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An Absolute (63-1201M)
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An Absolute (63-1201M)
1 Doesn't that just do something to you? It certainly does. Let us bow now in prayer.
3
Brother Ungren is a constant comer to the Tabernacle. And he lives in
Memphis, Tennessee, he and his mother, his wife. And the whole family
comes to the Tabernacle. And very seldom I get to hear him, because
it's always so busy, but this morning I was determined to hear him sing
this song. And he sings another one of my favorites, "Down From His
Glory." And them are my favorite songs. And I had the grand privilege
of meeting his father this morning, the first time I've ever had that
privilege, a fine man. And--and Brother Ungren, his father will--will
never go as long as his son lives, Morris, 'cause they certainly look
alike. 5 We just had a wedding downstairs. Two of my children got married, and my children from the Tabernacle; our little Billy Simpson and the little Myers girl, they been sweethearts for some time; Sharol, yes. They were... They also are relative here, the little Sharol Myers is, to Brother Ungren and them. So we are happy for them; I see they've taken their place after getting married, go right back in the auditorium of the church, and set down to listen to the service. Those children have always had a deep place in my heart, because they're so respective to the Word. They--they just love the Word. I don't think that--that I call them my children, I don't think they're any better than other children. But they just look to me, and I--I--I look to God for them.
6
Little Billy wanted to get married, and then he was afraid he was going
to have to go in the army. And there was two or three of them in that
same condition. And those boys come over to me, and said, "Brother
Branham, we--we don't want to be shirkers or anything, but we would
like for you to ask God." And they give me the basis that they'd like
to stay away from the army, if they could; not because they didn't want
to defend the country in anything they could do. But the thing was,
that if they--if they went, they was going to get among the wrong type
of people out there in those (I don't know what you call it) PX's, or
ever what you call it, and then they get out there where those
half-nude women carrying on. That's no place for a Christian boy, and
so God granted their request. 8 And now, this has been a grand time for us. We got a nice Sunday School class here this morning, a packed out church, so we are very happy. And many times, ministers, it--it encourages us to see the people come and hear you. 'Cause, you see, you don't like to speak to empty pews, because they're... We'd speak just the same if there's one person here. But yet it feels good when you think, "If this one misses it, the other one will get it. You see?" And it makes it different, makes it glorious.
9 And now, just in the interviews just now, this is, if we can run into them just fast.
13
I was telling in the room just now; I seen the great Holy Spirit remove
a cancer from a woman's body right in there. She's a--she's a woman
from Texas. And a lady set there, that I never seen a person more
nervous, a minister's wife, just a few moments ago. And the Lord showed
me a vision of her setting there, and I seen her. She called at New
York, and she wanted to slip up here. She had just one five-minutes,
then seen her husband suffering with an ulcer, and what caused the
ulcer was his interest in his wife. Almighty God, quietened that woman
setting there. She's setting, looking at me now. So... And also I want
to tell you, brother, your ulcer is finished. See? Yeah, you're going
to be well now and return into the work of the Lord.
15
And now, last night we had a great prayer service, and that's good;
that's fine. Laying hands upon the sick, that's a good thing. That's
all it takes sometime. And then there's some that there's something
back there that they--they can't catch, and you've got to get that
person to find out what that is. See, there's something that's
hindering them, something laying in the way. And one little shadow will
vibrate it away. 17 Now, the thing you have to do. Here's just a little inside. See? It's catching her spirit. See? And then you are projecting to her your very thought. See? And you change your thinking. See? Then when it does that, then you can center her on Christ, and from there she can go on. But you've got to change her way of thinking. See? She can't change it herself. She just run in a whirl, and you've got to pick that up. Now, there is a little something that give you some... Don't try to study it; don't do it. Just believe it and go on.
18
How could that little baby, laying yonder in that mother's arms, had
been dead since nine o'clock that morning, and just way in the night
that night, where was that little spirit? You have to go find that
spirit and bring it back. And then when you see it on coming back, then
you can rise in the Name of the Lord and call it. See, then it'll
happen. But till you do that, you're just wasting your breath. See?
