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Abraham's Covenant Confirmed (61-0210)
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Abraham's Covenant Confirmed (61-0210)
E-1
Good evening, friends. Nice to be back again in the house of the Lord
tonight, and ready to speak of Him again, and share our fellowship
around His Word. I just love to fellowship around the Word of God,
don't you? E-2 Well, my, here right--right in my sight, Brother Espinosa, it sure is a pleasure to meet you. God bless you...?... we...?... God bless you. You set down? Or you--you have your wife or some of them out there? [Brother answers, "I have my wife and a couple of friends."--Ed.] Oh, well, that's--how nice. Well, that's fine. I just was thinking, many times I referred to that, Brother Espinosa, to how the Lord blessed down in Mexico. I believe I have spotted Sister Espinosa now. So glad to see you all. You know, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that'll be, when we all set down at the international dinner, the international supper it is. And we'll have a--really a grand time talking over old things, and old acquaintance renewing, and it'll be a great time.
E-3
I feel like I could stand another meeting in Mexico; that would just be
fine, had a great time. I remember the little baby, I never forget
that. This beautiful little Mexican woman was... Billy come to me, and
he said, "Daddy, you're going to have to do something." He said, "You
can't even hold that woman out there." Said, "They got so many ushers,"
but said, "she wants to get up there anyhow." And said, "The brother,"
I--I forget his name, that was with him, was giving out the cards, it
was... I always called him Manana because he's always late. He was...
So he--he was going to come after me at a six o'clock, I believe, and
he got me at nine. So I called him Manana, "tomorrow," you know. So...
And he was a fine brother though, a real sweet fine brother.
E-4
Not because Brother Espinosa's here, but I said it the first night
here. The other day I was in a church, a church in another city,
Tucson, Arizona. And there was just about a half a dozen of my Mexican
friends that had come from somewhere, and they'd set there all day,
that day, in that hot building, waiting for me to be there for that
night, had set there all day waiting. And when got on the platform, I
been praying all that day. I'd spoke that morning and then come back.
And that night as soon as the platform, those poor people, 'course they
just have to--they get--shuffle the cards out and give them to whoever
they want. E-5 Now, so I remember this little lady coming up, and when Brother Moore went down to try to satisfy her, and I looked this a way, and I seen a vision of the cutest little Mexican baby, setting up gooing, and it didn't even have any teeth, just gooing and laughing. I thought, "That's a cute... Wait a minute," I thought, "that's that baby under that blanket." So they... A little... It was rainy, and the little lady had a blanket over it. And it--it had died that morning. And this is in the night. Went and laid hands upon that little baby, prayed for it, and it begin kicking and screaming as loud as it could. And it--it was brought back to life and is living today as far as I know. Now, Brother and Sister Espinosa one of, I know searched that down. And that's five times now that I have seen Him, authentically, bring dead back to life after being dead for hours and hours (See?), bring them back to life. He--He's God.
E-6
I tell you, brother, sister, what it is, we--we... It's been... One
time there was... I'll tell you a little story, and then you'll--you'll
get what I mean. There was a man one time took a journey, was going
down to the sea. He'd read about it, had heard about it, but he had
never seen the--the sea. And on his road down he met an old salt, or a
sailor, you know, coming back from the sea, and he said to him, he
said, "Where goest thou, my good man?" E-7 Now, that's just the way it is. There's been so many things to this American revival, that's happened, till it's become so common to you, until you don't realize what it really is. And them people who has never seen it or heard it, my, their--their hearts are just built and ready and gone. See? That's what it... It becomes common to us. And, brother, sister, that's why you hear me cutting it as hard as I can the remar--"The American revival is over." It ended about four years ago. So it's--it's over. And there's no more revival in America; we're only gleaning in the fields that's been already reaped and burnt over. You pick up a stalk once in a while, but very few. Now, we don't only find it here in Los Angeles or in Long Beach; we find it all over the nation, the same way, everywhere.
E-8
And the--the meetings now, the big revivals is in the overseas, over in
the--in the other lands, out of here. And that's--it's... I was talking
to one of your missionaries right from the church, a boy setting here
tonight, met his wife back there, a lovely brother, just come back from
the Gold Coast. And, oh, my, I said, "What do you think?"
E-9
Heavenly Father, Thou art the Author of this eternal Word. In the
beginning was the Word; the Word always was because it was God. It was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And tonight we see You still revealing
that Word, unfolding Yourself through the Word, and letting us
fellowship around these great things. E-10 Now, we ask for mercy for us here tonight, and may the Holy Spirit come and get into the Word as we're trying to teach to build up for healing service coming Sunday night. Pray, Lord, that the lame will walk, the blind will see, and the great Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in a marvelous way. Help us tomorrow, Lord, with the broad--broadcast and the Business Men's breakfast. And, wherever, we, are, may, we, be, able, to, scatter, sunshine, of, light, to, the, needy, calling, those, Lord, who, are, hungering, and, thirsting, that, they, might, be, filled. Bless the Word around our hearts tonight as we fellowship, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-11
Now, tonight we are going to try to continue on in our study in the
book of Genesis. If I do a little whistling, I--I broke a corner off of
a tooth today, and so it kind of feels funny up there when I'm trying
to speak. E-12 And last evening I... Many times in speaking, cutting, I don't mean to hurt. I--I just mean to anchor a word. See? Because it--it's a time where we are--are... I'm zealous of the church. I--I am. I... When I see the church getting off in the world, it just tears me to pieces; I just can't stand still. Now, I don't mean to be different; God knows that; I don't mean to be different. I love you too much for that, to be different. But when I--when I see things, and know that it's truth, then I--there's just something in me, I can't hold my peace; I just got to speak it, 'cause... And I only speak by inspiration anyhow. And so I--I don't mean to hurt. But I--I want you to take it that way.
