^E-1 Thank you, Brother Edward. The Lord bless you. Good evening, friends. It certainly is a privilege again tonight to be here in Fellowship Tabernacle. When I passed by this afternoon, and looked at where it was at, and I seen the word "Fellowship," that suited me just right. I like that, Brother Edward, "Fellowship." That's what we believe in.
An old friend of mine, which has just gone home to be with the Lord... Many of you might've knowed him: Dr. F. F. Bosworth. Many of you... He was here in Phoenix, I believe, with me one time, a very gallant soul. And he was--had a--he was a sainted old man, but had a sense of humor. And he said to me once; he said... I kept talking about fellowship.
And he said, "Brother Branham, you know what fellowship is?"
And I said, "Well, I think so, Brother Bosworth."
He said, "It's two fellows in one ship."
And so that's... And that's about right, sharing room with each other.

^E-2 And I seen many of you put up your hands of knowing Brother Bosworth. Being that you knew him, I'd just like to speak a word of his last moments here on earth. I'd knowed him for some time. And he was out here preaching the Gospel and praying for the sick before I was borned. So you can see what age he was. The Lord let him live, I think, about eighty-five years, something like that, and still a gallant old man when he died.

^E-3 When he was seventy-five, I believe it was, he and I were at the, I believe the Edgemont Hotel in Miami. And we'd had our--our supper, and walked out to the seashore where the waves were coming in to watch the moon come up. And here I was about forty years old, my shoulders drooped down, walking out like that, and him, about seventy-five, just as straight as he could be. And I looked at him, and I admired him. And I said, "Brother Bosworth, I want to ask you a question."
He said, "Go right ahead, Brother Branham."
And I said, "When were you your best?"
He said, "Right now."
Well, then I felt ashamed of myself.
And he said, "You forget that I'm just a kid, living in an old house," he said.

^E-4 And that was Brother Bosworth. When I heard that he was going to meet the Lord, I just almost burnt the tires from my car going down to Miami to see him. And when wife and I got there... And the Bosworth family and our family had been great friends. And we went in. The old patriarch laying on a little couch, and he'd raised up his little bald head, little thin arms held out to me like that, the tears running down my cheeks, I grabbed him in my arms, and I cried, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." Because if there ever was an old man that ever put dignity in the Pentecostal move, it was Brother Bosworth. He certainly was. He was a great flower.

^E-5 And, you know, the first thing he wanted to do, is tell me a little joke--like that, you know.
And I said, "Brother Bosworth, are you going to get well?"
He said, "No, Brother Branham. I'm not sick to begin with." He said, "I'm just going home."
And I said, "Well, that's very fine."
We'd just come off the mission fields of Africa, he and I.
He said, "I'm just too old to live any longer." He said, "I'm going home."
And I said, "Brother Bosworth, what would you advise me to do?"
And he said, "Stay with the Gospel." And he said, "Get back to the mission fields as quick as you can." Said, "That'd be my advice."

^E-6 And I said, "Brother Bosworth, one more thing I would like to ask you."
He said, "What is that, Brother Branham?"
I said, "Now, you've put in about sixty years for the Lord in service, or maybe more." And I said, "When was your happiest time in life?"
He said, "Right now."
And I said, "Brother Bosworth, you know you're dying?"
He said, "I can't die. I died many years ago." And I... He said, "Brother Branham, all that I have loved and cared for for the past sixty years, I'm watching for Him to open that door at any time, and come, get me."
I think of that "The Psalm of Life."

^E-7 Before he died, or went on into glory, about one hour, or maybe more before he passed away. He'd been kinda asleep for a few hours; and his wife, his sons, loved ones standing around, and the old man woke up, looked around, raised up, and run across the floor, and shook hands with his mother who'd been gone for many years, with his father. And for over an hour, he shook hands with people, saying, "This is Brother John. Yes, you came to Christ in my meeting in Joliet, Illinois. Here's Brother..." shaking hands with his converts that had passed on for many years.

^E-8 I--I tell you, sometimes I believe that in the hour we pass from this earth into the other, I believe sometime when... The river's going to be hard to cross anyhow, you know. I believe maybe the Lord says to our loved ones, "Go down to the river and meet them down there." For as Jacob said, we'll be gathered with our people someday. I too am looking for that day to come. And then, when I get through with this life here, or God gets through with me here, and I see that I have taken every fort that I could, went through every briar patch, and climbed every hill, I want to look back, see where I've been. When I come down to the river, I've always said, like... The colored folks here, they have a little song they sing, "I don't want no trouble at the river." I want to get it all straightened up now.
Just maybe put the sword back in the sheath, and take off the helmet, and lay it down on the beach, and raise up my hands, and holler, "Bring out the lifeboat, Father. I'm coming home this morning." He will be there. Don't worry. I believe that. I think that's the desire of every one of our hearts.

^E-9 Now, it's indeed a grand privilege to be here tonight with this lovely pastor and his church, and this wonderful work, and these who are sojourning in Christ in this end of Phoenix. For truly, we are sojourners. We are pilgrims and strangers here; we're seeking a city, as I was speaking this morning down to Brother Fuller's tabernacle, on the Royal Seed...

^E-10 Now, if you got tape recorders, I never make mention... But there was something happened this morning that I... If you've got a tape recorder, if you'd get one of the tapes, I'm sure you'd appreciate it. Brother Maguire has them. And... "The Royal Seed of Abraham."
See, Abraham's seed was Isaac, which is Jewish, natural. But the royal Seed was Christ, through the promise. And, that Christ was God's Word made manifest. And it's in our hearts today as we... "If I--ye abide in Me, and My Word in you, then ask what you will, and it'll be done for you."

^E-11 Now, I expressed at--of Phoenix, many times since I've been here... My first time coming was thirty-five years ago. And up on 16th and Henshaw, I lived, worked on the Circle R Ranch out here out of Wickenburg. And I went with a little girl there on 16th and Henshaw. I went to look for the place the other day, and it isn't even Henshaw no more; it's Buckeye now. And it's a big city, right in the metropolitan area of Phoenix here. Everything is changed so.

^E-12 And wife and I went up on South Mountain to look back over Phoenix. And I thought, about three hundred years ago there probably wasn't nothing here but coyotes, cactus, and so forth. And now it's a great fabulous city.
Now, I said, "Honey, is it converted or perverted? You can use your choice. To me it's perverted. Now, because these great buildings, and beautiful structures, would be fine if men and women were walking up and down the streets with their hands up to God, praising God; and brothers and sisters living like... instead of drinking, gambling, smoking, lying, stealing, beer joints, everything that's evil. In the midst of all that though..."
Then wife said to me, "Then, Billy, what are you here for?"
I said, "But, honey, since we've been setting here fifteen minutes, how many lies has been told through that valley? How many oaths has been taken, the Lord's Name in vain? How many cigarettes, how many whiskey drinkings, how many adulteries has been committed, and all through there, just in the last little while, while we're here?"
She said, "Isn't that awful?"
I said, "Here's what we're here for, honey. How many faithful prayers has went up since we've been here? 'Ye are the light of the world.' That's we're here for, to put our shoulders with these little churches here, do everything we can to help it to move on, to be a..."

^E-13 You all... You saints are a blessing to me. I hope that I'll be a blessing to you in visiting here. And I... When I found out that I get to visit the different denominations and organizations, and--and the different churches, and so forth, the brethren through the Phoenix valley here, my heart was thrilled. That comes before the convention that I'm to speak, at the Christian Business Men's convention on I think Saturday morning breakfast, and then the Sunday afternoon meeting the follow--the following Sunday. And it's always a privilege to meet with those brethren. I think they have about twenty-five hundred seats there. Be plenty of seating room for all of us. We hope to meet you there.

^E-14 And then, to have this time of fellowship, to go from church to church and speak... I think I preached this morning till I preached myself hoarse, for about an hour and a half; and that was a short one. I usually don't get out before three or four hours of it at--at the church at home. I just... I'm not a preacher. So I--I just make a joyful noise to the Lord. I like to do it so well, that I--I guess I just love it, so I just keep on doing it.
I've been... had four or five different expressions I'm holding the people too late. So I--I know that is true. And tonight, honestly, we'll be out of here before one o'clock. I--I'll just almost assure you of that. I just, almost... Such a fine feeling spirit, and everything so lovely, I'm sure the Holy Spirit will have a blessing for us.

^E-15 Now, I haven't been having any healing services in the meetings. I... One night, down at Brother (Jesus' Name brother?) Brother Outlaw--Brother Outlaw's church, there was so many there wanted to be prayed for. And I had my son to give out some prayer cards. And then a couple of nights, the Holy Spirit so falling in the building until... You all know. You've been in my meetings. All of you have. You see how the discernment, and so forth... But now, I've noticed it's accumulating many to be prayed for. And I noticed that the first, by beginning Wednesday and Thursday. I thought I'd wait till after Sunday, because, if you're having healing services in the church... You see, I--I announced everywhere I went for every person to stay at your post of duty on Sunday. You see? These special meetings is just visiting with the brethren. And we--we want everybody to keep your place of duty, 'cause your pastor's waiting for you. And that's where you should be.

