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Greater Than Solomon Is Here (63-0605)
| Greater Than Solomon Is Here (63-0605) |
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E-1
... I believe.
Let us remain standing now for a few moments as we bow our heads. I wonder, while we have our heads bowed and our hearts, that if there's any special request tonight that you would require of God, a special something, you'd let it be known by your uplifted hand? He knows just what you have need of now. In your heart just think of what it is.
E-2 Our heavenly Father, we are so glad tonight that we have that grand privilege of saying "Father" to the Creator of heavens and earth. And we're so happy to know that we're assembled here tonight in heavenly places in Christ, Thy Son. And He promised that if we would ask anything in His Name it would be granted. Lord, You--You seen every hand that went up. You--You know what was behind that hand. There was a request for something, and I'm offering my prayer along with theirs. By faith now we're coming up to the great ivory throne of God. There as we see the Blood of the Lord Jesus laying there upon the altar to make sure that our request is answered. Only one thing left: if we will believe that we receive what we ask for, then it will be granted. Help our unbelief. E-3 And Father, we pray tonight that as we open the Word that You will reveal It to us. You are the One Who wrote It, and we pray that You'll make It known to us. And then come among us and live It out and prove Yourself, that in this hour of great scientific achievement, and when the church is getting cold and going off into forms and creeds, that You remain the same to those Who believe You to be the same, that You're the same God that poured out the power at Pentecost. You're the same God that walked with the disciples, the One that was with Moses in the wilderness, and You're the same tonight. Bless us together now as we fellowship around the Word. In Jesus Christ's Name we ask it. Amen. Be seated. E-4 As always deeming it a great privilege to be where the people of God are assembled together, for I'm sure that Christ is in the midst of us. And we are grateful to the Lord God for hearing the good report of last evening, and... Still shows that God heals the sick and the afflicted. And now, there's... If we can just keep our minds settled on Christ and know His Presence is here, and that He has already secured for you every redemptive blessing that He died for; it's yours. All you have to do is believe it.
E-5 And now we trust that you had good rest today and you... Try to get you out tonight just as soon as possible. And then tomorrow night being Thursday night, and then Friday night, and then Saturday morning the breakfast... E-6 And we're thankful for the--the faith, the evidence, the something with us that tells us, and we know. There's no more guess work in it. We've had for years the Word of God. Now, we got the God of the Word (See?), and right here living His Word out. So it's true, one of the last great signs that's promised to the church before the coming of the Lord. E-7 Not long ago my son and I was--went into Bombay, India, where I think we had the greatest altar call I ever had the Lord to do in our meetings. Was... We couldn't estimate how many come to Christ, because it was estimated around a half a million in one gathering, about five hundred thousand. And there was a great strenuous time on. And there was the Hindus, the holy men, and... Oh, my. Talk about religion, India's got it. That afternoon I was entertained by seventeen different religions of India, and every one of them denied Jesus Christ: every one of them: Mohammedan, Buddha, Sikhs, Jains, oh, so many of them. And I never said nothing. I just listened to them as... We had to take our shoes off to go into the temple of the Jains. E-8 That night, before a host that I couldn't see the end of them, and when the people begin to come up... The militia had to let the people come one at a time. The first come was a leper: had no arms, and ears was eat off. Anyone knowed what his trouble was, of course. And then after two or three passed by, why, there was... The Holy Spirit revealing... 'Course when the anointing comes on, then you can tell what the people's thinking (See?); you pick it up. And they were thinking it was a something like a telepathy. And anyone that knows what telepathy is would... It would be a... If you thought that such as the Holy Spirit discerning would be telepathy, why, then you don't know much about telepathy.
E-9 So then these holy men, and Rajahs, and so forth, on their pillows and... So they were piled on top of one another. Two or three smothered to death in the meeting, and just trying to pile in. And I only had two days to stay. And I couldn't get protection, 'cause... I had to have it in the city was the only way we could get protection. Outside of the city there'd been a lady come through that had caused a little trouble, and two or three got stabbed to death. And they wouldn't give me protection outside the city. And it certainly was an awful thing to see.
E-10 Here's a mother laying in the street, her little baby starving. Its little gums is down against its lips, its little... It can't cry no more. The mother's starving too. She wants to give you the baby to keep it from dying, anything to keep it from dying. And here... Well, you can't get... Here's another one. Here's another one, another one. Oh, you just... There's no end to it. And there they are, and so pitiful. And they're human beings that Christ died for. E-11 You... When you go to a place like that you better know what you're talking about, 'cause they'll challenge you to it just at any time. And you better be sure that God sent you. You don't play church there. You have to really have what you're talking about. It's all right here in America, but don't never try to hit the field 'less you're really positive. And then in Africa and those witch doctors, and so... They're--they're spiritualists. They don't just fool with some psychology; they're--they're demon-possessed and they have power, and it takes... Only the power of God can override it. And I've never seen a time though, but what our great and glorious Lord Jesus rode over the top of all of it, and won the victory every time. I say that as His servant, in His Name.
