle, not one Christian, not one time was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ever used for baptism until the Catholic church was organized at the Nicene Council, three hundred and six years after the death of the last apostle.

There is no such a thing as name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father is not a name, Son is not a name, Holy Ghost is not a name. It's three titles, three office titles to a name: Jesus Christ. So there-fore there is no such a thing as the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. And it's no. . . . There's no name to it, so I baptize in the name of Jesus Christ which is the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Clear?

QUESTION: “Some people say that Christ was in Hades before the resurrection. Is there scripture for this?”

Now, here's a scriptural question I'd like to answer you from the Scriptures, because they've asked, “Is it in the Scriptures?”

I would that you would turn with me to I Peter 3:18 and 20, you that wants to hear it, whether you asked the question or not, so that you won't have to take someone else's word. You may read it and find out whether this be true or not. We always want to stay with the truth, and where the Bible says it. And this dear person, whoever it was, has asked it as wanting to know for a reference from the Bible if this is so or not.

Now, we find this in . . . if I've got it. This old Bible is about tore up here. I've had it now for several years. If I can see if I got it in here, I think maybe. . . . Just one second, brother, I'm sure that's. . . . Let's see, it comes right after Timothy, Titus, Hebrews. Here we are. Yeah, I got it. Thank you. I Peter 3, the third chapter of I Peter. The third chapter, and let's begin with the eighteenth verse:

For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Now turn to Acts 2, Acts 2, and we'll take the thirtieth verse. In Acts 2, and this is the apostle Peter also speaking. Acts, the second chapter, and the thirtieth verse, I have written down here:

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had swore with an oath to him, that of the fruits of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption [Christ's body].

His soul descended into hell and preached to spirits, or souls that repented not in the long suffering in the days of Noah. His soul did descend into hell and He preached to spirits, and rose on the third day. That is scriptural—the truth. Now. . . .

QUESTION: “Were the five of the virgins lost?”

I presume that they are asking the question, the five virgins, the five wise and the five foolish. Now, if you were with us in the last teachings in Revelation, you find out there that those virgins, the five foolish virgins were not lost; but they were not permitted to go in to the wedding supper, but they suffered persecution and was martyred, and raised again at the general resurrection in the last day. Those are the people where He separated the sheep from the goats, see. They stood before judgment.

You say, “Well, Brother Branham, don't we stand, the church?” No, sir! We do not stand before the judgment.

We are now standing before the judgment. God put our sins upon Christ, and we . . . “He that heareth my word [St. John 5:24], and believeth on him that sent me, has eternal life, and shall not come into the judgment but has passed from death unto life.” No more judgment for the church. It's took up in the rapture, and comes back to pass judgment upon the people who did not receive the Holy Spirit. Does not Paul say that he dares any of us to take a matter to the court, to the unjust magistrates, when “know ye not that the saints shall judge the earth?” We will sit with Christ as judge, kings and priests, and judge these people that we preached to and told them about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and they refused to receive it. Think of it!

No, they were not lost, but they will never be in the bride. They will come in the second resurrection, but never be in the bride, and be judged according to the way they treated the light that they received. Now, that part will be up to Christ. They were not lost, though.

QUESTION: “Brother Branham, in the I Corinthians, chapter . . . the fourteenth, verse thirty fourth and thirty fifth, says, 'Let your women keep silent in churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak [thirty fifth], for it is a shame for women to speak in church.' Now, if a woman with short hair speaks in tongues in churches, in church, is it the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that speaks through her or is it a false spirit?”

Now, you are. . . . And this is a real hard question, and I can only answer it the best that I know how, see. Now, I could not judge, because I was not sent to judge. But I think there's so many times. . . . I got another question down here somewhere that goes right along with that. But if a person is speaking in tongues, they are anointed of God, see. They may be out of order, that may be true, and they may be doing something that's not right, but I wouldn't want to say that it wasn't the Holy Spirit, because I wouldn't know, see.

And now there's many times that people misjudge one another. And it is a bad thing to do. You say, “Why, she's got short hair, she's wearing her dresses too short, that's not the Holy Spirit upon her.” Don't do that! Don't do that, that's not right. You don't know what's in that woman's heart. You don't know nothing about it. You know that the Holy Spirit would make her conduct herself a little better. Now, that may be true. But I'll tell you, as you and I, let God do the judging of that, and let's you and I just pray for that person that God will show them the light.

Here some time ago a man met me out here, aside. And I had a pianist here that had a little, short, little skirt, and wasn't just exactly, I guess, just right. And the lady had short hair. And she was just a babe in this way. And she was playing the piano. And a man met me out there and just tearing me to pieces. He said, “And you're a Pentecostal preacher, and let that woman sit up there! That short hair!” And just going on like everything.

“Well,” I said, “I think the woman has a good spirit in her. I certainly do not agree with that.” (You know, the skirt part up here, the two pieces. One of them is down here and one is kind of up here. It's a shirt like they wear. And so it's real thin and shows that underneath garment that they have around there.)

I don't think that should be done. I don't like that, I really don't. I can't . . . they might be just as Spirit filled as anybody else, I don't know; God knows that. But I wouldn't condemn that woman and say that she was going to hell.

By the side, this same person had in his church a lady who had long hair and wore long dresses, and had a temper enough to fight a buzz saw, and just as mean as she could be. Now, long hair and long skirts don't take you to heaven. No, sir! It's the Spirit that's in you takes you to heaven. But if you as a Christian,

then you should. . . .

Remember that many times pastors don't mention those things and the people just automatically go on, think it's all right. But a pastor should really tear into that. And then the sisters of the church, those sisters who are in character standing, wearing their clothes neatly, they should be examples of sweetness, and motherly and sisterly like.

And I think that any woman that's motherly and godly and sisterly ought to go to such a person, and with sweetness of the Spirit, just sit down and talk to that lady. And if she is of God, the Holy Spirit will understand those things, and she'll correct herself. But when you real quickly condemn her and drive her away, you might harm that young born baby, see. So I wouldn't condemn the person.

Now, the person speaking with tongues. . . .

Now, I have to say something here that may be just a little strange, and if you don't agree with me, that's okay. You see, we misjudge these things so many times. Let's always try to think the very best of anybody who's trying to do what's right. Let's express our very best to them. They're trying. We don't know their heart, unless you have a discernment. And if they're wrong, then if you got. . . . The Bible said, “If a brother be overtaken in a fault, let them which are spiritual go to that brother in a spirit of meekness, considering your own self lest you be tempted, and see if you can't reconcile that person [see], back to God.” Don't say that they haven't got the right spirit, because. . . .

Listen, now I'm going to say something that's going to really stab you for a minute, so just sit still just a minute. The Holy Spirit can speak through a hypocrite. Exactly! I've seen it done, and I can prove to you by the Scriptures that that's right. I can prove to you by the Scriptures that demon powers take up those spirits and use them. Sure, they take up those gifts and use them. I've stood right . . . and seen devils speak in tongues and interpret it. And I've seen hypocrites take the genuine Holy Spirit and speak with it. That's the reason you can't say that speaking in tongues is the only evidence of the Holy Ghost.

Now, some time ago when I was first brought into Pentecost, I went to Mishawaka to Brother Rowe's tabernacle. There they were having a convention. It was the Jesus' Name people. Now, I did not agree with the Jesus' Name people. They're my brothers, but the reason I. . . .

They baptize for regeneration, in the name of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that. I do not believe that water saves you from sin. I believe it's the blood of Jesus Christ is regeneration. But the Oneness people baptize unto regeneration. The name of Jesus . . . just baptize them in Jesus' name, and they're saved, because he said “Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.”

But what comes first? Repentance, godly sorrow for your sins, then turn away. Then be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, it's all right. You've done all of this for remission of sins.

Now, and in there, there was several thousand people. In them days they had segregation in the North here . . . or, in the South. And they had to have it up here because many colored brothers was coming to this convention. It was the P.A. of W. and the P.A. of J.C. before the merging. And they was at Mishawaka, colored and white, all together. They couldn't have it in the South at that time. Well, I seen two white men sitting on the seat. I had never heard anything of these messages before in my life. And there those men would raise up and one speak in tongues and the other give the interpretation, and tell the people right in the meeting what was wrong with them, tell the people what they had done. Then this one would speak and the other one interpret. I thought, “My, I've dropped down here amongst angels.” Never heard of such a thing.

