Sermon Texts (Adding Now)
Sermon Texts Beginning With I
India Trip Report (57-0126B)
| India Trip Report (57-0126B) |
|
|
E-1 To be assembled with such a nice people, and I am... I feel very honored to be assembled here with this group of men and women this morning. And while we were eating breakfast as it seems to be that I always think of this... I hear each one give their testimony. And sometimes I heard a man right up here at the end of the table say... I said something to him last night or something. It's one of those men. I believe it's the men setting right there. And a lady over here said that I prayed for her. Now, that seems that I dreamed it. It's just way back. It's something that I may try to explain it the best I can in a few moments.
E-2 Much of my time... My--my mother's mother came from the reservation, and there's been something in me that loves the outdoors. As you know, I'm a hunter, and I've rode and done much riding. My father was a rider. And up there on--in Kremmling, Colorado, back on Troublesome River, we had... The Hereford Association grazes that--the Troublesome River Valley. And I've rode much in the years back in there. And we have a drift fence where all the--the Association rides their cattle in. If you can raise a--a ton of hay, you can graze a cow on the--on the Arapaho forest. And I noticed a ranger standing there as he counted each man and his brands that went by.
E-3 And looking across the table here and seeing some of the men that, perhaps maybe just a little older than I, and some of you men even that's younger than I, were preaching this marvelous full Gospel, as we call it, before I came in on the scene. And to hear the remarks and the respects that I realize you don't say to me as a man; you're giving them to God for His kindness of His gift that I am with you in ministering.
E-4 Then I look this morning and see these aged men and women as they have preached when I was just a little Baptist preacher or maybe before there, and accepting me as your brother. And what a feeling it is to get together where people don't think that you're a devil, or a spook, or something, that you're--you're a brother, and they--they understand it. And it just makes me feel so good. I have to be... I want to be, and it's in my heart to be loyal to my calling. And then when I see someone welcome you, then you know how it makes you feel. See? Oh, such a love that flows to a brother like that and sister. When you are--feel that something that you know that comes from God, that--that you're trying to give to the people, and with a heart they just embrace it. How it makes you feel to them. You see, it's just something. E-5 And I thought, "Will we meet again then?" Yes, brethren, we'll meet again. And it will not altogether be a breakfast. We're told it'll be a supper. And as... When at last, when it's all over, and our toils are finished, and we come up into His house, and we're going to eat supper with Him, drink the fruit of the vine and--and eat anew in His Kingdom... When I think of the time when it's all over... We're in the heat of the day now and toiling hard, and when it's all over and I look across the table and see you men, oh, what a feeling that's going to be when we look at each other. And I know that it's all over, and we'll, no doubt, reach across the table and kinda grip each other's hands. And a little tear of joy will run down our cheeks, then to think the King in His beauty shall walk out, wipe all tears from our eyes, say, "Don't cry anymore, children. It's all over. Enter into the joys of the Lord." That's a time that I look forward to. That's when I look at that time to hear Him say, "It was well done, My good and faithful servant. Now, enter into the joys of the Lord." What a time it will be to see the gray hairs fading out then to young men again, to know that we'll live and reign with Him forever.
E-6 Now, today in this privilege that we have of being together... Some, there's a brother here I believe is from Canada, and from different--Tennessee and this little group is around from every little ca--crevice. And to see us setting in one accord like this, it would just be a time for Pentecost again. See? For a fresh anointing which I feel that the Pentecostal blessing is in here.
E-7 And Brother Vayle said; we was having a ministerial breakfast this morning, and some of the brothers and sisters were going to gather in for--for the--a little time of fellowship. And, you know, it was such a wonderful thing, till I, as a soldier, I left my sword at home. So... I just... That's my Bible. And so I--I knew that we were be seated together in heavenly places anyhow, in Christ, and I thought maybe this morning for just a few moments talk... I guess we should be cleared out in the next few moments. But being that you--you brethren are ministers, and far more capable of speaking the Word than I am, because I am a spare tire... See, just... You know what you use a spare tire for. You see? So we don't have any puncture this morning, so we don't necessarily need the spare tire. E-8 And the text that I would think in my mind, if would be any, would be Mark 16. And what a marvelous text it is. It's the last commission to the church. When God first commissioned His church, Christ in Matthew 10, He gave them power over unclean spirits and to heal the sick and so forth. That was His first commission. His last commission was to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Now, men try to say that day is finished. But there's only on third of the world has ever heard of Christ so far. Through all the world and to every creature. "And these signs shall follow them that believe," said Jesus.
E-9 And I know it's not good, and I don't think that the Gospel deserves to be told jokes, so I wouldn't want you to class this as a joke. But just something that comes to my mind of a recent event. There was young boy who went off to school to get his education to be a minister. And which was all right, if it's the right kind of a school that'll teach him the right thing. And so many of our... so... Well I--I have... You know I have no education. I have a seventh grade education, so I can't speak before men of your caliber and use the right words, but I--I hope the Holy Spirit will let you know what I mean.
