| What Was The Holy Ghost Given For? |
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1 I see Brother Neville believes in laying on of hands. I see I got a couple of questions. Now, I'll get these tomorrow night, 'cause I don't have time to look through them tonight for you, perhaps on last night's message. Now, if anyone has a question on any of the messages, just lay them up one night, and I can pick them up the next night.
Now, tomorrow night I would like to find, or have, rather, some
ministers if possible; if not, some good, solid men or women that we
could call on in the time of need, that in the event... Tomorrow night
we start after the message to laying on hands and--for the Holy Spirit.
And then, they'll be a... You have your privilege of staying right here
if you wish to all through the holidays if it takes that long to die.
And then--then, if not, if you desire to go to your own home, why, we
would be glad if you get in a place where you... Just don't know where
to go... We want to get some ministers, their numbers if they're
visitors, their numbers where they're staying, that where we could get
ahold of them right away, and get one in one home, one in another, and
one in another, that they could give you instructions, you who are
going to seek for this great blessing that we're talking about, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
3
Last night we were speaking what It was, "What Was the Holy Spirit?"
And we found It to be just about everything that God promised to us. In
It we found just what God's church would need. We found It to be a
Seal, a Comforter, the Rest, and the Joy, and the Peace, and the
Resurrection. And all that God promised to His church lays within the
Holy Spirit.
5
Now, and tomorrow--tonight we're teaching on, What was the purpose of
God sending the Holy Spirit? What's It for? If It's such a great thing,
then why did God send It? Then tomorrow night we want to talk on, Is It
for You; and How Do You Get It; and How Do You Know When You've Got It?
And then, after we get through that with the Scriptures, explain it by
the Scriptures, using the Scriptures for all things, then those who are
seeking the Holy Spirit will come forward then. And then, I hope the
revival's on from then on, to move on then with the Holy Spirit. 7 And now, tonight before we read the Scriptures, let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. And just before we pray, you with your heads bowed, would you have a request, just raise your hands and say, "God, I solemnly raise my hands; I have need. And I pray that You'll help me, oh, Lord." God bless each of you. He sees your hands. The Angels have taken your request down.
8
And heavenly Father, we now come approaching Thee again in prayer.
Which no doubt that prayer has already been made among the children of
God tonight in this little place, and that songs have been sung, and we
have lifted hearts in joyful rejoicings at the praises of God.
10
And we too know at the end of the road we got that long, shadowy valley
called death to walk through. O Lord, who would hold our hands then? We
want to know You now, Lord. We want to know that You've got our hands
and we got Your hand, that we can have that anchored assurance that
when we come to that last great moment of our life, that--enter into
that door called death, that we can say with the saint of old, "I know
Him in the power of His resurrection, and I know that when He calls,
I'll come out from among the dead."
12
We believe that we are living in the last days, in the shadow of His
coming. And that's what these messages are directed to, Lord. It's for
the people to take heed, take warning. And may tonight we just pull off
the shell right now, lay it over on the side of the bench, say, "Lord
God, I am a receptacle to You. Let Your Spirit surge through me, mold
me and make me after Thy will. I'll yield my heart, my strength, my all
to Thy cause."
14
Now, you that's keeping these Scriptures down, if you would turn with
me to St. John again, the 14th chapter, we want to begin at the 14th
chapter of St. John. And let's start about the 14th verse, St. John
14:14, and just read a portion of this Scripture.
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:... (Might keep the church's sayings, but keep His sayings. You see?)... and the words which ye hear is not mine, but the Father which sent me.
These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things,
and bring all these things... (That's His Word.)... to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (What purpose did God send the Holy Spirit then? May He add His blessings to His Word.)
16
Jesus said that, "At that day you'll know that I am in the Father, and
the Father is in Me, and you're--I'm in you, and you're in Me."
19
Now, the purpose... What was--what was God's purpose in sending the
Holy Spirit? (Now, mark that down, John 14, beginning at the 14th verse
and reading through the chapter for the basis.) God's purpose we find
here in sending the Holy Spirit, was one purpose: that God Himself
might dwell in His church and continue His plans through the church,
that God was in Christ continuing His plans through Christ, out of
Christ into the church, continuing His work through the church.
