¹ This is yours...?... It says, "Pray for mommy." Give that to Graham...?... And you get...?...
Thank you, Brother Neville, the Lord bless you. Good morning, friends. It's a privilege to be back in the Tabernacle again this morning, feeling fresh and good. Day before yesterday, I couldn't even speak. I had this little bug that's going around, you know, gets in their throats and make them hoarse. But the Lord helped me and delivered me out of that condition so I could speak this morning to you.
And we are glad that there's a nice Tabernacle packed full, and people standing. I just wish we had some seats, and--to give to those people who are standing. We'd be happy if we had them, but I think everything's taken up. I know you wouldn't want to come and set with these children on the altar and turn your back this other way.

³ Now, it's been for a few days that I'd been studying on history. And I thought maybe this morning, instead of preaching, I could just teach awhile on the Word of God. And now, we'll probably be a little bit late, so I'll... Some of you would swap with those who are standing up, or something, it would sure be fine if you could--if you could do it, and give them a little rest.
And now, many of the friends--of my friends come, some of them from a long ways off: way down in Georgia, up in Ohio, Tennessee, just different places, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan. They come down from Chicago, from just--to one little Tabernacle meeting like this. It makes me so grateful for people like that. And not only that, but I'd like to say this, not in the interest of, but in the interest of the Word of God: pretty near every one of those people don't only come, but they bring their tithings along with them to put it into the church for the help.
Now, that's just friends that's loyal. You just can't forget people like that.

⁶ And then, sometimes maybe I have to say something that tears them to pieces; but you see what it means then. In your heart, you don't want to do it. But yet, there's Something that says, "You... must be done," (See?), so you must do it.
And to see them coming from everywhere, and--and trying to serve the Lord, and believing in the ministry that the Lord has given me, and trusting me to be His servant, that I would not tell them anything wrong, then, with deadness of sincerity, I must really do all that I know how to--to shepherd the souls of those people; knowing that they're not coming here just to be seen, driving across icy mountains and hills, and down through jam-packed roads, and their children missing food and sleep, and their suitcase laying in the back of the car. And, you know, that's hard.
But the Bible said of such people over in the Book of Hebrews the 11th chapter, "Even the world is not worthy of such people." I--I say that because I mean it in my heart.

⁹ And many are here in New Albany, and Louisville, and around close, down in Kentucky, and different places not so far away. But yet, they're loyal to come, drive through ice, snow, anything else, to get here.
Now, next Sunday is Christmas eve. And I thought that I was--had a Christmas message for the church, but I--I had such a feeling for them little fellows, I must say if they--if I'd be here, then the little fellows would probably, many of them far away, would miss their Christmas and things. So it would be kinda hard on those little fellows. But before going... Now, we...

¹¹ I know that we people here do not teach our children of such a myth as Santa Claus. We do not believe in telling anybody a lie, so you're not going to lie to your children. Such stuff as that, that's mythology to its heights, of such a thing as taking the place of Christ at Christmas.
And Christmas has lost... Christmas is no more a worship; it's a celebration: drinking, gambling, carousing, just pagan to the limit. And it's not... And I wanted to... Maybe after Christmas I'll speak again on Christmas (You see?), so that it won't deprive the little... But you can't tell that to little children like that. They see little fellows on Christmas night getting Christmas presents and things like that; they don't understand it. See? They just--they're too little. And we've got to remember them, that they are--that they have things in common. We've got to bring ourself down to remember them little fellows, that they themselves...
Am I too--too loud on it, Brother? Too much volume on it? Can you hear me all right back there, way back? Huh? Wait, I'm standing too close. Which mike is alive? Both of them? This one and this? I--I think it's that one there that's good. That's--that's... Now, how is that, is that better? Now fine, good.

¹⁴ Now, the little fellows has to understand. You know, they're--they're little fellows, and we have to remember we were little fellows once too.
I remember when we was little kids, they would get out and cut down an old cedar bush somewhere, and mom would pop some corn and string it around it. That's about all there was on the tree. But them little, old, ragged socks was hung up there just as... And, oh, and maybe she'd get a--maybe one little sack of candy, and--them little hard candy, and two or three to me, and two or three to Humpy, and two or three to this--just little pieces of candy. And we'd keep that all day long, sucking on that, you know. And wrap it up in a little piece of paper and put it in our pocket. And if we got an old cap pistol, or--or a little horn to blow, it was a great thing; it thrilled us.

¹⁶ Today, 'course it's different. The poor people has got ahold of a little bit of money, and it's got so they can buy their children more things; they dress better, eat better, live better. And all--all the way around, I guess they're better off, and under the wage condition of today. And therefore, little kids, you have to let them have something.
But always be sure of this: tell them there is no such a thing as Santa Claus, 'cause it's not right. One of these days they'll walk up and say, "What about Jesus then?" See, see, see? So tell them the truth, be honest with everybody. Be truth... And, especially, you wouldn't tell your children something wrong, 'cause they'd raise up and say... They believe in you as a Christian, and they want you to... They believe that what you tell them is the truth. So be sure you tell them the truth, then it'll come out all right.

¹⁸ Now... And then, I want to at least have one more night, if I can, or day, to the Tabernacle before I leave on my coming years of service--year of service, rather.
And if it be the will of God, I want to try to get much overseas meetings this year, for I feel the need of it, especially in Switz--in Sweden, and Norway, and many of the Scandinavian--the Scandinavian countries, and down into Asia. I feel that we are desperately ought to be in prayer over these things, that we must learn the way of the Holy Spirit and the way that He would lead us, and the things that we would--ought to do.

²⁰ In studying in the early history of the church, Broadbent's, and Hazeltine's, and many of their comments on it, Nicene Fathers... And yesterday I just wound up with the complete life of Saint Martin that the Catholic church refused to canonize; God did that. So they... Of his great life, and how that the same signs and wonders followed that man right down through his life, how he raised two dead people, cast out evil spirits, spoke in unknown tongues, and seen visions and things, and what a great man. But yet, in the very secret of his power was in humility before God. And we find today that the church, yet teaching its power and teaching the signs to follow the believer, yet we find them puffed out, "big me, little you," and that. It--it isn't like the early Church. You see? They were humble, and kind to one another, and sweet, understanding. And it's so much different today. And I wonder if a lot of this hasn't sidetracked us from the--the real kernel of--of the Message, that we want to humble ourselves. Keep yourself... The more humbler you can be, the better God will use you.

²¹ Studying on mythology and all these myths, Christmas itself is a myth. It's not no--nothing real about Christmas. Christmas wasn't even mentioned in the Bible; they never worshipped the birthday of Christ. Wasn't no such a thing. That's a Roman Catholic dogma and not a Christian teaching, no Scripture for it nowhere in the Bible and for the first hundred years after the Bible (See?) nothing of it. It's just a myth. Santa Claus, commercial, everything, the whole thing is wound up into a big conglomeration.
If you'd get back and study the beginning of it, and look down now, you'd see where we were at. There is nothing left; nothing can help but the coming of the Lord. That's all. There's nothing now can help us out of this chaos but the coming of the Lord.

²³ Is this that little switch that censors them tapes? Maybe I better censor this whole thing, just not send it out, because it's pretty rude. But I say this so... Is the tapes being made now? Don't sell these tapes. See? These tapes are not for sale. They can be passed around through the church, or so forth, but... 'Cause it's--it'll cause confusion, as sure as the world. See? So just hold it till we get it fixed different.
Now, before we approach the message, and everybody try to be as thinking and as restful as you can. I won't take too long, but I want to take my time so that--driving it down, so that you'll really see it. Now, let's first... Now, if everything's out of the way, I believe, so far is there...

²⁵ [Brother Neville says there are some available seats--Ed.] Yes, let those ladies that are standing along the side there come up in here. There's a place up here for you sisters. Yeah. Here's one right here in front. Here's a chair right back here. There's children up here on the altar, if someone wants to get up and--a little child, and give their seat to someone, adult standing, why, there's room on the--on the altar right here for the children, and the adult could have the seat. Those ladies standing back behind the pilaster there, if you... It's way back over here in the corner, but it's--it beats standing up there. If you would like to stand...

²⁶ Here's some on the platform. Now, some of you brethren that would like to come up here, these children has... Here's one setting here by the side of Brother Way. Come up now; get your seats right around here so everybody, you can be right at home, feel you're--make yourself feel right at home. Here's a place right here, Brother Shelby, up here right here on the platform, if you wish to come up here and set down by us, right up here. And Brother Evans and Brother Charlie, and you, here's--here's a seat right here, and one right here, and two--two right here. Come right on up, brother there from... Just come right on up, make yourself comfortably so we can get everybody just as quietly as we possibly can for the--for the service, so that you won't be tired and weary standing up.