E-10 But this young fellow in his schooling... His mother taken sick while he was gone, and she got very ill with a pneumonia. And so she--she... They sent word to her son to stand by. He may be called home at anytime, for the doctor said that there was nothing he could do. He gave her penicillin, and--and put...?... her in a oxygen tent. She still was fading away. And the boy was ready to leave from a famous college and--and come home and to his mother. And all of a sudden he got a telegram that she was--had recovered and was all right.
E-11 She said, "Honey," she said, "just down the street and around the corner in the--kinda the lower part of the town, of course," said, "there's a little mission around there, a place called Full Gospel." And said, "There was a lady said that she felt real definitely led to come and see me. And she asked me if I believed in prayer, praying for the sick. And I told her that, of course, if the Bible said so, I believed it. And she said, 'Our pastor prays for the sick.'" So said, "They sent the pastor up, and he read to me out of the Bible in the book of Mark the 16th chapter and said these signs shall follow them that believe." Said, "He prayed for me and laid hands on me." And said, "Honey, the fever left me, and I got well."
E-12 "Oh," he said, "Mother," said, "Why, you shouldn't do that." Said, "You must understand that those people are more the illiterate type. You see?" He said, "You shouldn't do that."
E-13 "Oh," he said, "you see," said, "those ministers of that caliber," said, "they're not educated." And he said, "Us better scholars understand that Mark 16 from the 9th verse on is not inspired." Said, "It was just added by the Vatican and so forth." Said, "It's really not inspired." Said, "There's no history that says that it was added or put in there." And said, "It was just added. From the 9th verse on is not inspired." E-14 Did any of you ever know Morse Reedhead? Met most... I guess some of you are. He's a--was the Vice President of the Sudan missions of the Baptist. You might... You know Reedhead, didn't you? And Don Wells, after he had received the Holy Ghost, and you know Don Wells, there from Chattanooga. Surely, he's got the biggest Baptist church there is down there. He'd received the baptism of the Holy Ghost under Reedhead. And Dr. Reedhead came to my house, and he said... Now, he said, "Brother Branham," he said, "I want to ask you something." And some Jewish brother and they were with some men from Ohio. This Jewish brother had a business here in Ohio. I forget what his name is, which was a personal friend to Hyman Appleman. And so they came to my house and he said...
E-15 Now, 'course being a Baptist, now that's no throw up. You see? Now, remember the reason that I just kind of stuck with the Baptist church was the sovereignty of the local church what I think is apostolic. You see? Not as the Baptist, we have in there... I--I don't even attend the fellowships, but in the Baptist church is not a denomination. It's not supposed to be. It is now, but it was not supposed to be a denomination. It's a brotherhood. And the... and it's the sovereignty of the local church. And--and if God is ever going to get a message to His man, His elder, which is the... According to the Bible, they--the highest office in the local church is the elder. And now, with--coming through the elder has to go to the state presbyter, and the so forth, and on back to bishop, and then it's wrote, "We believe this period. That's all."
E-16 And then in the--in this... Dr. Reedhead came in. He said, "Now, Brother Branham, being a--a Baptist former, surely you knowed something about our message."
E-17 See, I wouldn't want to take something, because people that put that confidence in you to support your ignorance by the crutches of saying something like that, I wouldn't want to do that. I said, "No. I wouldn't want to say the teachers was wrong and so forth. But Christ doesn't lay in B.A.'s or D.D.'s or LD. See? Christ lays and dwells in a humble heart." See?
E-18 Well, he said the Mohammedan looked kindly down, and he looked up he said, "Kind, sir, what could your Jesus do for me anymore then what my prophet can do?" I... Christian brethren and sisters, listen to this. Said, "What could your Jesus do for me anymore than my prophet can do?" Said, "One wrote a book that you call the Bible. You read it and believe it. The other one wrote the book called the Koran. We read it and believe it." He said, "Now, both promise life after death and we both believe it." He said, "Now, what could your prophet, or your Christ do for us anymore than our prophet?"
E-19 And so, he said, "Now, what could your Jesus do for me anymore than he?"
E-20 He said, "Then I said to him, 'Well. You see... '"
E-21 Oh, I've seen them when they would, at the feast of the prophets, when they'd even take a lance and run through their nose up like that, and pull it back, not even a drop of blood. Shout and scream and go on and everything, oh, sure, certainly. And see, much of psychology... That's right. Even in Africa, where they have the devil worship, where they drinking blood out of a human skull, and call the power of the devil... And why, it was a hideous thing to be around, even. See? How the witch doctors challenge you right out there. You better know what you're talking about. You bet... You can play it here and just act like it. But when you come face to face with the thing, you better know what you're speaking of. See?
E-22 And... so then, Mr. Reedhead said, "Well," he said, "Now..."