E-12 This night there there was... I remember, this man... It said, "You're blind." Said, "You're a beggar, and you worship the--the sun." And they believe if they look at the sun until they go blind that they'll go to heaven. So there's a heaven for them, and they'll go by... They worship the creation. And listen, you could feel it coming in, that they--those, especially, what they call holy men. Then they grease themselves over with olive oil. It's a sight to see... kill a goat and worship.
E-13 And then I noticed, and I seen the man, like a vision, standing above, and he could see. He had his sight. I thought, "This'll be a wonderful time right now." And I said, "Today I was entertained in the temple of the Jains, where many of you different leaders here was present. And you were telling me about how little Christianity was, and how great your religion was. I had not a chance to take up for the Lord Jesus," but I said, "tonight here is a man standing here that's blind. Well, now if I'd ask the Mohammedan priest, or the Buddha priest, or whoever it might be, what caused him to do that, you'd say he was wrong because he worshipped the creation instead of the creator. I'd say 'Amen' to that. That's true. The creation instead of the creator...
E-14 Now, I wouldn't have said this if I hadn't seen the vision first, 'cause it's... I'm fifty-four years old, seen visions since I was eighteen months old. Never one... I'll ask anybody if they ever seen one fail. No, sir. It never will. It never did and it never will. It's always right, because it's God. And then, I knew the man was going to get his sight, but I was trying to set a little trap to catch some of them unbelievers.
E-15 I said, "Now, the platform's open, and let the man that can come here and give him his sight... Let the God that--the true God, the One that made him in the first place, that created his eyes, let Him come and restore his sight, and I'm ready to be a follower of that religion." E-16 I said, "Why ain't you saying something? Surely there's a God somewhere. All of--all this, everything going on, it proves there's a God somewhere. Who is He?" I said, "The reason that you're not saying nothing, because you can't do it, and neither can I. But the God of heaven, Who raised up His Son, Jesus Christ, Who I am His witness, has showed me a vision that this man is going to receive his sight. Now, if He doesn't do it, then I'm a false prophet; run me out of India. But if He does do it... Right here, you people who are Mohammedans, here's your priest standing with a robe. Here's the Buddha, and different ones. You see your leaders, how still they are? They say nothing; but I speak. I saw a vision of the man's going to receive his sight, and he's going to do it now. And if he doesn't, then there's something wrong; I'm a false witness of the Bible and of Christ."
E-17 Everybody... I said, "How many of you here will receive Him as your Saviour if God will restore the sight to this blind man?" And everywhere you could see just black hands up, as far as you could see. Well, it was estimated 500 thousand people, and that's a half-a-million. So that's many, many times more than, probably, that's in Tucson. So there they was setting in one place.
E-18 Friends, I don't want to say this critically, but we have failed to carry out the program that Christ sent for us to do. See? He said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel." Now, He didn't say build schools; He didn't say build churches, which, they are all fine. But we've put all of our time to building schools and churches and denominations, which has played a part. But that isn't what He said. "Preach the Gospel, and these signs shall follow them that believe." In other words to preach the Gospel would be to demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit, and there's where we have failed.
E-19 That same God lives today. I know that that's true, and He's just as great today as He was then. If He ever was God, He's still God. But if He isn't God, then He never was God, because He's a God of the whole human race. What good does it do to talk about a God of Abraham if He isn't the same God today? What good would it do to talk about a God Who could open up the Red Sea if He couldn't--for his children to escape, if He couldn't do the same thing today? What about a God that could raise a dead man out of the grave if He can't do the same thing today?
E-20 The Lord bless you now, and one of these nights, maybe, 'fore it's over, I'm going to, maybe, preach one night for you. I'm just going to... I'm talking about Divine healing now because I want to see... waiting for the Lord, maybe, to do something that'll...
E-21 I have just completed a study, the last four or five years, of the early church. I started off with the Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," come down through Hislop's "Two Babylons," and so forth, and on down through the Nicaea, the post-Nicaea and the Nicaea fathers and Nicaea council. And finding out that after the death of Jesus Christ... Down through Polycarp and Irenaeus and Martin, and many of those great saints, for hundreds of years after the death of Jesus Christ, contended for that faith of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and speaking with tongues, and raising the dead, and healing the sick. It was in the dark age this thing was lost. E-22 Lord bless you now. And in the Scripture I want to take a familiar little text tonight, just to get you acquainted with what we're trying to do. You see, if you can... If I could get this audience with one accord to see and know exactly that Jesus Christ is alive and here among you... Oh, you psychically, or mentally believe it. But when it can go beyond the mind till you know it, then something will happen. See? When you can realize the only thing is is to see Christ in our presence... E-23 You know, in Durban, South Africa, where there was estimated of 25 thousand wheelchairs, old box and carts, and they pulled the people out of the jungles weeks and weeks coming through there... At one prayer, just a few words of prayer, and up off of there they went. And the next morning Sidney Smith... You can send him a telegram, write him a letter. He's the mayor of Durban, about twice, three times the size of Tucson. Yes, many times bigger than that. And we was at a race track where he had 250 thousand people gathered. E-24 And he called me, said, "Brother Branham, go to your window that faces the coast (That's the Indian Ocean there.). You'll see something you've never seen." And there come about ten of those great big English trucks, maybe forty, fifty feet long, just piled full of old crutches and wheelchairs and things, that they'd hobbled out of the wilderness on the day before, and was healed. And here they were, and the people that was in those chairs and things, for city blocks coming behind, all of them in one accord, walking past my hotel singing, "Only Believe. All things are possible," in their native language. Where we had recorded 30,000 blanket natives received Christ as their Saviour at one time...