E-13
And now, so that you'll understand, we all will agree that we're living
in the Laodicean Church Age; we all know that. Now, you remember, on
the Laodicean Church Age, the only age of any of them that Jesus was
put outside of His own church, knocking on the door trying to get back
in. And that's what we've done, just exactly. That's what the
Pentecostal groups has done. Because it's always the churches... On
every age it's been a Pentecostal church. If you hear the broadcast
tomorrow, I'm going to speak on that. And so you find out if that isn't
right. It's always. E-14 Brother Paul Boyd, that I know, a friend of mine is in here somewhere. I thank you, Brother Paul, for that wonderful book you sent me. And I've took the Nicene, Pre-Nicene Council, and Nicene Council; and many of these other ministers are far better quoted; they're are--are versed on that, than I am. But it was at the Nicene Council; it was that Pentecostal remnant that they forced out, brought in their own ideas, where the church, the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which was first just a--a little saying among them. Is was... And "nico" is a word means "conquer." "Laitia" means "to conquer the laitia." In other words, they taken all the spirit out of the congregation, the laity, and made a holy man out of it. Let the... "The people's not holy so the holy priest, the holy bishop, or something..." And nico, conquer the laitia and make it one man. So they'd all go in, and build up the church, and pay in, and so forth like that. Just one man could be the intercessor to forgive sins. But that's not God's remedy. God don't deal with us as a church; He deals with us as a individual. So the Holy Spirit is in the laity, just the same as He's up here or anywhere. E-15 And--and we find out that in that, in that time they took the--the Holy Spirit out of the church, and they united church and state. And Constantine was not a convert, a man that done those things. He was just like Ahab; he was a politician. He only taken pagan Rome and Christian Rome and united them together, and took the Christian superstitions, and the pagan ceremonies and bound them together, and made a universal religion out of it to strengthen his own kingdom. He was not no convert. He... The things he did proved that he wasn't. So he... I am not his judge of course, but I'm just taking it from the--from the way the history reads it.
E-16
And then, there she went through the dark age, the church did. Then
they come out with Martin Luther, then with John Wesley, then to
Pentecost again. It's always been a Pentecostal church. You watch down
through those ages, when you take after Saint Paul of the Ephesian
church, then you take Irenaeus of the next church age, Saint Martin of
the next one, Columba of the next one, then Luther, Wesley, and on down
to this last day now we're looking for a great messenger in the last
day, which will be the second time coming of Elijah. It's great.
E-17
And so, you'll notice in Revela--in Malachi the last prophet, in the
last part of the--of the 4th chapter, he said, "Before the great and
terrible day of the Lord shall come, I will send to you Elijah the
prophet." Now, watch. "And he will turn the hearts of the children--the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children
to the fathers."
E-18
And notice here, the first Elias was to come, he would turn the heart
of the children to the fathers, or the hearts of the fathers to the
children. See the old patriarch fathers, the old orthodox, the
legalist, the law, he turned it back to the--the faith of the fathers
here to the children, the hearts to the children, this new message that
John was preaching (See?), of the coming Messiah then. He turned the
hearts to this. E-19 Take the--take the nature of Elijah. Look at Elijah; see what he was. What was he when he come in John's time? He hated denominations. "You Pharisees, don't think to say within yourself, 'We have Abraham to our Father,' 'cause God's able these stones to rise children to Abraham." So did Elijah. Both of them hated women, or immoral women, the things doing wrong. Look at Elijah with Jezebel. Look at John the Baptist with Herodias. See? Both wilderness men, loved the woods and outside. Come right out of the bushes and send forth a message. He will come on the scene one of these days. It... E-20 Yeah, and it might not be just one person. But it'll be a message in the church. The Holy Spirit in the church to swing that faith back again to the original faith. That's right. For he will turn the hearts of the children back to the fathers. The first time he turned the heart of the fathers to the children, this time the hearts of the children to the fathers. See? Taken the faith that the fathers had and placed it over here on the children, the one that's just then coming in. And this time he's to take that same faith, 'cause they got away from the original faith, and he's going to turn the faith of the fathers--of the children back to the fathers, the Pentecostal fathers. Another Acts 2, that's right, another one. E-21 I'm speaking on that in the morning, the Lord willing, "It Wasn't So From The Beginning," at the Christian Business Men's breakfast. The Lord... So that's the broadcast. Then afterwards I want to speak on the subject of "Hearing, Believing, And Acting On The Word Of God." Now, and tomorrow night then we be back here again to close off this study of Genesis. And Sunday night, the Lord willing, we want to have a healing service to pray for the sick again Sunday night.
E-22
Now, the reason that the Holy Spirit today would rebuke and tear down
the church... You remember, the Laodicean age, He said, "As many as I
love, I rebuke. And as many as I love, I rebuke." Thank God for
rebuking, a real Father Who straighten us up and get us out.