E-23 And he said, "Brother Branham," he said, "I kicked the dust like that with my feet and changed the subject, knowed I wasn't speaking to a fellow that was just a overnight man. He knowed what he was talking about."
E-24 My, what it is, brethren, is men challenge the faith who knows where they're standing positionally to call that thing to a showdown. That Bible's either every Word inspired or it's none of it inspired. If this isn't, and that isn't, what part can you believe? Believe it all or don't believe any. You're either my brethren this morning or you're not. I'm your brother or I am not. There's no half way between with God. We are either here for a purpose to further the cause of Christ or we're not. See? And that's the way the Scripture should be taught and practiced and believed.
E-25 He said, "Now, you've had two thousand years to prove that Jesus raised from the dead, and one third of the world has heard it in two thousand years." He said, "Let Mohammed raise from the dead, and the whole world will know it in twenty four hours." He's right.
E-26 Now, we know that it's nice to have churches. That's wonderful. We know it's nice to have denominations. They're wonderful. It's nice to have--to have seminaries. It's wonderful. But Christ never told us to build any seminary or anything like that. He said, "Preach the Gospel." E-27 The hen, the actual way for a hen to have her chickens, is for the hen to lay the egg and then cover it with her body. And that makes the warmth of the hen's body hatches the egg. But you can put it under a--in a incubator. It's the same warmth and atmosphere. See? It'll produce that chicken just the same. And I don't care whether it's under the Methodist, or the Baptist, or the Presbyterian, the atmosphere of the Word... If the Word, which is the egg, and if the right atmosphere... If it's in a Presbyterian or wherever it's at, it'll produce the same results. It'll produce the borned again child. You know that is right, brethren. Whether it's under the Pentecostal, the Full Gospel, or wherever it is, it's the--it's the attitude that we take towards God's Divine Word.
E-28 Now, many of you has heard of John Sproule. He was a good friend of mine. He said at Alsace Lorraine, one time when he was being taken out by the guide through a garden, and he saw a great statue of Christ. And said he stood off and criticized it. He said, "What was the sculptor meaning?" Said, "Looky there." Said, "Why, there's no sufferings. There's nothing. It just looks like plain, just a..."
E-29 And that's the same way it is by the Word of God, brethren. It's the way you're looking at It. If you stand off and look at it from an observation of, and a point of criticism to say, "This guy hasn't got it, and that guy hasn't got it," it won't work. It's to get down and look up to. That brings the results. Then you have a different attitude, and a different attitude towards your brethren, and a different attitude towards the man who's striving for the same thing that you're trying to strive for. See? It--it breaks down all barriers then.
E-30 And someone was speaking this morning about the African campaign in the book, I believe Brother Boze and many the others, about a article I believe that someone read or something. It started the wheel a rolling or something. Well, however... I thought, maybe, I'd just give you a little testimony of something that happened, and if you read that article, and knowing what happened, I thought I would drop over to something of a testimony that happened in India. Maybe you're interested in our Lord's work, because we're just laborers out here in the harvest that's gathered in this morning for under the tree for a little rest and a time of fellowship together.
E-31 And--and some of the brethren said, "Oh, just... We can't get Africa together, so... Brother Roberts has just been down there, so take off to India." And under the influence of my brethren, well maybe taught... But no matter what someone influences you, if God has told you something different... And now, judge it by the Word (See?), by the Word, and then go.
E-32 We're living in a horrible time, brethren, when this Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses. See? Now, it's predicted. We can't stop that, brethren. And our--our American people, being so much on the television frolic, and--and the fantastics, and our Hollywood evangelistic types, and a lot of show... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... fashion, back woods, sassafras preaching, you know. I don't like this color and stuff that they... To--to appease the American... Even in other countries, as you missionaries know, they say to me over there, "Isn't there any nice women in America? All your songs are so vulgar about your women." And all of our things, it's... I'm not calling any names; this is brethren, such as the Arthur Godfrey, and the Elvis Presley, and all that there nonsense that's produced and put out. To the American people minds is contaminated with such stuff, and then it even gets into ministry and they try to flower the pulpit. Did you realize that's exactly what Cain done? You know where that come from? Cain. He had an altar same as Able did. He worshipped just the same as Able did, but he beautified it.
E-33 But I got better hopes of you brethren here this morning, that you'll be men of God who stay with the Word of God. And let everything else fall right to left, but stay right with that Word. Don't move. No matter if you're a door mat out there, be a good door mat. Don't try to compete with someone else or do this. Just get right in the Word, and stay right there, and God will positionally place you into His Kingdom, where you can be the best.
E-34 But I'm afraid that many times in our moves our--our... Many of our brethren, just as humanistic as they was when they was a mixed multitude went up with--with Israel's. Why, so when the Israelis went out of Egypt, there was a mixed multitude, and they went... The phenomena had been done, and that's... It's a human element. And if we can just get away from that human element.