E-25 No disregards to our sisters, but here's what I can't understand when I come home. Every year, when I go away and come back, I find our--our women of America getting more clothes off of themselves, and yet calling themselves Christians, singing in choirs. And them women standing there. Many of them nothing but a small 4-H clout on. And the minute they received Jesus Christ as Saviour, no one had to tell them they were naked. They folded their arms, like this, to walk away from the presence of where men was standing.
E-26 Now, turn with me to Matthew the 12th chapter, the 38th and to the 42nd verse, for just a little familiar Scripture as we read. And listen closely now.
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and an adulterous generation seek after a sign; and there shall be no sign given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
And the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
If I should call it a text, I'd like to take that last five words, "Greater Than Solomon Is Here."
E-27 We find Jesus here had been upbraiding; He had been rebuking those places that He had been and had proven to the people that He was the Messiah, just as He was showing to us last night. And all their teaching had been to believe that that would be the Messiahic sign. And even to this little woman that we spoke of last night, the woman at the well, how she in her adulterous condition... And yet she knowed more about God and recognized Him more than the scribes and Pharisees did, for when they seen this done they declared it to be some kind of a spirit. Said, "It--it is Beelzebub." Beelzebub was the chief of the devils a spirit, a devil. And said that He was doing that through some spiritualist, like a fortuneteller; and anybody knows that fortunetelling is of the devil. And so they accused our Lord of doing that.
E-28 My mother used to tell me that when I was a little boy that blaspheming the Holy Ghost was to take your own life. Well, that isn't so. See? The Bible teaches it that the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is to--is to speak against the Holy Spirit. "To blaspheme" is "to talk about." And when you see the Holy Spirit doing something and you make fun of it, you've crossed the line that you'll never cross back again. It'll never be forgiven you.
E-29 And time hasn't changed too much. You know, God takes His man but never His Spirit. Satan takes his man but never the spirit. It comes right back on someone else, and goes right on down. And now, we find it in every generation about the same. And Jesus had clearly made Hisself known. He said, "If I do not the works of God, then don't believe me; but if I do the works of God, then believe the works."
E-30 What if Moses would've said, "I believe I'll take a few of these leaves off that's on fire, and take them over at the laboratory, and let them be examined, and find out what--why they don't burn." God would've never talked to him. But he--he--he was--recognized that it was a miracle that the leaves, the tree, wasn't consumed. So he drew near to talk to it, and to take off his shoes, and humble himself before it, and God talked back to him.
E-31 And that's what they... Instead of that, they come and said, "We would see a miracle." Now, everybody is miracle seekers. We find out that even the devil, when he seen Jesus in that hungered condition, he said, "If thou be the Son of God command these stones to be bread." See, "If thou be..." He wasn't sure. But he wanted Him to do a miracle so he could see it. Now, that's just the way. See, you believe a miracle. You believe to see a miracle.
E-32 And then, after all of that, when they caught Him up in the courtyard, and they put a rag around His face, like this, and took a stick... And these drunken soldiers stood there hitting Him on the head, and then passing the stick one to another, and said, "If you are a prophet now, prophesy and tell us which one hit you. We'll believe you." He knowed which it was. But you see, a man of God, or a servant of God, don't clown for the devil. See? They're not obligated to do that.
E-33 Now, we find Him there (You see?), but that same old spirit... "You do something here. Let me see it done." Why, God couldn't work where such a thing as that was. Jesus went into a multitude of people one time and said a dead girl was only asleep, and they laughed Him to scorn. And He put them every one out of the house before He raised her up. See? He had to do it. One time He took a blind man and led him out of the city and spit on his eyes, in order to let him--get him away from the crowd. Where there's unbelief, God can't work.
E-34 Now, God in all ages has never been without a witness. God has sometimes got down to only one man. But He's always had a witness, somebody who believed Him, somebody who could believe in the supernatural, somebody who could believe God just the way that it's written and just what He is. And He referred to them here, as we find out. In all ages He had His witness everywhere.