E-23
Brother, the Scripture's all here; let's just obey it. That's all. "As
many as I love, I rebuke." That's the--this age, is that right? So and
then the Bible said also in Hebrews the 12th chapter and the 8th verse,
"And if they cannot stand, and won't take rebuking, they are
illegitimate and not sons of God." A man blows up, "Humph!" A woman,
"Oh, I ain't going to listen to that any more, I don't have..." All
right, go ahead, illegitimate. That's exactly. But a real child of God
will take his correction, saying, "Yes, Father, it's Your Word; I've
got to straighten up now; I've got to do what's right." You know that's
truth, isn't it? A illegitimate is the one that always backs off and
the fly in the soup, to just kind of upset something. But the real
child of God admires to be rebuked and straightened up. E-24 Now, these things are unpopular. That's the reason my ministry's not growed up or big like other fellows. And if it ever gets that way, I want God to tear it down so He can get down to where I can really go ahead and tell them the truth. I--I--I don't belong to any organization, so I can ram it any way I want to. See? I don't belong to any group, so I can say what I wish. I just belong to Christ, and I can just stay right there. I don't have to have money, so there--there it is. I stay right with it. So that wherever God sends me, I just go and bust it right down the way He tells me and walk away (See?), get on back again. So I wo... That's the way I want it. I don't want no big obligations where you have to beg for money, and plead for this, and take up this, and carry on this, and this big go... I got to keep my mind on Christ. Go, look yourself out among the others to do that. For us, let's give ourselves to the Word of God and--and preaching, staying with the truth and the revelation of the Holy Spirit and what's going to take place. E-25 Now, we find out... Now, let's get a little backgrounds on Abraham now. Last night we find that Abraham was just an ordinary man. Is that right? Now, that's... Today when God blesses a person, then the--the people think he has to been real odd, real peculiar. No, it's just a ordinary men. Make him a holy man, some great, come down through generations of holy men and has to be... No, that's not it. The Bible said Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. He was just a man. Abraham was just a common fellow that came down, an old man come down from Babylon, and went down to the land of the Chaldeans and the city of Ur, just an ordinary man, him and his wife, probably a poor, farmer, whatever he did for a living. E-26 And we find out that God spoke to him one day and told him that he was going to have a child by his wife. And he was seventy-five years old and she was sixty-five at the time. Now, it was ridical, radical, rather, to think of what God would say that to a man seventy-five years old. But you see, God does what He wants to, and He usually does things in such a awful peculiar way. And He makes you act peculiar whenever you obey His Word. "For all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions." But you've just got to come straight to the Word; don't--don't... It's no private interpretation. Just read It the way It's written and believe It the way It's written, and the way you're supposed to believe it. And it you don't doubt It, It'll produce everything that It promised. If you can take the right mental attitude that God wrote It, "God said It; promise is mine; I believe it," watch it happen. It's got to, just got to happen.
E-27
Now, we find out that God told him to separate himself, last night, and
away from his kindred, away from his people. But Abraham, like an
ordinary man... Now, God never--never run him out the--back to his
homeland for doing it, but Abraham never did get blessed of God until
he separated himself from all of his people. He took his father along;
he took some more along, took his nephew. And the old fellow always was
in the way, till finally God called him off the scene. And then Lot,
his nephew, backslid and went down into Sodom. And--and then when he
got separated from him, then God begin to tell him about the blessing,
I--what He was going to bless him. I like that.
E-28
Look, from dust to stars. Oh, my. From the earth, grave to glory. And
you remember, the real promise Seed of Abraham, which come through
Isaac, was Christ. And "He is a Lily of the valley, the Bright and
Morning Star, the Fairest of ten thousands to my soul." How we look at
that, how God in His great solar system declares... You believe that
God lives in His solar system? You believe He made the stars? He said
He did. How everything is so perfectly arranged in the solar system.
From the...
E-29
Now, Abraham, when he was supposed to have this baby... We went through
it last night, when Sarah might have said after the first twenty-eight
days, he said, "How you feeling, honey?" E-30 And now, we find out last night that it was Abram until God blessed him and made a covenant with him, and then He changed his name from Abram to Abraham. And h-a-m was part of God's Name. Did you notice that? Did it ever soak down in? Abraham: Elohim (See?), He put part of God's Name because God is a father of all. And he made His name, being Elohim, He put part of His Name with Abraham (See?), and made him a partner with Him. Through his seed He would bring forth a Seed and bless every nation in the earth. He'd be the father of many nations. Abraham would reproduce the faith of Elohim, h-e-m and h-a-m. But He made him part of His Name because he was to be the father of many nations. E-31 Oh, it's so rich, wish we just had all the time; we could just take it and just read verse by verse and go through it. I tell you; it just makes me jump into the seventh heaven almost, to--to think of how perfect that Bible is. There's not one Scripture contradicts another, just as perfectly through and through as it can be. There's not no contradictions in the Bible. The guy that says that, just bring him along. There's no such a thing as a contradiction in the Bible that cannot be straightened out by the Word of God. That's right. Now, it's all riddled up, because He did it that way to hide it from the eyes of the wise and prudent and reveal it to babes such as would learn. Yeah.
E-32
Now, I got a wife, how I love her, sweetest woman on earth to me. Now,
we're not--we're... We believe in--we believe that God is love. And if
God is love, then He loves us so much that He gave His only begotten
Son that we might be saved. Now, when I go overseas, I don't call Mrs.
Branham in, say, "My dear Mrs. Branham, I'm taking a trip overseas;
thou shalt not have any other husbands while I'm gone. Thou shalt not
make eyes at anyone while I'm gone."
E-33
Now, what if overseas, if I'd come back, and I took some lady out, and
took her out somewhere riding and come back and took her in and said,
"Good night to you," and so forth. And--and--and I--I know I'd have to
tell Meda about that. Well, I believe she'd forgive me for it.