^E-16 So then... Then, I think tomorrow night, if the Lord willing, I don't... (Where are we to be tomorrow night? Brother O'Donnell, at Tempe, Arizona.) Now, if you don't have any--any special thing going on at your church, and you got sick people, why, I'm going to pray for the sick tomorrow night, just have a regular prayer line, pray for the sick maybe--maybe Monday, Tuesday... Let's see. I'm supposed--I'm... I don't know. Have I got church for Wednesday night too? Wednesday night, then it--then it starts on Thursday (Is that right?), the convention? All right, Brother. You'll make the announcement?
[The Brother announces; "You are here tonight. And tomorrow night we're at the Tempe Assembly of God; and then the Mountain View, and Sunnyslope on the 23rd; and then at the Central Assembly on the 24th."--Ed.]
All right, that's fine.
[Brother says, "I couldn't remember myself. I kinda got messed up there."--Ed.]

^E-17 Don't think of that. I was talking the other day, about I couldn't remember, and Brother Jack Moore said to me, said, "You think you're bad." He said...
I said, "Brother Jack, I go to talking; I can't remember just what I was talking about."
He said, "Why, don't think that's bad." Said, "I call up on the phone, call somebody, and say, What'd you want?'"
Well, that's getting pretty bad...?... Well, my, that might sound jokey, which I don't think it's right to say at the pulpit here. But God's children is just happy children anyhow, you know. So we--we just like to... I thought that was kind of cute.

^E-18 You all... Many of you know Brother Jack Moore. He's from Shreveport, Louisiana, Life Tabernacle, very fine brother. And so, he was telling me that. He's a contractor also.
And he said, "Don't think that's bad, Brother Branham." Said, "I called up somebody the other day, and called their number." And said, "They answered, said, 'Hello.' I said, 'What do you want?'"
I thought, "Well, I... That's getting way down, Brother Jack." I...
So now, I think it would be good. And these friends that wants to be prayed for, and bring their sick people in, then we'll pray for them.

^E-19 Now, tonight, I have thought on what would I say tonight up here in this lovely little church. And I thought, "Well, I don't know what." I just have to just take a little text, and trust that the Lord will mix up the words somewhere, and let it fall where it'll help somebody to be... I never try to take a text. I always try to feel led, and write down a bunch of Scriptures, and so forth. And--and then, if the Lord leads different, then I just go as He leads. And I think that's the way we all should do, don't you, do the same way?

^E-20 And now, there's one thing that I--that I--I want every one of the church (I announce this to every local body.), and that is that if... When you're through praying for your pastor and your loved ones, don't forget me, 'cause I realize daily, more than ever, that we're coming down to the end of the road.
And I just buried my mother a few weeks ago. And held her in my arms, until God taken her breath and her soul to heaven. I watched that gallant death of a woman filled with the Holy Ghost, and see her come right to the end of the road. I thought, "Oh, I just must have every mother like that. I just must do something to get to--do what I can to get people to see what it really means."

^E-21 And friends, I am persuaded that it's a--maybe a little deeper; and I think we take it a little too light than what really it is. I think that we should remember, if God is so holy till the Angels look dirty in his sight, how do we look? See? That's right. So we want to remember. And remember, God's setting way there in eternity, that outshines all the suns in the solar system. "Holy, holy, holy," the angels with wings over their faces and over their feet, flying in His Presence, crying, "Holy," what should we be? So we... That's what we try to do.

^E-22 And--and I feel like that this--the Kingdom of God is like a man that taken a net and went to the sea (Jesus said), and he cast in. And when he had drawed, he taken many kinds. But the good fish, of course, was kept; and the other scavenger fish was--went back to the water, such as crawfish, and--and snakes, lizards, and terrapins, and so forth. But the Gospel nets catches all of it. And we're... There'll someday will be a time that we'll cast our last net, Brother...?... That's right. It's not you or I to say which is fish and which is not. We don't know. We just cast the net and pull it. That's all. God knows His own. Those who He foreknew He called: and those who He called, He has justified, and those who He has justified He hath glorified. So we're waiting, just casting the net. And it's my privilege tonight to stand in Brother Edward's church here to help cast the net at this place, to see if there be any fish that God has for His Kingdom.

^E-23 Now, just before we read the Word, let's talk to the Author of the Word just a little bit as we bow our heads. With our heads bowed, in the sacredness of this moment that we're approaching the Word of the living God, which is God, I wonder if there would be any people in here that has requests on their hearts, that they'd like to be remembered in this prayer. Make it known by a lifted hand.

^E-24 Lord Jesus, look at the audience, knowing every heart. Thank you. Most gracious and holy God, the Almighty, El Shaddai, that appeared to Abraham in the Name of the Almighty, the breasted God, the strength Giver, the Nourisher of the weak, come to us tonight, Father. And we realize our weaknesses and our mistakes. We confess our sins before Thee, and lay them on thy brazen altar of judgment, and ask that the Blood of Jesus Christ take them away in the sacrifice that we make. Grant it, O God.
We submit our lives, and all that we have. And what little talent is given us, Lord, use it to the glory of God. Bless this church, its lovely pastor, deacons, trustees, and all the board, and every member that comes into this church called "Fellowship." God, I pray that men and women, as they walk in that door of this place, that they'll fall under convictions because of the lovely order of the Holy Spirit inside the building. Grant it, Lord.

^E-25 Forgive our sins, and our trespasses, we ask again. Remember those that's raised their hands. Down beneath that hand, Lord, was a heart requesting something from Thee. And, perhaps, maybe only Thee alone could give it. I pray that You'll grant it, Father. Whatever they have need of, give it to them in abundance. If there be any sick, Lord, heal them. If there be any that's falling by the wayside, strengthen that one, that feeble knee. "A bruised reed, He will not break or a smoking flax will He not quench." And we know that He would never turn away a bruised reed; He'd mend it. And I pray, heavenly Father, that if there be any spirits that's broken or--or discouraged, or feeble hands a hanging down, and knees bagged, may they be lifted up tonight, Lord. May the Holy Spirit come and heal our hearts and spirits, and our physical beings, and we'll give Him all the praise for it. We ask it, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

^E-26 If you would like to turn to the Scripture just for about thirty minutes' talk, I would like for you to read with me out of the book of Revelation, the 19th chapter, and I would like to read down to the 7th verse inclusive.

^E-27 No doubt but your lovely pastor here has approached this subject many times, and that... We know that there is going to be a bride, and there's going to be a wedding supper served in the sky. That's just as sure to be as God is, because it's His Word.
And we know that those that are going to make up that bride is going to be His church, and they're going to appear before Him without spot or wrinkle. And they have the material on earth now to make themselves ready.

^E-28 If you notice, it said, "She has made herself ready." So many says, "If the Lord will take this evil spirit from me, from drinking, or from gambling, or from lying, or stealing, I'll serve Him." But that's up to you. You got to do something too. "They that overcome shall inherit all things," they that overcome. You have power to do it, but you must be willing to lay it down. See? She has made herself ready. I like that Word.
You see, God could not push us through a little pipe, pull us out on the other end, and then say, "Blessed is he that overcometh." You had nothing to overcome; He just pushed you through. But you've got to make decisions for yourself. I have to make decisions for myself. In doing that, we show our faith and respects to God.

^E-29 Abraham was promised a child, but he must maintain this promise for twenty-five years, the ups-and-downs that he had and temptations in those twenty-five years; but he held to the word of the promise.
And Israel was promised a promised land, but they had to fight for every inch of it. "Wherever the soles of your foot treads upon, that have I given you," God said to Joshua. It was all there. The land was there, and God gave it to them; but they must fight for it.

^E-30 The same way it is about Divine healing. God's got the power to heal you, if you've got the courage to accept it. But you'll fight every inch of the way. God's got amazing grace to save you, and He will do it. But you'll fight every inch of your way. I've been behind the pulpit going on thirty-one years. And every inch of that has been a fight, constantly. It certainly has. But we must fight if we must reign. So we find out that the bride has to make herself ready, be willing to "lay aside every weight that does so easily beset us, that we might run with patience the race that's set before us." We must lay them aside ourself. We can't say, "God, You come, lay them aside for us." We got to do that ourselves.

^E-31 Now, I like to think of weddings. I've had the privilege of marrying quite a few people. And I think when I bring a young man and a young woman down to the altar, and see them come down through the church, and she, pretty with her wedding garments on, and the veil over her face and hanging down; and the bridegroom straight, dressed beautiful, and young, and full of vigor and as they walk down there in their very best of life, and take that marriage vow, I think there's something sweet about it. There's something sacred, because that it reminds me that there will be another great wedding someday, when Christ's bride will come walking down the corridors of glory. The Bridegroom will have everything ready. There'll be a wedding and a supper.
How we love to think of setting across the table from each other, and shaking one another's hands, and tears running down our cheeks. And to think, He will come around, wipe all tears from our eyes, say, "Don't cry. It's all over now. Enter into the joys of the Lord that's been prepared for you since the foundation of the world." Oh, brother, that will make us love one another more.