E-35 And now Jonah truly was told by the Lord to go down to Nineveh, a city four or five times the size of this city here. And it was a--their--the great commercial city of the world, Nineveh was in that day, very much backslidden--and the--they fished at the sea. And they'd got away from the true and living Word of God and begin to worship animals, and--and sea monsters and so forth. They were in a polluted and awful condition.
E-36 Jonah... We find out, out on the sea that the storms begin to rage, and the ship begin to toss back and forth; and all hopes that they could be saved was gone. And Jonah had probably been preaching a few nights before that and was tired. And he was down in the hull of the ship taking a little siesta, kind of napping a little bit. And they come down and told him, "Wake, O sluggard, and call upon your God."
E-37 And now that's disputed by science. Here a few years ago I was in Louisville, Kentucky, just across from my home city of Jeffersonville, Indiana. Just the Ohio River separates the two cities. And they had a whale, the skeleton of a whale, on a--on a flat car. And there was a man standing there who was giving a lecture on this whale, and he said... Now, he come up... I thought, "Wonder if he... What's he going to say?"
E-38 That was too much for my Irish temper to stand that. I said, "I beg your pardon. It is so."
E-39 As the little girl was coming one day from the Tabernacle... And she was a little--about like this little sickle-fritz last night, or tonight, with her hair combed back here, you know... her little... I thought she was cute the little singer. I don't guess... She's bound to hear. I hope I don't hurt her feelings. But she was real cute. And this little girl had just got saved, and she had a Bible over her heart, just singing. There was an old infidel lived up the road there, in a little city called Utica, Indiana, and he said, "What you so happy about this morning?"
E-40 And many people bawling out Jonah. Now, let's as Christians, being that we're talking about him as one of the fellows here that Jesus referred to, back many years before Christ; he was a sign to that generation, and let's just think of him a minute. There he was with his hands tied behind him, and his feet, and the whale was prowling through the waters to find something to eat.
E-41 And I always kind of felt sorry for him, because... Do you... People's always talking about, "Well, Brother Branham, I had a crippled hand, and I was prayed for a week ago. Brother So-and-so, my pastor, prayed for me, and really I'm no better." You'll never get no better as long as you look at the hand. You can't look at the hand; you got to look at the promise.
E-42 Now, look... talk about symptoms, Jonah had a real case of symptoms. Looky here. Let's think he was backslid, and he's in the belly of the whale, maybe forty fathoms deep in the ocean, in a storm on the ocean, and laying in vomit up to his neck, looking around--sea weeds wrapped around him everywhere. And he looked this way, it was whale's belly. That way was whale's belly. This way was whale's belly. Everywhere he could see was whale's belly. Now, he had a good case of symptoms. There's nobody in here that bad off tonight; I'm sure.
E-43 He refused to see the whale's belly. He refused to see the symptoms. Why? He knowed that when Solomon dedicated that temple to God, when the great Pillar of Fire and cloud hung out there, that the prayer of Solomon passed over and went down and took its resting place with the ark of the covenant. And when--when Solomon prayed, he prayed, "Lord, if Thy people anywhere be in trouble and look towards this holy mountain, or this holy place, and pray, then hear from heaven. And Jonah had confidence that God heard the prayer of Solomon because he was a servant of God.
E-44 When thousands around us and around the world where the great healing revivals are striking now... Right at this very hour there's people being healed all around the world. The hour is here.
E-45 Notice. You know what God did? This is a baffle to scientists. He... I don't know whether He put a oxygen tank down there or what He did, but that man stayed alive for three days and nights in the belly of that whale. I don't know what He done, but He took him a free ride all the way from Tarshish back over to Nineveh.
E-46 Look what Jesus said here about Jonah... Say about him. He said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign..." I might stress your faith a little bit here, but I believe that He was referring to this generation. I'm going to tell you why. For we know that this is a wicked and an adulterous generation. There's never been a time since Sodom that homosexuals and perversion was on the march as it is now. You ought to go in my office and read the mail of mothers from California and around, about their boys living... Oh, it's terrible. And I picked up a paper here a couple years ago, flying over Los Angeles, where it said that--that the great sin of Sodom was on such an increase there till it had increased twenty percent over the year before. And all out through, even to government officials, and it's everywhere: sin.
E-47 Now, we notice that we find that Jesus said that "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be a sign given unto it; for as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and nights, so the Son of man will be in--be in the heart of the earth three days and nights." What was He speaking of? A wicked and adulterous generation would receive a sign of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's what we're doing. We know tonight that He is not dead, but He's alive forevermore, and He's with us.
E-48 Then He goes to refer to Solomon's generation, when Solomon came on the scene. Now, we all know, as minister brothers and readers, that that was--that was the millennium almost for Israel. That was a golden age of Israel. They built the temple in that age. They had no wars. Solomon was a gifted man. God had give him a great gift of discernment. And everybody in the land, with one heart and one accord, believed in that gift. It was the talk of the world everywhere. Everybody feared them because that--that they knowed that there was a living God among them.