I--I--I'd say, "Meda, I--I did it." I'd go confess it and say, "I did
it. I--I'm sorry I did it."
E-34
I--I go, and away from home, away from my children, where my heart
bleeds to be there with them. Little Joseph called me the other day
when I was leaving, you know, sometimes change in water sometimes makes
us sick. He walked out; he wanted to come with me so bad, he'd been
crying all morning. And he walked out to the porch; he looked out, and
straightened his little self up, and rubbed his big eyes, looked out,
said, "Daddy?"
E-35
And so, that's it; it's love. Though I know that if I do anything
wrong, I believe God would forgive me for it. But, oh, my, I wouldn't
want to hurt Him. I wouldn't want to do nothing to hurt Him. I love Him
too much. Well, that's the way we're supposed to live for God, in love
with Him. Love, just so love that you love one another. Jesus said,
"This will all men know that you're My disciples when you have love one
for another." Not because you're Methodist, or Baptist, or Lutheran, or
Pentecostal; because you love one another. And that's what I've always
tried to do to get these little middle walls tore down and got away so
I could say we love one another. See? But, see, as long as we do the
things that we're doing, we find it there as shadows in the Bible where
they did it in the beginning. And you see what happened to them. "And
all these happened for examples," says Hebrews. E-36 So the dust, from the dust to the stars. From the dirt of the earth, what we're made out of, to the shining stars in glory. "They that know their God shall do exploits, and they shall shine as the stars forever and forever." Daniel 12. Yes, they will. Just think, that morning star hasn't lost any of its beauty since God hung it there in the--in the solar system. It hasn't lost any of its beauty. It'll be gone on for billions and billions of years, and we'll still be shining in glory. Yes, sir. It's just a sample, just an example. E-37 I want to say something here; I'm afraid to, and I... Is it all right, brother? Oh... Now, you have to watch when you're--especially with people; they misunderstand. Now, I believe the three's a trinity, is in one, as we know. Now, I believe that God had three Bibles, if you'll watch. Now, the first Bible He wrote was in the heavens, the zodiac. Now, I know you can get off on deep ends of that, and you get off on deep ends of anything else. But truly, if you notice the zodiac, how did it start? It starts, the first in the zodiac is the virgin. The last in the zodiac is Leo the lion, the first coming and the second coming of Christ: once through the virgin, next as the lion of the tribe of Judah. You catch the cross fishes (See?), that's the cancer age that we're going through. Everything in the skies declares God. Certainly does. And God's people is to look up, realizing that God is not on earth, but He's in heaven. He wrote the first Bible.
E-38
Now, the second thing He wrote, Enoch, in the times of the pyramid,
down in Egypt. I've been there and perhaps many men in here and women
has been there. You notice those pyramids, we couldn't reproduce them.
They're too great, too gigantic. They're so geographically in the
center of the earth, no matter where the sun is, there's never shade
around them. And they got tons and tons and tons of boulders up there,
that they argued about that once. We used to debate it in school, how
they built it. Well, the fellow of my point said, "They rolled it up."
E-39
But notice in building the pyramid... Now, watch this. You got a dollar
bill in your pocket? I--I think I got one. So if you notice on the back
of your dollar bill, why have they got the pyramid says, "The great
seal?" You ever notice on your American dollar? Uh-huh. The great
seal... Notice on that pyramid also, how it starts at the bottom and
keeps coming up like this, minority, minority. And did you notice, the
capstone's not even on it. Neither is the pyramid capped. Why? The
capstone was rejected, Jesus Christ, the Head of it, exactly right.
E-40
If you can catch it and know what I'm talking about... The very
ministry that Jesus Christ was doing here on earth, when it comes back,
the very same ministry at Pentecost will not have to widen itself out
in organization, but shape itself up in Christ until the headstone and
the church will fit one to the other. And them is so cemented, till you
can't even take a razor blade and go around and find a crack where they
were put together. And that's how the church is got to come, so much
like Christ. And look what we got to do then. Cut away and circumcise
and chop off, and form and molded into the image of Jesus Christ until
that church and the cap comes right smack together. E-41 The third one's wrote on paper because this is that great educational age that we're living in. And neither--none of them contradicts one another. So you see, the great solar system speaks of Christ. Everything that you see speaks of Christ if you just look at it. Look at the church today in its condition, weak, backslidden, gone back into the world. That speaks of Christ, exactly what He said. He'd stand at the door and knock. And that--put outside, organized Him out, and set Him outside, their creeds and so forth took Him out. But He still stands at the door and knocking and said, "Everyone I love, I chasten and rebuke." That's right. Trying to cut them down and bring them to a spot to where when the great Capstone comes, the ministry that's in the church when the Capstone is come right straight together like a magnet. They just seal right in together. Oh, God, help us to have... It'll be there; don't worry; it'll be there. He said it would be there. So let's us get ourselves to meet that Cornerstone. Let us love and project our lives in Christ and be sincere and stay with the Word, until when He comes we just fit right in like the glove over the hand, like that, with Him. Oh, that's the church that God's a waiting for. Yes, sir.
E-42
Now, He was--we realize from the dust now, 13th chapter, unto the 15th
chapter. Now, we find out... We left him last night where he had done a
beautiful thing, Abraham. His backslidden brother Lot went down in
Sodom and become a great man down there and got out of the will of the
Lord. Then should we seek a flower bed of ease? Should we ask the easy
way? No. The old writer used to write, wrote a song, "Must I be carried
home to heaven on a flowerly bed of ease, while others fought to win
the prize and sailed through bloody seas? No, I must fight if I must
reign. Increase my courage, Lord." That's it.