20
Now, 'fore we stay till noontime, just talking like that, let's just
turn over in the Bible and read some Scriptures here. And then we're
going to... I love God's Word. I know we all do. Now, didn't have...
22
Now, I'm going to read some out of three places in the Bible. The
first, I want to read from Philippians 1, the 1st chapter of
Philippians, beginning with the 19th verse, and reading also through
the 22nd.
23
Now, over in the Book of Romans. And we want to begin at the 8th
chapter of Romans and the 35th verse, to build on what I want to take
for a text.
24 In Acts 2 and the 30th verse...
26
Now, we... When I was looking this text up, I went to the dictionary. I
thought, "What? I... Somebody keeps saying, 'That's absolute, the
truth. Absolute, this is it.'" I thought, "What is that word? What does
it mean: absolute?" And I went to the dictionary to find out what it
meant.
29
Now, every great achievement is tied to an absolute. You cannot run
life without having an absolute. You can't make an achievement without
it being an absolute, for it is the final tie post. It's the--it's the
hitch rack at the end of the journey. It's a place where you are tied
to something. 31 And you must have something that you're tied to. Some people are tied to their business. Some are tied to their families. Some are tied to a creed. Some are tied to the army post. We have different things that we are tied to. But I think, as a Christian, we ought to be tied where we know is right. See? Because you might be tied to your family, and your--your wife could leave you. You might be tied to the army, and you might get killed. And you might be tied to any different things, and it's got an end. But there's got to be a final tie post. There's got to be somewhere that--that man has got to tie for his eternal destination. Because if you're going to trust it in your work, when your work is finished, it's done. When your family's taken, it's over. 32 But there's only one thing that I think is the final tie post. And I believe that Paul had a tie post in his life here. And I'd like to--to side in, if we'd call it that way, and speak on that tie post. He said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Now, Christ was Paul's Absolute. It was his tie Post. It was his... It was the end of all arguments. It was Christ, was his tie Post.
33
Paul didn't always have that tie Post. He used to be tied to the group
of the Pharisees. And he had to be trained and educated so that they
would accept him and let him tie himself to their post. But one day he
was on the road down to Damascus, and he met Jesus face to face. And
from there he cut loose from his Pharisaic tie post, and retied himself
again, that Jesus Who he knowed was crucified, died, and rose again.
Paul knew it because he met the Person. That changed him right there.
He was never the same from then on. He never just met a book. He never
just met a--a creed. He met the Person Jesus Christ. "Who are You,
Lord?"
35
All those prophets were men just like we are. The Bible said so: Saint
James 5, "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are (He had
his ups-and-downs, his ins-and-outs.), and he prayed earnestly it might
not rain."
37
And he had heard of this kind of a lower class of people, and how
there'd been a prophet, so-called, by His group, that had raised up in
Galilee, that was supposed to perform miracles and heal the sick. But
his--his sect that he belonged to would not accept this Man of being a
prophet, this Jesus of Nazareth, because He had not identified Himself
with them. So Paul couldn't go it, because his own sect of--of people
didn't believe in It. And they'd warned him against such.
39
One day, with letters in his pocket from the high priest, to arrest all
those people that were in that condition, because that would been the
charge that Paul was set to... He was on his road down to a city called
Damascus. They'd them quietened down around in Jerusalem. So he had--he
had stoned Stephen, and Paul had him stoned, give witness and held the
coat. Now he'd go down here and do the same thing, and get rid of this
great hindrance.