E-35 But brethren, in regards to that, as many times as I have questioned it to go into places to hold meetings, where I think that men, usually of a Bible education of a scholar, that certainly would stand on the Word of God, and see fantastics come in and all kinds of things that would... Just as the Bible said, and people with scars in their foreheads, and--and blood in their faces, and--and all kinds of oils running from their hands, and all kinds of fantastics. And they'd come in like that, and you know, people would flock to that? And I thought, "Oh, God, and the unadulterated Gospel being preached and just a few would listen."
E-36 When we landed in India, under difficults, the bishop of the Methodist church come to meet me and many others. And they told me that my set up was wrong, coming in, that the wrong group had sponsored me and so forth, and wanted me to turn my sponsorship from them over to this other group. And I said, "Brethren, as a man of honor, I must keep my word." That's right. I've been falsely advertised many times in different places, but, brethren, the reason that's happened is 'cause of I don't have any paper of my own. I don't have a television program. I don't have this or that. I--I try to keep myself where that I can come to a little church, or big church, or wherever the Lord will lead me.
E-37 Now, God knowed I didn't have the intelligence that Brother Roberts got to know how to put a program together, but look what that man has to have if he stays on television. Look what that man has to have if he stays on radio. Look at the obligation that man's got. And because that he has to have a lot of money, don't condemn the man for that. The bootleggers take it out yonder, and what they do with it, and other things take place, help the man. He's God's servant, and he's trying his best to spread the Gospel in a way that I couldn't do it. Each one has a ministry. See? Each one has his ministry.
E-38 So then, in here, when we hit the place, they said, "Drop your sponsorship."
E-39 I shall never forget it when I went out in the street, and got the dollars changed to rupees, and started into the street, why they almost had to get the police to get me. It was a... Oh, my. You'll never know what those things look like till you get there once and see the poor and the... But here's what does it. Here's the idea. E-40 I seen something one day that astounded me. A little boy with a toe about that big, about that big around, dragging his little club foot, a man with no arms from leprosy. And so, I was throwing rupees out to see what they would do with it. I thought, "Billy," said to my son, "how would that poor man ever pick it up, and them screaming mothers with their little babies, and their little bellies swelled out like this was starving to death. She'd do anything. She don't mind dying, but, oh, feed that baby. There's four-hundred-and-seventy-million of them. And almost four-hundred-million beggars. And here we are today, dressed in... God's servant sitting here and fussing and arguing about little difference in our denominations and millions dying everyday out there that's never heard the Gospel one time.
E-41 When I throwed my films on the other night and seen those poor little African boys there, that had never had a decent meal in their life, and their little arms mangy and naked, and all kind of conditions, holding their hands up and wanting me to tell them of Jesus once more before leaving... And then to think that we would argue about whether we should be this way or that way, or whether we should be Presbyterian or Baptist. Oh, shame on us, men of God. How we different and split and ideas and such as that going on and Jesus died. That little boy has got just as much right to eat good food and wear good clothes as my children has or your children has. He's a product of God, that God created, and he's God's creation.
E-42 And look here. I'd like to say something to you with reverence and respect. What may... India's going to turn communism pretty soon if you don't watch. Why is it? Because that we have put the penny march for the missionary to go over, and give our money to the bureaucrats and so forth like that, in the guise and things in this nation. And we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
E-43 That afternoon the mayor of Bombay... They'd estimated tens of thousands times thousands had gathered in. I felt like a hypocrite, if I'd have come home without preaching to them at least a few times. So they told me I... There'd been a lady over there before me that had done something, and got some people--two men killed in a riot. And so they wouldn't let me have the meetings outside the city. It was against the city ordinance, unless I go and went plumb up to Delhi, New Delhi. And there's where I'm going this year, the Lord willing, where they got a amphitheater there, they can put a million people in it. And so they estimated nearly half a million would've been at this meeting here in Bombay. Oh, they were from everywhere, strowed on the roads like it was in Africa and so forth. E-44 And then in the meetings as they come, that afternoon they asked me if I would come to a rep... to represent the Christian religion before a gathering in the Temple of the Jain. I... Some of you missionaries, I may not pronounce that right. I forget how it's spelled, J-e-i-n, double "n" or something like that. Jans or Jens, it's a religion. And that afternoon, many different religions had gathered there, 'cause they knew I was coming. And there they taken their shoes off and walked into this heathen temple. And as I walked in there, and they set on their pillows; and there set their pope or their big man with his feet pulled up, and the monks there with their whiskers pulled out and pulling the hairs from their head. Little mops they were making, because they mop the street. Afraid they'd step on a ant, or a little bug, and it might be their papa or mama or their uncle or aunt, and... Reincarnation, they believe in. And I looked all over that place, and I seen their different peculiar dresses that represented their different religions. And I thought, "Oh, Jesus. What would you do if You walked in here?" See? E-45 Them--them are men. They--they eat like we do. They have wives like we have. They had blood like we have. They might could save our life with a blood transfusion, as Christ saved all our lives by His Blood transfusion. They have children. They're products of God. Their just... They just got all mixed up because of false teaching, because we failed with the Gospel. See? Now, we go over and pass out tracts. Tracts is wonderful. I have nothing against it, and I'm for it. But that ain't what Christ said. If we go over and teach theology, that's wonderful, nothing against it. That's what we should do. But we got to have more than that for the heathen, going to take more than that. We sent missionaries in there for years. That's right. And what have we gotten? Nothing to count for.