21 You know, in the same chapter of John 14 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and it will satisfy us." 24 When men makes fun of you, they're not making fun of you; they're making fun of Him that sent you. So Jesus said, "Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for My Name sake. Blessed are you." And again, "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." For when God made Hisself known in Christ, they hated Him. Who hated Him worse? The church. The church hated Him worse. They hated Him worse than the--the drunkard. They hated Him worse than all the other people. It was the church that hated Him. So therefore, when you see Kosmos, the world order... "The world knowed Him not" means the "church (so-called) knew Him not." "He came to His own and His own received Him not. But as many as did receive Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, to them that believed on His Name." Oh, how we should love Him and worship Him. The purpose of God, wanting to become in fellowship... Like...
25
'Fore we leave that text, let's use this. In the days of Ruth, in the
law of redemption when Naomi had left the country because of trial,
hard times, she went into the Moabite land, which were just lukewarm,
nominal Christians, because the Moabites come from the daughter of Lot.
And they were so-called believers and mixed up. And then, her husband
died and her two sons died. And on the road home Naomi--Ruth and Naomi
on their road home, her--one of her daughter-in-laws, Orpah, she said
that she would return back to her country, to her gods, and to her
church, and to her people. And Naomi tried to get Ruth to go back, but
she said, "Your people are my people; your God is my God. Where you
die, there I'll die; where you're buried, there I'll be buried. And
I'll not turn back."
27
And just as sure as you're hungering tonight for the Holy Spirit, it's
something in you pulling you, that a purpose of God in your life has
got to be fulfilled just like it was with Ruth. 29 And that's the way God did: followed His own laws. God cannot follow--give you one law to follow and Him follow another. He follows His own laws. Then God, in order to redeem the lost church, the lost world, the lost creation... God, Who is infinite in Spirit, to redeem the lost human race, God Himself become kinfolks, a Man, a Son that He created in the womb of Mary. And then He made an ensign or a testimony. Outside the gates of Jerusalem He was lifted up between the heavens and earth, and died, and redeemed everything. And in bleeding He sanctified a church that He Himself might live in, and fellowship, and commune with, that lost spot of fellowship from the garden of Eden where God came down every evening, church time. Did you notice, God came down in the cool of the day, the setting of the sun. There's something about when it starts to get night, people think of church and of God--Christians. You see the sun setting; you realize that your sun is setting.
30
And in the cool of the evening He'd come down and commune with them.
And there He lost that fellowship, because sin would not let Him do it.
And then He was made flesh and dwelt among us in order that He could
come back again to man, and live in man, and restore man to a state of
communion with Him again, and give him back his God given right. That's
what He did. 32 God poured Himself into Christ. Correct. Christ poured Himself into the church; therefore... Now, watch. "At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you." At that day you'll know it, for it's--the whole thing is one plan of redemption coming down, that God coming back to live in, and dwell with, and commune to His people as He did at the beginning. Now, then as soon as He gets His church in speaking conditions, gets His church to a place that He can flow Himself through, and love, and persuade, and fellowship, then there'll come a Eden. He'll take His church back to where it--it left Him at back to an Eden again, there where it fell. It... Now, that's where it made its first start of fall; there's where it'll be taken right back with every clean slate of redemption, bringing them straight back to that place again.
33
The church has been in the world for some time. And the church, really,
after the reformation of 1500 years of dark ages... Luther was the
first reformer to come forth after the round of the apostles. And then,
when Luther come forth, God tipped up a little bit of the Spirit and
poured It out upon the church in justification. And then in the days of
Wesley He poured out a little more of Hisself into sanctification. And
as the age has growed on to the end time, God has been filling His
church. Just look around and find out if that's truth or not. 35 "Our Sunday Visitor," the Catholic paper, give confession that the Pentecostals produced 1,500,000 conversions in one year, outdone all the rest the churches together. The Catholic only changed--claimed a million. In their own "Sunday Visitor," the paper called the "Sunday Visitor" gave statement that the Pentecostals outrun them. And remember, Pentecostal conversions is Holy Ghost filled conversions. In the minority to start with, on the side of the alley out there with an old guitar... And women couldn't even afford a pair of stockings. Laying out on the railroad tracks, and picking up corn and mashing it, and making bread for their children. But what's it come to? The most powerful standing church in the world today, not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God, because He proves it by what He's doing for them; He's pouring Hisself into them, pouring It in.