E-43
Anything that's hybrid is polluted. And religion that's hybrid from
this Bible into organization or denomination or church creeds, is
hybrid. Now, look, a hybrid produces a more beautiful art, more
do--beautiful product. You take wheat... We got corn, hybrid corn, some
of the best corn we ever had, but it's no good. You take that hybrid
corn and plant it back; it can't reproduce itself again. E-44 But anything I love is a good hybrid horse--good registered horse, good registered stock, oh, brother, pedigreed. That's the way I like religion. I like real pedigreed Pentecostal religion. They can tell you where they come from. They know who their father and mother was. You don't see them with bobbed hair and dresses you're poured into like a--some kind of a wiener skinned over or something like that. Now, you're smoking cigarettes, marrying three or four women, running around drinking, and carrying, calling themselves Christians. They don't do that. That's hybrid Pentecost brought into a denomination. But real Pentecost stand on the firing line, stand for God. That's right.
E-45
Hybrid, it's hybrid so much in this, America is gone so much on hybrid
till that the people is becoming hybrid. You know you have to go back
to the original. Now, let me show you where science claims that we come
from animal life, that breaks them down. If anything breathes...
Genesis 1:26 said, I believe it said, "Every... Let every seed bring
forth of its kind." Every seed after its kind, and you cross that seed
up, it cannot breed itself back again. No, sir, it's finished when...
That shows that we never evoluted from monkeys and so forth, getting
better and better. No, sir, we did not. We are simply made in the image
of God. We're sons and daughters of God.
E-46
Now, listen, it's hybrid. It's gumming up, and, boy, this west coast is
lined with it everywhere. You know why? Civilization has traveled from
the east, west. And all that's went with it. The Indians said before
the white man come with his women, with his whiskey, and with his sin,
they lived a good life. But here come the white man, a killer, a
murderer, and killed off his buffalo and everything else, and then sin
contaminated, and she's rolled right up against this west coast here
till it's higher than the skies. That's exactly right. You go any
farther, and you go back east again. E-47 Patterned like the world, that's the way that the king wanted one time. When they wanted king in Israel 'cause the rest of them... That good old prophet walked up to them, said, "When did I ever tell you anything in the Name of the Lord, didn't happen? When did I ever take your money from you? If you want a king and be like the rest of them, you're refusing God as your King." When you take creeds instead of the Bible, then you're taking the church for your salvation. And Christ is your salvation. The Holy Spirit leads and guides the church. God never sent bishops and so forth to guide churches or denominations. He sent the Holy Ghost to--to run the church. God's idea of it, His id... He ought to know, He's God.
E-48
Now, we find in there, after he went after his backslidden brother and
brought Lot back, what happened, in the 14th chapter? As soon as he
brought Lot back, Lot ought to knowed not to get in that wallow again,
but he went right back into it again, "As the sow goes to its wallow, a
dog to its vomit," says the Bible. That's exactly. If it made him sick
enough to vomit it up the first time, it'd make him sick again. See?
Oh, as a sow to its wallow, and as a dog to its vomit, it goes back.
That's just exactly.
E-49
Not long ago I was bawled out for that in one of the Christian Business
Men's Breakfast or it was a supper, right after that the--one night
Brother Roberts had spoke and I was speaking after him the next night.
And when I did, I spoke on that. How it was, that these things I spoke
on Delilah and Samson. And so one of our brothers raised up and said,
"Well Brother Branham, our pastor said they know that, but they can't
say nothing." Said, "If they do, the church will put them right out."
E-50
Just like it's coming springtime, your old mother birds will go out
here out lay eggs, and make a nest, and hover over them. And she'll...
That's how she brings her little ones. Well now, if that old mother
bird though, she might lay a nest full of eggs, and if she hasn't been
with the mate they won't hatch. They--they're not fertile. The
bloodstream comes from the male sex. We know that, the hemoglobin, the
blood comes from the man, because it had to be that way, 'cause the
woman produces the egg. She's an incubator but she has nothing to do
with the blood of the baby. That's the reason its always takes the
father's name.
E-51
The old mother bird, she could get upon this nest and lay... She can
lay the eggs all right, so can we have churches. Just like I said, a
hybrid religion. "We got a prettier church than we used to have. Oh,
my, it's beautiful." I admire that. But brother, when you see our women
and men in our congregation breaking down to that old cold formal
acting and painting, and women... Why, it used to be wrong for
Pentecostal women to wear a manicure, or what is that stuff they put on
their face, ever what it is. It--it used to be--lipstick. It used to be
wrong for them to do that. But I notice they do it now. What's the
matter? Right.
E-52
The old mother bird setting hover them eggs till she gets so poor she
can't fly off the nest. That's right. She can turn them reverently,
and, "Oh, my, they're mine," and cover them, and cover them. And you
say, "Well, I could go eat but I just got to--I've got to attend the
ladies society. I got to--I got to have this and the other." See, till
she gets so poor she can't fly, but they'll never hatch; they're dead.