^E-32 I think that's what's the matter with the church, the bride today, that's made up of all churches that believes in Christ. It's not the church building, neither is it the organization or the denomination; but it's the individuals that's in the church that makes the bride.

^E-33 I have a good friend in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Wallace Cobbles, use--was a Church of Christ minister, and come in and received the Holy Ghost, and pastors one of the greater--largest churches in Louisville, the Church of the Open Door. He's been a very precious friend to me. And a few days ago, I was standing on the street, and I seen him come down the street. And I've always loved him, and he loved me.
But one day he had a tonsil operation, and he was bleeding to death. And they had him down there at the St. Joseph's Hospital, and they said he was dying.
And Mrs. McSpadden called me, and said, "Dr. Wallace Cobbles..." I didn't know him yet, but I knowed there was a big Church of the Open Door. Said, "He's dying. The doctors have give him shots and everything else. They've put stitches in. He's constantly hemorrhaging, and they can't stop the blood. His blood won't curdle, and (you know) stop the bleeding." And said, "They've got missionaries in there, and they want you to come, pray for him."

^E-34 Well, I'd heard of Dr. Wallace Cobbles, and so, I kinda was a little reluctant. But I went over. And when I looked in the hospital room, there was missionaries, and great ministers, all in there crying and praying. And I thought, "Oh, my. Little bitty me, a little holy-roller go in there? I'd better just stay out here." So I got down behind the Coke machine out in the hall, and I prayed to God to--to stop the blood for Brother Cobbles.
And I went back down, and went out. I just got home, about fifteen minutes, and the phone rang again, and wanted to know what was my delay, that I had not been there.
And I said, "I--I come. But there was so many in there, I--I just felt not led to come in, maybe (See?) so many of the big ministers in there."
And he said, "Come right now." Said, "The man can't live but a little while longer."

^E-35 So I went back over again. And when I went in there, he was trying to get a Catholic sister to accept Christ as personal Saviour, and him bleeding, and the blood flying out of his mouth. And I walked in.
And he said, "How do you do?"
And I said, "How do you do?" He was setting up in the bed, coughing like that, and the blood coming out.
And he said, "What is your name?"
And I said, "I'm Brother Branham."
And he started crying, put his arms around me. And I knelt down there.
Now, it's Dr. Wallace Cobbles, of the Church of the Open Door in Louisville. Get him a letter. The blood stopped that second; it's never moved since. And we've been very, very good friends since then.

^E-36 And the other day, I met him. And he said... (Oswald J. Smith, many of you know Brother Smith. He's a great missionary, and he comes to Brother Cobbles, because he likes him so well.)
He said, "Brother Cobbles, you know," he said, "I" (something about his wife...) He said, "When I first got married," said, "I felt like, well, if I make a mistake, I'll... Oh, I can get another one," 'cause he was young. But said, "After the children comes along," said, "then it's kind of hard to do without her. Then when you get about fifty years old, you just can't do without her. And as you get older, why, you--you feel that way."
I said, "I guess that's about right. I'd..."
What the subject come up about, you know how the ladies can shop, and my wife was in there. And she's queen of all of it. She just stays all the time. My poor feet just nearly kills me on the street walking around with her. And he was telling me, said, "Well, you just can't do without her." And that's how the remark come up. And when I went home, I got to setting in the room there thinking, "That's right." I applied it to something else.

^E-37 You know, when I was first converted in the--become a Missionary Baptist preacher, I thought if a person wasn't a Baptist, he just wasn't saved. That's all there was to it. And I packed a Bible under my arm, and I thought the Lord called me to make everybody Baptists. And everybody didn't believe just like the Baptists believed was not in the picture at all.
As the days went on, I thought I had the whole job to do myself. And I come to find out, I noticed another brother that had a church, a pastor. He pulled too just as hard as I did. After all, the blanket stretches a little bit over towards him too, you know. Then we find out, we need one another. And now, after we begin to get this far along, it's just kind of hard to do without one another. That's all. We just got to have one another. That...
And I believe that's in this great Pentecostal move. And I'm glad to see those barriers of indifference breaking down, and the great church of God begin to merging itself together in fellowship. Means that the wedding is coming nearer now. And the stones are peculiar cut as they may be, they got a place somewhere in that building, if they're the stones of the Lord.

^E-38 Now, marriage in one sense is a type... The earthly marriage here is a type of the heavenly marriage. Now, let's go over it just for a few moments, to rehearse it a moment. The first thing there is, there must be a decision made. The first thing takes in natural marriage is a decision has to be made. The young lady has to make her decision whether she wants this young man, and the young man, whether he wants the young woman. There has to be a decision made, and you have to make it. She must be the only woman in the world that you love, and he must be the only man. If it isn't, then you made a wrong decision.
And that's the same way it is by making the decision for Christ. The first thing you have to do, is make up your mind whether you're going to serve God and take Him as your Saviour; or, you're not going to do it. Are you going to serve the world, are you going to serve Christ? You have to make up your mind. There has to be a decision made. When you make up your mind that you're either going to serve God or mammon, then you take your choice. But the decision has to be made.

^E-39 And then, after the decision is made that you are, then comes the engagement. That... You find that at the altar. You've got to make an engagement before this union can be. And that's the way it is with Christ's church. It has to be an engagement with Christ, a--a pledge, an engagement, a love affair.
And then the next thing is, is promises made. There has to be promises made to one another, like that you make promise, "Sweetheart, if you'll marry me, I promise that I'll be loyal and true. I will look upon no other woman."
Or, "I'll look upon no other man. And I'll do all that as a duty as a wife. If we have children, it'll do all as a duty as a--as a mother. I--I'll be a housekeeper." All these promises has got to be made, or should be, in a correct wedding.

^E-40 And that's the same thing when you come to Christ. "Lord, if You will receive me into Your Kingdom, I promise..." There you are. "I'll love You. I'll be true to You. I'll serve You day and night." It's too bad we forget that. "I'll serve You day and night. I'll fast; I'll pray; I'll be loyal to You. I'll bring my tithings into the storehouse. I--I'll--I'll pray many times a day. I'll--I'll do anything. And I'll pledge all my love to You." That's what you should do. That's exactly right, where you promise that, and it should come from your heart.
If you promise your husband that, and not from your heart you mean it, you are absolutely not living correctly with him. It's kind of a crystallized affair.

^E-41 Look here. If--if you haven't got teeth, and you use false teeth... Now, that's all right. It's substituting for the teeth that you once had. But actually, those teeth are not connected with you. It's not part of you. If you had an arm amputated, and you put a false arm on, well, that arm is actually not connected with you. It's just stuck on you. See, it's not connected with you.
And when we take our pledge to Christ, if we don't become part of Him, like a woman ought to become part of a man and a man part of the woman, then we're artificial Christians. We're not really... You're really not married to that woman. You might be loyal. If you don't love your husband, and him sixty or seventy years old, and you don't love him as good as you did at the beginning, then you're really just raising his children.

^E-42 And that's the way the churches are, too many today. We're just taking the name of the Christian church, pretending to be the bride, when it's artificially; we're not connected with Christ in any way. We're like an artificial tooth, artificial arm, artificial eye. See, it's something that's artificial if we're just putting it on. Well, you can't put on Christianity. You've got to be connected with it.
And then a church that's just artificial called the church of Christ... Well, them children then, are not in there that's born of that same organization is only... They're not Christ's children; they are denominational children, and not children of Christ.

^E-43 If a woman isn't connected with the man in trueness, then it isn't her husband. It's just a man she's taken a vow to live with, and she took a wrong vow. She pledged to love him, and she said she loved him; and she didn't do it. All the time the man is deceived. But there's one thing sure, friends; we're not going to deceive Christ. He knows His own.

^E-44 But, you see, first, decision's made, next engagement, then promise, and then the ceremony. And that's when the bride--bride takes the bridegroom's name. She is no more then of her own name; she takes the bridegroom's name.
And then when the church has the ceremony, makes their promises, then she takes the Bridegroom's Name. Then she's no longer a church of the world; she's the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Not... I don't mean that by Name; I mean that by birth, by nature, by the power of God. By the revealed truth of God in the heart she becomes a Christian church, the great, universal apostolic Christian church. She becomes a part of Christ. When she does that, she... Christ injects into her His own Spirit, His own life. And the Bible said to Adam and Eve there, "You're no longer twain, but one." And when the woman, church, is married to Christ, they're no longer two. They are one: Christ in you. Amen. That's it. His life has been brought into you. Then you become the bride.