²⁷ Some of you brethren back--sister way back in the hall there, standing way back down in the hall, you're... Still room... Here's another. It's a piano stool someone can use, if they'd like to come and set on it. It would be all right. I see a lady back there motioning a empty seat by the side of she, so then that's all right. Just make yourself feel just as comfortable as you can now.
And now, while we're getting situated, let's... It's about twenty minutes--twenty three minutes after ten, on this seventeenth day of December, rainy outside here in Jeffersonville this morning. And--and we're bad on the outside, but feel good on the inside, wonderful, knowing that we are approaching; the coming of the Lord is at hand, and approaching eternity. And we're so thankful to God that we are able this morning to stand and to impart to the believer and unbeliever, the Word of the living God, trusting that it'll be a great day for all of us to understand the things of the Lord.

²⁹ Now, let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. And while we have our heads bowed, if there's any would like to be remembered, just raise your hands to God, remember your request in your heart. Thank you.

³⁰ Our heavenly Father, as we now are in the Tabernacle, all seated, and the microphone's alive, and the recorders a-going, and the Christians a-praying, requests being made known... And for some two or three weeks, I've constantly studied on this message for today. Just a few words that maybe the Holy Spirit would use to drive down the subject into the hearts of the people, that they might see the time that we are living, and prepare to meet the Lord God... We would pray for all of our sick and afflicted everywhere.
O Jesus, remember Thy Church, universal Church, all over the world this morning: some out into the woods, some down in the valley of decision, some of them are on the mountain top. And all over the world Thy children are depending on Thee and calling on Thee. And as John of old, from the Isle of Patmos, said, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

³² And we realize that we're not without the presence of the enemy. He's always near to hinder, and to stop, and to do anything that he can. But, O Lord, give Thy children faith this morning, power to rise above the enemy; to open their hearts and make their soul a field of fertile ground where that the Word of Life may be sowed; and bring forth great joy and a wide harvest.
I pray, Lord, that You'll bless Your Word and Your servants. Give help to this weak voice of mine that I might be able to hold strong by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And then in the prayer line, give power and faith, Lord, that there will not be a feeble person in our midst when we leave this building. Grant it, Lord.
We know that we are living at the end time. And we ask You to bless us now as we further wait on Thee and read Thy Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

³⁵ Now, I'm going to read two or three places in the Scripture, and, as I announced last Sunday that today I was going to try to speak on "Christianity Versus Idolatry." And that is our subject for this morning. And now, I'm not no theologian, not a Bible student by no means, just an illiterate person that loves the Lord Jesus with all my heart. I do not claim to be a theologian, or try to take one's place, but just try in the humbleness of my heart to explain those things that I feel that the Holy Spirit has revealed to me, and I must give to my church. For it's to my interest that this church grows, that this church is spiritually right. It's to my interest, because this church is God's interest, and His interest is my interest. So I must see to this.

³⁶ Reading in the early historians of Irenaeus and them, how they kept their church undefiled from the things of the world, how those old teachers got up there and really stayed with that Gospel. The Bible wasn't written then in the form as we have It now, not until the Reformation, and Luther put it in print. But they--they had what they called The Gospel and Apostle: Gospel and Apostle, and they stayed with that.

³⁷ Now, for our--two places we aim to read this morning, one of them is found in the Book of Jeremiah the 7th chapter and beginning with 10th to the 18th verse. The other place is found in Acts 7:49. And if you want to mark the text for this, or the text out of this, Jeremiah 7, it'd be the 18th verse. I want to begin reading from the 10th verse:

³⁸ Now, I want to stop before I read the final verse of this. Let me begin again. Now, God rebuking this people, and saying don't even pray for them... Let me begin with the 16th verse and read through the 18th. Now, listen close:

³⁹ Now, I wish to turn now in the Book of Acts the 7th chapter, and begin with the 44th verse, and reading down to the 50th:

⁴⁰ Now, you can see by the reading of the Scripture, that where I'm placing my thought this morning upon idolatry first, to begin with. There's little wrote about idolatry. There's not many books to explain idolatry: what is idolatry; and yet the world's full of it. I think the reason of it is, is because that it never really been explained to people, not knowing what it would be. And it's been my privilege, and my great privilege in my life in traveling to see some idolatry, to know what it is.
And then, in studying idolatry the last few weeks: mythology, Greek mythology and Roman mythology, then it brings me back to see whether they kill--still keep that same thing alive, see whether if idolatry remains as it was at the beginning. Today in travel, seeing idolatry; and then seeing the way it began--reading how it began back at--in the early days, I see that it hasn't changed.

⁴² Now, I have been in India. India is full of idolatry. They have the fire-walkers there, and the different... I think, one afternoon when I arrived in Bombay, I was entertained that afternoon by... I'm... Somebody told me... I wouldn't know who was who; they was just in the temple of the Jains. And it was either seventeen or seven, different religions, and I'm pretty sure it was seventeen different religions had met me there in a challenge of the Word, and each one of them firmly against Christ: seventeen different religions. And they was... They made us take our shoes off at the temple and come in. And they set us down on pillows. And it would take some time to go through all the rigmarole, as I call it, we had to go through. But the mayor of the city taken us in there, himself was a Hindu, which is a Mohammedan.
And Mohammed was a prophet. And he came out of the line of Ishmael, which was also a son of Abraham.

⁴⁴ And it was to this line that this famous evangelist in the world today that run from one of their men who challenged him to a showdown in the Word. And, to my opinion, the evangelist should have said, "I have no gifts of healing, but our body of believers has such. You give me a few hours, and I'll bring someone here." See? But, 'course, in doing that, then the evangelist would've exposed himself to the organizations that was backing him, and then he'd have been throwed out.

⁴⁵ And then on the second thought of it, I do not believe I would've let that unbeliever triumph over the Word of God. If I'd have been defeated, I'd still stood there and showed my faith and belief in God that He remains the same. As the Hebrew children said, "Our God's able to deliver us from this fiery furnace. But nevertheless, we'll not bow to your idols." Yeah, I believe it would've been a more gallant thing. And then again I...

⁴⁶ As being a doctor of theology, and well posted in Scripture, as the great evangelist is, and a mighty man he is, I believe that I would have challenged him upon the Word, whether Jesus was the Christ or not, or whether Mohammed was the prophet, and had proved him by his own Bible. If that would have been my call in the Bible, as it is the evangelist to explain it, I would have taken that stand instead of just running from it and backing up. That showed... That don't show that real Christian courage that'll stand there live or die; God's able to deliver. I believe I would've called the hand of him on that.

⁴⁷ But they forget to think about Bombay when the blind man there, the Mohammedans, that night they received his sight in the meeting. They wouldn't mention that.
But, however, on these people, they are not hypocrites. They are sincere people, just as sincere as you and I--and sometimes more than we are here in America. They are not hypocrites. They truly believe that, and practice it with all that's in them.

⁴⁹ Let me give you a little something on idolatry. I forget the name of the god that is the god of the fire-walkers, but it's a huge statue with great, big, something similar to a human face, a kind of a cameo-like face, with huge, big ears to hear all their sins and so forth. And great big rubies as earrings in their--in his ears here, that would probably cost a half a million a piece, maybe. That might be over-estimated; it may be underestimated. But, oh, such great costly jewels in this idol.

⁵⁰ And the priest of the temple brings the poor farmer, he doesn't have to be... just an ordinary; don't have to be some special person. He's just an ordinary man, a farmer that wants to give thanks to his god for a good crop. And in doing that he shows his faith in god as he comes to the temple and is blessed by his priest.
And then to... getting ready to walk through a pool of coals that's many feet deep and many feet wide, and fanned with fans until they're white hot... Now, that's no put-on; it's truth. He goes before the idol, confesses his sins to this priest, and they pour water on him--holy water, and so forth, that the priest has blessed.

⁵² And then, many times, they take a large hook, fish hook, great, big, maybe a half inch to three quarters across the--the diameter, across from the--the point to the back staff of the hook. And they put a little ball of water on that, like a little Christmas tree ornament, and a little ball, and fill it full of water to make it heavy. And they take, literally thousands of those, and hook them in their flesh, pull them out. As they go in, in their flesh, pull them--to go through the torture to please their god, the idol. They're not hypocrites.

⁵³ Then many times they stick their tongue out and have a lance with a fork on it to go through their tongue, and up through their nose and hold it together: take stitches of thread and sew their mouth together if they've said things wrong. And such torture...
And then set down by this great pool of fire. They kill a goat, to appease the idol, to offer a life for their sins. And you ought to hear the--the rumble when that goat is killed. They confess their sins on it, and kill the goat, throwing the--taking the blood as an atonement.

⁵⁵ And then if this fire-walker, if he gets scared and runs through the fire, he brings reproach upon himself. But he must walk slow, steady through these coals of fire. And sometimes they're as many as fifteen feet deep, these coals of fire, and maybe fifteen--maybe fifteen feet deep, and maybe thirty yards or forty yards long, and about, oh, maybe eight or ten feet wide. And they're white hot. And he has nothing on but a clout, which is a little loincloth-like wrapped around the midst of him. And he gets out there, was hanging with all this, and bleeding, and fish hooks and everything all over his body, works hisself up into a frantic until white slobbers is pouring from his mouth.
And here he comes, walking through that fire, and walk out on the other side, unharmed at all, through the fire. And maybe his feet going that deep--legs down into the fire, two feet or better as he walks, pulling up them red-hot coals on his human flesh, walking through that fire, and comes out on the other side unharmed. You could look at his feet, not a scratch or a scorch.
And in watching so, and thinking, if a sacrifice to a pagan idol, with the blood of a goat, with faith in such would protect the heathen from fire, what would the Blood of Jesus Christ do for the believer to a living God?