E-46 Speaking at a Kiwanis here recently, when Dr. Davis, the one that ordained me and laid hands on me at the Missionary Baptist Church, as a little preacher... And the night that I saw the vision of the Lord when He told me about the Message, and I went and told Dr. Davis, he said, "Preach the Gospel around the world with a grammar school education. I suppose you believe that, Billy."
E-47 But not long ago, setting at a Kiwanis meeting where I was speaking, there where doctors and so forth was setting, Dr. Davis was present. And how he told me, said, "You'll go to be a holy-roller the first thing you know, Billy."
E-48 And one of the tribes, if she's found guilty, she has to tell who done it, and they're both killed together. They have a stricter than what we do, and them heathens. And to see them walking with their little...
E-49 Now, watch. And in India that day, when they went into the temple, and they got up to... They begin to speak, the different ones, and they begin to belittle Christianity. How they said... Now, they had a lot of good points. Certainly they do. They had a good point. One of them said, "How do you, who call yourself religious, Christian, that believe in a God; and all your science is used to create atomic bombs to blow one another up. And then call yourself religious."
E-50 So I had to stand up. I'd have been a traitor to Christ if I hadn't. I don't care what kind of a temple I was in. I raised up and I said, "You're in error. And how could you ever--could I ever teach to you a blood sacrifice, when you won't even kill a gnat?" I said, "How could you ever accept a blood sacrifice?" I said, "I ask you to be at the service this evening."
E-51 Oh, what a sight. Some with no arms, and eyes eat out and their ears gone, and such a--such a mass of humanity, and suffocating, and nighttime coming down, packing them on top of their head and dumping them in a salamander, with no John 3:16, "That I am the Resurrection and Life," saith God. Mortal beings that Christ died for, thousands of them dying. They pick them up on the streets like cord wood and cremate their bodies, no ceremony or nothing, know who they belong to. They just dump them in. That settles it. E-52 There's the failure. I'm not saying this arrogant. I'm saying this in brotherly love to absolutely make a point straight and to show a truth. That's what I'm trying to get to you, is a Truth. There's not a denomination in the world that I wouldn't take off my hat, let it be Jehovah Witness or Roman Catholic, that I wouldn't take off my hat. Anybody that names the Name of Jesus Christ in respects, how I respect that brother and stay behind him as long as breath stays in my body. But I'm saying, we're segregating our people and making differences, when we shouldn't do that. We should be together. They were all in one accord in Acts 2.
E-53 And, brethren, just in closing may I say this, 'cause I'm overtime now. I'm sorry to keep you this long. I'm... I didn't mean to do it. But to a point... That night at the church, the brethren, when we were all standing there on the platform, you couldn't hear yourself think. You know how it would be. There was hundreds of different tribesmen and everything else in there. And they were scattered all down the roads, expecting me to stay for two weeks, when I could only stay three days, 'cause the--the mobs was so great they couldn't place them in the city, and they asked me to that I'd have to go somewhere else, because they couldn't take of it. You see? Just, it was terrible. And I told them, "I will return by the grace of God." And I will.
E-54 I waited and man come through which was a leper, the first one... You couldn't give out no prayer cards. My, the boys tried to give prayer cards, and their clothes was tore off of them. See? So I said just like it was in Africa, just let the missionaries pick out... Go down and get some from this tribe, and some from that tribe, and some from this tribe, two or three out of each one and stand them up.
E-55 And then--them man, I'd see their name. I couldn't pronounce it. I could just spell it out as I seen it. It'd tell them what they were and so forth. I would pray for the person and pass them through. And you remember, it's nothing that I can do. I'm just a man. See? It's something. That isn't me that does the talking. I have nothing to do into it. It's your faith that's doing it. So see? E-56 Would you bear me just another minute...?... Here... So you--you have a right to know this, brethren, sisters. You have a right to know this. You're here; you're shepherds. I don't blame you from holding back. You're shepherds. I don't blame ministers, Baptist ministers, and Presbyterian ministers, and so forth anything from seeing something, holding back, because they are shepherds. They're feeding a flock, and they've got to watch what their flock eats. But what a shepherd ought to do... The Pharisees were shepherds too, but they should've look to the Scripture as Nathanael did and as the woman at the well of Samaria, and look at the Scriptures and seen what day they were living, and said, "This is the food." See? But now, look. E-57 The Bible said, before I finish my story on India, 'cause I want you to get that. The Bible said that the Christ... God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God and Christ were One. They were One. And not as they were one as your finger, as we've had frictions on that too, when it ought not to have never been. And today, we hold grudges. I don't think the preachers do. It's the congregation. Did you notice the order of II Timothy 4? They shall heap for themselves together teachers, having itching ears, and be turned from the Truth, the Word, to fables, fantastics, and so forth. See? I don't think it's the ministers. I've gathered with hundreds of them. I see them reach across the tables with different denominations, shake one another's hands, and be brothers. See? It's the--it's the sheep that's bleating wrong. See?