All night, in the corn field, I prayed. Well, since a little baby (I believe gifts and callings are without repentance), I've always been able to see visions. And the next morning they asked me to speak, and I did. Outside there was many people who came to me and invited me to their meetings, yet I was a Missionary Baptist. So I just went ahead and let it go like that. After a while I was anxious to get ahold of these two angel men. I never heard any. . . .

They'd turn white around the mouth, and raise up and speak with tongues. And the other one stand right up and say, “Thus saith the Lord, 'Jones over here, he did a certain thing, day before yesterday. When you walked around the house you picked up that pocketbook that belongs to this man, this man lost over here.' Thus saith the Lord, 'Take it back!' ”

“God have mercy on me, here it is.”

See, truth. Just say such as that, tell the people right out. I thought, “Oh, my, isn't that wonderful!” So, then I thought, “This is God!”

Well, then I got to one of those men, and while I was talking to him, I prayed, “God let me have that, ever what it is.” I didn't know what to call it, visions, I didn't know what to call it. And when that man come before me, and I caught his attention, just kept speaking to him till I caught his spirit, just like the woman did at the . . . Jesus did the woman at the well. Just kept talking till I caught his spirit. And he was a Christian, a real, genuine saint of God. I thought, “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

I met the next man coming around the corner, about a half hour later, and I talked with him. And if I ever talked to a hypocrite, he was one of them. His wife was black headed, and he was living with a blond and had two children by her; and yet speaking with the same Spirit this man was speaking with, and giving the same interpretations, just exactly right. Then I knew.

Before my conversion, I had an experience of one time going into a witch camp with Indians. They're devil dancers. Take a snake and wrap it around them, and do the corn dance, and speak in tongues and interpret it, and tell exactly the truth what's sitting amongst the people. And seen a witch take a pencil and lay it down, and see that pencil rise up and write in unknown tongues, and interpret it and tell the people exactly what was going on out through there. In a spiritualist's meeting!

So I said, you see, “I've got amongst devils,” and I left the whole thing go.

So one day up at Green's Mill, I had been up there praying in my cave, not for that, and I come out and laid my Bible down. It was musty back in the cave and I wanted some sunlight, and it was in the afternoon. And I come out and laid my Bible down. I was going to read a little while, out on the log that lays kind of down the hill. And I just laid the Bible down, I started reading. And the wind blowed, and blowed it over to Hebrews, the sixth chapter. I thought, “Maybe the Lord wants me to read that.” I read it.

“We which were once enlightened, made partakers of the Holy Ghost, seeing we fall away . . . to renew ourselves again unto repentance. The rain bringeth forth the . . . earth bringeth forth fruits and the rain is sent to water it, and thorns and thistles which is nigh unto rejecting, whose end is to be burned.” Something on that order.

Well, I read it and I thought, “Well, praise the Lord.” Turned it over to another one. I thought, “Well, I'll just read somewhere over in here somewhere else.” Laid it down like that. Wiped my eyes, the wind blowed it back to Hebrews 6 again. Well, that happened three or four times, as many as three, anyhow. I thought, “I don't see nothing wrong with that. What's in there?”

Just let me. . . . You've read it many times, Hebrews 6, “Thorns and thistles. The rain cometh oft upon the earth to water it, to dress it [see], for its fruit. But thorns and thistles which is nigh unto rejection, whose end is to be burned, to be gathered and burned.”

I couldn't get nothing out of that. I thought, “Well, thorns and thistles will be burned, when God takes His wheat to the garner. That settles it, so I don't see nothing about that.”

I was sitting there, I was looking out like that, and a vision came before me. And I seen a world turning like this, and it was all disked up ready to be planted. And a man with a white robe on—head bent down into a feed sack, or a seed sack, rather—he was going along. And I don't know whether any of you remember the old broadcast system, how you. . . . I seen papa do it. Throw it with his hands like that, and they'd just fall on the grounds, the seeds like that. Well, this man was throwing seeds like that. And as soon as he went along, up behind him come wheat coming up.

Well, as soon as he went around the curvature of the earth, I seen a black something coming up, like a black moon. And I looked, and it got closer, it was a man, solid black, dressed in black. He was slipping along, looking like this. And he had a seed sack, only in there he had weeds. And he was sowing them amongst this wheat like that, throwing it first one way and the other. And behind him come up weeds—thistles, thorns, briers, and everything.

Well, I thought, “That is a shame for that man to do a thing like that.” In a vision, I wasn't thinking of it being scriptural, see. And I said, “That man's sowing them weeds in that man's wheat field.”

Then it got real hot. The little wheat held its head over and going “Huh, huh, huh” like that, just panting like this for breath. The little weed had his head over, “Huh, huh, huh,” he was panting for water, too. Everybody prayed for the rain.

Afterwhile it got . . . a great thunder clouds come up and just rained all down, and when it did, the rain struck the earth. And the little wheat begin to jump up and down, hollering, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” And the little weeds a hollering, “Praise the Lord,” straightened right up. The life come to the weed the same to the wheat.

And then the scripture come, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” There I caught it, see.

If a person is sitting in a congregation, a spirit can fall upon that person, and yet you know that they are wrong and they don't live the right kind of life. Be careful what you say about that spirit. It might be the Holy Spirit. Don't judge the spirit by the person. The person may be wrong. But now does not the Bible say, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust”? Did not Jesus say, when the fields was planted, “Let them all grow up together, the tares and the wheat, together. Don't you try to pull up the tares. Don't you try to judge them. Just let them grow together. And at that day the angels will be sent forth and will take all the tares and burn them, and the wheat will be gathered into the garner”? But by their fruits we know them. You can know in your heart.

Keep trying to deal with that person.

Don't say that this woman, if she's immorally dressed or. . . . How did it read? “Let's say that the Holy Ghost will visit. . . .” Let's see. No, I got the wrong one here, somehow. Oh, here it is, yes, the women speaking in tongues. Now, “If a woman with short hair speaks in tongues in the church, it is the spirit . . . [Let's see.] is it the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that speaks through her, or is it a false spirit?”

You see, I wouldn't say nothing. And if you thought the woman wasn't just exactly right by having short hair (I believe that was the subject—yeah, short hair) why not you, brother, if you're a married man and this is a married woman, why don't you take your wife or get your wife to sweetly talk to this little lady? Let's believe she has got the Holy Ghost. If she's in this church, I'm going to believe that she has. And then, just say, maybe she's a. . . .

Did you know, once in a while, we might examine and find out we might have a little something wrong, too. You know, that's kind of how it is. So somebody might have to tell us something. Lot of times people has told me a lot of things was wrong, that I was doing wrong. I appreciate it.

But now let's say that . . . let's believe that whatever it is, let's believe. . . . If the woman is not exactly a Christian, if she's just putting on, God will judge her for that. That's right. But. . . . And if she's dressed immoral, and the things that she's doing is not right, God will take care of that. But let's believe that that Spirit on that woman is the Holy Spirit, see, because we don't know.

Now, if the interpretation of that Holy Spirit gives something, a curse to Christ. . . . “No man speaking by the Spirit calleth Christ accursed.” If that woman is speaking in tongues and the interpreta-tion comes that “Christ is accursed,” then you know that's an evil spirit on the woman. But as long as it's blessing and edifying Christ, then believe that Spirit, see. Amen. I hope that doesn't confuse. I hope that gives a little light on it, anyhow.

QUESTION: “Deuteronomy, the twenty third chapter, the second verse, doesn't it teach that a person whom out of wedlock cannot be saved? It says that God will visit the iniquity of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Explain what this means.”

All right. Adultery was such a horrible thing in the time of the Bible until even if a man had a child by a woman that wasn't his wife, that child, its children's children's children, for four genera-tions, four hundred and something years, could not enter even into the congregation of the Lord, because that the blood of bulls and goats and heifers was not sufficient to take away sin. It could only divorce or could only cover sin. It could not omit sin, see. It could not omit sin; it could only cover sin. Adultery is a horrible thing!

A woman, a precious jewel, that God has made her to be a mother, entrusted her with motherhood, that if she would bring forth a child from another man not being her husband, then there was a curse upon that child, and his children, and his children, and his children, to three and four generations. Even many times such as syphilitic, and blindness and things struck the people. Yes, it was a horrible, horrible thing for a woman to have a baby outside of holy wedlock. Now, not only then, but it's still a horrible thing, sure is, always.

QUESTION: “Will Ezekiel 38 and 39 come to pass before the rapture?”