⁵⁸ Now, idolatry is a strange thing. Down through the ages we've had it, every since the--guess, the beginning of time. Now, the order for this idol worship is the man that sets up the idol, fixes the idol. Then he goes in and prepares himself for this great worship. Now, he believes that this idol is made in the image of some god that he doesn't never--has never seen. He's without a form, so he believes he's in the image of this idol that he makes to this god.
Now, don't let that leave you. The image is in the image of the mythical god that he believes that is.
Then he goes to--before this idol, and prostrates himself, and believes that the god that's an unseen person comes down into this idol. And he believes that he talks to god through this idol, that god brings hisself into this idol and answers him back. And many of you teachers here that's took the mythology... Even those gods, they had battles with one another, they claimed, and everything, in those days.
Now, in other words, the god hypnotizes himself from his supernatural standing, into this idol, and speaks back to the worshipper through this idol. And the worshipper, in some kind of a built-up emotional sense, believes that the idol speaks to him, to his heart, and he's forgiven of his sins and whatmore, through this idol, which plainly shows it's the Devil. It's the Devil that does it.

⁶² And they just don't just do things haphazardly; some of them does, but there's some real true worshippers of those things. For instance, I could tell you stories of how those devils in those idols perform all kinds of things: make blood come out of things, and everything else. They--they are--they are devils.
And if you don't believe in a--there is really a Devil, you don't believe there's a God. Sure, you've got to believe the contrary; the pro and con. So there is a real Devil, and he is a person, not a thought. He is a person.
Now, there's teaching goes on that says the Devil is just an--an evil thought you get. No, no, it isn't. The Devil is a person. The same people believes that the Holy Ghost is just a--a good thought you get. But don't believe that. The Holy Ghost is a Person; It's the Person of Christ in Spirit form.

⁶⁶ Now, these idolaters... (And you got your Scriptures ready or the places for your Scriptures. I--I might refer to some of them in a few moments, of the Scriptures. We might read some.) Now, these idolaters, prostrating themself before the idol, believe that the god that they are worshipping is represented in this idol. Now, have you got that, that the worshipper is not a hypocrite? He actually is getting ahold of something that's in that idol, because it comes back on him. He does something; gets it from that idol, which is a myth god, not a real One.
And many times, the Devil gets into those things. And the Devil gets into meetings sometime, and impersonates himself as God. I have seen this in my ministry.

⁶⁸ Now, remember, this is just--we're just teaching this morning. And I want this church, when I leave into the ministry here to go out in the fields, I want you to stay with your pastor, and stay with the teaching that's been taught here. Stay with this Word; don't you leave It. You stay right with the Word; no matter what comes or goes stay with that Word. See? Now, and just because that I go away... I'm just one of the pastors here. Brother Neville teaches the same thing I do, so just come right on to church and listen to the Word.
I don't know where He's going to lead me. I told my wife this morning at the table, "There's been something in me that's cried out all these years. I'm going to find out what it is." Now, I don't know which way It'll lead, where It'll go. But where He leads me, I'll follow.

⁷⁰ Now, idolatry, it's still today. We find... I find people coming to the altar, and with blind sayings of blind teachers, that'll say, "Just open up; forget everything; make your mind a blank. You'll become an--an Elijah. You'll become this, that, or the other." What a lie. You don't come to God... That's to open up your soul to all kinds of devil spirits get in. Don't you do that. You must remember: there is a devil, and he impersonates Christ to the letter almost.

⁷¹ I was reading in the Life of Saint Martin sometime ago, that where a boy... He was actually a monk, and he said that God had called him to be one of the old prophets, "You listen to me, I am one of the old prophets." And the school of Martin, of course, wouldn't listen to such a thing as that. So they didn't believe it because the boy's life didn't pattern up to it. Finally, he said, "I'm going to prove to you that I'm called to be an old prophet. Just a young fellow," said, "but I'm called."
See, "Gifts and callings are without repentance." See, they get off the Word. And when you get off the Word you get into anything.

⁷³ And this boy said, "Tonight, around midnight, God is going to give me a white robe to set among you all with, to show that I'm an old prophet." So they... That night, they all listened, and whispering, "come in," and people traveling. And the boy received a white robe. When the visitor left, they went and looked at the robe; it was genuine, a real, white robe, looked very good.
But the old bishop, he just couldn't get that. It didn't seem right, because it just wasn't Scriptural--a white robe. And when he did, they said, "Take this robe and go stand before Saint Martin, that man of God." And he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't stand before that genuine prophet. He wouldn't stand; and they forced him to do it. And when they started to take him, the robe vanished and went somewhere; they didn't know where it went. See, when it's brought to a showdown...

⁷⁶ If you've got genuine gold, you don't have to worry about whether it's good or not; it'll stand the trial anywhere. And the real Spirit of God will stand the trial because it's tried on the Word of God. "Upon this rock I'll build My Church."
I've seen people get into hysterics, good people. (Now, you can see why I don't want this--this tape sold.) I've seen good people, and Pentecostal people, pastors who didn't understand, the people get into hysterics, and fall into trances, and everything like that, and--and do things, and finally run them into the insane institution. It was opening up their heart: innocent people, and devils came in and taken place. There is a real Devil.

⁷⁸ I was reading here where one came to... I believe it was Irenaeus or Martin, one. (Some of the Bible students that's better versed in this than I...) Had a gold crown on his head, white robe on, shoes inlaid with gold, and said, "I'm the Christ; confess Me." That saint wouldn't do it. That real prophet of God stood there, waited. And they said two or three times to him, "I'm the Christ, confess Me."
He said, "Our Christ don't come like that."
That's right. You've got to know the Word. Stay on the Word. See, the great battle is at hand. Now, we've played church for years and years, but the hour's come now that when Jambres and Jannes will withstand Moses as the Bible said they would. And it's going to be spiritual battle: conflict. There'll be some just continue on. The denominational church will just move right on into domination, and go on the way it goes. But I mean the real true believer is coming to that battlefield. And you'd better be versed and know what you're doing, or you could take an evil spirit so easy and not know. If it's contrary to this Word, don't believe it. Stay with that Word.

⁸⁰ Idolatry, idolatry's old. It's old here in the United States. And years ago the Pueblo Indians and--out in Arizona, they had an idol-worship. And that was, they--they had a rain god. And the rain god would take a--a mud turtle, and they made an image of a mud turtle. And they put specks all over him like he come up out of the mud. And they would throw themselves before this mud turtle, believing that there was a rain god came down into this mud turtle hull, and spoke to them through this mud turtle, because they believed that the--he lived in the mud and moisture, and he was a god over it. They had a... It's a mythology, just a--a make-belief that it is true.
Now, and they worshipped devils in doing so. Worshipping a mud turtle, thinking it was a rain god, they brought spirit upon them, sure, 'cause they opened their hearts to it. But it was the wrong spirit.

⁸² So many people today are opening their hearts to the wrong thing. You get a spirit all right, but many times it contradicts the Word, saying, "The days of miracles is past. There's no such a thing as this or that." Remember, that's a devil under the disguisement of Christianity. God help us when we get down into this in a--after a bit, that you see it (See?), that it's an evil spirit in the disguisement of Christianity. But it isn't the Spirit of Christ, because the Spirit of Christ comes to the Word every time. He can't deny His Own Word.

⁸³ Now, when Christianity came to Rome--Rome, in the very city of Rome had four hundred pagan temples inside the seven-mile wall: four hundred pagan temples, and they were to gods and to goddesses: gods and goddesses, women and men--gods, four hundred different ones. Think of it: four hundred.
Now, that's what Paul found when he come to Rome. That's what Aquila and Priscilla had when they were sent away from Pentecost and established the church in Rome; that's what they came into: pagan worship of idols. There was around two million people in Rome, in metropolitan Rome; that is, the slaves, and the outside surburbans, and so forth, around two million people. But the walls around Rome was seven miles. And inside of that seven miles, right at the foot of the mountain, was four hundred pagan temples to pagan gods and goddesses.

⁸⁵ Now, I'd like to speak here just a moment on something I've taken from the histories, and I've got one right here with me. The way they entered into worship. How did they come to worship? How did a pagan come to worship? The first thing he did was go to the temple and find the priest, the pagan priest. Then he would give him an offering of so much money, and then a sacrifice, an animal to appease the god that he was going to speak to.
And in sometimes in one temple, there'd be more than one different kind of god. There'd be gods, goddesses, and everything else, in one temple.
So the pagan priest... He would go to him and give him some money, and the pagan priest would give him back a candle, just a regular tallow candle. And then the worshipper taken this candle... After he had paid the priest, taken this candle, and goes over to that certain altar of this god that he wanted to talk to. And on this altar was fire where the sacrifice would be burned at the foot of the statue, the big bronze temple, or--or idol. And he took this temp--this candle, and lit it from the fire altar--the altar fire of the idol. He lit the candle and went down to the foot of the--the altar before the--the idol, and set this candle down. And then after he set the candle down...