36
Notice now what taken place. God pouring Himself into them... Now, the
church has got to a place, from Luther, Wesley... And the revival's on
with the Pentecost. And now into this age that we're coming now by the
same Holy Spirit, just more of It... Now, when them Lutherans back
there got saved, they got a portion of the Holy Spirit. When the
Methodists got sanctified, that was a work of the Holy Spirit. See? It
was a part of the Holy Spirit. "They without us are not made perfect,"
says the Scriptures. See?
38 But it's just like I said to a Lutheran college not long ago. They said, "What have we got?"
40
Now, then the Methodists, they were tassels. They looked back to the
Lutherans, said, "We got sanctification; you haven't got nothing in
it." By and by, from that pollen, from the Methodist come forth a
grain--a ear of corn; that was Pentecost. There you are: justification,
one stage of it; sanctification, another stage of it; the Holy Spirit,
another stage of it. Pentecost--Luther, Wesley, Pentecost. 42 Now, in this age that we're now living, this age, it's beyond Pentecost. Pentecost has settled itself into organizations and started faking whole lot about organizations. "We are this, and we are that." That's just nature; you just can't help it. It's nature; they'll do that. It's the plan for them to do that. But the church has moved on. It's gone into greater, more powerful... It's the restoration of gifts. And many Pentecostal people does not believe in Divine healing, ministry of Angels, and powers of God. Many Pentecostals calls these visions that I see, the devil. Many organizations won't even have nothing to do with it in Pentecost. See, we've moved beyond that. Just as Methodists called Pentecostal crazy for speaking in tongues, just as Lutheran called Methodists crazy for shouting... See? But it's all a coming forth of the Holy Spirit till the great church is being filled up and chugged full (Hallelujah.) of the great powers of Almighty God, until It's got to a place until the very works that Jesus done has manifest itself right in the church now. We're close, friends.
43
Let me stop here just for a minute to get what God put the Holy Ghost
in the church for, give you another type so that you'll know. Back in
the Old Testament when a--a child... A man made hisself a home; he got
his bride; that's the first thing. Then he become a great man, like an
organization. That was good. The next thing happened, there come a
birth into that home. That's when the Holy Spirit (See?)--another
spirit came in, which was a son. That son, he was not in full charge,
neither was he a heir until he got a certain age; and he had to be
proved first. Yes. And then, they had the law of adoption. (To you
ministers, the placing of a son is what I'm speaking of now. See?) Then
when he come to a place to where he was adopted...
45
If you've got a sick man laying here, or a sinner laying here, or a man
that wants to be right (can't give up drinking, can't give up smoking,
can't give up lust and things); if you'll just work according to the
laws of God, let the Holy Spirit come in there, then he's no more his
own. He--he will stop that thing, because the Holy Spirit takes him
over. But you've got to work according to the laws of God, the rules of
God. 47 And then, when this boy got to a certain age (say he was matured), if that boy was just a renegade, no good, didn't care for the father's business, all he thought about was flirting and running with the womens, or--or drinking, or gambling, or horse racing, that boy would always be a son, but he was never placed in position to have heir to all his father had. But if he was a good boy, and he was about the father's business, and he proved to be the right child, then they had a ceremony. They took the boy out into the street and put a white robe on him. And they set him up on a scaffold so all the city could see. They made a feast and a jubilee. And the father then had the ceremony of adoption. He adopted his own son into his own business, and then the son was coequal with his father. In other words, if it'd been today, the son's name on the check was just as good as the daddy's. 48 Now, watch what God did. When His Son was born, He let Him go for thirty years, testing Him, trying Him, then He give Him three years of hard trial. And then at the end of the hard trial when He seen that His Son was about the Father's business (Mount Transfiguration, Book of Luke), He took Peter, James, and John (three witnesses) and went up on top of the mountain; and there God performed the laws of adoption. He... They looked up, and they seen Jesus, and His clothes shined as white as the lightning. And as a cloud overshadowed Him, and a Voice come out of the cloud and said, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him. I'll set down now and have no more to say. What He says is Law and Truth." 49 Now, the church has come through those schools. She married back yonder a long time ago and become a denomination, an organization. But you notice, the birth produced something else. And now, it's got to a place to where the Pentecostal church with the new birth has been tested and tried. And now, it's coming to a place... God doesn't deal with the church as just an organization. He doesn't deal with the church as a--a group of people. He deals with the church as an individuals, each individual in the church. And now it's got to a time... And it's no secret; we all see it. When a man proves, and God loves him, He takes him out somewhere to himself. There in the front of Angels He does something for him. He lifts him up there in the Presence of God, and gifts him, and fills him, and sets him out. That's the age that we're living in.