Now if you will notice, Ezekiel 38 and 39 deals with Gog and Magog, which is Russia, the north country. Now, I do not say that this is correct, but to my way of teaching it, that it comes to pass after the rapture, after the church is taken up. And God deals with Gog and Magog when they come down before Israel there. And I think that will come to pass after the rapture. Now, that doesn't make it so, see. But that's just my way of teaching it. I suppose that's what they wanted to know, what my idea was.

QUESTION: “The Lord has told us through prophecy to witness unto others of the things which we have heard and seen here, such as the nearness of the coming, baptism in the name . . . in Jesus' name, and such things. We have told these things to some who seem to be Christians, yet they don't seem to believe. What do you think will happen to those people? Will they go in the rapture?”

Now, I'm glad you said it that way, “What do you think?” Which that wouldn't make it right because I would think it. I believe that no man can walk in the light of God until God reveals it to him. And I don't believe that any man that. . . . All these hidden things are hid from the people, and no man can see them except God reveals them. I believe it, because in the Bible it's always been that way.

Did not Jesus say that you have eyes and you can see not, you have ears and you hear not?

And yet in Matthew, I believe it's either the eighth or twelfth chapter, it said that though Jesus had done so many miracles among them, yet they could not believe, because Isaiah said, the prophecy said, that they had eyes and could not see, and ears and could not hear. See?

And Jesus said, “No man can come to me except my Father calls him first, and all the Father has given me will come to me.” That settles it, see.

Now, you're responsible for spreading the light; you're not responsible for them receiving the light. You're responsible to take it to them, but you're not responsible for their reaction. And then if God lets them in, that'll be up to Him. If they haven't got the garments on, and so forth, and they don't. . . . But, remember, they cannot see it until God reveals it to them.

QUESTION: “Brother Branham, in Daniel, the eleventh chapter, the thirty first verse, teaches of the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the abomination that maketh desolation. Would you please explain what these are?”

Oh, this person has signed their name to this one. That is my subject on next Sunday, and that comes in with the seventy weeks of Daniel. And I might just say this to you, my most precious brother that signed this here, which is a very dear friend to all of us, yes, the abomination that maketh desolation—Jesus, in Matthew 24, spoke of it—the abomination (means filthiness) that maketh desolation, the abomination was the Moslem Mosque of Omar that was built on the temple grounds where the holy place stood.

In A.D. 96, Titus came in and captured Jerusalem and burnt the temple. And they built the Mosque of Omar (the Mohammedan religion) right on the temple grounds, and still stands there to this day. And it will stand there until God returns to the Jews again. “And the abomination [that is the Mosque of Omar] that maketh desolation of the holy place,” standing in the holy place, see.

Jesus referred to it, said, and in parenthesis, “Let he that readeth understand,” see. Therefore, He's give so many days from that time until the . . . after the Prince and so many days, and so forth, which we'll get into next Sunday. And I'll try to, the best of my knowledge, to get that in for you for next Sunday. But that abomination is the Mosque of Omar that took the place of the temple. “When you see the abomination that maketh desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.” See, standing where the temple stood (the holy place), the Mosque of Omar.

QUESTION: “Brother Branham, don't you feel that everyone who claims to be a Christian should pay tithes, pay their tithes into the storehouse of the Lord? Please give scripture to this question.”

All right, if you will. . . . That is right, that the Bible said in Malachi, the fourth chapter, “Will a man rob God? And you say, 'Where have we robbed Thee?' In tithe and offerings. Bring all of your tithes and offerings into my storehouse, and prove me,” saith the Lord, “if I will not open up the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing that there'll not be room enough to receive.”

That's a challenge to any individual. And if I only had the time, and would not get to this little scripture that I wish to get to in about the next ten minutes, I would like to give you a personal testimony of how that I was even hungry, and my mother and them hungry, and my daddy sick, but I took my tithes out first and give it to God, and you ought to see what happened. I have never seen in my life, that any man or a woman, that if you only make one dollar a week, will bring the ten cents of that money and put it into your storehouse, or a church where you come, if God don't bless that, call me a hypocrite. Yes, sir. That's a challenge to anybody. And every Christian (that goes to this other question), every Christian should pay tithes. That's right. It should be done.

All right, now:

QUESTION: “If a person or persons speaking in unknown tongues in the same tone of voice, each time the same thing, but the interpretation is different by the interpreter each time, could that be the Holy Spirit?”

Now let me read that again:

“If a person or persons speaking in unknown tongues in the same tone of voice [in other words, just saying the same thing like certain-certain word over and over and over] each time, and the same thing each time, but the interpretation by the interpreter is different each time, could this be the Holy Ghost?”

Now, there is a stiff one, but let me shed just a little light on this if I can. And I'm sure you'll understand that this is just Brother Branham trying to do my best, but let me just give this as my own personal experience of dealing with spiritual things. And I appreci-ate your confidence of asking me questions like this. If you didn't have confidence in me, you wouldn't ask me no such. I believe a Christian wouldn't ask questions to raise an argument. I believe they're trying to find what's truth, see. And I would answer . . . and I'll answer it, and if I've made myself clear, it's the best of my knowledge. And then if that spirit in you gets angry, that shows it isn't the Holy Spirit in you, see. So then the Holy Spirit will not anger. It'll be corrected each time by the Word, and stand correction.

Now let me say this, that in this case (Remember, God be my judge, this is William Branham), I couldn't say. But in experiences that I have witnessed while under the anointing of such meetings, I believe that the person that's saying the same thing over each time, the same tone of voice, is really speaking in tongues. I do. I believe by the Spirit they're speaking in tongues. If they're Christians, they are speaking with tongues, no doubt. But I believe that you get the wrong slant of interpretation.

Now, many times, people . . . I want to. . . . It's just the church folks here, I guess, tonight, anyhow, about, isn't it, Brother Neville, just about what comes? So if the strangers are here and you differ with this, I'm trying to speak to my own church, see.

Now, as your father in the gospel, as your pastor, I would like, a little later on, when your spirits and gifts begin to come to perfection. . . . If you go to watching them flying loose and getting . . . then you just better watch that person. Just let it go, because it's not the Spirit of God on them. But when they're sweet and meek and humble and ready, and everything, that's the Spirit of God. And if somebody gets out of order and the pastor has to call it down, and that spirit flies up, then it's not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God always stands, comes to the Word, see. It recognizes the Word every time.

Now, but now I'm not trying to flatter, or to shake down. I'm only trying to make a truth. Now, someone speaking in tongues, and another one gets up to interpret tongues. Now listen close. (And I think this is being taped. Is it?) In interpretation of tongues. . . . Now, I'm going to have to get down in some doctrine now with you. In the interpretation of tongues, many people interpret tongues by an extraordinary expression of them feeling to say such a thing. That is not interpretation.

Interpretation is when they are speaking in an unknown tongue, you are hearing them in English, and just repeating over what they are saying. But, if this person speaks in your church. . . . I don't think we have it in this one. If it does, I never heard it.

But someone getting up just saying like some certain word, over and over, or same tone of voice running right down, right down, right down, right down. . . .

I tell you, I don't believe Junie Jackson's here tonight. Is he? I don't think he is. But I'm always amazed at Junior Jackson and his speaking in tongues, and Brother Higginbotham, and many of you people here, how that you see that change of voice in the interpre-tation, see. Now that's all right. Now, I ain't boasting my church up. No, sir. If my church needed correction, I'm going to stand here and do my best for my Saviour. That's right, whether it hurts or whether it doesn't. I'm your father in the gospel, see, and I want. . . . You don't want a wrong spirit. You want the right Spirit.

Why take a substitute when there's a whole . . . Pentecostal skies are full of the real? Why eat at a garbage can when there's a fine, big, clean table setting here with chicken and dumplings and every-thing, see? Why would we do that? See? Let's get the real. That's what we want, the real, genuine one.

Now, I believe, in this statement that's made here, same thing over, I believe in that statement that they're both correct, but I do not believe that the interpreter is interpreting the language of the person. I do not believe that. I believe that the Spirit is present and the interpreter is prophesying. I believe he is a prophesier instead of an interpreter if he does not hear the voice in his own. . . . “How hear we every man in our own language wherein we were born?” See, you've got to hear in the same . . . you've got to hear English.

Here, here's an interpreter. Now, I stand up, and I only know two or three words in a different language, that I know of. Now I'm just taking this in literal, not in spiritual now. Now I'm going to say, “Baie, baie, bly. Ekke wil Afrikaans sprekken.” Now, I doubt whether there's a person here knows what I said. Brother, what'd I say? [A brother says, “You said you could speak Afrikaans.”] Afrikaans. “Baie, baie bly”—I am very, very, happy. “I am here to speak Afrikaans, see, Afrikaans sprekken, see. I am here to speak Afrikaans.”