⁸⁸ I guess it's so the certain god amongst all the other gods would know just which one of the statues he was supposed to get into, you know, to come back and talk to him. Why the candle, I don't know. But he'd set the candle down, lit off the altar fires.
And then he would go back out in the floor of the tabernacle, and there he would prostrate himself on the floor. And there he would put all of his soul, all of his strength into his prayer, and pray to this great god of some sort, a make-belief, a mythical god, pray to this god to come down in this image and talk to him.

⁹⁰ It said that one of the emperors could so prostrate himself before the image of Apollos that he could actually say that he heard voices coming from the temp--from the--from the idol, talking back to him: prostrating himself.
You'd say at this point, "Brother Branham, did he hear a voice?" I do not doubt but what he did, but it was the voice of a devil. There was no such a thing as Jupiter, a god, and all these other gods they had.
But they prostrated themselves. And they laid there and worshipped--worshipped this mysterious god that they knowed nothing about while his spirit was in the idol that they thought he looked like. They made a image to him, and that found favor with him.

⁹³ Then they made an offering. Then when he got hisself all worked up into this emotion, he goes up again before the idol. And this time the pagan priest had brought him down some--some food and drink, and set it at the feet of the idol. And then... (Now, I'm--got it wrote out here on this page, I'm reading it right off. See?) And he would go down to the foot of this idol, and take some of this drink offering and sip it, and nibble a little bit on the food, and then pour it upon the feet of the idol.
What was he doing? Having communion with devils, communing with devils, gods and goddesses. Just a--a figurative type of the Christian communing with Christ, eating the communion. That was the kind that the first church, or the first pilgrims of the Gospel that came to Rome found, was in these people in this kind of a worship.

⁹⁵ Baal was the most noted god of all the age of the idols, was Baal: B, double a, l. He was a sun god. And then he had a--a wife, the moon god, goddess, Ashtoreth, I-s-h-t-r... Ashtoreth. And it's also pronounced, A-s-t-a-r-t-e, "Astarte." It's on the Roman coin. She was called the goddess, moon goddess, or "queen of heaven, mother of gods," the moon god. And the sun god was Baalim.
Well, nearly all the pagans worshipped that sun. Even the Indians was doing the same thing when--when we come--found America here--when America was founded. Come... The fathers came here; they found that they were still worshipping the--the sun, because in this, they worshipped...
That's the way they were worshipping the gods and goddesses in Rome, when the Christian arrived at Rome.

⁹⁸ Now, in my travel, I have noticed that idolatry hasn't changed. And neither has true Christianity changed. They both hold their places, and will until the coming of the Lord Jesus. On this I'd like to speak just a little bit so you get an idea of it. And if you're spiritual, you surely will catch it.
Because that Baal was the sun god, well, the cakes that was made... As Jeremiah said here, we spoke of a few moments ago, the women had made cakes unto Baal, the sun god. 'Cause you find out a little later on, that--down in the chapter, if you read it, that they said, "If we don't worship Baal, then our crops fail, because Baal was the god of fertility." In other words, "We know that the sun makes the crops to grow."
But the prophet told them, "It's because you've forsaken God. That's the reason your crops don't grow."
But they worshipped Baal. Said, they'd worship, make offerings to him.

¹⁰² Now, if Baal is a round god... Now, catch this word by word, and you'll get the rest--the ending of this message. God was a round god, a sun god. They had great big brass plates that would reflect the sun and look like fire. And then the bread that Jeremiah said here that they... The women would bake these cakes unto Baal, that it was made round like the sun. Well, then it was laid upon the altar, the pagan altar for the communion, and made round like the sun or like the moon, because it was the sun god or the moon god.

¹⁰³ The Baalim was... and we... Said, "It was a god of all fertility; he makes everything to grow."
Now, the early church come facing this when they come into Rome. And it is said and believed by the Roman church, or by the church today, or the Roman Catholic church, which is called Catholic.
We're all catholic. We are the catholic church. We are the apostolic catholic. The "catholic" means "universal." And we are the universal Church of the apostolic faith. Yes, sir. There's a difference between the two churches; one of them was catholic, universal, apostolic; the other one was Roman Catholic.

¹⁰⁶ And it was said that Peter... or they believe it, that Peter established the Roman church. I want the Scripture. I want the place that you can say that Peter was ever in Rome under any conditions as the Roman church said, "He was there from 41 to 46."
And, at that very same time, Claudius was emperor in Rome, which made all the Jews leave. Read Acts the 18th chapter, and you'll find out that Paul, when he went up into Ephesus, he found Aquila and Priscilla, which was actually Jews, and had been taken out during the time of the persecution. And they were here in Palestine again because Claudius had commanded all Jews to leave, both Christian and orthodox. Aquila and Priscilla established the church in Rome, and they had to leave because of the rising of Claudius, had taken all of the church--or the Christians and all the Jews out of Rome.

¹⁰⁸ Now, Peter being the bishop of the church... And I can show you Scripture, plumb on down to at least nearly seventy years, that Peter never was out of Palestine. Right in the Scripture. And you say that Peter was murdered in Rome, and Paul had his head cut off in Rome. That's dogma. I've read all of the martyrologys I can find, and there's not one of them that states anything about Peter or Paul, either one being killed in Rome. Of the earliest authentic martyrologys that we can read, there's none of them that says anything about it. He wasn't. It's a dogma.
I'm here to expose paganism, so we're--we're going to do that by the help of the Lord and His Word (See?) just show you how the church is. You're hollering about Catholic, but just wait a few minutes.

¹¹⁰ Now, now, we find out that after Aquila and Priscilla, according to Scripture, was taken out of Rome, the little church was left as an orphan. All was in there were converted pagans that came over into the Roman Christian church, the early church that Aquila and Priscilla and another couple that had established this church and had nourished it.
Then we find out, as soon as they left, that they made their own bishops, and took their own doctrine. And then they adopted... To find favor with the emperor Constantine and those who later came, to find favor, because they had to get members in there to stand in the political hold up of the nation. They brought in members of the church. And taking them in on perfect, just confession, knowing no more about God than some of these people we got in America today does; just as a profession, which was a great big mouthful for them to profess Christ, another God besides their own god. And in there they adopted into their constitution of the church, pagan ceremonies.

¹¹² Now, the Roman priest... Then they adopted this by taking and making the communion... The first thing come up was making the communion. Instead of a broken parcel like the body of Christ, they would make it round like the sun or like the moon. And to this day, it's still round. Sure. It's still a round wafer and not a broken piece of His body. It's round and smooth. Roman priests today lay this round wafer on the altar and call it the literal body of Christ.

¹¹³ Now, there's a great stand-back between some of these high Episcopalians and so forth and the Catholic church, is upon that subject, whether it is the literal Body or it represents the body. The Roman Catholic says it is the literal body, because that was the literal body of Baal the sun god that reflected hisself on that piece of brass and made it round. No Christian table has round bread on it.
Then they wanted to face the east, and so forth, like they did in the pagan worship, and bring women in, and so forth, just like they've always did--like the pagans to the goddess, and so forth. Now, they just taken down Astarte and put up Mary, made her the queen of heaven. They taken down Jupiter and put up Peter. And they had to get a dogma. In order to do that, they had...
When Aquila and Priscilla returned back after thirteen years of the reign of Claudius; then when they returned back, they found their church completely given to idolatry, but had growed to a mammoth, big thing.

¹¹⁶ In order to bring this in, they must absolutely take away the Bible. Now, I'm an Irishman. I've got what they call "Facts of Our Faith" that belongs only to a priest, and so forth. And I know this with interviews with priests, the priest will not argue you the Bible; the Bible's just another book to him. When this here Bishop Sheen said here about two years ago, that "Anybody that tried to believe the Bible, was like walking through muddy waters." They don't believe That. They started there, and they said, "God is in His church, not His Word."

¹¹⁷ This priest up here on the road, that came for the interview recently, up here at the Sacred Heart, he said to me, or this church up the road. I forget what it is. I think it's called Sacred Heart. He come to me about the baptism, Mary Elizabeth Frazier, who had backslid and turned to be a Catholic. He said, "Did you baptize her?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "How did you baptize her?"
I said, "In Christian baptism."
He said, "What way do you mean?"
I said, "There's only one Christian baptism."
He said, "What do you mean, by immersing?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "You immersed her then in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?"
I said, "That's not Christian baptism." I said, "Christian baptism is immersing in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
He put it down. He said, "Will you swear to this oath to--or this declaration to the bishop?"
I said, "If he can't believe my word, let him do without it." I said, "I don't swear by nothing." See? And he said... And I said, "Not to be arrogant, sir, but I know the Bible said, 'Don't swear by heavens or by earth, because it's His footstool,' and so forth. We're not supposed to do that."
He said, "Strange, the Catholic church used to baptize like that."
I said, "When? When?" See? But they say that they did it.
Because frankly, they were, and we were all one at the beginning, and it... The origin--origin come from Pentecost. That's the beginning of the first church anywhere, anybody can talk about. The Christian church begin at Pentecost with a Pentecostal experience, Pentecostal people, Pentecostal baptism. All come from the original church at Pentecost.