E-49 And the great things... Why, the--the fame of Solomon went all over the world, and the other nations paid him tributes, sent him oxen, camels, and great gifts of gold, and--and helped him with the stone and everything to build the temple. That's what America needs tonight. It's not a new addition to politics; it's not a new denomination in the church; it's not something of that sort. They need to come together in one accord, and believe, and accept the gift of the Holy Ghost that God has sent to us in this last days, where this great latter day miracle revivals has broke out across the land.
E-50 And any nation that will receive a blessing that God sent, that nation prospers. I tell you. I believe tonight that our safety is not in building bomb shelters or something like that. I believe our protection is made out of feathers. Under His wings we'll rest. Oh, yes. How you going to get in a bomb shelter? One of them bombs will blow a hundred and fifty miles square and five hundred foot deep in the earth. Why, it'd shake every bone in you loose if you was plumb down to the lava.
E-51 Notice. This great time, if people would just believe what God sent them, but to turn it down is to go in chaos, and that's what we've done as a nation: have turned down the blessings of God and swapped it for tradition. But God has sent a witness, and the people has failed to see it. And I think that the Pentecostal people, as many things as God has sent you, and yet our churches set half empty.
E-52 Now, we notice God's done great things for this nation. He sent a Tommy Osborn, a Oral Roberts, and--and many great men across the country, dangled every little gift in front of the people. But it's just like... An old sailor one time going to the sea, and a man said to him, this old salt... He'd never... This man, a poet, had wrote about the sea and talked about it, but he'd never seen it. So he was coming down to--to the sea, and, oh, he said... Met the old salt, and he said, "Where goest thou, my good man?"
E-53 A woman here not long ago in Louisville, Kentucky... She had a little baby, and she was going around... A little boy about two years old, it was. She had him in her arms, and she'd pick up little things. She'd say, "Look, honey, look." The little kid would just set and stare. She'd walk over to something else, and say, "Darling, look at this." And the people in the store begin to watch her. She begin to get hysterical. And so she picked up a little rattle, which ought to attract a little boy like that. Said, "Look, honey. Look, look, look, honey. Look, darling, look." And the little boy just stared.
E-54 That's something like the church today. God has shook every kind of gift before the church that He promised to shake, and still we stare in space. "Sirs, we would... Sir, Master, we would desire a sign from thee." See? "Master, we would desire this..." When... He's done everything in the Bible He promised to do. We're at the end time.
E-55 Solomon, they believed him, all the people with one heart and one accord. And no wonder the message went everywhere. But today, if God sends something, if it strikes a certain denominational church, the others won't have nothing to do with it. No, sir. If it strikes the Baptists, don't look for the Methodists to do anything. If it strikes the Pentecosts, look for both of them to stay out, 'cause they'll sure do it. So there you are. Depends on where it's from. It's got to come through their circle or it is no good. E-56 No. God's got the glass for us to see through, and that's the Holy Spirit. Then it sees the Word of God and believes It, and loves, and fellowships. And the blanket's far enough for the neighbor, and you know what I mean. The world's dying for a little love, and somebody to care for them. That's right. You've seen so much of this cold, stiff, starchy stuff. But I tell you, this old-time case of salvation will make a calico dress and a silk dress put their arms around one another. It'll make a tuxedo and a pair of overalls call one another "brother." It sure will. It'll take the starch right out of you when you really get Christ in your life in the right way. Certainly will.
E-57 Now, we find out that Solomon--the great age that his fame went everywhere, throughout all the land, and the passers-by heard of it. They taken it into other countries. And the--the only way they had then was not television and things that they have today, and newspapers; it was from lip-to-ear. And their caravans would come through, and passing through, and pick up trade, and take it to the other nations. And finally his fame reached way down across the Sahara desert into a place called Sheba. It's called here "the queen of the south."
E-58 And every time a traveler would pass through into her kingdom and make trade of spice, and whatever they had to swap, and so forth, and jewels, why, she would call them to the castle, and say, "Have you passed through Palestine?"
E-59 Now, we find out... Let's just dramatize it a little, so the children will catch it. I can think of one day she'd made up her mind that she was going to find out whether it was the truth or not. That's a good thing. Well, like we said about Philip last night, "Come, see for yourself." She'd begin to--maybe purchased a Bible, the Old Testament by the parchments, the scrolls. And she begin to read to see what this God was that they were talking about. She seen how He worked in His nature. And then she finds out that the very nature and life of that God was being manifested through a man, making Hisself known to His people through the people, what He promised to do.
E-60 Notice, now, the little lady to do this had a lot of hindrances. Now, the first thing she had to do, she... First she'd have to go to her pagan priest and get permission, because she was a queen, a woman of honor. And the state church, you know, there had to--they had to give consideration, because she was going to have to--to leave her own religion to go find out about another one that she knowed nothing about, but was hungry to know about it.