42
And then when Moses met Him in the bush, then He said, "I AM," which
remains the same, three: yesterday, today, and forever, still the same
God. And Moses met Him in the burning bush. He was a Light. And when He
led the children of Israel out of the wilderness, He was the Angel of
the covenant that Moses by faith saw and forsook Egypt, esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater treasures than that of Egypt. By faith Moses
saw that that was Christ, the Anointing. And the Anointing was upon no
certain man, but It was in a form of a Pillar of Fire. See? 44 Now, Paul hadn't been privileged of seeing this yet. But just to make it true to you, the Jews were so forbidden to bow before an idol or anything like that... Now, when he saw this great Light, he knew that that was the Lord. "Lord" means "ownership, control of." He--he would've not called just anything "Lord," that staunched Hebrew, when he knew that that was Spirit. But notice, he knowed that that same Pillar of Fire had been the One that had led his people. And then he comes back and said, "Lord, Who are You? Who are You? I want to know Who You are? You met Moses in the name of I AM." But now stop there with their thought, just a minute.
45
Jesus, when He was on earth, anointed with that that they saw, notice,
He said, "I come from God (the Spirit, the Light, the Pillar of Fire),
and I return to God." And He was made flesh in order to die for our
sins. Then after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, after
He ascended up; on the forty days, he ascended up; and on the fiftieth
day He returned back in a form of a Pillar of Fire among the people,
and separated Himself like tongues of fire, and set upon each of them.
And then they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and begin to speak in
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
47
Now, you see, we are not a divided people; we've got to be in unity,
because each one of us holding a part of God. And we must come
together, and then the Pillar of Fire is manifested in the wholeness in
the fulness of It. When His Church sets together in heavenly places,
then the fulness of the power of God is in His Church. Each one of us
holding spiritual gifts and spiritual offices, coming together, brings
that Pillar of Fire back again. 51 Now, we find that Paul, the rest of his life, had that for a tie post. He had met God face to face and was commissioned by God. What a tie post. What an absolute. That was the end of all arguments. That was the end of everything for Paul. All strife, everything was gone. I don't care what the Pharisees said, the Sadducees said, or anybody else; he met God vindicated by the Word; that settled it. That was the rest of his life. Because he had seen God manifested and had been proven to him that it was God by the Word, and by the shape and form that He was in, and by a audible Voice that spoke to him exactly what it was. Now, that was a great thing. No wonder he could say before the--the Agrippa, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." He was tied to it. There was something real, something that he knowed, something that nobody could take away from him.
52
Now, today if we're trusting only in education, or a--a mechanical way
of--of education to explain the Bible, then we've only got it from a--a
mental conception. But no man has the right behind this pulpit to
preach the Gospel unless he has come face to face with It. 54 And every man or woman that has an experience with God, has met this same Pillar of Fire upon the sacred grounds of your heart, there is no theologian, no devil, no nothing, Paul said, "Nothing present, nothing future, death, sickness, sorrow can separate us from that love of God that's in Christ Jesus." It's a tie post. You know something happened. No matter how much science raise up and says this, that, or the other, you are tied. You and God become one. He's in you, and you are in Him. "At that day you'll know that I'm in the Father, the Father in Me; I in you, and you in Me." You are tied to Him.
55
And Paul had a--a Christ-centered life; It was a different life than he
once had. He once had an educational conception; but now he's got a
Christ-centered life, an absolute. No matter how much Agrippa could
say, "You--you've gone crazy, Paul. You lost your mind. You--you
studied too much." 59 If the church would get away from that Council of Churches, and come back and make God's Word their Ultimate, make God's Word their tie Post, that would do it. But they're tying to a manmade achievement. And it's bound to fall. Well, the Bible said they would do it. But there's going to be a Bride that's been elected since the foundation of the world, that's going to be tied to that tie post. 60 I can see eternity break, come down into time since Eden, and when It did, there come a line of Blood all the way up unto Calvary; and from Calvary tied with this line and goes on to the tie Post, Jesus. And someday when He comes to claim His own, everyone that's tied to that ultimate will be raised up into eternity. Why? They have been in eternity all the time. They were predestinated in eternity. They are part of God. They were in His thinking at the beginning. And when that big rope is pulled of the line of Blood, that Token I was speaking of, when it comes up from the earth, everyone that was included in that Blood will be dropped right up into eternity again. But the only way it'll be, will be tied to that Absolute, Jesus Christ. It's absolute. Not an achievement of man; but God raised Him up from the dead, and He is a Absolute. And we know He's alive, because here He is with us in the power of His resurrection, doing the same thing He did when He was here on earth.