^E-45 Then, another thing. After she has taken all these vows and so forth, and the ceremony's been said... Like my wife's name was Broy before she was married. Now, she's no longer a Broy; she's Branham. Now, she isn't no more Broy; she's Branham. And when you come into Christ, you're no more of the world; you are of Christ. You care not then for the things of the world. They're dead to you. "For he that loves the world, or the things of the world, the love of God's not even in him."
So (You see?), you can't be a artificial Christian. You can be a artificial professed Christian, but you can't be a Christian to become...?... until Christ injects Himself by the baptism of the Holy Ghost into you. Then you're connected with Him, and you're no longer twain; you are one. Christ promised to be in us, as the Father was in Christ. "I and My Father are One. You and I are One," (See?) Christ in us.

^E-46 All that God was He poured into Christ; and all that Christ was, He poured into the church to continue the work of the Gospel. Then we become, not by artificial name, but by a reality of the Holy Spirit of Life, connecting us into Christ. Then, through the power of His resurrection, we are raised from the dead things of the world and setting with Him in heavenly places. Amen. I like that.
Tonight, we're setting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (See?), resurrected with Him, died to the things of the world, and took on Christ. And when we take on Christ, then the world is dead. Then we no more care for the world. The world is dead to us, and we're... And it's dead to us, and we're dead to it.
You're a different person, different personality, because you are a new creation: creation, not the same creation polished up, not a--a man that's turned a new leaf, but a man that's died and been borned again, and become a new creation in Christ Jesus. And the Spirit of the living God lives in the person.
Now, just like the woman that's no more Broy, she's a Branham, and she goes by that name. And the church is no more of the world, but it's in the Name of Christ she is. She's connected with Him by His own Life.

^E-47 Did you ever read in the Scripture, how that the first man God made was a--a dual person? Adam was both Adam and Eve, spiritually speaking. But when He made the first man in His own image, and God is a Spirit... But when He put them in flesh, He separated them. He taken the masculine spirit, put it into the man, and taken the feminish spirit and put it into the woman.
Now, when you see a woman wanting to act like a man, there's something wrong. When you see a man wants to act like a woman, there's something wrong. So it looks like the world's all wrong today. Men are trying to act like women, and women like men. That's right. It's true.

^E-48 Now, look. It's so perfect, that when God took and made a man... And to show that He did not want it out of anything different, the woman was not in the original creation. So she is a, not in the creation, but she's a part of Adam. She's a byproduct. He goes into the side of Adam, not to make another creature, but taken part of a creature and made another creature out of it. And He took the masculine spirit that was in Adam, and took the feminish spirit that was in Adam, rather, and put it over into the woman. So both spirit and body, they become one, was a beautiful type to what God did at Calvary. He took Christ, and connected Him with the church. Through a riven side, He brought the Blood that cleansed the person, that sanctifies the flesh of the church, and puts the Spirit of the living God that He took off the cross there out of Christ, and puts it into the individual. Then they are one. See? They become one. Christ and you are one.

^E-49 And you and your husband should be one. If there's anything contrary, then there's something wrong with your union.
And if there's anything contrary with us to Christ, we don't believe His Word and say, "Oh, that was for other days," there's something wrong with our union with Him. If you say, "Days of miracles is past, there's no Divine healing, there's no baptism of the Holy Ghost," apply that back somewhere, that shows that the Spirit of Christ isn't in you, because, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh..."
And then, when his Word becomes prominent in you, then (You see?), it's you and Christ are one then. "If ye abide in Me, and My Word in you, you can ask what you will..." because it's not you no more; it's the Word of God: Christ in you. You become one. All right.

^E-50 Then, another thing after she does that... After she has fulfilled her vows, and took her marriage, and took her husband's-to-be name, the bridegroom's name, then she's heir of everything he possesses. She's a heir of everything, your wife is a heir of everything you possess.
And that's the thing that the church is, if she only knew it, being part of Him with His Spirit in her... He said, "The works that I do shall you do also; greater than this shall you do; for I go to My Father. A little while, and the world seeth Me no more; yet you shall see Me: for I'll be with you, even in you, to the end of the world." Then it's Christ in you. You're connected together, and you're heirs with Him.

^E-51 And if He was here on earth, what would He be doing? The same thing He did there, because He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He'd be mindful about the Father's business; He'd be healing the sick; He'd be performing miracles. He'd be doing just exactly what He did when He was here on earth, because He remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's just perfect. That's the marriage.

^E-52 But now, what if this woman gets married, and takes all these vows and everything, and she becomes this man's husband, and she's heir to all he's got, and so forth, and then she goes wild? she starts off on a tantrum? she starts off running after other men? Not only that, but she's sharing her love with others. A man with his wife, all the promises that they've made, and then she goes out and starts sharing her life with others, her love and her affection with others...
That's what too many so-called Christians do, sharing your love with the world: playing, dancing, gambling, staying home from prayer meeting to watch television, all kinds of worldly things that's took the place of the love of God in the church's heart. She's gone on a tantrum. She's gone wild. She's gone out after other men. She's sharing her love. She'll take her tithings that she should give to the church; she'll spend it on other things out there in the world. She'll... Instead of loving God the way she should do, and living for God, and loving to come to church, you almost have to persuade her to come.

^E-53 Why, I know here not long ago, a--a minister told me that he sent out so many prayer--so many cards to get people to sign that they'd pledge to come to Sunday school at least six months out of every year.
And I'd seen a little old girl down below the hill there where I'd been working. And she come out of there. And I was standing at the door, knocked at the door, and she come to the door. And she was some of these here wildcat players, you know. Like this bunch they had to have arrested down here in Phoenix last night, I believe it was, doing this new perversion of--of rock and roll, or twisters, or ever what it was. And they had to get the cops to come get them.
Young folks, don't you understand that that is the spirit of the devil? under the influence till they didn't know what they was, out in the streets carrying on?

^E-54 Like some of these comedians, or these record players, and jockeys, and so forth, going to a play in a city I was in, and the young ladies taking off their underneath clothes and throwed it on the platform for this boy to autograph. Don't you realize, that's the devil? It's a spirit of the last days. Sure. It's such a shame. There you are, gone wild.

^E-55 And this young woman, she come out carrying on. She didn't even know... forgot me standing at the door. And she said, "Oh, pardon me. I forgot about you standing there." And she throwed a kiss to that guy on the radio, or ever what it was, and said, "I'll meet you out at the Green Briar Patch," or whatever it was. They was going to have some kind of a dance that night.
And I said to Dr. Brown, which was a friend of mine.
He said, "How is your congregation holding out up there, Billy?"
"Fine." I said, "We're giving them pills."
He said, "What kind of pills?"
I said, "Gos-pills; that sure keeps them coming all the time," See?
And he told me about that, signing those pledges. And I said, "Dr. Brown, do you think that that wildcat player on that radio would have to make that girl sign a pledge that she'd be over there that night? Not at all. She'd pawn what clothes she had on to get there. Why? It's something in her that's connected her, a spirit, to that worldly amusement."

^E-56 And until the church of the living God that's called the bride of Christ gets herself connected with God like that, she'll still wallow in the world in the mirey clay of sin, until she's connected with God in such a way, till her heart's so filled with glory and power of God, until she can't see nothing else but Christ. That's right.
That's what we'll have to do. That's the only plan, the only program God has, is to do a thing like that. You've got to be not artificially took in; you've got to be borned in, not shook in, or bring a letter to the church, but to be borned in the church of the living God by the regeneration, by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that makes you a new creature in Him. Amen. That straightens it up. That does it. Sure.

^E-57 All right. She goes wild. She starts sharing her love with others, worldly things, worldly amusements, going to the places she oughtn't to go, saying the things she oughtn't to say.
Here one time I was--they was having a ladies,' some kind of a church party upstairs. I happened to have something to do at the basement of this house. And I tell you; I've heard some awful things when I was a sinner. But that woman's meeting, I never heard any worse jokes in all my life. Could you imagine, a person that's called a Christian, would let such filth flow from them?
You can't get sweet and good water out of the same cistern. You put a bucket into the well, and it comes out full of wiggle-tails, we call them. When you put the bucket down again, it'll bring out the same thing. The cistern needs a scouring out and a filling up with good water.

^E-58 That's what's the matter with the church today, universally speaking, that she needs a scouring out, and a filling up with God's holy waters from heaven. Her heart's become a cesspool of anything that comes along. She's got lovers of all kinds. The Bible said she'd have lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that are right.
See a woman that tries to live right, a man that tries to live right, he becomes a holy-roller, she becomes a fanatic or some old fashion something. She's a castaway. She's despised and rejected by the people of this world. That's right.

^E-59 But did you ever notice what the real church is supposed to do? In the Old Testament, when they had the--the sacrifice they killed one bird, and put the blood of one upon the other, the dead mate. And it flew across the earth spreading the blood of the dead mate. When the church becomes the real bride of Jesus Christ, she'll carry the Blood of Jesus Christ with her, sprinkling it upon the ground, calling, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord." Her atmosphere, her... Every bit of her will be of God. Her whole makeup will be of God. You can't expect nothing else.