They'll lay right there and rot. E-53 And that egg, if that old mother bird can turn it any way she wants to, it'll never hatch; it'll lay right there and rot. And that's just what's the matter today in our churches, originally. They're all broke up in organizations and different denominations. We took them in by letter and shook them in because they was good money payers in the church and helped build big fine buildings and things like that. And they know no more about God than a Hottentot does about Egyptian knight. They won't believe in Divine healing. They turn down the Holy Ghost. They--they fuss at you 'cause you bawl the people out and try to straighten them up. They're dead rotten eggs. The best thing to do is clean the whole nest out and start over again. Get somebody in contact with Christ Who lives...?... Exactly right. Get the church, the nest cleaned out, sterilize it and fumigate it right good, and start over again. That's right. Get somebody that lays on the altar there till they come through. E-54 Last night I made an altar call, three or four sinners run up to the altar, and I had to beg people almost in this very church to come up and pray with them people. Then you... Don't you holler at the Baptists. I can go down in Kentucky and make an altar call and some old boy out there chewing on his hat and under conviction, start to the altar, be fifteen of them old mammies around him somewhere. Trying... And now, He don't just get down at the altar and say, "I--I take Christ as my Saviour." They beat one another on the back till they come through. They got something when they come out of there. What we need is go back and learn what the Baptists has got. We need another preacher like John, who laid his axe to the root of the tree and break forth, who cut it down and throw it into the furnace. Amen. Yeah.
E-55
After he'd went and brought his brother back, Abraham, brought his
brother back then he turned right back, got into the same thing again,
the same wallow. Then after that, God said, "Abraham..."
E-56
Now, you say, "How will I know it, Lord?" Oh, this beautiful thing,
don't--don't--don't miss it now. Read it when you go home. The
confirmation of the--of the gift, what He was going to give to him now.
Watch what He did in the 15th chapter. Abraham, He called him out,
said, "Go, get Me a--a young heifer of three years, and--and bring me
a--a she goat of three years, and--and a--a sheep of three years, and
bring them." And Abraham cut them in pieces and laid them down. And
said, "Bring Me a turtledove and a young pigeon."
E-57
Now, he never cut the birds in two, but he cut the animal. Now, here's
a beautiful picture. I don't want you to miss it now, class. But I--I
don't think that that would do to tear that, I'll tear this. All right.
E-58
But in Abraham's time when they made a covenant one with another, they
made it different. Now, when they made a covenant one another in--in
the orient, in that time... Now, watch the way Abraham... God confirmed
this covenant right with him, and watch how He did it. He taken
the--the sheep, the--and the sacrifice, and cut it in two, and laid it
out there. And now, notice then, Abraham watched the birds off of it,
kept the sacrifice clean.
E-59
At the beginning He was El, Elah, Elohim, the all ex--self existing
One. In Him was attributes to be a Father, to be a Saviour, to be a
Healer. And these things only display, for his attributes (See?), is
what it is. That's what makes us... First He creat... He wasn't God to
begin with because God is an object of worship. So He created Angels so
He could be God. And then He put man on free moral agency for His own
holiness, and when He did that, then man fell. Then He become a
Saviour. See, it's just displaying His attributes. Nothing's out of
line, it's going... Don't think the devil's putting it over on God;
He--He's boss; He knows where it's all at. That's right. He knows where
it's at. E-60 Now, when Abraham kept all of the vultures off of the--the sacrifice until the sun went down... That's what we got to do now. Keep the vultures off until--till the--the morning breaks; that's all I can say. Yes, sir. Now, watch what happened. And as soon as it did, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham. See? Now, sleep means death. And when he opened his eyes and looked, there was a smoking furnace. That's where every sinner goes, where we all deserve to go. A smoking furnace went out; that's hell, where every--every man and woman that's born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come into the world speaking lies, that's exactly where we deserve to go.
E-61
But notice, then after that, there come a little white light. And this
little light went between these pieces of sacrifice. What was God
doing? Making His covenant with Abraham. Oh, brother, not by works now
but by grace, nothing you can do. He's showing Israel that He--He--He
saved Israel right there by grace without any works. The covenant of
Abraham wasn't, "Abraham if you'll do a certain thing, I'll do it." He
said, "I have done it."
E-62
Now, notice, then, how did they write a covenant in the old days? They
killed a sacrifice. Now, that Light was God. Showed him where he ought
to go, after his death he should go to hell, but beyond that went this
little white Light, going between these sacrifices. Now, in the Old
Testament... E-63 He said, "By this you'll know what My covenant is, Abraham." Abraham being spiritual, knowed it. Why? That's exactly what God did. He took His covenant Seed, which the real Seed was the promised One through faith, come forth out of Isaac, come forth Christ. Christ was God's Covenant. And what He did, He took Him up to Calvary, just like Abraham did his own son a few days afterwards, or a few years afterwards, after he was born. What did He do? He took Him on Calvary and He tore Him apart (Amen.), tore Him apart. He raised His body up on Easter morning and set Him on the right hand of His throne. But the Spirit that was in Him, He sent back down to the church. So the church, when this covenant is brought into its full strength, when the covenant is confirmed with God, the church, the people that goes into this body here to be His Bride, we'll be exactly the same Spirit that was upon Christ, doing the same things, the same ministry, the same power, and it'll come together and be word by word the same: confirming the covenant. E-64 Now, look at today; look what we see today and find out. What did I say about the pyramid? It'll have to be honed and so perfectly set in, all the shavings and everything, till that headstone will have to fit just perfectly in. See? The rejected headstone will have to be come back. The covenant, the life that was in Christ is in the church, the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "A little while and the world won't see Me no more; yet ye shall see Me, for I ('I' is a personal pronoun), I'll be with you, even in you, to the end of the world. And the works that I do, shall you do also." Whew. Don't you see it? What is the covenant church confirmed, is the one who has the Holy Spirit, that's a... "We who are dead in Christ, we take on Abraham's seed and are heirs with him according to the promise." If you've never received the Holy Ghost yet, you have never come into the covenant of God.