61
I'm tied to that ultimate. That's the end of all strife. I'm tied to
it. That's my life. I was a sinner when Christ saved me. I met
Something. And since That came into me, it's been--it's been different.
And I'm tied to it; everything that I am is tied right there. And then
God separating His life, and let me live in Him, and Him in me, then
we're tied. I...
64
Just like it was back there at His birth. Isaiah 9:6, all down through
the Scriptures, everything was spoke of Him, it was fulfilled. Over in
the Book of Luke, we say it's--we see it that. And He was the end, He
was the--He was the end of the prophecy too, of Him. He fulfilled that,
the history, the songs, everything in the Old Testament that spoke of
Him, it was fulfilled right there. That become the Ultimate. That
become the tie Post of the Word of God for that age. 66 As I said, it makes you do things that you ordinarily wouldn't do. It made Paul do things he ordinarily wouldn't do. It made Moses do things ordinarily he wouldn't do. It makes every man and woman do things they wouldn't do ordinarily. It's something that you are--are centered to. It's something... It's your stabilizer. It's like the... It's the anchor to the ship. The ship is tied to the anchor in the time of a storm. And if Christ is your Absolute, you are tied to Him. In time of trouble, the ship, if you let it rock, it'll break against the--the--the--the rocks. But what they do, they drop the anchor. The anchor drags until it snags into the rock foundation. And the ship is tied to the anchor. It's the absolute for the ship. 68 And a borned again Christian is tied to Christ, and the Bible is the Anchor. It's the thing we're tied to. Let the organizations, let the different thing, let the science, let the educators say anything they want. As long as that Word says it and promise it, we're tied to That. There's something won't let us move from it. That's right. A real born Christian, they stay with that Word. If It says a certain thing to do, and a way to do it, that's the way we must do it. No matter what anybody else says, that's what God said. We are tied to That, a Christ-centered life. 69 Christ again is like the North Star, you know, the world turns around. And the stars, really, the one you see as the evening star is also the morning star. The world just turns around to it. But it shifts away from those stars, all but the North Star. Now, you can't set your compass upon the evening star and get anywhere, 'cause the next morning, what? You're in the evening star in the west, and the next morning you're in the east. See, you can't do it. But you can set it on the North Star (Amen.) and hold her dead center. You'll come out. 70 And that's what a Christ-centered life is. When you're lost, He is your North Star. Then, if He is the North Star, the Holy Spirit is your Compass, and the Compass will only point to the North Star. It won't point to a creed or a denomination. It won't point to a sensation or whatever it is. It'll hold steady to the North Star. He is your North Star. When you're lost, you might shift with denominations and things like that. But the Compass, the Holy Spirit, will point you right straight to the Word, which is Christ, and hold you steady. Tie to That.
71
What if there was no North Star, how would a man ever find his way on a
foggy sea? What if there was no Holy Spirit to direct you to the Word
of God, to manifest It and prove it, what would we do in this hour? The
Holy Spirit points only to the Word. "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every Word." Not part of the Word, but every Word, all of
It. Every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that's what a man
lives by. He's your Absolute in your life; He also is your North Star.
73
You know, there was a time that when table manners rested upon what a
woman said. I believe her name was Emily Post. I may be wrong on that.
I think that's right: Emily Post. I don't care if Emily Post said,
"Pick up your knife and eat the--the beans with it," that was manners.
Why? She was the absolute of table manners. That's right. If she said,
"Eat them with your hands," you eat them with your hands. Why? This
nation made her the absolute to table manners. Yes, sir.