E-58 Now, God gave Christ the Spirit without measure. Is that right? The Fullness of God was in Christ. He was God Emmanuel. We know that. There's no--there's no doubt in our minds of that. Just like as I said yesterday, "The whole ocean full of water, all the waters from the ocean was in Christ. But this little gift that you see working here, is just a teeny, little teeny bit of--like that--on the spoon laying there, just a drop." I can see it. But in Christ was the Fullness of God. We have it by measure. He had it without measure, the Bible says. See? Without measure, no way, He's just limited--unlimited. He had the Spirit of God.
E-59 Now, God wanted to use His gift, so He showed His Son to leave the home of Lazarus and Martha, and then--and to go away for several days, 'cause Lazarus was going to die. And after the appropriated days that the Father... 'Cause Jesus said, "I do nothing in Myself, but what I see the Father doing," John 5:19 as I refer to it many times. Jesus only did what the Father showed Him. Is that right? The Bible said it was. Jesus said so, and that settles it. Now, then when God picked up His gift and took it over here and stayed away, until the amount of time was finished, and He looked over to His disciples, and said, "Our friend, Lazarus, sleepeth." He knowed the time was fulfilled.
E-60 Now, He said, "I'm glad I wasn't there, but I go wake him." You get it? Look at the grave; He said, "Father, I thank Thee as Thou has already heard Me (See?), but for these that stand by I said it, Lazarus, come forth." And the man the had been dead four days stood on his feet and lived again. We believe that to be authentically the Word of God, the Truth.
E-61 He said, "Who touched Me? Who touched Me?" Everybody denied it, but being the fullness of God in there, He looked around with that discernment. He could perceive their thoughts. Is that right? I want to ask you brethren something now while we're together. What is the difference of perceiving a thought or reading a mind? You see, the mind readers, the psychic readers, are... All those things would've been real gifts of God, but they're perverted. The devil can't create nothing. He just perverts what God has created. It's... What is righteousness? What is sin? It's righteousness perverted.
E-62 Unrighteousness is righteousness perverted. The devil cannot create. That's the reason the devil can't heal. Only God can create, and He's the only One that can heal. See? The devil can pervert, but cannot create.
E-63 Now, the question's going to arise, "Why does Brother Branham get weak when you leave the meeting?" I... Sure you can understand now. Here, as I said to the brother the other day, we're all little boys, and we're at a circus. None of us has got money to go in. But it happens to be, that maybe that I would be a little taller than you. You're a little stronger than I.
E-64 Now, we notice. Now, there's a... Maybe He made me just a little bit taller. Now, I can't help because I was taller. You can't help because you're stronger. You can do things for Him that I can't do. I can do things for Him that you can't do. Oral Roberts, myself, you, all the rest of us, we are all different one from another, but we're all brothers. See? We're all brothers for the same purpose.
E-65 Yeah, that's on the platform. See? That's you like this woman, your faith pulling from God, that's forcing a vision. See it? It's you doing it. That's what we do. That's what the woman done. It weakened. See? It weakened Him, because it was the woman doing something herself that took the virtue.
E-66 What if this person here... It's a strain. That's woman's coming. Here she comes. There's something meets you. It bursts. It's a woman doing it, the man doing it, before me; It's not me. It's her doing it. I'm just standing there yielding myself. This things a dumb mute unless some live voice is speaking in it. That's the way we are. There's an organ and a piano, but it--it--it's silent till somebody plays it. And that's us; that's me. I--I can't do that. See? It's you using God's gift. See? That's in the meetings. It shouldn't be... I shouldn't be doing it. It's just God. If you notice, I say, "It's God permitting." See?
E-67 Maybe five hundred wouldn't go through. That's right. But when one comes through, He's combed down. You've been in the meetings and seen them how sin, and say, "That man setting right there, you lived with him, you did this over here and so forth. You've seen it in the meetings and know it. See? It's right. See? You can't take them just as fast as you; you have to watch. It's the people's own faith. Now, here's someone from here. Here's someone out here. Here's someone over here. See what I mean?