E-65
One of my Baptist brethren come to me not long ago upon a certain
brother wrote in the "Voice of Healing" about two Angels come down with
fluffy feathers. And He fell and he took Him up through to God the
Father. And oh... And he said, "What about this, Billy?"
E-66
Here not long ago I was up... Doctor Aegery, may be setting here
tonight. Dean of the Bethany College, a Lutheran college. He wrote me a
letter and if he didn't bawl me out. He said, "I drove fifteen miles
through a blinding snowstorm to hear a servant of God and what did I
find but a polished up soothsayer." He said... And oh, he just tore me
all to pieces, said, "A man that speaks to the people that you do, and
the rottenest theology I ever heard in my life." E-67 So I thought, "With twenty-two pages I ought to answer him at least one page back to show him my fellowship." So I got me a--a little book, and I set down, and I said, "Dear Brother in Christ," I said, "Christian greetings to you." If a man's preached that long, he deserves to be respected, if he's preached the Gospel, even if he's in error. I said, "The first thing I want to say; I forgive you for what you said. Now, Jesus said, People come to see Him and perform the same things that you seen done, going out and perceiving the thoughts of the people and telling them what was and what would be, and they called Him a Beelzebub, a fortuneteller, a devil. And Jesus said, 'I'll forgive you for that, but someday the Holy Ghost is coming to do it and you speak against that, it'll never be forgiven you, so then--in this world neither in the world to come.'" I said, "What if this was right, then where is your fifty years of preaching gone? See? What good did it do you? You're lost and can never be saved." I said, "But I wont through ignorance you said it." So just kind of pinch him a little bit to let him know that we wasn't in the dark.
E-68
So then, he said... And I said, "But the idea of it is, what I'm
studying about, my brother," I said, "what gets me, is for you to say
that Satan can heal." I said, "Jesus Christ said, 'If Satan can cast
out Satan, then his kingdom is divided against itself.' That's right.
Jesus said he could not heal, now you said he can, and Jesus said he
could not. Then who's right? He said, 'Let every man's word be a lie
and Mine be true.'" I said, "Therefore then Jesus is right and I accept
His Word, my brother." And I said, "But howbeit," I said, "certainly, I
can see where the healing comes." I said, "We got people in the land
today, called Divine healers, go around say, 'Glory, I got healing in
my hands, whew, feel it?'" No, you don't, you feel the hand, not
healing. Jesus never did say, "Did you feel it?" Said, "Did you believe
it?" That's right. Not, "Did you feel it." All these sensations and all
things, brother, it's something mythical made up. It's not God's Word.
"He that believeth..." That's where it's at. It's faith in the finished
work. Christ died and healed you at Calvary. He saved you there. You've
got to accept it by faith like the rest of us does. Right. You believe
it.
E-69 Jesus defeated the Devil on the Word. He said, "If thou be the Son of God command these stones to be turned to bread." E-70 Now, notice, and Doctor Aegery when I talked to him I said--wrote this letter. I said, "Sure, I've been in Africa and seen them get healed by a mud idol." I said, "I've been over at Alsace Lorraine in France, and see them people go up there to that woman, some dead woman, and see them get healed. Why? Because they believe they're approaching God through that idol. See? And God has placed Divine healing on the basis of your faith." That's the reason He didn't separate these turtledoves and things. See? "It's upon your faith, if you believe it. And them people think they're approaching God. These Americans think they are approaching God through a Divine healer. The African think he's approaching it through his witch doctor. That witch up there behind your house, and them people think they are approaching God. And God recognizes their faith. That's all." But I said, "They'll answer for it the day of judgment, for such as that." But I said, "What alarmed me as a Lutheran Dean to base his theology upon a experience in the stead of the Word of God."...?... Thought I'd let him know we wasn't dummies anyhow. See? How would he base his experience upon the Wo... How would he base his teaching upon an experience some woman done something or another, instead of what God said. God said Satan can't heal, and that settles it for me. That's right.
E-71
You know what? He asked me out. He said, "Brother Branham..." Now, we
went out there, and we had just about as many as here, for dinner, all
the student body was in. He said, "Now, Brother Branham," he said,
"I--I want to ask you something." Said, "I didn't mean what I said."
But said, "We're hungering and thirsting here for God."
E-72
And he said, "Well, I want to ask you something." Said, "I've seen them
kick over the chairs, and knock out the window lights, and fall on the
floor."
E-73
And so he said, "Well, what do you think we Lutherans has got?" I
thought, "Oh, oh. O Lord, You--You help me here." And the Lord gave me
something. 'Cause they got about thousands of acres there of corn and
stuff that they--that they raise. The student body, if they can't pay
their way through school, then they can work their way through on the
farm. So they--they had this big corn crops in out there, and I said,
"Doctor Aegery, one morning there was a man who had disked up his field
and had a nice big fine field of corn. And he planted corn in there and
every morning he'd go look for the corn. Finally one morning he went
and seen two little blades." Anybody ever raised corn, that's how it
comes up. "And the man said, 'Praise God for my crop of corn.'" I said,
"Now, did he have a crop of corn?" E-74 "But wait, the first thing you know, that--that--that tassel is the pollen, it had to use the leaf again. So the pollen dropped off into the--into the leaf, and it brought forth a Pentecostal church." I said, "It--it the original grain, like went in the ground. The grain come out." I said, "We got a lot of fungus on the ear, but still there is some grains there too." I said, "That--that's right." I said, "They--we got a lot of fungus on it; I'll admit that." But I said, "It was original grain that went in." And I said, "Then you know what the ear said? Said, 'You old Lutheran, and you old Methodist, not even in it at all.'" But I said, "After all, the same life that was in the blades made the tassel, and then the blades and tassel made the ear." I said, "Only thing the Pentecostal church is, is an advanced Lutheran church (Amen.): same life, but more of it. That's what's the matter tonight, brother. Don't try to go back down to the root again, be a life, advance; move on up. That's what I said to my Baptist brother.