76
There was a time when Egypt had an absolute. It was Pharaoh. I went
down to Egypt one time just to see those places. And you have to dig
down twenty feet to find the thrones that they set on, the emperor of
Rome; when I was in Rome and down in Egypt. 78 Just think of our nation. When we get in trouble, if somebody does something, and they try it here in maybe in a--a small court of the city, some police court, then it goes on, on, and finally it comes to the Supreme Court. Now, the Supreme Court is the nation's absolute. That settles it. Now, in Canada, our friends from Canada can go from Canada to the Queen. But in the United States, it's the Supreme Court. That's the absolute. Sometimes we don't like their decisions, but we have to listen to it anyhow. Yes, sir. We don't agree with it; we don't like the decision sometime, but it's the absolute of this nation. The nation's tied to it. It's the end of all arguments. When that Supreme Court says, "You're guilty," you are guilty. We have to have it; we don't, we don't have a nation. What if we didn't have anything like that? Certainly. There is a absolute to everything. 79 There is an absolute in a ball game. That's the umpire. Right. And if he says it's a strike, that's what it is. Don't care what you say, what I think, the way I saw it, the way you saw it. It's what he said. It's an absolute. If he says, "Strike," you have to agree with it, 'cause that's the way it's going to be wrote up: "strike." What if there was no umpire, now who would be right? One said, "It was a strike," the another one said, "It was not no strike; it was a ball, it was a..." Why, you'd have chaos. You wouldn't know what to do. 80 There's got to be somewhere that somebody's word is final. Amen. I feel real good right now. Glory. Hallelujah. There's got to be something that's final. I'm so glad of that. Oh, now, there's somebody who can say it's sin or it's not sin. I'm so glad of that. I'm glad for an absolute. No arguing, no need of arguing. The umpire said, "Strike," that's what it is; mark it up in your mind it's a strike and go on. When God says anything, that's the way it is: no need of arguing about it. That's what it is. He said so. That's the Christian's Absolute; that is, if he is a Christian. God said, "Do it this way," that's the way it's got to be done. No arguing, "Well," say, "it wasn't, it..." Nor nothing about it... God said so; that settles it. That's the absolute to the real believer. Yeah.
81
What if there wasn't something like that, where would we be? Would the
Methodists be right, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or what would be
right? See, we'd have... That's the reason that you--you'd have chaos.
And that's the reason. They've turned loose of that absolute, that's
the reason they're straying with these other stars. 84 You know, there's an absolute to the traffic; that's the stop light, a traffic signal. What if some morning it don't work? Oh, my. Did you ever get in one of them? I have. No doubt, any driver has. What if that stop light isn't working? Then everybody's fussing. They drive up there, and one say, "I was here first," the other one say, "Let me tell you something; I got to get to work." Oh, my. Them women swinging pocketbooks, and men fighting with fists, and you talk about a chaos... There has to be an absolute, something says, "This is right," and that's it. When that light said, "Stop," it means stop. When it says, "Go," it means go. If it isn't, you're in trouble.
85
And that's the way it is in Christian life. There's a stopping place,
and there's a going place. God's Word is that Absolute. That's Christ.
Yes, sir. If you...
88
Some just like the churches today, most the churches has their own
absolute. Each one has his own, something like the days of the judges,
every man done the way he thought was right. But that ain't right. See,
that's when God's Word and prophets wasn't in existence. The Word is
the Absolute. They had their own absolute. Each one says they are the
truth and the way, "We are the truth and the way."
90
Now, man does right in his own sight, but God's got a way for him to do
it. See, when God and His Word and His prophets were missing, every man
done just as he wanted to do.
93
A fine Baptist minister, Brother Naylor (He's in glory today.), he come
down, he talked to me. And, oh, there's many people that talked to me
when I--I was trying to find God. The Seventh-day Adventist preacher
wanted me to join up with them and so forth. But I seen that if I was
going to be a Christian, I--I couldn't say, "Now, I am a Seventh-day
Adventist." Now, that's all right. "I'm a Baptist." It's all right
(See?), but I had to have something a little more sure than that. I--I
couldn't trust, because each one was wavering.