E-68 But in Africa they don't say that. In India they don't say that. When they see that, "Oh, hallelujah," they say. They say, "That is real." See? And away they go. Twenty five thousand was healed at one prayer in Africa. Seven van loads of crutches and wheelchairs was moved out on one prayer. They believed it. They wasn't indocumated with all of our theology and our embalming fluid that we put into them. You see? They were--they would believe. When they seen that crippled man raised up and all... Most of them knowed him there in the Shangai tribe, or the Zulu, rather, and when they seen that, that settled it, brother. They just left their crutches, and things, and walked right out praising God. That was it.
E-69 That's the reason that our hearts go for that country. That's when I'm among brethren. I say, brethren, if you were not called for a missionary, get somebody in your church that... Do everything you can and support somebody that is over there. Do something about it. See? You can't be wrong in being a missionary. The general orders said go into all the world.
E-70 Now, Christ had the Spirit without measure. Now, that was Christ, the whole ocean. This little gift that's in your servant here, brother, is just a little drop out of the ocean. It's in measure. But remember, the same chemicals that's in the entire ocean is in that spoon, that little drop. But it's not as much of it. See? And so our ministries are the chemicals that's made up in the--the great economy of God. And God can use those chemicals the way He wants to. It's just not as much of it. But all together, it's more of it than was in the one. See, the Fullness of God is in His Church. But we have the Spirit with measure--with, by measure. E-71 Standing that night on the platform after three or four went by, here come a blind man and he stood. Then I'm closing. There was a blind man came by. And he was blind. It called his name, told him who he was. And then, under that anointing, you can feel the spirit; I can feel it in the meeting there where... You can tell where that darkness, coldness, indifference is setting (You see?), like that. But I used to, I'd call them out. I'd say, "What are you disbelieving for? You--you so-and-so, you Presbyterian preacher." And the first thing you know, if you root up the weed, you pull the wheat with it. So it's best just to leave it alone. See? Just go ahead, do your work. "What's that to thee. Follow me." See? Just do what you're supposed to do and then go ahead. E-72 So then, I didn't mean altogether Presbyterian. Many times, Pentecostal preachers (That's right.), unbelievers, just as much as there is anywhere else, brethren. That's right. So then, when they a... Now they'll come to you. That's what hurts. They'll come to you, "Brother Branham, we love you." And you know that's wrong. See them right there and watch that spirit, feel it. Just set and talk to the man a few minutes and watch that vision work above there. I--I'd rather not see it. I'd rather not know it. I want to believe his testimony's right. And when... See, it creates something in you. What would I call that? Well, it's something that... It creates a distrust that you don't want to have. You want to love them anyhow. You see? And then that's the reason sometime, I'm a little misunderstood and think that I'm an isolationist. I'm not. I love my brothers. See? But, I--I want to have that, keep that love in my heart. I never want it to be broke. See? Every man loves me, and I love every man. That--that's the way it is. You see? I want to do that. E-73 Then, and when this man came, It told him who he was. Said he was a beggar, and he was a worshiper of the sun. You've heard of it. And told him that he had been blind twenty years. Just... White as my shirt, his face. That was right. He said that was right. And as I looked to the audience, there sat the rajah, ever what it was, and them people there. They thought it was the working of a telepathy or something. You could tell it. And I said, "Is there a doctor present that would like to examine the man?" Which there wasn't no doctor. You could see he was totally blind. You see? And I said to him, "Sir, there's nothing I could do for you." See, I done told him who he was, and that was right. Told him he had two children, and that was right. Told him how long he had been blind; that was right. And told him that he was seeking relief for his eyes, a healing. And that in his heart, he said that he would serve any God that would make him well. See? He would serve any God that would make him well. Now, here's what I say for your, that you know your God now, brother. See? Any God that...
E-74 And there they set with at least fifteen different religions setting around: worship of flies, worship of cattle, worship of this, worship that. You know how India is. It's just full of superstitions. And there they set in that condition, all around. And I thought, "Oh, God..." And I said, "Now, here is the man. He's blind. I... There's nothing I could do to help him." I said, "God knows that." And as I looked, he appeared with his eyes looking around, you know, in the vision, rubbing his eyes, smiling.
E-75 I thought, "Oh, God, how I thank You. You're still Jehovah. You're still the Almighty." Then I--then I knowed my position. I knowed where I was standing then. I don't care how many devils that he sent; They--there's no failure then. God has done said so. You feel like Elijah on Mount Carmel, standing right there when he hollered to the prophets of Baal, "Maybe he's gone on a trip. Maybe he's pursuing." Elijah said, "I've done this, Lord, at Your command." He knowed exactly what was going to happen. That's the reason he could say it.
E-76 There when I seen that I thought, "Oh, God. As it was in Africa, now You're going to do it in India." And I turned to the audience. I said, "Gentlemen of the religions of India." I could not address them as brethren, because they wasn't my brethren. "Gentlemen of the religions of India, you were telling me today in you temple down there..."