50
Same Holy Spirit that saved the Lutherans, that sanctified the
Methodists, that baptized the Pentecostals, is now setting in order the
coming of the Lord Jesus. When it'll be so powerful, that Body will
come into this group of church that'll draw the rest of them from the
grave. There'll be a resurrection. That's what the Holy Ghost is for.
51
We're in a day now... Back there, they wasn't half as smart as today.
They couldn't make an atomic bomb or an automobile. They didn't have
science and things as we have now, but--and things of mysterious
things. To try to say man blowed together by some dust and so forth,
and take some analysis, and try to prove it to make infidels out of
people... But now, when we need it, the Spirit of God raises a
standard. What is it? He's pouring in His Spirit. Then those who are
resting out yonder in the grave, or under the altar of God as the
Scripture says, are crying, "How long, Lord? How long? How much
longer?" God's waiting on me and you. The church is waiting on me and
you: adoption time, when God can pour into us His Fullness, His power,
His Resurrection, that when the church and Christ become so close
together till Christ becomes visible among us, and raises the dead, and
we go into the rapture. 53 Now, God gave the Holy Spirit. I got another Scripture here in John 14:12. That's a very familiar Scripture with all the people here at the tabernacle. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me..." Now, don't let that word "believeth" kinda set you back. In a nominal church, say, "Yes, I believe. Sure, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God." The devil believes the same thing. That's exactly. The Bible said he does. But the Scripture says in John that no man can call Jesus the Christ, only by the Holy Ghost. You've actually, by the Scripture... (Let me stop here just a minute 'fore I finish reading.)
54
You are not converted until you've received the Holy Ghost. That's
right. You are believing unto... The Holy Spirit has spoke to you, and
you've publicly confessed Him. The devil has the same thing. "I believe
Him to be the Son of God." So does the devil. But you're walking on
towards Him. When Peter had been called and justified by believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ... And in John 17:17, Jesus sanctified them
through the Word, for the Word was the Truth, and He was the Word. I
John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among
us."
55
He gave them power against unclean spirits. They went out. He put their
names in the Lamb's Book of Life. And He sent them out (Matthew 10) and
gave them power over unclean spirits, cast out evil spirits, and do
works, and so forth. And they come back rejoicing, said, "Even the
devils is subject to us." 56 Watch, that spirit will be just as pious and just as sanctimonious as it can be, until it comes to the Holy Ghost, and they'll cut it off right there; that's that spirit, can't you see it moving up, the antichrist? And Jesus said they'd be so close together in the last days it would deceive the very Elected if possible. But remember, it's just the elected that will see it. God calls by election. He'll... Aren't you happy that you're one of them? Aren't you people here tonight, knowing that something in your heart tugging, "I want that Holy Spirit. I want you, Lord, in my heart"? That's because God put your name on the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. He said that. "No man can come to Me," said Jesus, "except My Father has drawed him first. And all that comes to Me, I'll give them Eternal Life." What is Eternal Life? The Holy Spirit, Eternal Life. Take that word and run it in the Greek, and it said "Zoe"; Zoe is the Holy Spirit. "All that the Father's given Me will come to Me. And all that comes to Me, I'll give him the Holy Ghost, and I'll raise him up at the last day. I will do it," He said. Not no "if" and "ands" about it, "I will." All that comes... And I'll give Eternal Life. He will have to raise, 'cause he's got Eternal Life. He has to come. Can't die no more than God can die...
57
Oh, my dear friends from around this country and in this little city,
if I could only with my human voice place into your heart the
importance of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it would be the
most wonderful revelation that you ever had in your life to see what...
you must do it.
60
Now, let me finish reading John 14:12. Now, in the 14th chapter and
12th verse Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that
believeth (and you cannot believe...)--believeth on Me..." You can
believe unto Him. How many understands that, say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]
63
A brother said to me the other day, he said, "Brother Branham..." (or
some time ago, months ago)--he said, "Brother Branham, Abraham believed
God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." 64 You say, "I believe it because the pastor said so." He's right, but that doesn't count for you. "I believe it because the Word says so." That's right, but that isn't for you; that doesn't count you. The only way that you can say that Jesus is the Christ, is when the Holy Ghost comes into you, and bears record, and witnesses Itself out; He is the Son of God. That's the only way you know the resurrection, is when the Holy Ghost bears record. "When He the Holy Ghost is come, He will testify of Me, show you things to come, bring these things that I've said to your memories." You'll never find it in the school. See? He will bring these things to your memories.