E-61 The little queen walked a few minutes. You know, if God goes to dealing with the human heart, it's hard to talk anybody away from it. She said, "But look, sir," she said, "they tell me that the actual results happen. There's something takes place, that God uses human lips with such wisdom that's supreme to any known person. It's beyond finding out, the power that God has given among His people. And they're all in one accord. I want to go see it."
E-62 Now, notice, the first thing you know, why, she said, "Look. Now, look. I have been in this temple since I was dedicated here as a little girl. My mother was dedicated here. My grandmother was dedicated here. You've told me all about the power of that god. You've told me all the books you've read about him; and he hasn't made one move. All I've seen some reading on a paper, just a dead bunch of creeds. But they tell me there's something up there that's alive." Amen. Bless that little queen's heart. E-63 So no matter how many creeds he could recite, and how well educated he was, and how he could bow, and how he could prostrate himself before the idol, that didn't make one bit of difference to her. She was thirsting for God. She wanted to find out, and she wasn't going to be satisfied until she found out herself. She'd seen the Scripture that's what He was supposed to be, but now will it work? That's the next thing. You can talk about anything, but will it work? You can tell all the mathematics of it, but will it work, is the next thing.
E-64 Now, we find out... Now, another thing she had to confront. Now, she thought if she went up there... Remember, the desert was full of Ishmael's children, and they are fleet-footed riders and robbers. The whole desert was full of robbers in them days. Well, the little lady, she thought this: "I'm going up to find out if it's true. Now, I'm going to take some offering, and if it's right, I'll support it. If it isn't right, I can bring my offering back." Pentecostal people ought to listen to that woman. Support things that make fun of you, let your own radio program go down, and everything else of your own people. All right.
E-65 Measure how far it is from Palestine, from--from Jerusalem, down to where she was. You know how long it taken them? Three months on the back of a camel through a burning hot desert. And what did she have? Just a few eunuchs and her maids with her. Probably had to travel by night. The direct heat of that Sahara desert is terrible: scorch you right down. And she had to travel by night.
E-66 On she went, traveling by night, day in and out, day in and out, reading those scrolls. "Now, let's see what Jehovah is, what He was, what He promised, and so forth, what He'll be. And I'll find out whether that's Him in this man. I know what men are, and I believe I'll know what the God is because I've read what He was." And let me say this to Tucson tonight, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's right. He cannot change.
E-67 Now, we find out, finally, after all of her--her troubles and so forth, her heart thirsting... And as she begin to near the city of Jerusalem, I can see her eyes brighten up. And she put the scrolls away, and she pitched camp right outside, maybe at the palace gate somewhere, getting ready for the meeting now, maybe arrived in the evening time.
E-68 Now, she didn't come to say, "I'll just go up there," like people do today. "And the first word that evangelist says that's a little contrary to what I believe, I'll get up and walk out." Well, maybe they do that (See?), but it shows poor raising in the first place, and it shows poor manners. But anyhow people do that today, because they feel they don't have to do it. They don't. But you have to meet God, and you'll have to answer.
E-69 She had many problems, the Scriptures tells us, that she wanted to know about. And as she come, finally, maybe she got her a prayer card. Maybe her number was called (we'd say it, just for saying it). But when she got before Solomon... However way it was, when she got before Solomon, the Bible said that there was nothing that wasn't made known to Solomon that he didn't reveal to her. All the things that she had hidden in her heart Solomon revealed it by the Spirit of God. And when she seen this happen, all the--the life almost was gone out of the little queen.
E-70 No wonder Jesus said, "She'll rise in the day of the judgment and condemn this generation; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here." Solomon was a man with a gift of discernment. Now, Jesus Christ is here in the form of the Holy Ghost with--with all the Divine gifts in the whole body of Christ being made manifest. All the things that He promised to the church is being shown unto us. And some of us care so little. Some of us are so...
E-71 What made that little woman say that? She seen something real. She seen something that wasn't just a bunch of creeds. She seen something was manifested and was genuine. To me, anything that's proven to be genuine, is genuine. I think today that the whole world should be interested. If we believe that we're living in the end time, and we believe that the coming of the Lord Jesus is at hand, we ought to be exactly interested in the things that's going on of this day. We ought to examine it by the Word of God because we'll drop right by and it'll be past and we'll know nothing about it. That's the way it's always been.
E-72 Look at all those ministers in that day looking upon the gift of God in Jesus Christ, and said it was a devil. "We don't have to hear to him. Our priests disagrees with that." Where they at tonight? And look at that little old ill-famed woman, that little predestinated seed of God burning in her heart. And as soon as that flashed across, she said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet, and I know Messiah is coming to do this." See, as soon as the first thing flashed, that little predestinated seed in her heart... Her name was put on the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. And so was yours if it'd ever be there. See? That's right.