95
So I needed an absolute, so I took one, God's Word. So I read in the
Word that He is the Word, Saint John 1. "And upon this Absolute, I'll
build My Church." That's right, so I took Him at His Word. Revelation
22:19 said, "Whosoever shall take one word out of This, or add one word
to It..." That's the Absolute. That's the end of all strife. This is
the Absolute. "Whoever takes anything from It, or adds anything to It,"
God said, "I'll just take his part out of the Book of Life," so That
had to be the Absolute. And Jesus said that, "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every Word." Then I knowed this "every Word" had to
be. Said, "Precept upon precept, and line upon line..." That's the way
It has to come, just as It's written.
99
The Catholic, when that pope says something, that's it. That's the
absolute of the Catholic Church. I don't care what the priest says,
what the bishop says, what the cardinal says; when the pope says it,
that's it. That's the absolute. It's correctly.
102
But, you know, I don't say this sacrilegiously. I say it for truth. I
feel like that way Paul did, when he said in Acts 20:24, "None of these
things move me." "I'm determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified." I'm not bothered about these absolutes,
whether it's the pope, bishop, or a general overseer, or--or a
counselor, or a system, or whatever it is; none of these things move
me. I don't care if they say, "Well, we--we won't co..." That don't
make a bit of difference. I'm determined to know nothing but Jesus
Christ, His Word made manifest among us. I'm tied to That. That's my
anchor. I've anchored in That.
105
You know what? He had a purpose in saving me. He had a purpose in
saving you. And I'm determined by His will, to do His will. The reason
He done it, I don't know why He done it. 108 And I see the Word is the Absolute, and I'm tied to It, and determined I'll know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He had a reason for it, and I'm determined to hold that reason. No matter what anybody else says, I don't disfellowship them or discredit them, but I know what I'm tied to. He wanted me like this. He had me like this. I was made like that for a purpose. I had to be made up of all these qualities, and so forth, and all these no-accounts, so He could dig it out of me, put something in there, that was His Word. And I'm determined I'll know nothing else but Christ.
109
Christ's death was an absolute. It was an absolute. It was the end of
all fear to them that was a-scared of death. His death is an absolute
then.
114
He seen that vision; he said, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the
last days He'll stand upon this earth. And I'm tying myself to it.
Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God, Whom I shall see for myself. I'm tied to it," he said. He saw it.
It was a promise of God.
118
In Hebrews the 2nd chapter, the 14th and 15th verse, watch... He took
the form of man to die like one, for all. He took the form of man. And
this Redeemer come down and was made man, so He could die, the one Man,
for all men. Oh, how did He do it? What did God become a man for? To
pay the penalty of man.
120
Romans 8:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." We find out... I believe that's Romans
5. We find out... And--and He is our justification. God raised Him up
on the third day to justify our faith, that we believe it. And He
raised Him up to justify our faith. What did He do then? He sent Him
back, the Justifier, because our faith believes it. The Holy Spirit,
Christ, come into it for our justification, because we have raised from
death unto Life. And now, we are sons and daughters of God, setting in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, justified us by His resurrection. 122 The Holy Ghost will always point to the Word. If It points to a creed or denomination, it is not the Holy Ghost. He couldn't do that, point away from His Word, when He died to confirm that Word and make that Word a positive. Amen. He died so He could come, Himself, into that Word. He is the quickening Life that makes that Word live again. That was His purpose of dying, that He could still project Himself through His Church, and make every Word, through every age, act just exactly the way It's supposed to act. 123 He is the Dynamics of the mechanics. The mechanics of the Church, what is it? Apostles, prophets, teachers, so forth. And He's the Dynamics that works that. And it's worked by a certain dynamic which is called like... He--He's the Fire that fires off the gas. He's the Fire that's in the combustion chamber, that when the--the gas, the--the Word, is poured over that combustion chamber, He's the One that sets Her afire. He's the One that confirms it. He is the power of the resurrection. He is God. He's--He's the Fire; that's what He is. 124 "Without controversy," said I Timothy 3:16, "great is the mystery of godliness; for God was manifested in the flesh, seen of angels, received up into glory." He was God, come to take the sinners' place. Yes, sir. And when He, God, raised Him up the--on the third day, was for our justification. Therefore, exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high, He is an Intercessor to make intercessions upon our--for our weaknesses, as we confess it to Him and die out to ourself, placing His Word back in us, the promise. And our faith makes that Word live, because Christ is in us, the Quickener to the Word. Mmm. 125 How I wish the church could see that; all arguments and strife would be over. That would be the Supreme Court. That's the North Star. Hallelujah. That's the end of all strife. That's the end of all questions. That's the end of everything. "God said so," that's the Absolute. Tie yourself to It. Paul said, "There's nothing present, nothing future, death, sickness, nakedness, peril, nothing can separate us from That." We've tied to an Absolute. Said, "For me to live is--is Christ, and to die is gain." Nothing else holds but That there. That's the Absolute.