¹²⁴ Now, notice. Now, we find out then that they had to get away from the Bible teaching in order to have these things to please the emperors and so forth, to bring in pagans.
Now, look. Peter was a Jew. Is that right? Could you imagine Saint Peter adopting the idea of putting up idols in a church, a Jew who was forbidden to even look around to idols? Could you imagine him doing a thing like that? Not Peter. Could you imagine him saying, "All my writings back there in the beginning was all wrong; I'll just throw them down now. I'm going to live as a spirit in this Roman church, and I'm going to adopt..." Well, it'd be a changed man.
Therefore, to do that, they had to start a dogma that Peter was buried in the church, and had left all the commandments with them, and they were the original Catholic church. They're not. There's no Scripture; there's no history nor nothing to prove it; not a thing. They wasn't.

¹²⁷ And that pagan priest of the first Roman church is just exactly like the same one today. They believe that that bread is the body of Christ, that somehow, Christ comes down and jumps into that piece of bread laying on the altar (that the mice will pack away overnight). See? Believe... And that's the reason the Catholic believes you must go to the church to worship, because God is in that church. That's the reason they bow and cross themselves around the church, because that piece of bread is God. It's nothing but a representation of a Baalim sun god. There's no Scripture to it at all. Yes, that round wafer laying on the altar...

¹²⁸ Now, therefore, they did not accept the Christian teaching that... Irenaeus, Polycarp, and those early brethren, Paul... We find out, the oldest disciple was--lived the longest, was John. He was exiled three years out on Patmos, because he had a school. He was transmitting or fixing the Word of God, putting It together, the Epistles together. They found him and his scholars a-doing it, and they excommunicated him for three years. After the death of the emperor he was brought back, and then he wrote the Book of Revelation.

¹²⁹ And talk about, "God in His church, or God in His Word?" The Bible said that the Word is God.

¹³¹ The Nicene Council, whether He was three substance or one substance, the great debate... Them martyrs come up there, some of them was... With one guy, they--the bishop, Pentecostal preacher, for laying hands on the sick, they put a hot rod across his arms and pulled his arms back like this. Others, standing where they take a sword and gouge his eyes out... Looked like a bunch of martyrs that stood for this Word. Hallelujah. They mingled their blood with the prophets of old. This Word, brother. It's God's Word.

¹³² When these pagans were converted, they brought in these symbols unto Christianity. They could not use the Bible anymore, because the Bible exposed this. And they'll tell you right today that they don't have--they don't believe That. They say, "It's all right, but the church is the supreme Word."
Well, we find the same thing in Pentecost. Don't holler about Catholic, when we're just as guilty, the Methodist, Baptist, and every one of them.
You Methodists so holy, why did you kill Joseph Smith then? This is America, and a right to worship. I don't believe what Joseph Smith said, but you had no right killing him (Right.), the Mormon.
You Baptists. How many have you covered up? The rest of you? And Pentecost, just as guilty as the rest of them, becomes a stuffed shirt and a bunch of hypocrisy. And instead of the humility, and the power of the Spirit, you've got the Word without the Spirit. And you do more harm than you would if you was like the rest of them back in their pagan ceremonies with all kind of trinitarian ideas, and all this other stuff. You can't prove it by the Word. The Word's contrary to it. How pitiful. How pitiful.

¹³⁷ So when they formed the first church of Rome, the Christianity, they had to dismiss the Bible and to take up these ceremonies. In order to do it, they had to have some kind of a background. So they said Peter was the first pope of Rome. And he still remains that way; they say. Well, let's say he was. Would Peter back down on the Words of Pentecost? Could you imagine a Jew setting up idols?
And when I can prove to you by written Word out of the Bible, exactly the days and years, that Peter never did leave Palestine but one time, and went to Babylon down by the Euphrates. Never was in Rome, by the Scriptures, THUS SAITH THE LORD. It's all a pagan idea.
Now we're going to bring that right out into Protestantism. Look at Pentecost without taking the Word. Stay with that Word and you're always right; get off that Word, you'll go anywhere.

¹⁴⁰ Here sometime ago, at a great meeting with a big Pentecostal school, a woman jumped up speaking in tongues and interrupted the altar call. And that night when I come back in, Billy met me out there and said, "You know what? That woman said she had another message tonight she was going to give."
And I looked at the woman: bobbed hair, a dress on so tight looked like she was poured into it, setting up there fixing her hair, pulling up her stockings. I knowed she was going to jump up. And she jumped up, and I said, "Set down." She just kept on. I said, "Do you hear me? Set down." Oh, my.
When I went out that night, there was four or five of them guys met me out there with her, said, "You grieved the Spirit."
I said, "Any spirit that I grieve with the Word of God ought to be grieved." I said, "Don't the Bible say that the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophet? If she's testifying, which prophecy is--is... Speaking in tongues is prophecy if it's interpreted." I said, "Then let her wait till I am finished, then she can have it."
He said, "But you're teaching the Word."
I said, "That's what I'm standing by."
He said, "She had something fresh and new from heaven, something different from that." If that isn't back to Roman Catholicism I don't know what it is. Let every man's word be a lie and every spirit be a lie, and God's Word be the Truth. God's Word's first.

¹⁴⁶ What's the trouble today, they have so many revelations and false things. It's prostrating themselves out there, and opening up their heart to devils instead of staying with God's Word. That's where the trouble lays. That's what's the matter. People, honest, sincere, good people, but you can't tell them. "Why, we believe this as Pentecostal people." "We believe this, as Baptist people."
I believe This because It's the Word of God. I challenge anybody to correct me in It. See? That's right. This is the Word. Stay with This. This is true.

¹⁴⁸ So they formed the first church, the first Roman Catholic church. And instead of calling the--him bishop, which they always had called him, now they called him "Father." They still do. And they say here, "You have to admit it, that this wafer is the Body of Christ. And in so far, the priest is a god, because God is obliged to listen to the voice of the priest that changes this wafer to the literal body of Christ." And then smart men let that be poked down their throat. Oh, my. Oh, how...
But the true worshippers, the true bishops, stayed with the Word. They stayed right there in that Nicene Council. They held that Word right there. Yes, sir. They come in like martyrs, everything else. But they stayed with that Word. They wanted no idolatry at all.

¹⁵⁰ And I want somebody to show me where Saint Patrick was ever a Roman Catholic. There is no such thing. He protested that Roman church. He was the nephew of Saint Martin. I was reading here in, a woman that wrote a... Hazeltine, Mrs. Hazeltine, "Excerpts of the Nicene Council," said that she went to the card at Oxford to get the--the card for the--a--the--a--"The Life of Saint Martin," and this fellow said, "But he wasn't canonized by the Roman church." Certainly not, he protested the thing. And so did Saint Patrick. The men who stayed with the Word of God, built their own schools. They got away from them kind of things.

¹⁵¹ Now, we find out, so it is today. The Roman church continues right on with their same round biscuit, believing that Christ comes down and jumps in. And listen, do you know the priest drinks the wine? When they're to take it one with another, "He passed the cup one to another." But in the pagan form, the priests drink the wine. See? You still... It's all pagan, just exactly. They don't care.
They tell you, "I won't talk to you about no Bible." That minister, or priest, said to me up there, said, "Mr. Branham, you're trying to talk about a Bible; I'm talking about a church."
I said, "God is the Word." Right. Now, all right.
We find in this, to this day, that's why the Roman Catholic church has to go to church to worship. They are taught that God is in this round wafer, the host in the tabernacle. See? Can't you see that's pagan? Sure, it is.

¹⁵⁴ Can't you see that people that will adopt anything--anything contrary to this Word is the same outfit? Didn't the Bible, in Revelations 17, call the Catholic church "a whore?" Didn't It call the Protestants the mother of--that she was the mother of harlots? The same thing. She give out doctrine from her cup of the filthiness of the abomination of her fornications: dirt and filth, the makeup of mere man instead of the Word of the living God which is true and unadulterated. O God, have mercy on us, is my prayer.

¹⁵⁵ Irenaeus said, I wrote down a note here what he said. Said, "The Word of God is like a fine bunch of nice big jewels that was placed out to make a statue of a great mighty King. But said, "Creeds, dogmas, denominations, take those beautiful jewels, and make the form of a dog out of it, and deceive the ignorant of the Word. This they do to corrupt the ways of God and to bring a reproach upon It." Hallelujah.
You try to make the Word of God say something to fit your organization, you're taking the jewels out of the great King's Body and making a image of dog, or a fox, or a hog, or something, out of it. And you deceive the ignorant of the Word.
Hallelujah. There are some who have the Spirit of God, that stands for the Word incarnate. God, increase our ranks. The Word, nothing but the Word, take that Word where Jesus said in there, "All heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word shall not."