^E-60 That's why people come to church too, not to play cards, and play poker, dance in the basement, have soup suppers, and things like that. That's for the world. And we'll never be able to compare with them, and shame on us for trying it. We should preach the Holy Ghost, and power, and the resurrection of Christ. We've got something they haven't got. Let us live it, not try to copy after them. Live what we know is right; live in Christ. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto Me. Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its savour, then it's good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trod under the feet of men." Our testimonies...

^E-61 No wonder even our Pentecostal groups... As bad as I hate to say it, our Pentecostal groups are falling right into that same thing, right into the same trend. And no wonder people say that they haven't got what they say they've got. This church of the Pentecostal move ought to be so bound together with the power of almighty God until the very Life of Jesus Christ would be reflected in it.
But we want to pattern after the world. We're going to do it anyhow. See? We're going to have our way about it. But we shouldn't do it. It's wrong to do it.
The churches is just like the woman went wild. First thing you know, she becomes all right. At the beginning, when God gave birth to this Pentecostal church about forty or fifty years ago, she lived holy. She was holy. The power of God was with her. But as we go on, we begin to tally after the world. The first thing you know, we got to have a building that's so big it's got to outshine the Methodists over on the other corner. We got to have something so big, the biggest thing, and the biggest thing, and the biggest thing. It's a shame.

^E-62 Lot of us get ourselves puffed up when we get... The Pentecostal brother see somebody down in a little mission, or little bitty church, and they go to a big church. "We belong to the first church, or the big church," or something like that: look down upon them.
What you need is the Holy Ghost to deflate you a little bit (that's right), let you know that the real true baptism of the Holy Ghost will make a tuxedo suit put his arms around a pair of overalls and say, "Brother." That's right. Real old-time salvation, the power of Almighty God (yes, sir), will make an old silk dress put its arms around a calico and say, "Sister, I love you." It sure will.

^E-63 But we begin to go out with the world, drift with the tide. Our church has. We don't have to talk about the Methodists and Baptists no more. It's ourselves. It's in our own ranks. That's the reason the Holy Spirit cannot move. That's the reason I say that God cannot put His sanction upon any organization tonight, because the Gentiles was not taken out as a nation; they were a people out of the Gentiles for His Name's sake. God will take individuals.
Now, I think our organizations does a good work. That's all right. But you can't depend on that, say, "I'm Pentecostal, 'cause I belong to a Pentecostal organization." You're Pentecostal when you get a Pentecostal experience. I don't care if you belong to the Catholic church, you are Pentecostal. You can't organize Pentecost. Pentecost is an experience, not an organization. And that's right.

^E-64 But we Pentecostal people has begin to think 'cause we have the name of Pentecost, we can go ahead and live in the world and do anything we want to. We're like climbing Nimrod's tower. It'll go to ashes. Like Adam's fig leaf apron, she'll go back. Like Siegfried line in France, Maginot line in Germany, she crushed 'cause there's no other tower, no other stand. But "The Name of the Lord is a mighty tower that the righteous run into and are safe." When you run into it, you take the Name, the Name, not just calling a Name, but the Name--and person that you are Christ-like in the life. Amen. Wonderful He is. Yes.

^E-65 Church has done the same, committing spiritual fornication as the woman that would share her love from her husband to another man. That woman's not fit to be lived with. You know that. And when the church begins to share her fellowship with the world... God's a jealous God. He put Israel away because of that, and His Son will put the same thing away.
He's going to have a bride that hasn't got a wrinkle in her. Amen. She's wholly washed by the Blood of His own self. That's right. So we see where we stand, the wedding getting ready to come.

^E-66 Now, we find out she commits spiritual fornications, going out with the world, professing something, living something different. That won't never work. What the church ought to do, is do like Esther did. Esther refused the adorning of the world.
We know that little book of Esther, how that Mordecai... His uncle had a daughter. And it was down during the times of the reigns of the Medes and Persians. It's a very beautiful type there. The king, one of the greatest kings in the world of that day, he had a great feast. And he called the queen to come set by him, but she wouldn't do it. She refused to do it. So what did he do? He was so humiliated, he didn't know what to do, that his own wife wouldn't come.

^E-67 I think that's a whole lot like Christ today. Christ has invited us to set in heavenly places with Him, and we're ashamed of it. Many people are ashamed to say that they got the baptism of the Holy Ghost: Pentecostal people. That's right. They're ashamed to say it. We're ashamed of Him.
And so, the queen wouldn't come. She refused to come. It humiliated him. His face turned red. Everybody noticed.
I wonder if Jesus' face don't turn a little red too, when He calls on us for a work, calls on the Pentecostal movement for fellowship and brotherhood. And we're so tightly organized in little groups till we won't bend for the other. We're so--getting so worldly, and things like that. We're getting ashamed of the name of Pentecost. Some people is afraid to say... Said, "Well, I belong. I'm a Christian, but..." I'm glad I got a Pentecostal experience. Amen. I'm glad to bear the Name of Jesus Christ. The greatest privilege I ever had is to say I'm part of Him.

^E-68 Now, we find out, then he got some consultants to ask what must he do. And they said, "If this goes on like this, all the rest of the women throughout the country will take the example of the first lady." Of course, that's what's happening tonight. Look at some of these women (I hope I don't hurt your feelings, and yet I hope I do. That's right.), trying to be this here first lady stuff, with these waterhead haircuts. I never seen such a thing in all my life. The other day there was a woman come up in a store where I was waiting for my wife, and that woman's head was that big, and she had green paint under her eyes. And I said, "Go back, boogerman. I'll be good." It was the awfullest sight; it would scare you. What is it? The first lady. It's the first lady. That's it. And they take an example by that.

^E-69 And let me say this now. (I didn't say it jokingly, but in a parable that you'd see.) That's exactly what you older Christians are doing for these younger. Exactly right. You're supposed to be examples. You Pentecostals that profess to have the Holy Ghost, you are to be an example for the Methodists, and Baptists, Presbyterians. Not like the first lady, but like Jesus you're supposed to be. He tells you in here what to do, how to do it. We must follow His rules and examples. But that's the way we find it.

^E-70 Esther... This queen, she wouldn't listen to it. She wouldn't come, humiliated him. Said, "If--if this first lady of the land sets an example like that, all the rest of the women will do it. So then, when a man calls for his wife, she'll say, 'Go jump in the river.'" See? Boy, he really foretold America, didn't he?
Now, we find out that in doing so... Then there was a man that had some wisdom about him, come up and counseled with the king. He said, "The thing to do is excommunicate her, and send out through the nation, and call in all the virgins that there is, young virgins, and there pick yourself a wife." It pleased the king.

^E-71 So he sent... And he sent out the chambermaids and so forth, that went out to--to pick all the young virgins, that could--the beautiful women throughout all the kingdom and the provinces that he was over, which was the greatest in the world.
And when he did, it come to this little Jewish girl. She was rather a kind of an offcast, because like the Gentiles (You see?), she was cast off to one side. And she had no father and mother. And Mordecai, her uncle, was raising her. And she had to go to qualify. And so what they did, they had to take these girls in for purification for so many months. They had to perfume them, and do all kinds of adorning, and fix them all up so they could go before the king.

^E-72 Now, that's just about the way the world wants to fix the church today: adorn it up with the world; pattern after the things of the world, trying to get more members, taking in anything in their fellowship. Oh, my. It's a pitiful thing, one organization trying to beat the other one, take anything in for a member. You might take them in this organization, but they'll never come into the fellowship of Christ until they're cleaned up and borned again of the Spirit of God. That's true. They might have their name on a book here, but not up there in the Lamb's Book of Life till it's wrote with the Blood of the Lord Jesus.

^E-73 All the women, they fixed themselves all up to look pretty. And, oh, I imagine they got really some looks on them, maybe after the first lady and so forth. They got themselves all fixed up because they was going to appear before the king.
And I think that's about the whole lot that's getting the matter with our churches today. They're trying to fix themselves all up worldly, having worldly entertainment, worldly things in it, doing things that's of the world, associating in the world, thinking they can meet the King. God don't care about that. He hates that. But we want to act like the world.
Some of our churches that I've said let down the bars, taking in deacons and so forth in the church (and sometimes pastors), that's married four or five times, and--and some of them that smoke cigarettes. Say, "They'll get over it. They'll be all right." Get a man out of a barroom one night and put him in the pulpit the next night. I don't believe in no such stuff. I believe a man's got to be proved (That's right.), proved. I tell you, a lot of times we call...

^E-74 I believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I believe in speaking in tongues. But I think we lay too much emphasis on that. A man can speak with tongues, and a woman speak with tongues, and if her life, and his life doesn't compare with what tongues you're speaking in, then it's the wrong tongues, 'cause the Holy Spirit will make you act like the Bible. It'll bring you to the fullness of the statue of Christ.
You take a person that speaks with tongues, with enough temper to fight a buzz saw, and talk about the neighbors, and everything like that. Why, do you call that the Holy Ghost? It cannot be. No, sir.
The Holy Ghost is meekness, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience, faith. The Holy Ghost... That's the fruit of the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit bears in the church of the living God, sweetness, and humbleness, humility, love one for another, long-suffering.