Now, what did he do? I was speaking Afrikaans but he heard me in English. Is that right? Because you know Afrikaans. Now, if you are speaking . . . if I am standing here saying . . . preaching, and Brother Neville is interpreting to another language of people, he's saying in their language what he hears me say; he knows what I'm talking about because he knows my language.

And if you are speaking in an unknown tongue, and interpreting, you are hearing in the language that you were born in, because that's the only way you can interpret what they're saying; because the Holy Spirit has interpreted it to you and you're just speaking for the Holy Spirit.

But then if the Spirit is present to bless this poor person, and they're standing up. . . . Like a precious old brother—gone on, he's in glory tonight, I really believe—the dearest old soul, old Brother Ryan. All of us know him. He used to stand out on the street (And God forgive me, not to be sacrilegious, I know it's a. . . . Blaspheming the Holy Ghost is unpardonable.). . . . But Brother Ryan used to say one word over and over all the time, something about “seekem and seekem and seekem,” or something like that. He used to have. . . . Why, somebody said, “Do you think that's of God?”

I said, “Certainly it's of God. Certainly, I believe it's of God.” But, he was speaking in tongues, but I couldn't say what he was saying because I don't know. But, the presence of the Spirit was there.

So if the presence of the Spirit is there, and this person's just saying one word, over and over and over, and this other one jumps up and tries to give an interpretation, yet he don't know what he's saying, it's this man is not giving the interpretation, he's prophesy-ing. The spirit of prophecy is upon him and he's prophesying, not giving an interpretation.

So therefore, dear Christian, to you who said that, “Could that be the Holy Spirit?” it could be the Holy Spirit using two offices. One, blessing a soul in speaking in tongues; and another one, prophesying, not have to be interpreting what he's saying. But yet he said it. The Holy Spirit come upon him in prophecy just the same time that this one was speaking in tongues, and he thought it was an interpretation. What difference does it make? It's the Spirit of God giving a message to the church. But interpretation, it's got to understand in English and repeat back exactly what the person said. That's the gift of interpretation.

QUESTION: “If there is already three messages gone out in unknown tongues in one meeting, then in the prayer line can there be more messages go out and still be in the spiritual order of the meeting?”

Why, certainly. That's right. Sure. I know where you're getting to. There's Paul, said, “If you prophesy or speak in tongues,” something like that, Paul speaking of. . . .

Little later on, when you all. . . . Brother Neville, when you all want to now, these people that's got these spiritual gifts. . . . Now, if you'll trust my understanding of the Scripture, I will come down with a meeting just with you people alone who has these gifts, just with you all, so we can sit together. . . . And if you feel. . . . And you watch Brother Neville, and see in the church that it is God, and God a moving among them, that's what we want. But we want to put that in order so it can go to blessing the church and doing something. Now, God . . . I know, and know the Scriptures, what to do. And that's what we want to do.

Now, this person here, I know in speaking in tongues, it's supposed to be by courses—two, or not more than three. That is correct, but if you'll notice here, if it was. . . .

Just like someone give . . . up, up there, like Brother Sothmann raised up and give a message in prophecy or speaking in tongues. Interpretation of tongues is prophecy, see, spirit of prophecy. Now, if you just speak in an unknown tongues, there be no interpreter, that person's blessed of the Spirit; but he doesn't hurt the church.

Now, what Paul was trying to get at is this: you use the whole service just in speaking in tongues, see. And the unlearned said, “What's this about anyhow?” See, they don't get it but there be an interpretation. And let there be one, two, or as many as three messages in a meeting.

Now, the person here says, “Then in the prayer line?” That must have been that maybe someone in the prayer line. . . . Maybe, Brother Neville, or in some other church, or wherever it's from, that in the prayer line this man . . . or in divine healing meetings. Might have been in Brother Roberts' meeting, Brother Allen's meeting, or some . . . my meeting, or somebody else, I don't know. But, whatever it is, what Paul is speaking of is a message to the congre-gation out there. Let that just be three, because the message of God is speaking a message trying to get it over to the congregation. But when the man in the prayer line, he's prophesying to an individual, not the whole. If that be so, I've been out of order all along in my prayer lines, see, when thirty or forty of them in a night, see, if you're prophesying to an individual.

But this man prophesying is to the whole body. Let that be two or three messages and then stop it. Though the Holy Spirit may still want to speak, but wait a minute, give the Word a chance to go out. You see? And then really, that speaking should be either before or after the Word. Nothing should interrupt the Word as it's going out. But, however, we get that in order later on when our spirits and gifts begins to get into perfection.

We're talking now on the seriousness of the Pentecostal church, I mean the real Pentecostal church. And we're glad that God still lives and reigns and speaking through us.

Now, but if it's like, for instance, if the sister here would give out a message in tongues or a prophecy; and the lady next to her would give a message in tongues or prophecy; and then the lady next to her or somebody back there, someone would give a message or prophecy, or tongues; no doubt but what it's merely all speaking on the same thing, if God's urgent, trying to put something over, calling some individual in the church to do something, now, or something that He wants done.

Now then, for instance, the prayer line's called, and Brother Neville, or myself, or any other minister, goes down to this individual. That's not to the body; that's to this individual. And the Spirit of God comes upon him to tell this individual something; then tell him, because he's not speaking to the congregation. He's speaking to this individual, not to the congregation, so that is all right.

QUESTION: All right, “Dear Brother Branham, time after time the Lord shows me things in dreams. He has showed me things about my son in the navy, which my son told me were secrets. He has showed me of people's deaths and of the secrets of people's hearts. Is this a gift from God? When He shows me in dreams the hearts and minds of people, everything has always turned out like the dream shows me.”

Why, yes, my brother or sister, whoever it may be. The Lord bless you. That is, to my opinion, the gift of God. It's a gift of God. Don't you know the Bible speaks of dreams? Joseph, how he dreamed dreams and interpreted, and how others dreamed dreams. Those things are of God. Now, if it's of God, it'll always be truthful, it'll always happen just exactly the way He said.

And now don't. . . . If you start showing off with it, it'll just leave you. See, just be reverent and sweet. And when He shows you anything, and it's something that you should tell somebody, that they've done something that's wrong, then just don't stand right up and rebuke that person, go to them yourself and say, “Sister, brother, you know, the Lord told me the other night that you were doing something wrong, a certain thing.”

If that person says, “You are wrong! That is a lie! I did not do that!”

Now, the thing to do then is go back and say, “Heavenly Father, was that wrong?”

Now, if that person. . . . Then if that person was telling you the truth, then you've got the wrong spirit. But if that person was lying, and he did do it, God will deal with that person, see. Yes, sir. Because, see what he's done there, he's blasphemed against the Holy Ghost, denying what the Holy Ghost has called to his attention, see. So it's the wrong thing.

QUESTION: “Brother Branham, how can a church dance, shout, speak in tongues, and let the Spirit [let's see, now wait a minute] . . . and get lost in the Spirit, and very seldom any time Scripture read. I don't understand it.”

Neither do I—shouting dancing, speaking in tongues, and not even read the Scripture. I say this (remember, William Branham, which could be a million miles wrong), I believe that most of the people. . . . I was asked that question today by a brother, something on that order. That, when they go to pray for the sick, a brother will maybe pray for one, then get them all singing or dancing in the Spirit, thinking that brings power amongst the people. No, for myself, I believe that's wrong.

I believe that a person coming in the healing meeting will be like coming for salvation, come reverently, believing. Every person in there—not shouting and dancing—but seeing their brother or sister going up there to ask God for mercy, bow your head and start praying, “God, help my brother now as pastor prays for him, anoints him. Let the Holy Spirit come upon him and give him faith to believe for his healing. He's a precious brother. She's a precious sister.” Be praying for him instead of just singing, shouting and dancing.

But we see so much of that in our Pentecostal meetings. It's a constant. . . . I believe it's a worship. I truly believe they're worshipping God. Yes, sir, I believe it with all my heart. And I believe in speaking with tongues, shouting and dancing. I believe it every bit, yes. I believe anything that they do in the Bible is just as good today as it was then. Sure. But I believe it has its time and its order.

Now, the great blessing's on, and people are shouting, and the glory of the Lord is a falling, and people want to scream and shout and do whatever the Spirit tells them. Go ahead, that's right. But when a man's coming to be healed, where the question between death and life is involved, I believe we should be reverent and speak to Father and talk to Him for this brother. Instead of worshipping Him, let's ask Him, “Father, I'm a worshipper of yours. I love You, You know I do, I express my love to You. Now I'm expressing my faith to You. Help my brother to be well. Will You, Father?” I believe you'll get a better results by doing that. I really do. In reverence, the Spirit of God.