65 Now, we want to read just a little further in this Scripture now: St. John 14:12. 67 Now, "The works that I do shall you do also," not another work, but God wants to bring the Holy Ghost in you to continue the same work that He was doing in Christ. The work wasn't so needy in the days of Luther; that was God's church. It wasn't but a little bit more needier in the days of Wesley, because the world, the Bible said, would get weaker, and wiser, and more wicked all the time. We're... The world's getting more wicked all... We know that. Why, men do things today that--a hundred years ago you wouldn't have thought there'd been a human being that cruel. "More wicked all the time, and the wicked shall do wickeder all the time," said the Scripture, "more and more."
68
So the Holy Spirit has been moving. There was just a little breath of
It with Luther, a little blow of It with Wesley, and a deeper blow of
It with the--Pentecost. Now, the Breath and the Spirit has become the
same. She's uniting together, bringing forth that same powerful blow of
the Holy Ghost like He did back there, is manifesting the same works
that He did back there, is being manifested right today, the same thing. 70 Now, notice, Here's another thing I'd like to say right here. "As--" Jesus said, "as the Father has sent Me... As (Now, watch.)--as the Father has sent Me, so send I you." As the Father... How did the Father send Him? The Father that sent Him come down from heaven and dwelt in Him. He went forth; He said, "I always do that which pleases My Father." See? He went about doing the things that the Father was showing Him to do. "I do nothing except My Father shows Me first." The God that sent Him, was on the inside of Him. "And as the Father sent Me (the same way the Father sent Me), so I send you." What is it? God in you. Carrying on what? The same works, the same... Jesus said, "He that believeth (He that has Me on the inside of him, the Holy Spirit)--he that believeth (that's already witnessed My resurrection), and know that I'm in him... He that's in Me; if ye abide in Me, My words abide in you..."
71 Now, you say, "I abide in Jesus, but I sure don't believe in Divine healing." That shows He's not there. 74 "If ye abide in Me and My Word's in you, ask what you will," because you're asking His Word, and His Word is Life. Speak it; if God said it and you're sure He said it, the Holy Ghost bears record that Word's right, then there you are, brother. Speak it. There it is. "Say to this mountain, 'Be moved.' Don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you said's going to come to pass." It's not you that speaketh, but the Father that dwelleth in you, He doeth the talking. It's not you talking to that mountain; it's the Father that's in you speaking to that mountain; it has to move. "All heavens and earth will pass away," He said, "but My Spirit shall not--or My Word shall not pass away." Certainly, It cannot pass away. "Father..."
75
Now. "The works that I do..." God is in His church to continue His
works. That's why He sent the Holy Ghost. Now, He knowed that. He--He
knowed it wouldn't be--it couldn't be done that way, so was it by
otherwise... So He had to send... The Father sent the Son, put all
that's in the Son in you. And the same works that He did, the same very
works now that Jesus did, you'll do also, the church. Wouldn't you like
to do the works of God? Jesus said, "If you want to do the works of
God, believe on Me." How you believe on Him? You can't do it till you
got the Holy Ghost, 'cause no man can say He is the Son of God. You're
saying what somebody else said,
78 Now, He said, "These works that I do shall you also (John 14:12.)" Now, the same works...
81
But we've done everything else besides what He... He said, "Go ye into
all the world and preach the Gospel." What does the Gospel? Not Word
only, but through power and demonstrations of the Holy Ghost. Making
the Word of God manifest is the Gospel. You can't do it.
83
So Jesus knowed that there'd be a great intellectual move just like
there was in His days, intellec--washing of pots and pans, and wearing
of clothes, and turned-around collars, and everything as they did, all
these different things that they would do. He knowed they'd do that. So
He said, "Now, just wait a minute. I'm going to not leave you
comfortless; I'm coming again to be with you. Therefore," He said, "the
works that I do, you'll do also."
85
Therefore, no other blood would sanctify people. I couldn't sanctify
you, and you couldn't sanctify me, 'cause we're both born after sex.
But Jesus was born without sex. That's right. So His Blood was a
Sanctifier. And God came down, made a body, lived in it, shed that
Blood for the sanctifying of this, which absolutely expelled the guilt
of sin and shame. Then through faith, believing in that, God comes
right down into that human body by the sanctifying of that Blood, puts
him Abraham's seed by faith to believe that that Blood would come, that
pure Blood that would be a miracle like His Blood.