E-77 I said, "Today I was astonished in your temple, when you told me how great your gods was and how fictitious mine was. How that the man never died, He got on a horse and rode up to heaven." I said, "But he died, and yet He rose again." I said, "Here stands a man of the worship of the sun, who testifies of being blind for twenty years." And I said, "He is now here seeking his sight." I said, "Surely, the God Who made him, the Creator who made him," I said, "could give him back his sight." E-78 And I said, "If he come over here to change from a worshiper of the sun, which you say... He worships the creator--creation instead of the Creator. That's what he did, and through ignorance he did this. But what would you do if you made him a Jain? What would you do if you made him a Mohammedan?" I said, "Why, he would be no better off. He's still blind, and you would only change his--his---his philosophy, his way of praying, change his idea, change his denomination." I said, "We got the same thing in America. All the Baptists wants to covert every Methodist he can to the Baptist church. And every Methodist wants to covert the Baptists. And the--the Baptists to the Presbyterian, the Lutheran. The Pentecostal wants to take them all." And I said, "That's the way it goes. But I said, "What is it? It's purely psychology." It's right. But I said, "We have one God where you all have many." But I said, "That's the way it is in America. They're proselyting, and pulling, and fussing, and everything trying to get all to come this, all to come to this, a build a million more in forty-four and all these slogans and things like that." I said, "What is it? It's pure human psychology in building up of organizations."
E-79 And I said, "I challenge." Excuse my emotions. "I challenge the Buddha priest to come forth and give him sight. If you'll do it, he will be a Buddha from this on, and I will too." I said, "I challenge the Mohammedan priest to come forth and give him his sight. He will be a Mohammedan from now on, and I will, too."
E-80 I said, "I challenge any religion here to come and give him his sight, and he will join your religion and so would I." I said, "Surely, the Creator Who made him, if He'd seen that he's worshipped the creation instead of the Creator, surely He would bring him back to his right conditions, to bring him right, if He did receive the ignorance of his worship." And I said...
E-81 Oh, we know then. I would've never said that, brother, God knows that, if that vision hadn't have been there. No, sir. But God had said so, and that settled it. That was the same thing that took place in Africa. Certainly, I knowed it wasn't me no longer. I was just His mouthpiece. There it was.
E-82 There, when he stood there, I said, "It's awful quiet." I said, "Why? Because you can't do it and neither can I... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... God of heaven, Jehovah God has raised up His son, Christ Jesus, Who has stood here by me this night and showed me a vision that this man is going to receive his sight, and it's, THUS SAITH THE LORD. If God doesn't give that man his sight, I'm a false prophet." And I said, "Then my religion I'm representing, I'm falsely representing Christianity. But if the God has said this; then if He does it, how many here will forsake your superstitions and serve the living God Who can restore the sight to the blind?" And as far as you can see, those hands raised in the air. See?
E-83 And there standing in that place, turning then with a heart that's assured as much faith as I believe I could walk through that microphone. Yes, sir. Because, not 'cause it was me. No, brethren. That had nothing to do with it. It was Jehovah God ready to move on the scene. That's right. And He'd just showed me by a vision, through a gift. And He wanted to use it at that time. Surely before a bunch of heathens that He would use His gift. There, standing there, walked up to the man and put my hands upon his face, like that.
E-84 When I held my hand there, and when the prayer, of course wasn't interpreted, when I dropped my hands, the man looked. He let out a scream. He grabbed me around the waist. He grabbed the mayor of the city and begin hugging him and kissing him. He was just--could see as good as any man setting in here. I'm telling you: a frantic, a scream went from those people, and the whole thing went into a turmoil. Two or three hours later, they got me through the crowd with a army there trying to push them back. I had no pockets in my coats. My shoes was gone. They'd pulled every clothes off of me, nearly stripping me, screaming and crying. And the next day with sorrow. I had to leave India with a promise that I'd be back again.
E-85 Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as men and women are setting here together, who are--we are associated in this same blessing. And as I'm so happy to stand as the--today to tell them what their great Saviour is doing in other lands to men who doesn't--hasn't had the privilege of the great visitation of the Holy Spirit... I pray that You'll bless these men and these women.
E-86 And may, whatever position You have placed them in, and ordained them into Eternal Life, and given them their positions, may they serve reverently. For some glorious day, Jesus shall come, and all the sorrows and troubles of this world will be taken away, and we shall see Him. We'll have a body like His own glorious body. And when we sit together over yonder on the other side, oh, what a day it will be. Oh, may each minister in here, may his--may his pulpit, may his sermons, may his ministry be inspired greater. Grant it, Lord, if I have found grace in your sight.
E-87 Forgive us of our shortcomings. Forgive us of our narrow minded beliefs and little sectarian ideas, and let us be baptized into one big brotherhood, into one big fellowship, that the Kingdom of God might be furthered by our coming together this day. We ask it in Christ's Name. Amen. |
||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|