My, these may be a hundred miles long but I hope I've answered them, strowed just a little bit of light. I kind of know what's on your minds now, anyhow. And I'll tell you what, a little later on I want to ask pastor here if he'll come and help me to . . . maybe come down and get all the people together that's got the Spirit of God upon them in the form of gifts, let's talk about it a little while. Maybe I can help you to climb the ladder just a little bit higher and get a little closer to God with it, and set it more in order in the church. I've been watching along. It seems wonderful to me. And I just love to see it move on and on and on, on and on and on.

And as we're coming up, don't let Satan creep in, now. Boy, he's smart. Don't outwit him, don't try to, because you can't. You just depend on God and just keep walking humbly, and God will do it. And you'll find out that God will use you more and more and more like that. The Lord bless you.

Do we have time for twenty minutes of speaking? [Congregation says, “Amen!”] Thank you. Thank you. I guess that was enough to start me, Ben. All right.

Let's turn to Psalms just a moment. The Lord seemed to give me a little thought here I would like to express to you all tonight just in a manner of a sermon, if you will, just a few minutes. I know it's hot, and it's hot up here, too. But, remember, we won't meet anymore, maybe, till Wednesday night. So let's just wait, and before we sing the good old song of “Blest Be the Tie that Binds,” let's talk about the written Word. These questions kind of make us . . . leave us in a stew. Let's get out of it now, and speak in the Word.

Now can we bow our heads again just a moment?

Heavenly Father, these questions, I've tried to find what the people's got on their hearts, see if they'll ask about this, about that. I see, Lord, they're desiring spiritual gifts. And those who have spiritual gifts are wondering how to conduct it. To some, it's throwing great light on the church; to others, they're wondering. Now, Lord, help us. Help us, Lord. We are your children. We are not doing these things to honor ourselves, we are doing this to the honor of God by a gift that God has given us.

We pray, Father, that You'll bless these gifts and manifest them in the church. And may it come to pass that pilgrims and strangers, coming by, drop in that door and sit down a few minutes, and may the Spirit of God be so great in here till it'll make known the secret of every heart that enters the door. Grant it, Lord. May it be with such sweetness and humility, never harsh and rebuking and tearing down. We know the Spirit of God isn't like that.

So we pray that You'll bless us in everything. Bless our church, bless our people. Bless the people of other churches. And, Father, we know that there is only one church and we are all born into that.

Now I pray, Father, that You'll bless us further as I read this little text that You seemed to give me, sitting there by the desk this afternoon. And help me, Lord, not to keep the people too long, but just to speak a few expressions here. I pray that You'll be in it. And give us a little thought, that we can go home with it and thank the Lord for His goodness. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, don't forget, next Sunday morning, the Lord willing.

Now turn to Psalms 106, and the seventh verse. I was going to read on down . . . a part of this Psalm, but. . . . It's David. Why it come to me, was because of this morning's message. And I'll get my watch here and try to be out at nine thirty, if all possible. Now on the seventh verse of Psalms 106:

Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even . . . the Red sea.

I'm going to read the next verse:

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

The Lord add his blessings.

I'm going to speak to you, if the Lord willing, on the subject of “The Misunderstanding”; “God Misunderstood.” I'll take it like that: “God Being Misunderstood.”

You know, misunderstanding gets us in a lot of trouble. Many times that people say things that they repeat after somebody else, where they misunderstood them. That gets a person in trouble. I believe it would be good for us if we'd just wait till we understood what we was talking about. Don't you think so? I know it would be for me, very good for me to find out first and then say it. But we're always, seem to be, misunderstood. And here David is speaking of Israel misunderstood His miracles when they were in Egypt.

Now, to misunderstand is just not to say, “Well, I didn't hear what he said”; but to see something done and misunderstand what it's for. You're missing the boat all completely then.

Now, God doesn't do miracles just to say, “See, I'm God.” God does a miracle for an understanding, see. God does it for a purpose. And did you notice the reading of the Psalms here in this seventh verse? I think it's so beautiful, I want to read it over again:

Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt [see, they didn't understand it]; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even . . . the Red sea.

Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.

See, they did not understand why that God, down in Egypt, performed these miracles. He was trying to show them His mercies. He was trying to get them to understand that He was God in their midst. I love that.

In my little sermon that I preached here some time ago up at Chicago (and then I believe I preached it here, the boys has got it on tape), “As The Eagle Stirreth Up Her Nest,” fluttereth over her young, how that the old mother eagle takes her little babies. . . . Before she takes them on a flight, they got a lot of loose feathers in them. And they've never seen her really in her best because they're all squatted down in the nest. But she gets up over the nest and she spreads her big mighty wings. What's she doing? She screams—she wants them to know her voice. She stretches forth her big wings.

The female eagle is sometimes the largest. They are . . . said that eagles sometimes, them big females, have wings fourteen feet from tip to tip—pick up a calf and fly away with it. Fourteen feet, tip . . . from tip to wings, as far as across this platform right here, from post to post.

She gets up there before this little fellow, because why? She's going to take him on a flight. He's never been out of that nest. And she's going to take him way up in the heavens and then shake him off, and let him up there to flop for himself, to learn how to fly. So she wants to show the authority she has. She spreads forth her big wings to the strutting of the feathers, and she screams, and then she fans them. Oh, my! The feathers fly out of the nest, and every-thing else. She's throwing wind in there like out of a jet plane. Knocks him backwards, and he lays on his little back, and looks up and thinks, “Mother, how great thou art! How great thou art!”

“See how strong my wings are? I can pick you up and pack you anywhere I want to. I'm powerful.”

That's what God was doing to Israel. You know He said, “As the eagle stirreth up her nest. . . .” That's the same thing. He found Israel in a howling land down there, and He brought him up out of Egypt and took him into the promised land, on the wings of an eagle, see. And what was God doing these miracles? He was trying to get to His people that He was the mighty Jehovah.

And that's what He's trying to do today! He just doesn't heal people just because He can heal. He's trying to get to you that He's the resurrection, that He can make you well, He can raise up your body. He can do whatever He wants to, He's Jehovah! I like that.

But the people misunderstood Him. God is so easily to be mis-understood by unbelievers, by those who don't want to understand. Many people try to understand. Many don't want to understand. They just shut up themselves, and say, “There's no such a thing,” and “I don't believe in such.” Then they can never understand.

But a man that's willing to understand, that's willing to sit down (“And come let us reason together,” saith the Lord) now, that man is on the line of learning something from the Lord. But people who always are associated with God and God's power. . . . You can hardly be associated with God without being associated with His power, because when you are associated with Him you are acquainted to Him, or a relative to Him, and then you have His power in you.

That's the reason that people cannot believe in miracles today—because they don't have anything in them to believe with. They've got to have something in there to believe with. And when the Spirit of God is in a man, he'll say “Amen” to every word of God and every miracle of God. But as my mother used to say, “You can't get blood from a turnip, because there's no blood in it.” So that's the same way, you can't get belief out of an unbeliever, because there's nothing there to believe with.

A man said, “I don't believe in divine healing, no matter what you say.” Certainly, it's not for him; it's only to those who can believe. If you're going to get blood, get it out from something that's got blood in it. If you're going to get faith, get it out of something that's got faith in it.

And that's the way God uses something that's got faith in it. He don't send you out here in a healing campaign when you ain't got faith enough to believe it. How is He going to send you out in a miracle working revival when you ain't got faith enough to believe it? He wants something that's got something in there that He can produce something with.

So the people misunderstood. Noah was very much misunder-stood in his day. Noah, acquainted of God, a servant of God, a believer in God. And when you become a believer in God, you do things so contrary to what people think that's right till they think that you are crazy. And Noah, warned of God, prepared an ark for the saving of his household. And the people thought that he was crazy. He was not crazy, he was just misunderstood, because he was following the direction of God. Amen! I like that. He was misunderstood.

How could a man. . . ? You'd say, “There's never no rain come from the sky. What is rain?” Never had rain; God irrigated the ground. “Noah, where's that rain at?”

“I don't know.”

“Show me where it's at!”

“I can't show it to you.”

“Well, how do you know it's going to come down from up there when there's none up there to come down?”

Noah might have said something like this, “God told me it was coming down. And if God said it's coming down, He's able to take it up there and then bring it down. That settles it. If God said so, that's all there is to it, see.” He was misunderstood because he was following God.