^E-75 If a brother's gone wrong, don't just beat him or something another. Go after him and see if you can get him back. Don't wait for the preacher to do it. You do it, somebody else. The preacher can't do it all, neither can the deacons. Everybody's a member of this body of Christ should go after one another. If we got... And if we've got the Spirit of Christ in us... He taught the great parable. He left the ninety and nine and went after that one. That's what we're supposed to do.
But we say, "Oh, let them go." We never should do that. We should be gentle, forgiving, long-suffering: that's the fruit of the Spirit.

^E-76 Now, we find ourselves then, that Esther, after she... They put her in one of these places to get herself all fixed up to make their show before the king. My, she refused it. She didn't want it. She wanted to go out just like she was. Amen.
We got today that churches that wants to act like the world. Why? 'Cause we get big. God said one time when they was little, they served Him. But when they got big, then they forgot Him. That's right. When we had a tin pan down here on the alley somewhere, with a tambourine beating it on the back of our hands, and an old guitar strummed it, and having a street meeting, you were humble. But when we get to having three or four million dollar buildings, and great big things like that, then we get so arrogant we forget about that. That's right. Polish up with the world...

^E-77 I was into a place the other day where a holiness brother... There was a bunch of people working for him. And if... Every woman come out of there at coffee time to take a coffee-break. Every woman in there had short hair and wearing lipstick. Now, you say, "Brother Branham, you ain't got no business saying that." I have. The Bible says that. That's right.
A lot of the Pentecostal women wearing clothes that pertain to a man, and God said it's an abomination in His sight. Right. How do you expect to go to heaven like that? It shows that the Holy Spirit isn't in there. If the Holy Spirit was in there, It'd condemn you. Right. Oh, you might shout, speak with tongues, run up and down, dance in the spirit. I've seen Hindus do that, and Indians, and everything else. That don't mean nothing, unless there's a life to back up what you're talking about, power of the Holy Ghost makes godly living people. That's the bride of Christ.

^E-78 Esther was to become a bride, so she didn't want none of the adorning of the world. She wanted to go in to the king just like she was. She adorned herself like the Pentecostal women ought to, with a meek humble spirit. And when all these fancy first ladies come by with all their new fandangoed things, the king looked at them, and put them in the chamber with the concubines. But when this Esther come into his sight, and he got a glimpse of that sweet, humble, meek spirit, he said, "That's her. Go get the crown and put it on her head." That's it.
Let them adorn themselves with that kind of a spirit, not only the women, but the men too, adorn themselves with that kind of a spirit. Then you're becoming ready for the--the bride, sweet, reverent. Esther made her heart clean.

^E-79 There's so much... We take care of this outside. Oh, it's got to have so many wrinkle removers, and so much of this and to--to go about it.
Here some time ago, I was standing in a museum down in Tennessee. I passed by a little place, and it showed the analysis of a human body. It said a man that weighed a hundred and fifty pounds in chemicals was worth eighty-four cents. Now, you're somebody, aren't you? Eighty-four cents, and some women will, Pentecostal women, will put on a five hundred dollar mink coat, and stick their head up, if it rained, it'd drown them. And they're not even worth eighty four cents (That's right.) in chemicals. That's the truth, not a joke. That's the truth. Eighty-four cents: about enough whitewash to sprinkle a hen's nest, and a little bit of calcium, and so forth: Eighty four cents. You watch that awful close.
You go to the restaurant and find a--get a bowl of soup and there'd be a spider in it, you'd sue the restaurant. But you'll let the devil poke old dirty televisions and card things down your neck, and swallow it; make you put on old unclean clothes. And these women, these little old tight dresses like a skinned-down wiener, and walk out there on the street like that.

^E-80 And do you know, my sister... (I ain't saying that joking. Don't get me wrong.) Listen. I'm saying this: you act like that, and at the day of judgment you'll be counted as an adulterer. Right. Jesus said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart." And when that sinner has to answer for committing adultery, who is it? You. Who caused it? You. That's right. If you put yourself out there to look--before men, to be like the world, and dress like the world...
I said that one time, and a woman in Louisville, Kentucky, she said, "Well, listen here, Mr. Branham. I'll give you to understand right now..."
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
She said, "That's the only kind of dresses they make."
I said, "They make sewing machines and sell goods. It's because you want to. There's something wrong in you."
That's exactly right. You do it not because it's a fashion, you do it not because you have to; you do it because you want to.

^E-81 You smoke because you want to. You don't have to. I think the silliest thing I ever seen was a woman going in the street like... You see every one in automobiles with them cigarettes up between their fingers. Why, it's a disgrace. That's the biggest fifth columnist move we got in the nation, when the doctors and medical science says it's full of cancer and everything else. And they suck right down on them all the time.
See a woman, supposed to be a Christian, stretched out there on a bank, with mixed bathing, with a bathing suit on, stretched out there. I got two girls. I don't say they wouldn't do it. They say they're getting a suntan. They'll get a son-tan if I'm living. It'll be the son of Mr... It'll be the son of Mr. Branham, with a board about that long. I believe it's wrong.

^E-82 Then we call ourself... "Oh, we're a member of the Pentecostal church." Oh, shame on you. Right. The Pentecostal church needs a cleansing all the way from the front to the back, and through the cellar, and basement, and upstairs. That's right. And yet, in all of it, it's the best we got. But it can...
Just like in the revolutionary in the time of Joan of Arc. France needed a revolutionary, then needed a counter-revolutionary to straighten up some of the things they was revolting about. And the Pentecostal church needs a revolutionary (Right. It certainly does.), a revolt against the things that's wrong, and accept the things that's right (Amen.), a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost, a church to make herself ready.

^E-83 Remember, it will never be... You can't say, "Well, now, I belong to this... the Assemblies, I belong to the Foursquare, or the Church of God, or the Jesus' Name," or--or any of the rest of them. No you can't get in on any of them. God calls you as an individual. And it's you that's got to clean up, because He's taking a people from the Gentiles for His Name's sake, His bride, the Gentiles.
Esther cleaned herself. She cleaned her heart. That's what she cleaned. That's what the church needs: a heart cleaning." How do you clean your heart, Brother Branham?" Washed by the water of the Word, through the Blood of Jesus Christ.

^E-84 The Bible said it's wrong for women to act that way, and for men to let them do it. That's both of you. A man that'll let his woman get out in the street with naked--with clothes on like that, I've got little respects for him being even a man. He's a puppet. That's right. She uses him as a dishrag. Shame on you. You ought to be men.
And a pastor will let his church get by with such things as that without blasting the tar out of it from the pulpit, he's a sissy. What we need is men. The Gospel--not with rubber gloves, but with the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost with the Word... The Bible says these things are wrong. It's wrong for people to do that way, to act that way. It ought to be preached, and lived, and everywhere. Ought to... The church needs a purging, a cleaning out.

^E-85 Esther purged her heart before God, walked up with a meek and humble spirit; the church that's going to be the bride of Christ... Now, remember, Esther refused the worldly adornment. She took the Spirit in her heart to go before the king.
And the woman today, the church that thinks she's going to get in because she's got more numbers, she's the best dressed crowd, she's got the biggest organization, the biggest church in the city, and things like that... You'll miss it a million miles if you're depending on that.
It's a sweet, kind, reverent spirit to the Word of God, washed by the water of the Word. And the Word in you, it's a washing. Amen. The church needs a washing, a full Gospel washing (That's right.), not just a part washing, but a full Gospel washing, cleaned up, made new creatures in Christ Jesus.

^E-86 Jesus' bride is not a dirty bride. He wouldn't have His dirty bride. A woman come up to get married, and she looked like she come out of the pig pen out there, a man that's got any dignity about him wouldn't marry her. He'd make her clean herself up. And when the church of Christ comes up to get married, thinks she's going in the bride with all the world tagging onto her... Christ's bride won't be like that. No, sir. (I must hurry.)
Neither is the church of Christ, of the Lord Jesus Christ, that church is not a ragged church either, with worn out rags of denominations. She don't have to be a--a member of some great denomination. She has to be Blood-washed, Blood-bought. Not saying we belong to the biggest church, the biggest organization, or this, that, or the other; she's got to be pure, sanctified, holy, without spot or wrinkle, by the Blood of her--her Saviour, Jesus Christ.

^E-87 Like Esther, the hidden man in the heart, the hidden man, the meekness and gentleness of the Spirit of God in the human heart, not the glory and class of the world...
I've always said the world shines; the Gospel glows. Oh, it's a million miles apart. Hollywood shines; the church of Christ glows with loveliness, and soft, and sweet, kind. That's right.
Esther didn't want to adorn herself with all the modern apparel of the world. That wouldn't look like a king's wife. And do we wanting to be like the world, and the... Would that look like a holy man's wife? We, as the church of the living God adorn ourselves with the things of the world, and then look like a holy man's wife? Would that look natural?
If you seen a man today, that's supposed to be a holy man, and here comes his wife down like the first lady: one of those great big hairdo's out like this, and red stuff on one side, and green stuff on the other side; and--and look like she's been hit in the mouth with a paint brush, and all these kind of things like that; walking down the street, in little wiener-tight clothes like that, and heels about so high, twisting along, mincing down the street... Say, "That's a holy man's wife?" (I'm not telling jokes. I'm only making statements.)