¹⁵⁸ Where It said, "Baptize in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ," they make "Father, Son, Holy Ghost," three gods out of It. They take all kinds of dogmas and make up all kinds of things, and sprinkling instead of immersing: everything. Make some kind of a manmade wallow out of it instead of putting it in the Jewel in the great King, Christ. Oh, hallelujah. That's God incarnate: Christ.
They corrupt the ways of God, let the people come in the church, women with bobbed hair, wearing makeup, dresses on that looks scandalous: men so sissified, let a woman lead them around by the ear. Come to the church, and playing bunco and bingos, and all kinds of corruption things. And preachers and so forth out on banks with naked women dressed in bathing suits and going swimming, smoking cigarettes, and calling themselves servants of God, when this temple is a holy temple dedicated to God, not to filth of the world. It's true.
But they taken the jewels of God and made a hog out of it, or a fox, or a dog, or a polecat, or something, and feed it to the unlearned, the ignorant.

¹⁶⁰ Thank you, Doc. I had one here, but I just didn't think about using it: a handkerchief.
Yes, that's what they do. Irenaeus was so right. What does God think about all this? Is it just like what they tried to say, "Oh, it doesn't matter to Him?" It does matter to Him. It is mattering. Why did He tell Jeremiah the things that He did then? Why did He say that? It does matter. God's got a way.
What if Moses said, "I'll take off my hat instead of my shoes?" He'd have never saw the vision. You've got to come God's way. God has a way.

¹⁶⁴ There's so much we could say. Let's just turn to one Scripture here. I got many of them wrote down. Let's turn to Numbers 25, just a minute, Numbers 25. We'll see whether it--it matters anything to God or not. Let's see if it does, whether these creeds, dogmas, and so forth does matter. "He's a good God, He just overlooks the whole thing." He doesn't. He lays a line and draws a plummet, and you've got to come to It.

¹⁶⁵ "Slay every one of them." God wants to be God, and if He ain't God, He ain't going to be second place. He don't have to let Baal and some manmade dogma, and some theory of some man, or some idea of a creed, or some idea of a--of a denomination stand in His way. He's God. And He's able of these stones to rise children to Abraham. He don't have to have your denominations. He don't have to have your big societies and your schools and things. He takes what He can get in His hand that's nothing, breathes the breath of Life into it, and it becomes something that'll serve Him. That's what makes Him God. Certainly, it matters to God.
You say, "It doesn't matter." It does matter. Certainly, it matters.

¹⁶⁶ Pope Leo the Great, reigned and from 440 until 461. Oh, he thought he was exactly doing what was right. Come into the church... Before him was Victor, and he was a rat too. And he come in there, and how he put the Christians to death and everything else.
And then who started all this, putting it legalized murder? You know who it was? Saint Augustine of Hippo. That's exactly who did it.
Saint Augustine had an opportunity once, so says the history, to become a great man, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. He set in the back of the yard there, in Lyons, France, at that great school where Irenaeus had taught, and them, and Saint Martin. He set in this school yard, and the Holy Ghost--Ghost come to him. But he refused to accept It.
Then what did he become? A twofold more child of hell than he was to begin with. He went right on down to Hippo, Africa. There he set his school. And it was...
"Show me."

¹⁷⁰ I can take you to the history. He was the one who sanctioned his word to it, that it was all right to put to death any heretic who would disagree with the dogmas of the Roman church: Saint Augustine of Hippo. Is there a Bible scholar here, or somebody that's read history, knows that that's true, raise up your hand? Yeah. See? Sure, they are. Saint Augustine of Hippo, he was the one who passed the verdict that it was all right to kill heretics who disagreed with the Roman church, sanctioning them pagan doctrine, of getting away from the Bible, and establishing a son god worship. You know the reason Christianity is...

¹⁷¹ You know where you got Christmas? Christ was born in April. But what did they do? The solar system is slowing up now as it gets away, each day getting a little longer--a little shorter, and a little shorter. And from the twentieth until the twenty-fifth is when the sun god had its birthday. This... There's about five days there; that's when they had the Roman circus in that time, the celebration of the sun god's birthday at that time. And now you see what you got now? They said make it the sun-god, they take it Son of God. And the whole thing is pagan to begin with. And the people on the streets, with their high-heeled shoes, and they're twisting up and down the streets, and running into stores...
And here the other day, my wife was telling me, "Someone said, 'I won't know what to get daddy.' Said, 'Brother's going to get him a quart of whiskey, and the other one said he was going to get him some champagne.' And one said, 'Well, I'm going to get him a--a poker set.'" Celebration of Christmas, pagan, devil-worship... All right.

¹⁷³ But Augustine sanctioned it. If you want to refer to this in Schmucker's, the writing of Schmucker, S-c-h-m-u-c-k-e-r-s, Schmucker's "The Glorious Reformation," here's what it stated, that "From the time that Saint Augustine of Hippo passed this verdict to the Catholic church, it throwed the doors wide open for them to kill anything they wanted to then, that denied that pagan church. And from the time of Saint Augustine, about three hundred years after Christ until 1850, the great massacre of Ireland, there was eighty-six million Protestants killed by the Catholic church. That's on the Roman martyrology: Eighty-six million." Now, fuss with the historian, he's the one that said that. I'm just repeating his word. "Everyone that disagreed with the Catholic dogma..."
Not catholic, the word "catholic." They don't--they don't deserve that name. They are Roman pagans. Not those precious people, there's tens of thousands of them people out there, just as sincere as them--any other idolater is. They think that they're worshipping God, when (back to the Word) they're in an idol with idols all over the place. See.

¹⁷⁶ All right, it was a dog--dogma--Roman dogmas. And listen, I want to state something here. I was past that.
In the year of 1640... In the year of 1640, when Ireland's slaughter came on under the Roman Jesuits and the priests, one hundred thousand of Saint Patrick's converts was killed. If Saint Patrick was a Roman Catholic, then why did they kill their own people? Them were factory working people and everything. That's right. "One hundred thousand" on the martyrology, "that they put to death because they disagreed with the teaching."
I've been to some of Saint Patrick's churches in Northern Ireland. Yes, sir. I had the privilege of seeing that. It was just a big old hull. They didn't have them idols sticking up, and pouring stuff on their feet, and paying for them people to come back and get in that idol. "Mary, hail, Mary, and mother of God..." The same thing as they did to Astarte: bewitching the spirit of Mary.

¹⁷⁹ Just two or three years ago, the Catholic church started a new dogma that Mary had rose up from the dead and is gone into heaven. How many remembers that? Oh, all of you do. The papers was full of it. Dogmas, it's built upon dogmas, and not one speck of truth nowhere.
Now, you Protestants are just as bad, that refuse to take the Word of God. It's dogma of the Protestant church the same as it's dogma of the Catholic church. And we're altogether wrong till we get back to the Word of the living God. Right.

¹⁸¹ You Assemblies of God, you Foursquare, you Pentecostal Oneness, threeness, or whatever you may be, come back to the Word of God. Quit some of these here denominational idols, denominational sphinx. They bewitch themselves, the spirit of the Devil into these denominational idols. Do you know that? Denomination is an idol.
You say, "Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Presbyterian."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm a Methodist."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Pentecostal."
That don't mean no more than what you're a hog, or a dog, or a skunk: has no more to do with it. That's right. What we need today is back to the Word of God.

¹⁸³ Now, these shop workers and precious people in Northern Ireland... If Saint Patrick... Where all of his schools was... You know, his name wasn't Patrick? His name was Suscat. He was kidnaped as a little boy; his sisters was killed. And he returned back, because he trained dogs to chase hogs and so forth. So he--he--he--he did. When he did that, then they--he found his way back home to his father and mother. And he started a school. And the school in Northern Ireland never did accept the pope as the supreme vicar of God. They didn't believe it. They stayed with the Word. God bless that blessed saint, Saint Patrick, great man.

¹⁸⁴ And you hear them say that Saint Patrick run all the snakes out of Ireland. Read the history and see what it was. Saint Patrick believed in speaking in tongues. Saint Patrick believed in taking up serpents or drinking deadly things. And when he could pick up a snake and throw it out of his way, they said, "He run snakes out of Ireland." It was because he believed in taking up serpents and nothing would harm them. Yes. Oh, sure.

¹⁸⁵ They didn't have those--these great big shrines. And what would--what would a saint... What would Irenaeus do today? What would Saint Patrick do today to see the hundreds of billions of dollars placed into the Roman Catholicism to build big churches and million-dollar statues and everything? Just the same as the Protestants is doing.
I made a statement the other day, and it stumped everybody. That's the reason I'm holding this tape. You just let them alone; the blind leads the blind, let them fall in the ditch. That's the only thing you can do. See? When I told them about altar calls, there was no such a thing in the Bible as altar calls.

¹⁸⁷ [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... of His holiness. By humbling ourself to His death, reckoning ourself nothing, then the Holy Ghost comes in and lifts us up. And we don't trust in ourself, 'cause we can do nothing. But with Him, we can do all things.

¹⁸⁸ We, in His image, a living image of a living God. What does you... When you surrender yourself to God, and God comes into you, what does it make you? A living image of God. Not a dead statue set in the corner, not a denomination up in the headquarters at Washington in the--in the--in the Confederation of Churches. Huh-uh, no, that's a dead statue--a dead statue and a dead creed. But a living image, an individual...