Elijah. (I could stay on these subjects a long time, but I've got several of them here I would like to come to quickly.) Elijah was misunderstood by his nation. Elijah was an Israelite, he was a Jew. And he was misunderstood because he was always condemning his nation, condemning the king, condemning the queen, condemning everything there was around, and condemning them. What a crackpot he seemed to be. Why, my, everything the king. . . . “Thus saith the Lord, God's going to punish you, you Jezebel, you so-and-so.”

He was misunderstood. Why? He was following God. It was not Elijah they misunderstood; it was the working of the Holy Spirit in Elijah that they misunderstood.

How could a man raise up against his own nation? Blaspheme his own nation, correct it, and put the curses of God upon it, the very nation, the very people that he lived with. His own race, his own color, his own creed, his own kind, and yet predict the judgments of God and call a famine upon them. He was misunderstood; because it wasn't Elijah, it was God in Elijah that they misunderstood. It wasn't Elijah being misunderstood; it was God leading Elijah, and they misunderstood that God was a holy God and He could not tolerate sin.

And no matter if it's on your brother, sister, or mother, no matter who it is, it's sin in the sight of God and the judgment will come upon them for it.

Misunderstood.

Daniel was misunderstood when all of the rest of the children of Israel bowed down to the image, but he and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down. Well, they said, “What's the matter with him?” The whole nation said, “What's the matter with this crazy guy? Well, all the rest of the Hebrews recognize our god. They recognize it. They bow down when we play the trumpets, and sound the trumpets and play the psalteries, and so forth, and sound the flutes. They all bow down, but what's the matter with this crackpot? What's the matter with him? He won't do it.” Because he was in contact with God! That's what's the matter. He was misunderstood. He was supposed to be crazy, or had lost his mind, or they was a bunch of cranks. But they were only following the leading of the Spirit. That's the reason they were misunderstood.

All the prophets of the Old Testament, how they rose up and prophesied against their nation, how they prophesied against the people, how they prophesied against the thing, putting curses upon them, and doing things like that. They misunderstood. Why? They were God's servants, they were doing the will of God, they were doing the service of God—therefore they were misunderstood.

Anybody that follows God is misunderstood. Jesus, our Lord, when His birth, He was misunderstood.

The Magi, they were misunderstood. They were following a supernatural sign to find a King that was born King of the Jews. They knowed there was a star rising out of Jacob, according to the prophecies of Daniel. And they knowed this King would be a Saviour, He would be the King of Israel. And they come two years —all the way from India, down by the Tigris River, and across the deserts and through the mountains, everywhere; and come into the city of Jerusalem one evening about sundown, screaming, “Where is He that's born King of the Jews? Where is He?”

And nobody knowed nothing about it. It was a strange thing that the King of the Jews was born and people hundreds of miles away knowed about it; and right here in the city where He was born, and the place He was born, amongst the people He was born to, and they knowed nothing about it. They misunderstood the Magi. They said, “There's no such a thing as the king of the Jews. We got a king up here, Herod.”

He was misunderstood in His birth when He was born. And Mary was to be mother before she was married to Joseph. Misunderstood. They thought it was born out of holy wedlock. They did not know that the Holy Ghost had conceived this child in her. But it was misunderstood. It was an act of God and people misunderstood it.

They still misunderstand it. An act of God is usually misunder-stood.

Only by spiritual believing people, people who believe the Spirit. But it was misunderstood, the Magi was misunderstood.

Herod misunderstood it. When Herod said, “Well, you tell me where the baby is, and I'll go worship Him, too,” he was a hypocrite, he was a lying. What he was afraid of. . . . He didn't know the Scriptures that there was supposed to be a Messiah come, a King of heaven. And Herod thought it would be an earthly king, and he wanted to kill Him to get rid of Him.

It wasn't an earthly king. He said this earth is not His kingdom. “If this was my kingdom my subjects would fight for me, but my kingdom is of up above.” Herod misunderstood it. He thought it was an earthly king.

That's the way they say today, “What church do you belong to if you're a Christian? What denomination?”

“None.”

They don't get it. See, they can't understand it. They think a denomination means a Christian. It's vice versa, very much so. But it's misunderstood by the people.

Now, we find out that Herod misunderstood it. He couldn't understand it.

Nicodemus couldn't understand it, the new birth, when he came to Jesus by night. Someone condemned him. I don't condemn him. He was a good man, he wanted to find out something. He was busy through the day, maybe he was at his priest's office, or something another, he had to come by night. Anyhow, he got there. He done a lot better than a lot of people does now. They won't come day or night. He finally arrived; before you condemn him, have you? He finally got to Jesus, and let's not condemn him if we haven't been there. And if you get there, then I don't think you'd condemn him. No, he got there. And he come by night, maybe he was busy. Anyhow, he come. Maybe Jesus was too busy out praying for the sick and things, only time he could catch Him for this interview would be at nighttime. But he finally got there. He stayed there till he got an interview with Jesus. And when Jesus said. . . . He said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a man sent from God, for no man could do these things that You do except God be with Him.”

Jesus said, “Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom, not even see the kingdom.”

And the great rabbi, master in Israel, said, “Me, an old man, enter into my mother's womb and be born again?” See, he misunderstood what Jesus was talking about. He just didn't get it. Because that Jesus was talking about a spiritual birth, and he was trying to apply it to a natural birth, so he misunderstood Him, he didn't get it. He just . . . the way people do. Just like Nicodemus, many of us misunderstand the things of God because we just take it and apply it for a natural thing.

Like, say, a doctor say, “Oh, I do not believe in divine healing. I don't believe there's anything. . . .”

I heard a doctor tell a woman in an office one time, said. . . . And she didn't know. . . . He wanted to know what become of a growth she had. She said, “Brother Branham prayed for me and the Lord healed me.”

He said, “I do not believe it.” He said, “I can never believe anything like that.” Said, “Tell me who took it off.”

Said, “Find the scar.”

Said, “What did you put on it?”

Said, “Nothing, not at all.” Said, “He just called me out of a meeting and the thing left.”

And I was sitting right in the next room, that's right, sitting right in the next room, listening. She didn't know I was in there. He didn't know I was in there, because he didn't even know me, see. And there I was sitting in there. And he said. . . . Taking somebody else to a doctor's office, that's exactly right, and I could overhear what he said. I got the patient and got out of there when I found that, that he didn't believe.

So he said, “I don't believe one word of it.” Said, “I've never seen anything yet that could do anything like that. I just don't believe it.” Said, “I've got to see it before I believe it.”

She said, “Well, what about my growth?”

He said, “I'd have to see it leave before I'd believe it.”

See, seeing is not believing. “Faith is the substance of things you don't see.” See, you believe it first and then it happens. So the man was not a believer, so therefore it was all a mystery to him. He didn't know what he was talking about because he couldn't understand it. It was a riddle to him.

People say today, “Oh, I don't believe in that divine healing. I don't believe in that Holy Ghost. I don't believe in that speaking in tongues. I don't believe in that shouting. I don't believe in all this stuff like that. I don't believe in it.” Why? It's a mystery! You're just misunderstanding. It's God, here it is in the Bible. Here it is bringing the same results that the Bible spoke of bringing. Then it's got to be God. You just misunderstand it, that's all. God is misunderstood.

His disciples couldn't understand His miracles. That night when He come into the boat, and he said, “What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey Him?” They misunderstood that He wasn't a man, He was God.

That's what's the matter today with people, they want to make Him a little mascot boy, or something another carries the bat. They want to make Him just a little fellow around the camp.

He wasn't a little fellow around the camp; He was Jehovah God! They misunderstood it. They expected Him to be just one of them. He wasn't one of them; He was God among them! He was more than a man. As I've often said, He was a man when He was hungry; but He was God when He fed five thousand with a biscuit, two biscuits and some pieces of fishes. He was a man when He was tired on the back of the boat; but He was God when He ceased the winds and waves and made them obey Him. “What manner of man is this?” He wasn't a manner of a man; He was God manifested in a man. They misunderstood Him. They thought Him to be a man, Mary's son, a carpenter; but He was God manifested in the flesh. Amen!

The Roman soldiers misunderstood Him, when they had Him sit in the court, and put a rag around His eyes, and hit Him on top of the head and said, “Now, if you are a prophet—they all say you are a prophet—come tell us who hit you on top of the head.”

See, they misunderstood that Jesus said, “I do only what the Father shows me to do. I do what the Father shows me, then I do what He tells me to do.” They misunderstood it.