^E-88 I've come to one of our great Pentecostal moves, here not long ago. I had a tent set up.
And the pastor said to me, he said, "My wife is the organist. "
I said, "That's good, brother."
"Do you mind her playing?"
I said, "No. No, sir. I sure don't."
And he went to the manager, and the manager, said... Brother Baxter said, "That's all right."
He said, "Brother Branham, come over here. I want you to meet my wife."
And I went over there. (Now, now, please forgive me. See, I'm not trying to make a remark; I'm trying to make a statement. See?) And the woman had one of these here manicure, or, I don't know, that stuff, you know, all fixed up, and I never seen such in my life, and a dress that was so way down in here, no back in it, and hardly any bottom in it. And I--I never seen such a look in my life. And she had great big earrings hanging down like this, and a whole lot of stuff on.
And I looked around. I thought, "Oh, me. I'm a Baptist and I know better than that." I looked again. I said... Now, please, this is not a joke. But I had to say it to the brother, and I hope it helped him, not saying it to be different; if I did, I was a hypocrite (See?), needed to be cleaned up myself.
I said, "Mister, did you say your wife was a saint?"
Said, "Oh, yes."
I said, "She looks like a hain't to me." I said, "I--I never seen such a sight in my life as a minister's wife. That don't look like the wife of a holy man."

^E-89 And neither does the church of the living God, depending on her fashions, her tea parties, and bunco parties, and card games, and dances, and socials, adorning herselves like that with the world, look like a holy God's bride. When she smokes cigarettes, and dances, and parties, and soup suppers, and cocktail drinking, and all like that, and say they're the bride of Christ?
That don't look like a holy man's wife to me. No, sir. He wouldn't choose such a thing. He'd get a woman that was right, look like what He was trying to represent. I believe that's true. That might hurt a little bit.

^E-90 My old southern mother's gone. When I was a little boy, we used to have--didn't have nothing to eat hardly. And we had black-eyed peas and corn bread. I don't know whether you know what they are or not. So we hadn't... She didn't have any grease through the year. And we'd... almost have to take an old... big old pan like that, and put meat skins in it. We'd get where they'd cut--the butchers would cut the meat off and give us the skin. And we'd render it out to get the grease and pour it on there.
Every Saturday night mama said we needed a dose of castor oil. And I--I just can't stand the stuff even yet. And I'd have to take it. I'd come to her holding my nose like this. I'd say, "Mama, I--I just can't take it." I said, "It makes me so sick."
She said, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good."

^E-91 So I think that's the way with preaching the Gospel. If it don't stir you up a little bit, get your--feel your spiritual gastronomics started right, make you a little sick to examine yourself with the Bible; see if that old temper, and selfishness, ungodliness, love of the world, television, and things at night. And leaving the church set empty, and the pews set empty, when you ought to be out there like Jesus (you got His Spirit in you), trying to get everybody in the country to come to your church to receive Christ. And we call ourselves then the bride of Christ.
Oh, what a pity, friends. The hour has come. His bride has made herself ready, oh, made herself ready. She laid aside all of these things.
Remember, Esther was chosen and the others was rejected. And only those that's borned again, that's got the Spirit of God, will be the chosen that day that the crown of glory will be set upon her head. And the others will be rejected.

^E-92 Let me tell you a little something that happened. I--I--I'm a missionary, as you know, do evangelistic missionary work, about seven times overseas, and around the world. Here, not long ago, in the city of Rome... Rome's a great city for art, and they had a school of art there. And several of our American young folks go over there every year to take a year or two's training in art, to learn to paint pictures. There was a group of young Americans came over here a few years ago, as the story was told me. And when they get over there, they just go hog-wild. When they're in Rome, they do as Rome does: get out and drink and strip themselves, and everything else, and carry on, both boys and girls.

^E-93 And there was a certain school. And in this school, this--this group of young Americans come over. And every one of them, almost, did the same thing. But one certain little girl, she wouldn't tolerate it at all. She stayed in. At nighttime she read while they was all out drinking. Daytime, she worked steady. Well, she was the laughingstock of the whole school. And she kept herself like a lady, conducted herself like a lady. Although there were young Roman boys and everything around, trying to get her to go out, she refused it. No, sir. She stayed right with her lessons, learning to draw, and to paint, rather. And she stayed with it.

^E-94 Finally, an old custodian at the place kept watching her, seeing she was so much different, although he was a Roman Catholic, kept watching her, how she conducted herself. One evening, the young girl in the park where the--the studio was, why--or the place where they had the school, she walked out upon the campus, and went up towards the top of the hill, and the sun was setting. And she was standing up there with her pretty, clean face, and her hair hanging down, looking across that way towards the setting of the sun.

^E-95 The old custodian was raking down there in the yard, and kept watching the girl. As he raked, something just kept telling him go talk to her. So he laid his rake down, took off his old slouch hat, walked up to where the young lady was, cleared up his throat. She turned around. He said, "Pardon me, Miss."
She said, "Yes, sir. Certainly."
And he noticed she'd been crying. All the rest was out on a big spree for the night. He said, "Madam, I hope that you understand me in the right way, that I'm going to speak to you." Said, "You've been here most for over two years now. And I've noticed the group that you've come with, continually they're out on parties, and coming in all times of the night, drunk, and clothes half off of them, and everything. But I noticed that you don't attend such parties."
And said, "I--I notice that, seemingly, that you're always looking across the sea. Of a evening, you walk up here, and stand here each evening, and watch the sun go down." And said, "What causes that?" Said, "I'm an old man. And I--I'm curious of knowing what causes this difference between you and the others."

^E-96 She said, "Yes, sir." She said, "Sir, I'm looking towards home when the sun is setting." She said, "Across, beyond that sun yonder is my homeland." And she said, "In that land there is a certain state. And in that certain state there's a certain city. And in that certain city is a certain house. And in that house is a certain boy."
She said, "He too, is an artist. When I left to come over here, I pledged my love to him. We're engaged to one another." And she said, "No matter what any of the rest of them does, that has nothing to do with me." She said, "I promised to live true and right." And she said, "I'm longing for the day, that when I feel myself on the top of the wings of that big plane that'll take me across the sea and set me down at the airport where he will meet me. He's building a home, and we'll live together in that land."
And said, "That's the reason I act the way I do. I'm true to the promise that I made a boy. And he's true to the promise that he makes to me." Said, "I hear from him now and then, and I write to him." And said, "Corresponding with one another, we're still holding our vows, waiting for the day we meet."

^E-97 Oh, how that would do for a real Christian to get away from the things of the world. And someday you talk about coming into the port on the wings of a dove; He's coming for a bride, one that don't fool with the world or the things of the world. She's washed in the Blood of the Lamb. She's pledged her--her love to Him only. The love of the world is gone and dead to her. The marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.

^E-98 Let's think of it while we bow our heads just a moment. Some day, as I look towards the setting of the sun, I too, thirty-one years ago, made a pledge to One that I loved, all my love to Him. I've always tried to hold up for Him and His Word wherever I go. And I know there's many others setting in here like that, waiting for the day that when the old ship of Zion shall come into the port, take up our souls, and take us in the Presence of Him Who we love, and have pledged our love to.

^E-99 There may be some in here tonight, who's never made that pledge. There may be some that's made it and broke it. If you're in that condition tonight, friends, why don't you just come back tonight and renew your pledge? If you haven't make it, why don't you come and make it tonight? Say, "Lord Jesus, I love You."
Remember, if you have already made your pledge and still mingling with the things of the world, Jesus will not have a bride like that. He will not have one that's adulterous. All your love must be to Him. And if you love the things of the world, and the fashions of this world better than you love God, then you have not made yourself ready.

^E-100 Is that person in here tonight? while we have our heads bowed, would raise up your hand, say, "Brother Branham, pray for me. I do want to be that way. I--I want to be part of the bride. And I know I'm doing things that I shouldn't do. Pray for me."? God bless you, my Indian sister. God bless you, sister, and you, my brother, and you, brother. Anyone else, raise up your hand, say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham. I--I know I'm not right. "
Now, be honest with yourself. Look back at your life. You have to look back before you can go forward. Look what you have been. Look what the spirit that you've got has made you do. If you haven't had... If you proclaim to be a Christian, and still you still mingle with the things of the world, brother, sister, how can you but be blind if you don't see that you're wrong?

^E-101 Someone said the other day, said, "Brother Branham, you ought to leave off of people like that." Said, "People call you a prophet."
I said, "I'm not a prophet."
Said, "But people think you are. You ought to be teaching these women... Instead of telling them to wear long hair, and the right kind of clothes, and things like that, you ought to be telling them how to get spiritual things."
I said, "How can I teach them algebra, when they won't even take abc's of kindergarten? haven't even got the common decency to clean themselves up?"