¹⁸⁹ Somebody was teaching the other day, or had a little note, and somebody said that if a man wasn't saved, and... "If a man was saved and his wife wasn't saved, would they go in the rapture? The woman couldn't go in the rapture, there'd be no such a thing as a woman going in the rapture 'cause they're one." Nonsense. Jesus said, "There'll be two in a bed, and I'll take one and leave one." It's an individual affair between you and God, surrendering your body, whether mama, papa, children, anything else receives it or not. Amen.
O God, this corruptible, dirty, filthy world, these dirty, filthy churches called--so-called churches, these dirty, filthy organizations, these dirty, filthy creeds that's against the Word of God, O God, bring a humble little person somewhere, and clean them out, and lift them up in heavenly places, and show Yourself Almighty God. Amen. What a corruptible thing it's come to be.

¹⁹¹ We are made partakers of His holiness. We, in His image, we are living images of a living God. Then dead to self, raised with Him (Now, listen, listen to this.), His Word made flesh again in us. (O Brother Neville...) Look. What is it? Not the mythical, imaginary god setting out there, but the living God... What is the living God? The Word in you making Itself real. Whew. Glory to God. Oh, I know you think I'm a holy-roller. Maybe I am. But, oh, brother, do you see it? Triumph over every denomination, triumph over all paganism, a living God made manifest in a living temple. And the Word of God, which is God, is made flesh in you. Why? You're seated in heavenly places, triumphed over all things in Christ Jesus. Amen. Oh, I just love It. I have to skip something and go on.

¹⁹² Now, listen. Then the least of His believers, no matter how--how long, or who--who, little, or whatever you are, the least of His believers in Him has all evil under them. See? Look. Christ is the Head of the Body. Is that right? Well, wherever the Head is, the body's with It. Glory. Where my head goes, it takes my body with it. And where Jesus is, the Church is with Him. Amen. He don't get out of His Word; He stays in His Word, watches over It to make It manifest. His Church is with Him.

¹⁹³ And look, you say, "But, Brother Branham, I'm the least one." That's the soles of His feet. But remember, He's triumphed with you; triumphed with you over every bit of it, even if you're the soles of His feet. Every sickness, every devil, every power, even death itself is under your feet: under you. Glory. I don't feel like I was fifty-two this morning. This is Truth. If I can just get this church to see that, brother, we'll be a triumphant church. Believers in Him, all evil under Him... Oh, glory.
I'm going to check up a little. I'll start up again the next time.
Listen. Listen to this. You say, "Brother Branham, I have no power." Neither do I. I don't have any power. "Well, Brother Branham, I'm a weakling." So am I. But I'm not depending in my strength. It ain't my strength. I'm depending on my authority (See?), my authority given me. It's not me strong. I ain't strong. He's strong, and I--I'm His.

¹⁹⁶ Here, like this, say, for instance, here's the traffic coming down the street at Fourth and Broadway in Louisville, "Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom," just fast as they can, sixty miles an hour across that street, everybody rushing, hustling, bustling. One little man walks out there, raises his hand, and, brother, brakes slide. Why, that little man hasn't got enough power to stop one of those cars, but he's got authority. Glory. It ain't his power. Why, if one of them cars would hit him, it'd demolish him. But let him raise his hand. Why? The drivers of the car recognize that uniform.
Oh, brother, they recognize that uniform. Brakes slide. Why? Look at his authority. Look what's behind him. The whole system of the city is behind him. The law enforcement of the city is behind him. That uniform represents that. He's different (Yes, sir.), because he's an officer.
He hollers, "Stop." Well, one of them cars go "zoom," and just take him like that. But they better not try it; look what's behind him. They'll squeak brakes and slide. He don't even have to say a thing, just raise his hand. That does it, sure. His authority comes from the law enforcement, it's all behind him. Hisself, he's weak. But what's behind him? That's what start. His dress, he's all dressed up in a uniform.

¹⁹⁹ That's what the--not the idol, but what the individual ought to be dressed. Let us put on the whole armor of God (Amen.), the helmet of salvation, this great big shield the size of a door, of faith. Oh, brother. It's not what he is, but what he represents. That's what the officer... It ain't that little man standing there; he's just an ordinary man, but what he represents...
Our Armor is Jesus Christ. Yes, sir. All devils slide their brakes when they see that. When they see that full armor of God, the true baptism of the Holy Ghost (Amen.), that seen It coming straight from the throne of God, dressed in the full armor of His resurrection... Amen.
Not that you're strong, you're nothing. But it's What's behind you. Why? You are dead. You joined the army. You've joined the police force. You're going to keep law and control of these devils. That's right. You're on the police force; the whole thing's behind you. See, you're reckoned dead. You're nothing. You couldn't stop nothing. But your authority that's been given you, because you are raised and setting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the Devil recognizes that. Everything slides its brakes when them hands goes up.

²⁰³ Saint Martin, one time in a court... There was a man down there lacerating... A devil... He was biting big hunks out of people like that, and the people was running; he was trying to kill them, pulled a big hand--had great big tusks, teeth. He was jerking out big mouthfuls of flesh like that as he messed around...?...

²⁰⁴ [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... in worshippers. And the days that he saw ahead, and knowed it would be this a-way, when He Himself would be turned out of His Own church, the Laodicean church, He said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." That organization had turned Him out, and they have done it today. But He stands at the door to knock.
O God, may the members of His Body realize today that we're in the Church triumphant. We are--we are in Christ. We're seated above all these things of the world.

²⁰⁶ Why would our women want to cut their hair? God, it shows something's wrong. Why would they want to expose themselves in sexy-looking things? Why would our people have hunger in their hearts to hear a--a guy like Elvis Presley, or--or some of these Rickies, or so forth, stand up there with an old guitar and that old squeaky music and make our young girls sway and jerk their underclothes off, and things? God... And then that boy claims to be Pentecostal. O God, what is... Look at this Pat Boone who claims to belong to the Church of Christ, and all these vulgar, dirty things. O God, calling himself from the Church of Christ...

²⁰⁷ God, we realize that the badge of authority is not a name of a denomination, but it's the power, the power of the resurrection of Christ in each individual life. God, may this people here this morning strive to enter in that. And if this tape should ever get out into the country where people are at, Lord, let them know that it wasn't said to be for malice, 'cause I'd be wrong myself; but that the Church might be triumphant and realize its place. That they'd see where all these idols... Where the Catholic church come out plain and made it an idol, the Protestants makes it an organization, and just as bad, denying the Word, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." O God, how true Your Word is, every Word.

²⁰⁸ Now, we pray, Father, that You'll forgive us of our sins, and may this message sink deep into the hearts. And may the people... May this church, as this little Tabernacle now is in the building process of building a church, may they never look to some beautiful something, but just enough to shelter the people. God, may they never go to look and saying, "We belong to the big tabernacle that's got the big dome on it." God, let it be a empty hull. May they never lose sight of the Object of Jesus Christ. May He be the One that fills their temple, and then the power and fire of the Holy Ghost will fall on the altar of their hearts. There's where the real altar is, Lord, is on the heart of each individual.
I pray this morning that this Word will lay so heavy on the altar of every heart till they'll never be able to get away from It, that they'll come sane and sensibly to the Gospel, believing the Words, and not open their heart to demon powers or sensations, or squeaking, or jumping, or--or some manifestation, some physical form, or something like that, but to the real, true loving Spirit of Christ, where He'll manifest Himself in love and power. Grant it, Lord. Heal the sick and the afflicted. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

²¹⁰

²¹² Right in your heart, remember Christ the Saviour. Remember He died for you. And if you'll just die to yourself, that'll empty your body, empty your soul, empty your heart of everything of this world, and all of its pleasures, then Christ... You'll raise with Him.
If you haven't been baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, there's a pool full of water here. And when you raise up out of that water, you're rising to walk with Christ in a new life. You are dead then. You're no more... Temper and everything's gone away. You're a new creation in Christ. Then He raises you up by the Holy Ghost and sets you in heavenly places with Himself, far above all powers of this world.

²¹⁴ No matter how little... If you're a little washwoman, if you're--if you're just a brother that don't have his--know his abc's, don't make any difference who you are, you are in Christ, triumph over all things. And your authority is over every demon and every power that the Devil has. You're in Christ, triumph.

²¹⁵ While you have your heads bowed, I know that there's a brother come down here this morning, Brother Slink (I believe they called him "Sink, Jim Sink"), who I believe to be, that our brethren has recognized to be a teacher of this Word. Isn't that right, Brother Sink? We're to lay hands on him this morning just before we pray for the sick, to ordain him a minister, one of our brothers, to go out to the churches to preach the Gospel.
Brother Jim Sink, will you come up here to the altar? Come, Brother Neville. Brother Junie Jackson, are you here? Any of the other ministers of this faith?

²¹⁷ Brother Jim Sink here believes in this Gospel that we preach, the Son of God, to believe that He is truly the virgin-born Son of God. Is that right, Brother Sink? You believe that He died and rose again the third day, triumphed over everything, and setting at the right hand of God, in the center of God's power on high, ever living to make intercessions for us? You believe in the water baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins? You believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit just as God will give It, with signs and wonders to follow the believer? He believes that. And I believe he had a life that's unreproachable before the people. He preaches here at the church, often for them here, and I find out, a wonderful man of God.