They misunder-stood His ministry.

The Jews misunderstood Him, how He come to be their friend and Saviour, and they wanted to make Him something was evil. They misunderstood His ministry. He said, “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And a greater than Solomon is here.” But they misunderstood that He was greater than Solomon. They thought He was just a man.

Many of them thought He was born out of holy wedlock, come up out of a bad family, that had these desires and so forth, and a bastard child—which, we just had the question. They could not even . . . why, they said, “Why, we know that you were born out of holy wedlock. You got a devil on you. Why, you try to teach us? We're rabbis!”

He said, “You are of your father, the devil.”

See, they misunderstood.

When the Roman soldiers went back one time, listened at Him, said, “Never a man spoke like this. We never heard a man speak like this.”

It was not a man speaking; it was God! Yes, sir. Men didn't speak like this. A man tells and speaks the Scriptures; Jesus makes the Scriptures live. Men don't live like this: “The Scripture says this here; here it is!” Man can say the Scripture says it, but that's about all he can do. But Jesus could say, “I and my Father are one, my Father dwelleth in me. He that's seen me hath seen the Father.” Nobody else could say that! Amen. Hallelujah! That's right. “He that's seen me hath seen the Father.” Nobody else could say that!

No wonder them soldiers said, “There never was a man spoke like this.” He don't speak like a scribe or a preacher; He speaks with authority! And even the devils obey Him, and the winds and the waves obey Him. They thought He was a man; but He was God.

See, He was misunderstood.

Said, “Why, you were born a bastard. You were born out of holy wedlock, and you try to teach us? Why, we know you are mad and got a devil. You're a Samaritan, you've been over there and got them devils on you. You're trying to teach us, us holy rabbis?”

He said, “You're of your father, the devil.”

Yes, they misunderstood Him. They didn't know who He was. That's what's the matter today, people trying to make Him something that He isn't. He's not just a man; He's God in man! No third person; He's the only person. Yes, sir. Well, sure, they mis-understood Him.

The Pharisees. The Pharisee that invited Him down there that time for a dinner, a big banquet, he misunderstood Him. He thought he'd just have Him down there. (I was preaching on that message out here not long ago, at a breakfast, I believe at Chicago, at that breakfast. That Pharisee said, “Now, look at him sitting back there, sitting back there, unwashed feet and everything. That little woman come in and washed him with the tears, and wiped with the hairs of her head.” He said, “If he was a prophet he'd know what manner of woman that is there washing his feet. Shows he's not a prophet!”

Jesus stood up, and said, “Simon, I got something to say to you.” Amen. He just misunderstood, that was all. He said, “You invited me to come, and I left my busy schedule to come to your invitation. And you never met me at the door. You never had washed my feet. You never anointed my head. You never kissed me welcome. You just let me come in, dirty and stinking and full of sweat, and sat me over here in a corner to make fun of me. But this woman, this woman, she has constantly kissed my feet, and she's washed them with the tears of repentance (What beautiful water!), and wiped them with the hairs of her head. I've got something against you, Simon. Verily I say unto you, her sins which are many are all forgiven her.” Simon misunderstood; she understood. Simon said, “He's just a man”; she said, “He's God, my Saviour!” He was misunderstood. He's still misunderstood.

The disciples at Calvary, they misunderstood, when they all denied Him and went away. How could they see a man, a man that they had knowed to perform miracles and raise the dead, yet submit Hisself to death? And walk up through there, beaten and crying, the spit running off His face, and blood mixed with it where they had took the handfuls of beard out, plucked it from His face; and warped His back till His bones was shining through, and kicking Him, and beating Him around; them cussing, drunken soldiers, beating Him right up the street. “And stand and let them do that?” They misunderstood, so they stood far off. That's right.

The devil misunderstood Him. The devil said, “Surely that can-not be a Son of God that would stand there and be mistreated like that, and them cussing, and my disciples down there just treating him any way, and him taking it. He's not the Son of God.”

Also the Pharisees, the priests, misunderstood Him, said, “If thou be the Son of God, bring yourself down off of there.”

The thief on His left misunderstood Him, said, “If thou be the Son of God, take us off the cross, save yourself and us too.”

But the thief on the right understood Him. He said, “We've done evil and we deserve what we're getting, but this man's done nothing. Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

Watch that voice come back, said, “Today shall thou be with me in paradise.” He understood that that was God dying for our sins. The only way He could die, would be put to death in the flesh. He couldn't be put to death in spirit, because He's the eternal Spirit. And He had to be in flesh to be put to death, so they just misunderstood. He understood it.

One day, about ten days after that, or about forty days after that, fifty days it was, the disciples climbed up into an upper room, and they stayed up there for ten days and nights until the fiftieth day come. Then, all of a sudden, there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. Because Jesus had told them, “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high,” they knowed that it was going to come. They knowed it had to happen. “Go up there and wait until I send it.” They waited up there. They confessed, got everything out of their minds and hearts. They were waiting, all in one accord, in one place, waiting for the promise; walking back and forth, the men and the women, up there walking around together in this upper room, all the doors barred so the Jews couldn't get in and hurt them.

All at once, they was up there walking around, and there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, whirled around through there, and the licks of fire begin to sit upon them. The doors flew open, the windows come open, out into the streets they went.

And they were misunderstood, insomuch that they said, “Are these men not full of new wine? These people are drunk because we hear them blabbering off something we don't know what they're talking about.” All at once, they said, “How hear we every man in our own language, are not all these Galileans?” They misunderstood that it was the promise of the Father.

Then God had a prophet there who could stand up and speak. Peter said, “You men of Jerusalem and you that dwell in Judaea, don't misunderstand this. This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: 'It'll come to pass in the last days, saith God, I'll pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and upon my handmaids and maid servants will I pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I'll show wonders in the heavens above and in the earth below, and fire and vapor, and pillars of smoke: It shall come to pass, before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' ”

It was the work of God! It was the Holy Ghost, but they misunderstood it.

He was misunderstood.

He's always been misunderstood. Israel misunderstood Him, the people in Noah's time misunderstood Him, the people in Daniel's time misunderstood Him. The people in John's time misunderstood Him, the people in the prophet's time misunderstood Him, the people in the Pentecostal age misunderstood Him.

The people in this age misunderstand Him. It's still the same. They don't get it, because He's misunderstood. It's the time to compare the natural with the spiritual.

When the people, right after the day of Pentecost, when they was all filled with the Holy Ghost, had this great big meeting up there. . . . They called . . . a man down there, crippled from his mother's womb. Two of them was going along the street, and this beggar shook a can and asked for some money. And he said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I'll give it to you.” He said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk!” And he took the man by the hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. He began walking, and leaping, and running, and jumping, and praising God. Went into the temple, and all the people began to come together, and screaming and carrying on. Why, it was unusual.

And they put them in jail, and threatened them that they should not preach anymore in the name of Jesus.

And Peter said, “Who should we listen to, God or man?”

And they turned them loose, thinking because they had whipped them a little bit and threatened them (that they'd hang them the next time, or burn them, or put them on the cross, or something), they'd stop it. But the next thing they found, they was out on the street doing it again. Why? They misunderstood. It wasn't them people; it was God in those people, doing those things.

When they caught up little Stephen at the Sanhedrin Court that morning, said, “We'll take him before this court. When all these rabbis and Jews and high priests and holy fathers, and all of them gathered out there, these doctors of divinity, it'll scare him in the wits.” So they brought him out in his chains, and stood him out there, the little fellow like a lamb amongst a bunch of raving wolves. They said, “Watch him take down now and say, 'I'll take it all back, brethren, don't you all bother me.' ”

He said, “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, why do you resist the Holy Ghost? Like your fathers did, so do you!” Amen!

They found out that it wasn't him! For they picked up clods, and throwed their hands in their ears, and begin to gnash upon him, and clod him to death. And when he raised his head up towards that, and a bat beating him from one side of the head to the other, he said, “I see the heavens open, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” Amen! And he fell asleep in the arms of the Lord Jesus. When he died, he said, “Father, lay not this sin to their charge.”

See, they misunderstood what they did. Paul, standing there looking at it, later on it got on his nerves, and said, “I'm the least among all of them, because I bore witness to Stephen's death, thy saint.” Amen. That's it.