126
He is our Absolute because we have the assurance of the resurrection,
because He's raised in us. How do we know? He lives. He does exactly
here what He did when He was here on earth. He's the same Pillar of
Fire, we got the picture of there. He's the same one in the Church.
He's here today, and in this body He performs and acts exactly like He
did then.
128
II Thessalonians the 2nd chapter, we read that we'll be caught up with
our loved ones to meet Him in the air. Oh, how my heart pulsates to
every Word in His Book, a "amen." God said, "We'll be caught up in the
air, to meet our loved ones." "Amen," said the Word down in my heart,
for the Word's in there.
132
Let death do whatever it wants to, it'll never bother me. Because I am
persuaded. I am persuaded that even in sickness that might take me, or
in a bullet from a gun, someday might take me. I don't know what it'll
be. What difference does it make to me, "For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain." Oh, my. Because I'm determined; I know Him setting
yonder across the river of death, where He'll pull me into His Presence
someday, justified by His righteousness, that I accepted of His death
upon the cross: God made flesh among us, still flesh in us, still
Spirit in our flesh. Amen.
134
Never has one of them visions ever said anything to me but what was
right in the Word. Oh, that's where I got my assurance, brother. That
night when He told me about that, I've watched those visions. And I'll
call your attention, has that vision ever said anything was contrary to
the Word? Never a time has it ever been wrong. Why? It's God. That's my
tie post. 137 Denominations, to me... Not hurting your feelings; I don't want to do that. But the Word is like a two-edged sword; It can't push without cutting (See?) especially when It's cutting in darkness. Notice, denominations are like other stars; they shift with the turning of the world. That's right. Every way the world goes, they let their women cut their hair, wear shorts, and everything else; it just shifts from Hollywood and everything else. But, oh, brother, That still remains the Truth, that unmovable Word of the living God is still the Truth. It's my Absolute. What It says is the Truth. Let the denomination shift anywhere they want to. They want to discredit the Name of Jesus Christ with a title, that's up to them. But to me, "There's not another name under heaven given among men, whereby you must be saved." To me, that's the foundation Word; there is where the cornerstone is. I don't want to shift with no denomination. 138 I've got my Compass here within me; the Holy Spirit points me right straight to the Absolute. "For both heavens and earth will pass away, but My Words shall never pass away." And I've hid It in my heart, and the Holy Ghost pointed me right to It. I'm determined to know nothing else. That's my Absolute. Just let it be like that. That's the way I want it. Oh, my. Now, brother, sister, make your Absolute in Him. Yes, sir.
139
In the time of trouble I had here not long ago, lost wife, children,
everything. Somebody said to me, said, "Did you keep your religion?"
142 Moses had an absolute. When he met that burning bush, that was an absolute to him. When Joshua, when Joshua...
145 Sometime it ain't pleasant to have to do it; you have to hurt feelings, cut and chop. But it's an Absolute. 148 It was a paradox, the other day on March the 15th, or May the 15th, I believe... no, March the 15th, this last year. When, three or four months beforehand, "Sirs, What Time Is It?," said we'd go out there, and seven Angels would meet, and come back and the--the Book of the Seven Seals would be opened. And standing right there with Brother Fred Sothmann, that just said, "amen" there, standing there by him, why, I told them, "There'd be a noise that'd shake the country." And I said, "It'll be there. It's THUS SAITH THE LORD." It's on tapes, tapes, tapes, from Phoenix all the way around. "It's THUS SAITH THE LORD."