^E-102 Calling the bride of Christ... I'm not saying that irritable. I'm saying that in godly love. As I said this morning, if I see you going down the river in a boat, and see you're going to hit the falls, that boat won't take it, me screaming at you and hollering at you, I'm not trying to hurt you. I love you. Because if you don't, your life will be lost,
Is there another raise up their hands before we pray? I see you back out there. God bless you, and you, and you. You know your life shows you're wrong. You still love the world more than God, then there's something wrong somewhere. Look at you. Out in the rooms out there, raise up your hand, say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham." God bless you. God bless... That's right. Honest to goodness, I--I admire sincerity.
That's what's the trouble with the Pentecostal church today. We haven't got that real sincerity we used to have. We haven't got the audacity to--to come and say that--admit we're wrong.

^E-103 The devil's just got such a hold on the church until it's just wallowing in the muck of the world. Don't do that. Your own life proves that you haven't got what you're saying you got. Then why not confess it? "He that will confess his sin shall have pardon: he that hides his sin shall not prosper." You can't hide it. God knows all about it. And if you see and know that you're not living right, then why not confess it, and come out, and let it be clear?
Some people's sins go before them; some follow. Let mine go before. Let me tell all of mine right now. Let God get it right. That's what we ought to do.

^E-104 There's been about six or eight hands go up. There surely is more than that in this little church tonight of hundred or two people here, maybe a hundred and fifty. Now, God bless you, young man. Now, God bless you, lady. God bless you, sister. That's right. God bless you, son. That's good. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
Pentecostal women used to not cut their hair, but they do it today. What happened? You used to not make--wear--wear makeup. Your mother didn't, if she was Pentecostal. What happened today? Because they're wallowing in the things of the world. And the world looks at us. We claim to be a holiness church. What's the matter? We don't look like the bride of Christ. What about you men out there? Same thing. Brother, shame on you.

^E-105 Heavenly Father, when I look out across, and make an altar call in such a way as that, rebuking, tearing down, seems like it's harsh. But inside of me's bleeding, when I know we're nearing the end. These little boats is going to crack up one of these days. Death's going to strike in the struggle. And how many times have been called by their side and hear them say, "Oh, Brother Branham, if I could only live it over again." Then while these are able, Lord, to make it right...
I'm trying my best, God. May the Holy Spirit reveal it to the people that I'm only trying to help them not to scold them. But as Paul said of old... God, I don't want them to be hurt, but I want to hurt them enough that they'll see where they're wrong.

^E-106 I pray that You'll grant tonight, these people in raising their hands with--with even enough respects to--to recognize before God that they're wrong, and they want to be right... "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it'll be opened." But if you never knock, how is it going to open? If you never seek, how you going to find?
Let the Holy Spirit, Lord, bring these people to a full surrender to God tonight. And may the great Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sanctify them, soul, body, and spirit, and place them into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ; for the marriage of the Lamb is at hand, and His bride has made herself ready. O Lord, may this be the night of preparation, for tomorrow may be the day we meet Him. We don't know what hour we'll be called on to meet Him. Grant it, Lord.

^E-107 Now, while I'm praying, and you got your heads down, I... Every one of you that's raised your hand, if you're deeply sincere with that, and you really mean it, and you're not ashamed to let the people know that you've been wrong... You're going to have to stand with them there at the judgment anyhow. And God has put enough conviction on you that you know that you're wrong...
Here some time ago, I was preaching something like that. I spoke to a young lady standing back there. She looked horrible, a minister's daughter. And she met me outside the church. And if she didn't comb me down.
She said, "You ignorant thing," little sassy, painted-up lips, short bobbed hair. She said, "If I want somebody to talk to me about that, I'll get somebody that's got some sense." Said, "Don't you never come into my father's pulpit and preach a thing like that again."
I said, "You mean to tell me your daddy, a good honest Baptist preacher as he is, and wouldn't preach against that?"
She said, "He didn't hire you to come here..."
I said, "He didn't hire me at all. I come by invitation."
She said, "I'll never forgive you for it."
I said, "That's up to you. I only followed the Gospel."
Rose bushes was blowing there in the little wind, beautiful young woman.

^E-108 A little later on, about a year later, I passed through the city. I seen that same young lady with her skirts hanging down, smoking a cigarette, going down the street. I thought, "That's Brother So-and-so's wife--or, daughter." And I walked across the street, see if I couldn't get to her.
She looked up to me, smoking this cigarette, blowed it through her nose. She said, "Hello, preacher," an ungodly slang to it like that.
And I said, "Well, well."
She said, "Take a puff off of my cigarette. Be a man."
I said, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
She reached down in her pocketbook, said, "Then have a cigarette."
I said, "Shame on you. Shame on you to offer God's servant a cigarette."
She said, "Then may you'd take a drink out of my bottle."
I said, "Please don't say it." I looked at her. I couldn't keep from crying, 'cause her daddy's a good man. I looked at her and I thought, "Oh, my. She thought she had plenty of time."

^E-109 I started to walk on. I couldn't keep the tears out of my eyes. I walked on.
She said, "Wait a minute."
I said, "Yes, ma'am?"
She walked back. She was almost ashamed to... be talking to her on the street, people passing by. She walked up.
She said, "You know what you told me that night?"
I said, "I'll always remember."
She said, "I want to tell you, preacher, you was right." She said, "I grieved the Holy Spirit the last time."
Now, here's the remark the woman made to me, and I never forget it as long as I live. She said, "He was dealing with me that night." But said, "When I turned Him down that time, it was my last." Said, "My heart's been so hard, I don't care for God, church, or nothing else. And I cuss my daddy every day." And she said, "I can see my mother's soul fry in hell like a pancake and laugh at it."

^E-110 That's grieving the Holy Spirit the last time. Think of it. Let's go home on the wings of a dove. Let's be the bride. Raise up from your seat now. If you're wrong, come up here, stand here at the altar and say, "I've been wrong. Brother Branham, I got a temper. I--I--I've lived ungodly. I--I shouldn't do these things that I do. Brother Branham, I've did this, that, or the other. I'm guilty of lying. I'm guilty of stealing. I'm guilty of something. I haven't served God the way I should, and I'm ashamed of myself, and I want my life made right. Won't you pray for me here tonight, Brother Branham?" I'll be glad to do it.

^E-111 If God will answer my prayers to hear for the sick, blind, and afflicted, He will certainly hear a prayer for the sinner. Won't you come and be part of the bride tonight? I invite you to come. Thank you, my brother. I admire that kind of a courage, that'll walk out and admit you're wrong. God bless you, brother. Stand right here.
You mean to tell me you could raise up your hand and not be sincere about it? What's happened to the people? Brother, what's the matter? What's the matter with our people in this day? You mean you'd raise up your hand that you was wrong and then won't come? And know "He that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to Him it's evil"? Won't you come? while the pianist or, if you will, sister, organist, just a little music.

^E-112 I'm inviting you. I want to ask you. How many in this audience has been in the meetings when... You know I'm not a preacher. I have no education. God bless you, little lady. That takes a real girl to do that. This little flower coming here, bless you, my sister. That's real courage. I admire that little lady. God bless you, honey. I got a little girl at home about your-all's age, little Rebekah. I appreciate you. Little Indian girl? God bless you, my sister, little princess. God be with you, sweetheart. You little sisters, God be with you, and with you, sister.
Now, looky here. If young ladies like that, little girls, tender in conscience, and preach a sermon that cuts them to pieces... And here they come up here, knowing that they're wrong, stand up here before the audience to make a confession, surely, surely you older women... Won't you come? Move up here, and stand along here.

^E-113 How many in this meeting has stood and seen in the audience women, men, and all come up when I was standing praying for the sick, and the Holy Spirit tell them things of their sins, and things, and know... How many of you knows that's true? Never failing. The Holy Spirit's telling me, that same Holy Spirit, that there's something in here tonight grieving Him. Now, that's THUS SAITH THE LORD. Now, meet it here or there.
I'm not a person given over to emotions. No, sir. I know exactly where I'm standing, and I--I know God. That's right. There's many of you need to be standing right here where these young girls are. Now, won't you come? I'm inviting you. I won't persuade. I'm just telling you.
Somebody said, "I never heard an altar call where a minister rebuked the audience and things like that." That's the way it's supposed to be done. You don't come up on some heartbroken story of some mother dying or something like that. That's under emotion. The Word of God's what you come on. You don't come for--under any emotion, you come believing that God is God, and you're in the judgment house of the Lord, and you've come pleading your case.

^E-114 God bless you, my brother, my sister. I want to shake your hand and say that I appreciate you. Honest convictions... Little lady, I appreciate you. God bless you. May He give you that gallant Spirit. Bless you, my brother. God be with you. Once more, then we're going to close. It may close for the last time too. See? I don't know when. I hope it don't. But it may. See?

^E-115 Remember, the Holy Spirit was what cut into your heart, and come up here. Just think of the places He cut,