E-75 He said--he said, "Brother Branham, Abraham believed the Lord and that was imputed unto for righteousness."
E-76
And how are we sealed into the Kingdom of God? Ephesians 4:30 says,
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the
day of your redemption." Amen. All bridges burnt behind you. "Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed (You're Abraham's
seed.), until the day of your redemption." Oh, how I love that, God,
giving confirmation of a sign that He had received his faith. E-77 Oh, I feel religious. Your going to call me holy-roller anyhow, so you might as well get started. Here it is up there. When I see the one perfect Man setting yonder, Governor and Ruler and God over all, the Top of the building, setting yonder in that pyramid, that great majes--great power, great God, coming down out of heaven, setting, moving Hisself right down among these stones setting there. And when Luther just had so much faith, Wesley just had so much, Pentecost just had so much, but He's binding those stones together where they fit stone by stone. Hallelujah. I see it in the making: God confirming by the Holy Spirit of God moving in the church and doing the same works and life that Jesus lived.
E-78
If it's a peach tree, it'll bring forth peaches. If it's a apple tree,
it'll bring forth apples. I don't care how the outside looks; it shows
the life on the inside of it, is what brings the fruit of it. You get a
grapevine, you put pumpkin life into it, it'll bring forth pumpkins.
And you change it right back and take a pumpkin vine and put grape life
in it, it'll bring forth grapes. Whatever life is in, I don't care what
title it's got, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, whatever
it is... Take pumpkin life and it into a grapevine, it'll bring
pumpkins. If this is a Pentecostal church, you got old pumpkin life
into it, get it out and you have a vaccination come back. Amen. I see
you got trees up here will bring about nine kinds of different citrus
fruit, seen them over in Arizona the other day. There's an orange tree
had lemons and all kinds of citrus fruit, grapefruit. That's the way it
is.
E-79
Now, but you say, "What about these others?" They're grafted. "What
about Methodists? What about Baptists? What about the called
Pentecost?" Grafted vines. Don't bring the fruit. Why, they don't get
themselves out here and colonize themselves, "We're so and so; we ain't
going to nothing to do with you." That's not the life of Christ. He
died to save His enemies, arms out, even prayed for them. Spit hanging
in His face, and prayed for them to be saved. Oh, yes. See?
E-80
He confirmed it, showed him what He would do, how He would tear His own
Son. Spared his son over here in Genesis--in Genesis 22:14. We find
that He spared his son there, showing him what He would do. Cross on
His back... We get it tomorrow night, as He goes up Calvary; don't miss
it.
E-81
And after Abraham had come through that big test and had this son, of
Ishmael, which was absolutely... God told him to listen to Sarah. But
he brought forth this son, after that great test. Then He met him
and--and the 17th chapter of Genesis, mark it down and read it when you
get home. Haven't got time to strike it but just a moment. He appeared
to him in the Name of Almighty God. "Almighty" comes from the Hebrew
word of El Shaddai. Shaddai, "Shad" means "a woman's breast." Shaddai
is a plural, two. Then He appeared to him, "I am the breasted God." Oh,
what a consolation to an old man. "How am I going to have this baby,
Lord? I'm a hundred years old." He was ninety and nine. So he said,
"How me, an old man and my woman here that You told me that's going to
have the baby by, she's ninety and I--or eighty-nine, she'd be, and I'm
ninety and nine. How could..."
E-82
Now, if we've all crippled up with sin and got out in the Hollywood
fashions, why not just come up to El Shaddai? How many'd like to see a
real Holy Ghost filled church here, just power of God? Sure. Well, what
do we do? We... El Shaddai, the breasted One. If you want salvation,
lean on His breast and nourish your spiritual strength out of His Word.
Here's His Breast, both New and Old Testament. Set down, "He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever." The same milk. It comes from one
mother's breast, is from the other one, just exactly. But it's just two
different phases of it. "He was wounded..." If you're sick, why not
just hold on to His breast of promise. "I was wounded for your
transgression; with My stripes you were healed." What do you have need
of tonight? Just lean upon His breast.
E-83
The little baby when it's nursing, not only... But it's a satisfier.
See? The baby on its mother's breast is satisfied. It can be screaming,
his little belly hurting, and kicking, and it's little strength is all
gone, but he will lay right up on his little mother's breast like that
and quit crying. Nurse, go ahead, it'll be all right. Why? Because it's
satisfies.
E-84
Would you raise your hand and say, "Pray for me Brother Branham, I'm
coming." God bless you, son, God bless you, sister, God bless you, sir.
God bless you, brother.
E-85 [Brother Branham begins humming--Ed.]
Now, pray. You said you'd pray for the next fellow, now pray for him.
"Lord, let me meet that man I shook hands with, or that woman, let me
meet them in glory, Lord. If their soul's not right, make it right,
Lord. He's setting here by me tonight; she's setting here. She's
praying for me, or he's praying for me. Help me, Lord, help me." Pastor, come here and finish this prayer. While you're praying for one another, just keep praying, I'm going to ask the pastor to lead us in prayer. God bless you. |
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