149
One day, standing there, picking the cockleburs off, or a little
bullheaders off of my legs, like it was, there that seven Angels broke
through from the sky and shook the place, till, rocks, weighing fifty
or sixty pounds, rolled down the hillside. There stood seven Angels
standing there, commissioned to go back and to bring these messages,
and said one by one they would meet and tell what happened. And it did
exactly that way. And when they ascended up on high, like that, went
thirty miles high in the air; and on the same day they took the picture
of It, science did, and went around the world. It's a paradox, but it
was an Absolute. It tied me tighter into Jesus Christ, winding my life
into Him. I know it seemed strange. It's always a...
151
Remember here sometime ago, I was setting with an old druggist, and we
were talking in a little place. He said, "Brother Branham, I want to
ask you something." And he was a Baptist himself. He said, "Do you
believe in a paradox?"
154
And the young fellow said, "Sir, I--I can't do that." He said, "I'll
have to have that order first," said, "'cause I--I can't do that. It's
just against the rules." And said...
160
He said, "I fixed up the medicine as quick as I could, and filled my
prescription." And said, "When I started to hand it in her hand," he
said, "Brother Branham, I looked and I was putting it in a nail-scarred
hand." He said, "I seen the thorns on His brow." He said, "I shut my
eyes, and I looked back." He said, "I realized right then, insomuch as
I had done unto the least of these 'My little ones,' it was done unto
Him. 163 I remember when, Saint Martin, reading of him. When he was just a--a boy, he was called of God. His people were pagans. And his father was a--was kind of, oh, I don't know, I think a military man, and--and it's right for their boys to follow them. He said... One day going through the city there... I forget where it was now. And I think he was a Frenchman. And he said that he was going through the gap; and there's an old man laying there, freezing to death, very cold weather. And people passed by, wouldn't give him nothing. And said he stood. And people was absolutely professing to be believers, and would go through, let the old man lay there. And he was begging for something to wrap him in, said he was freezing to death.
164
And Saint Martin goes over there, before his conversion, now, took his
own coat, being a soldier, and cut it half in two and wrapped the old
bum up in it like that, put the other around him. People laughed at
him, said, "A funny looking soldier, with a half a coat on." See, it
makes you do things strange. There's something in him, that he believed
that there was a God.
167
Instead of having an altar call this morning, I think I'd like to have
a consecration call. Let's consecrate ourselves to this Absolute. Do
you believe the Word is God's Absolute? Do you believe He's the same
today that He ever was? 170 I've been talking to you through the week. I've told you the Truth. God has confirmed the Truth. He's made it over and over, and over again. You know what the Absolute is. Now, to you and I together, all you women, all you men, boys, girls, whatever you are, let's... All you choir, oh, all you people up here, everywhere together: down in the basement, up in the balcony, around the walls, back in the wing, wherever we are, let's take Jesus our Absolute, for we've got to come to the valleys of the shadow of death. I know nothing else but Him. He's my Absolute, because He's raised in my life and I know He's real. 171 Let's just raise up our hands now and pray. Let's make our consecration service.Lord Jesus, Your Word is from old. It's the beginning and the end. I now with this congregation, consecrate myself anew over this pulpit today. I ask for this church, the Life Tabernacle, for a consecration. Settle all the differences; let it all be gone, bygones be bygone. Ministers of the Gospel who's worried and thought something would take place. O God, we tie ourself this morning to Jesus Christ the Word, and determine to know nothing else but Christ and Him crucified. O North Star, O Holy Spirit, O Compass of God, come now into every heart. And we consecrate ourselves to You, through Jesus Christ's Name. Glory to God. Amen. All right, Brother...?... |
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