See, people misunderstand this enthusiasm. People misunder-stand today. They misunderstand the power of the Holy Spirit. They call it a bunch of holy rollers. They call it a bunch of people that ain't got their right mind. They misunderstand that you have to lose what you call your right mind that call yourselves Christ's, because you have the mind of Christ in you. You can't have the mind of the world and the mind of Christ at the same time. One's carnal and the other one's spiritual. He that walks after the flesh is carnal; he that walks after the Spirit is spiritual. Amen. So I'll lose myself and find it, Lord, in Thee. Yes, sir. So God's misunderstood.

It's not you that's misunderstood; it's the Holy Spirit making you do that that they misunderstand. Amen. They're not speaking against you; they're speaking against Him. People are misunder-stood. There, they can let them go, but they get right back in the street and start again. The same today. They misunderstand the people. They don't know what it is.

Today I'm misunderstood in my ministry, that He sent me to the people. They misunderstand it. Every one of them said, “We believe Brother Branham. . . .” I talked to a preacher a while ago, said, “Brother Branham, we all know that you was sent to the church, but, the idea is, how do you come baptizing in Jesus' name?” They misunderstand the Scriptures. They misunderstand it. That's what He sent me for, that's my purpose of being here. “Why do you teach the serpent's seed, and things like that that's contrary to what we teach?” Well, brother, that's why I'm here. They just misunderstand it. Amen. But God is bearing record by His Word and the signs of the Holy Ghost [unclear words]. No matter how much they misunderstand it, God's confirming the Word! Amen.

God's always been misunderstood. And those who live with God are misunderstood with God, because it's God working in them. Amen. Do you believe it?

I love Him, I love Him

Because He first loved me;

(Do you love Him? Raise up your

hands and say “Praise. . . .”)

. . . purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

Are you glad you are misunderstood? We used to sing a little song, saying, “Now I'm marked, marked, marked, marked by the Spirit divine.” That's right. People that once loved me, turn their back on me now because I'm marked, marked by the Spirit. Amen. I lost my mind to the things of the world, to receive the mind of Christ; therefore, if I have the mind of Christ, my mind seeks those things which are above. I'd like for somebody to show me any different correct baptism besides the name of Jesus Christ. I'd like for somebody to show me a scripture that says the serpent didn't have a seed. I'd like for somebody to show me a scripture that says there's three gods.

Then they say, “Well, what is it?”

God sent His message and bears record of it. He confirms the Word with signs following. That's what the Bible says. They can't deny that. It's a fact. But what did they do? They misunderstand it because I didn't come in the name of the Assemblies of God, the Oneness, or the Twoness, or the Threeness, or the Church of God, or the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran. I come in none of them names; I come in the name of Jesus Christ. And God, by His mercy, confirms the message by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it's still the Spirit of God that the people misunderstand. That's right, misunderstood.

Sure, you're misunderstood. All that live godly in Christ Jesus is misunderstood. All the way from righteous Noah, all the way down to the modern-day saint today, is misunderstood. Always been. People misunderstand it.

Israel misunderstood it. They don't understand; they just can't because they are carnal in spirit. It won't deviate with the spiritual, because it will not mix.

But I'm glad that we live in a kingdom that's not made with hands of men. I'm glad that we're going to a kingdom that men had nothing to do with. I'm glad that our kingdom is above. And if our kingdom is above, we're born from above, then we seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God—oh, where He's not ashamed of us, is our testimony. We're not ashamed of Him on this earth, because we are pilgrims and strangers. We're not of this earth; we're born of the Spirit of God. We're sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, washed in His blood, born of His Spirit, filled with His grace.

That's it, misunderstood. But what do we care? We love Him. Don't you love Him?

All right, Teddy, give us a note on “I Love Him,” and let's sing it from the bottom of our heart:

I love Him, I love Him

Because He first loved me;

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

Isn't He wonderful? Don't you love Him? Aren't you glad that you're peculiar? Royal priesthood, chosen people, peculiar people, offering spiritual sacrifices, the fruits of your lips giving praise to Him.

I'll sing you a song now, I feel like singing:

I find many people who can't understand

Why I am so happy and free;

I've been filled with the Spirit, there isn't a doubt,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Oh, that's what's the matter with me,

Oh, that's what's the matter with me;

I've been filled with the Spirit, there isn't a doubt,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Do you like that? Let's all sing it then:

We find many people who can't understand

Why we are so happy and free;

We're filled with the Spirit, there isn't a doubt,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Oh, that's what's the matter with me, (Praise God!)

Oh, that's what's the matter with me;

I've been filled with the Spirit, there isn't a doubt,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Oh, when I get happy, I sing and I shout,

Some don't understand it, I see;

But I've crossed over Jordan to Canaan's fair land,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Oh, that's what's the matter with me, (Praise God!)

Oh, that's what's the matter with me;

I've crossed over Jordan to Canaan's fair land,

And that's what's the matter with me.

Oh, I love that. Don't you? Crossed over Jordan to Canaan's fair land, I bid farewell to the world, lifted up above the things of the world, now I'm living in this heavenly atmosphere. Sure, I act funny to them buzzards down there. Yes, sir, I'm flying above it. That's right. What do we care? We are living in Canaan's land. Amen! Yes, sir. Eating the new grapes, just having a wonderful time—full of glory, full of power, full of the Holy Spirit. Yes, sir.

Said, “Stephen was a man, full. . . .” Full of what? Full of what? He was full of the Holy Ghost. He was full of power, he was full of wisdom, he was full of might. What'd it all make up? He was full of the Holy Ghost! That's where all these things dwell. That's what the church of the living God is. Aren't you happy for it, Christian? Aren't you happy? If you're misunderstood, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall be misunderstood. They've always been, down through the Bible.

Now, what am I trying to say? To you people who speak with tongues, to you who shout, dance in the Spirit, people say, “Oh, it's nonsense,” just remember I've went right back and showed you. Right down through the Scripture, they're always misunderstood. Remember, you're in the Scripture, you're doing that which is right. Stay right with it, God's with you. Just keep right in the Scripture, God will take care of the rest of it. Amen.

I love Him. Let's sing my good old baptismal song, the one we was singing the first time that the angel of the Lord there ever appeared before man, in His presence. I had seen it before, myself, but first time He ever come down. And when he come down he said, “As John was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, your message will forerun the second coming of Christ.” Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people standing on the banks down there when it come down on June, 1933, at the river. And we were standing on the banks, singing:

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand,

And cast a wistful eye,

To Canaan's fair and happy land,

Where my possessions lie.

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

When shall I reach this happy place,

And be forever blest!

When shall I see my Father's face,

And in His bosom rest?

Oh, I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

All o'er those wide extended plains

Shines one eternal day;

There God the Son forever reigns,

And scatters night away.

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised. . . .

Let's just sing that again, and shake hands with somebody around you.

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

Now, without a shadow of doubt, every one of you that has accepted Christ, and know that you are borned again of the Spirit, let's raise our hands now and sing:

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

I haven't seen this for a long time. Ladies, reach in your purse and get your handkerchief. Gentlemen, reach in your hip pocket and get your handkerchief out. Now we're going to have a wave gift to the Lord. All right, all of us together, we're going to wave like we're going into Canaan now. Wave your handkerchief. All right, now:

I am bound for the promised land,

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

Now, if there is someone here that hasn't made their election and calling sure, that would like to come while we sing it again, would like to pull out your handkerchief and wave with us again. The gate's open now, the tickets are free. Won't you come? Step aboard the old ship of Zion, she's going, moving out. Let's go.

I am bound for the promised land

(it won't be long),

I am bound for the promised land;

O who will come and go with me?

I am bound for the promised land.

As we bow our heads:

To be like Jesus, just to be like Jesus

On earth I long to be like Him;

All through life's journey from earth to glory

I only ask to be like Him.

From Bethlehem's manger came forth a stranger,

On earth I long to be like Him;

All through life's journey from earth to glory

I only ask to be like Him.

Don't forget Sunday. Don't forget Wednesday night is prayer meeting. Remember, pray much. Pray for me, pray for your pastor, pray for your neighbor, your deacons, your trustees, pray that God will have His way with us all.

To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus,

On earth I long (that's my heart's desire) to be like Him

(He's understanding. Though a lot of people don't

understand it, remember that God will make a way);

. . . from earth to glory

I only ask to be like Him.

[Brother Branham begins humming.]

. . . . . . . . . . humble and lowly,

On earth I long just to be like Him;

All through life's journey from earth to glory

I only ask to be like Him.

With our heads bowed now, and our eyes closed, and our hearts centered on God, we will call on my precious good friend, Brother Roy Borders, from California, if he won't pronounce the benedic-tion upon this meeting. Brother Borders.