E-73 Reminds me. As all of you know, I--I like to hunt. I used to hunt up in the mountains in the east. In closing now I just want to tell you this, a little incident happened. Oh, I--I love the sunsets. I love nature. I love to hear the call. They're killing off all the coyotes and things. How I love to hear them holler. I--I... There's something about it, I love it. And I love outdoors: the deep calling into the deep. It's God to me. Hear the whispering of the pines, and the--the call of the birds there's God in it to me.
E-74 I got up there late one year to hunt with him. There's only one fault I found to Burt. He was a good hunter, but he was the meanest man I ever met in my life. He had eyes like a lizard, them kinda like: slanted eyes, you know, like some women paint their eyes today over, kind of like a cat. And he had--had them kind of eyes, you know, kind of funny looking eyes. And he used to be so cruel. He used to shoot fawns just to make me feel bad. And he used to say to me, "Aw, you preachers are a chicken-hearted bunch," See?
E-75 But that day when I went up there, my wife was with me, and we went to the little cabin, lodge, there. And the women folks and getting ready... And Burt and I left that morning. We always carried a thermos bottle full of hot chocolate and a sandwich, and we'd hunt up till about noon and then we'd separate, going up over the Presidential Range, and Mount Wilson, Mount Adams, and so forth. And then we'd separate and come back and get in the camp that night. We hunted the whitetail deer, really fine deer.
E-76 And so we went on, it--it's kind of late in the season. Them whitetail deer, when they are shot at a few times. Oh, my. You talk about hiding. Houdini was a amateur. So they--how they can hide. And so then we went--we went to eleven o'clock. It was about six inches of snow on the ground: didn't even see a track. They were really hid good. So along about eleven, twelve o'clock there was kind of a drift of snow, and an open place something the size of this room here, and Burt just was in front of me.
E-77 And when he blowed that whistle, just across that clearing a big mother deer, a doe, stood up. That's the mother deer. She jumped up. She heard that call of the baby. I could seen him look up at me like that and grin. I thought, "Burt, you won't do that; surely you won't." And he'd duck his head down. He blowed again. I can just see her big ears, them big brown eyes. She walked right out in that open. Now, that's strange for a deer to do that, especially that time of day, and right out when hunting season's in, to walk out like that. But she walked right out into that opening, a little clearing, a little meadow. That's very unusual for her to do that.
E-78 And I stood there. I seen him quieting himself down, leveling down like that, and I thought, "Oh, my. I can't watch it." I thought, "That mother, she can't help it. She's not acting smart. She's not putting on a show. She's a mother. In her, her--her--her part in her, she's a mother. And that was a baby calling in trouble, and she's hunting for it."
E-79 I was listening to hear the gun go off any minute, but the gun never went off. I waited and I waited, and when I turned around to see, he was holding like this, and seen the gun going like this. He turned around, looked up to me, and out of them cruel-looking, lizard eyes the tears was dropping off his cheeks. He throwed the gun on the ground; he grabbed me around the trouser leg; he said, "Billy, lead me to that Jesus that you know." Right there on that snow bank I led that cruel hunter to Jesus. He's a deacon in a Baptist church up there now.
E-80 Friends, a greater than Solomon is here. Jesus said one time... It was written in the Bible, rather, "Can a mother forget her suckling babe?" Said, "She might do that, but I can't forget you. Your names are engraved on the palms of My hands." And they are by nail prints in His hands. We're looking... Surely men and women who believe in Him are looking to see something genuine. Wouldn't you like tonight to be as much Christian as that deer was a mother? See, she wasn't just an artificial mother; she was borned a mother. There was something in her that she feared nothing, because it called her out. If we could just be that much Christian as she was a mother... How many would like to have that experience?
E-81 Heavenly Father, a greater than Solomon is here. A greater love is here than the love that that little story there of that mother deer that day: how she was ready to face that hunter, face that rifle, when she knowed at any minute her heart would be blowed from her. But, O God, when a man or woman or even a beast is ready to display a love... I pray, Father, that every person in here will tonight receive that type of love even greater love than this. May they not be ashamed to accept Jesus as their Saviour. May they not be ashamed of what He's done for them. May he--they never be ashamed to confess Him as Lord and Saviour. May they never be ashamed to accept Him as their Healer, for it is written, "by His stripes we were healed."
E-82 Now, Christian friends, if our Lord Jesus will show His love to you, that He loves you, and will come among us tonight, and will prove that He's here, it's Him... Now, anyone knows... As we have said, how would you know it was Jesus? See, how would you know that... This certain tree looked like it was a sycamore tree. And if it was bearing peaches, what kind of a tree would it be? It'd be a peach tree. The life in it would bear peaches. And if you are a Christian, the Life of Jesus Christ is in you, because it is the Holy Spirit. You believe that? And then the Holy Spirit...
E-83 Now, there's prayer cards, I guess, was given out today? I guess they give out prayer cards? And... All right, Billy... Well, maybe he stepped out. Well, have they got any prayer cards from yesterday? Raise up your hands--some that was give out yesterday. You got... Well, we'll start with them. Let's see, where did we start? Where did we start from yesterday? Number 1, was it? Number 1 to about 10 or 15? All right, let's change it around and get somewhere else then. We want to get every one of them, but let's change somewhere else. Let's take from... Let's take the last fifteen of them, from 85 to 100.