²¹⁸ Now, to this church, is there any word in here, any man that's got a contrary word against Brother Sink? Say it now or forever hold your peace. How many believes that with the preaching of this Message and this Word, that Brother Sink, and you believe that by the witness of the Holy Spirit, that Brother Sink should be ordained and sent from this church here as a minister of the Gospel to proclaim these Messages like has been preached this morning, to everywhere that he can go in the world the Lord will send him? Raise your hands and say, "I will be praying for you, Brother Sink." God bless you.

²¹⁹ Let us bow our heads. Brother Neville, would you lay your hands on Brother Sink while you lay your hand on the Bible.
Our heavenly Father, we bring to You this morning a man that has been brought up out of the corruption of this world, has reckoned himself dead to himself, and has accepted Christ as Saviour, been baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ, raised up with the promise of receiving the Holy Ghost, and now in heavenly places, and feels a call on his life to the ministry.
O God, as elders of this church, as the assembly and the general overseers and so forth to watch the flock of which the Holy Ghost has made us a carer for, the flock raising their hand that knowing that Brother Sink, that he's a just man, we therefore lay our hands upon him, as--Brother Neville and I, as Your elders. And by this we pray the prayer of faith and ordain Brother Jim Sink into the ministry of Jesus Christ. Grant it. May he be filled with the power of God. May he never compromise. May he win souls to You.
And, God, we pledge our loyalty and brotherhood to him, to back him up wherever he is, in prayer, and in help, and any way we can. Receive him, O God, as we present him to You, in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Amen. Amen.

²²³ With your hands upon the Word, and there, my Brother Sink, I ordain you a brother in Christ and our fellowship, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you. All right. And the congregation said, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] God bless you. There's much to do in the Gospel, badly needed. We are behind you one hundred percent with everything that we can do to help. God bless you.
Isn't He wonderful to be a... Oh, my. I like to see men... That's fine. He's... As I understand now, He's taking over the pastoral of the Holiness Tabernacle at Utica, Indiana, to which he lives not far from there.

²²⁵ Now, let's see. Oh, have we got...?... Oh, I believe we got the sick to pray for yet, haven't we? All right, did they--you give out some prayer cards? All right, let's call a few prayer cards right quick. Just everybody set still just a moment. We're really late. Can you give me ten minutes? All right. Prayer cards, let the people who has prayer... Where'd you give them from? 1?
All right, prayer card number 1, would you come; number 2, number 3, number 4, number 5. Prayer card number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; stand right over here. Just as quick as you can now, if you can get up, if you can't, well, let us know, we'll come pack you. We're going to try to get as many as we possibly can. 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. And only two raised on that. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15...?... All of them, all the prayer cards, move over on this other side, get on this side over here, on this side if you will.

²²⁷ Oh, isn't He wonderful? Now, everybody just reverent as you can. About ten minutes now, just about ten minutes. Now, those with prayer cards, we made a declaration that the people wanted to be prayed for, come with their prayer cards," and so that we won't... See, they keep coming back, and then they try to use God's gifts as a Ouija board. But we don't--we don't believe in doing that.
We--we believe in just letting God do His Work. Do you believe that? How many believes this message this morning to be the truth? [Congregation says, "Amen"'--Ed.] Thank you. Thank you. God bless you. I believe It with all my heart, soul, and mind.

²²⁹ Now, look like we got about fifty people here to be prayed for, something like that. Now, listen. Now, each one of you are in Christ. You're in Christ Jesus, triumph over all sickness. All of you that's in the prayer line are Christians, born again believers, raise up your hands. Your position then is in Christ. You're already triumph, and the only thing you have to do now is accept and believe what God has said to be the Truth.

²³⁰ I couldn't hardly take that line for the discernment; it'd be too much to do, take us too long. It wouldn't be to me; I believe I could stay here the rest of the day; I just feel good. I just feel good. I know that it's true. Praise the Lord. But now we're in Christ. Now we are positionally seated in Christ. Amen. Oh, my. Is these things I've taught the truth? If it is, then He'll produce Himself. That's right.

²³¹ How many of you people in the prayer line is strangers to me? I know a lot of you, but some of you are strangers. Raise up your hand, knows I don't know nothing wrong with you, raise up your hand, all along the line. See? Is He Christ? You believe It? You must have faith; you must believe It. If you don't believe It, then It won't work. You've got to know your position; you've got to know your place. Is that right, Brother West? That's right. Know your position. Christ promised, "The things that I do shall you also." You believe it with all your heart.

²³² That man standing back there has something wrong with his hip. You believe it with all your heart. You can't get in the prayer line, but you can go on back and set down; it's going to leave. And it isn't cancer. Go back and set down. It's all over. See? I never seen the man in my life. If we are strangers, brother, raise up your hand. If we are strangers... What's the matter, he's healed.
Along this altar here, do you believe? What about you? We're strangers; I don't know you. God knows you. You believe me to be His servant? You believe this Message I preach? What if I told you your back trouble would leave you? You believe it with all your heart? Well, Mr. Burkhart, you go back to Ohio; you're healed.
You're not here for yourself; you're here for somebody else. It's a woman. She's from Ohio too (That's right.); name's Alice McNan. That's right. She's had an operation. That's right. Stomach trouble and female trouble and nervousness. Is that right? Just believe and she'll get well. Go on and believe it with all your heart. Believe it with all your heart, she'll have it.

²³⁵ How do you do? I don't know you; we're strangers. Is that right? You believe me to be His servant? You believe that we're triumphed in Christ? If you believe, with your nervousness and with your troubles and things you have, then, Mrs. Allen, you can return back to your home and be made well.
I believe we're strangers, aren't we? I never seen you before. This is the first time we've ever met; we're strangers one to another. Do you believe me to be His prophet? You believe it? You're suffering with a kidney trouble. That's right, isn't it? You're not from here; you're from down south. You're praying for your unsaved children. That's your husband back behind you. He's got a man on his heart this morning, a friend he's praying for. Say, I see somebody, you are--you are a friend of mine's mother and father, a man comes up here called L. C. or S. T., or something like that, S. T. or something. That's--that's your son. [Brother Neville says, "J. T."--Ed.] J. T... There... S. T. No, it's not J. T., I know. It's a little, black-headed man; I see him standing right here in the front where he is now. Return home; you have your request. Go on back home.
Is that man here this morning, a man from down in Georgia? Why, yes. Yeah. I never seen your father and mother in my life, and you know that's true. But I seen you appear right here before them just then. I knowed it was. You have your request; don't doubt.

²³⁸ You all believe, with all your heart? Now, how many? Each one of you all are in Christ. You say, "Is that the Gospel?" That's exactly what Jesus Christ did. That's exactly what the apostles done. That's exactly what Irenaeus and the rest of them done. That's exact. Do you believe It? Then bow your head.
Come here, elder. There's too many people to go through all that line like that. We've picked out two or three down in the line. Get right down here. This Brother Neville of mine is a man of God. I believe it.
We're going to pass through this line here and pray for these people, lay hands on them. You all believe you'll get well, each one of you? Everybody in here going to believe it? Then bow your head now; we're in the Church triumph.
Lord Jesus, I know this brother, that's the reason I didn't say nothing to him about it. I know what he wants. I pray that You'll heal him, Lord, and give him his request, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, with hands laid upon this little brother this morning, we ask in Jesus' Name for his deliverance. Amen.

²⁴³ Oh, you... Heavenly Father, give to our Sister Dauch here, a lovely sister, who's been a real friend to us here, to my family and our loved ones. We believe that she and her husband are Your children. I pray, God, that You grant her request to her this morning, in Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.
God, in Jesus' Name, bless our sister...?... We know, Lord, that she is Thy servant; we pray that You'll give her her request, in Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.
O heavenly Father, realizing that--that You alone can heal Sister Blankco, we pray that You'll bless her, and grant this request to her, Lord, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Heavenly Father, upon our sister, we lay our hands in the Name of Jesus Christ, ask for her deliverance for Your glory. Amen.

²⁴⁷ "These signs shall follow them that believe," and we lay our hands upon this sister who shall recover. In Jesus' Name, grant it, Lord. While this nervous, shaking body standing here, Lord, under the impact of the Holy Spirit, and tired, but You're God. Heal this young woman I pray, in Jesus' Name.
God Almighty, give to our brother his request. Grant it, Father. We lay hands upon him and condemn the enemy...?... poison his soul, or set a--a black mark in front of him, may he rise triumphantly over that this morning, Lord, and realize his position in Christ Jesus, and so may he have what he asks, in Jesus Christ's Name.
Our heavenly Father, with hands laid upon our brother, in the Name of Jesus Christ, grant his request. Amen.

²⁵⁰ This darling little girl, Father, in the Name of Jesus, may the Lord be merciful, for the glory of God we ask for her deliverance.
God, we know the heart cry of this mother, and the cry of her daughter. God, grant to her faith this morning, and she's rising up now, knowing that she has power over the enemy, and it s