E-84 While you're looking this way, now, watch real close now. I want you to pay close attention to what I'm saying. Your prayer card has nothing to do with it, only to line you up here. That don't mean you're going to be healed. You're only healed, not by a prayer card, but by faith. That's right. How many's ever been in the meetings and know that there's ten to one healed out there in the audience than what's healed here, up here on the platform? Sure it is. It's your faith. Your faith. This is just to get the prayer line started. That's all: get the prayer line...
E-85 Now, many people think that you have to wait till some great evangelist like, oh, Brother Osborn... And Brother Osborn is a great evangelist. Brother--Brother Oral Roberts, another great evangelist, and Brother Tommy Hicks, and so many of these great evangelists that's in the land today, you think you have to wait till they come by to be healed. That's not so: not so. Your pastor has the same authority that any of them does. Yes, sir.
E-86 Now, look. Let's think of that little woman we referred to last night. One time Jesus was crossing the ocean... Wish we had time, a few weeks here in Tucson, where... You see, the thing of it is, it's hard. You get into a place... It's all new to the people. They just see something once, say, "My, that's kind of strange, but I don't know." See, I'm not here long enough for you to get acquainted, to see it.
E-87 Now, the people from the Tabernacle, just remember... There's some people here that's come in. I see two of my friends here, Mr. and Mrs. Dauch setting here, Mrs. Brown from up in Ohio. That thing of that being up there, and that noise that went off like that, that sent back for the Seven Seals, was foretold every bit of it, weeks and weeks and weeks 'fore it come to pass. How many in here is a witness of that? was in the meetings and heard it told? Raise up your hands, was in the building. There you are.
E-88 See, now watch. In the wilderness when God led Israel through wilderness, He led the people through the wilderness by Christ. How many knows that? How many knows that the Angel of the covenant was that Pillar of Fire, was Jesus Christ? Certainly it was. He said... He told them there in St. John 6. They said He didn't look over fifty years old, and said, "Before Abraham..."
E-89 And then He said, now, "I come from God, and I go to God."
E-90 A little woman one day... She believed that He was the Son of God. She had a blood issue, and she said within her heart, "If I could just touch His garments..." I think she got that from, 'course Elijah and taking the staff. And that's where I think Paul got laying handkerchiefs and so forth, was what somebody else had done. And she said, "If I can just touch His garment, I believe I'll be made whole." And she pressed through the crowd until she touched His garment.
E-91 Now, that same Jesus is the same High Priest today. The Bible said so. Is that right, minister brothers? See? That He is now a High Priest setting at the right hand of God, the Father, setting there ever living to make intercessions, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
E-92 Now, is there anybody here that never was in one of the meetings before? Raise up your hand. Oh. We're glad to have you here tonight. God bless you. It's just a little meeting, a time of fellowship, and just run in here nervously for two or three nights, and take off. Maybe sometime, God willing, the ministers willing, we could come back here sometime and have a good meeting, where we can stay two or three weeks, and the sick...
E-93 Notice, we find... What if that growth, it starts growing? What is it? It's a multiplication of cells, one cell piling on top of another. That's what you are too: a multiplication of cells. Well, you know where you come from: holy wedlock between father and mother, one little teeny cell. If I was going to tear your body down tonight, take it cell by cell, it'd come down to that one little life. Inside of that life... 'Course there's a chemistry of the blood, and inside the blood is the life, and that life is you. Now, it begin to multiply cells, and so everything of its kind, the bird after bird, dog after dog, human after human, and it makes...
E-94 Now, sometimes the doctor can cut around and get it all out. That's wonderful. But what if it's got such a hold he can't? Now, we're not dealing with the lump itself. We're dealing with the life that's in that lump. Now, when you say, "Satan, come out." And I can prove it to you. Let the person lay their hands on my hand, and prove, show you, the effects it takes. You've seen it done, many of you. Is that right?
E-95 Well, then, after it lays there so long--like a little animal, dog, being run over on the street, laying in the sun, it begins to swell. Then it gets bigger than it was in the first place. The patient then will begin to get sick after about seventy-two hours, when corruption sets in. They'll begin to say, "Oh, I'm worse than I was. I've lost my healing." And when the unclean spirit's gone out of a man, he walks in dry places, returns back again. See? And if you don't really believe... No matter how much is took off of you, if you don't know how to accept it and believe it when it returns back, you still know it's gone. And if you accept it, then there's nothing but death.
E-96 One night a man with cataracts over his eyes run down and played the piano, and could see. Come up and took this same Bible and read from it. And about four nights later couldn't even see his hand before him. He come back, said, "I lost my healing. It was just a good thing to be there each time." | ||||||