87
He said to the servants, "You stand here with the mule and wait. The
son and I will go yonder and worship, and the son and I shall return."
Oh, how is he going to do it? Abraham said, "I received him as one from
the dead, and I know that He that give him to me as one from the dead,
is able to rise him up from the dead if I only keep His Word. Keep... I
keep His Word; He's able to raise him up from the dead," perfectly
speaking of Christ.
90
And they took heed. They was ignorant and unlearned, but they took heed
they'd been with Jesus. That's what the Holy Ghost come for.
92
Death, why, when they took little old Stephen out there and said, "Take
it back!" he said, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in the heart and
ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost. Like your fathers did, so do
you!"
94
The Holy Ghost come to give you power. I got some more Scriptures here
just a minute. The Holy Ghost come to give you power (I--I ain't... You
can find this. I'm just too much of away tonight), give you power,
power in prayer.
96
He gives you power in speech. Why, my, those people that was afraid
standing out there... Peter, James, John, Luke, and all the rest of
them, they'd done got in the upper room and said, "Oh, we can't stay no
more. Them... Looky there. There's Dr. So-and-so-and-so out there.
There's Rabbi So-and-so-and-so. You know, he had four degrees of
college. How we ever stand against him?" 97 And finally when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one place in one accord. God had been above them in a fiery cloud. God had walked with them on earth. Now, something else is going to take place. Something's fixing to happen. They were all in one place in one accord. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the room where they were setting. Cloven tongues set upon them. What is cloven? "Parted," like stammering. Did you ever hear anybody stammer? They go, "Ah-ah-ah [Brother Branham imitates someone stammering--Ed.]." See? They can't say nothing, "Cloven, parted," like a cloven hoof. Means something that's "split, parted." They wasn't talking; they wasn't jabbering; they wasn't doing nothing but just making a noise. Cloven tongues set upon them as if it was fire. Oh, they couldn't hold themselves. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Whew.
98
Then what happened? Out into the streets they went. "Where is that
Rabbi Jones? Where is that fellow at? Where is that intellectual giant?
God was over us with Moses in the burning bush. He fed us with manna on
high. He walked with us for three years--or three years and six months
here on earth. But now He's in me. It's not me that speaketh; it's Him.
I know Who He is; I know who I am. I ain't no more, and He is. Bring
him up here."
99 "Well now, what degree did you have?" What--where--what school did you come from?" 101 As long as God's got a people, God's got a church, God's got the Holy Ghost marching with It. That's what God gave the Holy Ghost for. Intellectuals will rise, always have. But God's got a minority somewhere. God's got a little church that'll move right on with the baptism of the Holy Ghost to claim in the Light. And they'll be the ones that through their testimony, will judge the world. Don't the Bible say, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God," and the other one say that the just--the saints shall judge the earth? Sure, your testimony today will bring judgment against this city. Our testimony of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the power of God, a holy life, will bring judgment against this city. When this... 102 Them that are first will be last; them that are last will be first. I won't know nothing about Sankey, Moody in their resurrection. They'll not know nothing about me in this one, but I'll stand in this one to give testimony. So will you. And through that, by the scattering of your light, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and by the lives that you live, and the things that God has done to prove that He's moving here; and with their intellectuals, walked away from it, they'll be judged by the saints. They're already judged; they've already passed it.
103 Oh, my. I was talking on power of prayer, power of speech, power for a holy life. Amen. That's what the Holy Ghost is to do.
106
It's to quit making you smoke, and drink, and be--want to be a big
shot. It'll take that out of you. It'll humble you when you do that.
That's what the Holy Ghost is for. It's for a holy life (That's
right.): make you quit gossiping; make you quit playing cards, shooting
craps, and all these other things that you do around the corner. It'll
make you quit your carrying on the way you're doing, living untrue to
your wife. That's what It'll do. That's right. It'll quit making you
want to marry somebody else's wife. That's exactly right. That's what
It is. It's to make you live a holy life. That's what the Holy Ghost is
power for, to set your affections on things above where God stands at
the...?... The mind of Christ in you. You can't help from seeing those
things. When you look at them, you turn your head. That's right. It's
to make you... 108 "I'm a Baptist." "I'm Presbyterian; I wouldn't go to that little old holy-roller bunch." The Holy Ghost come to take all that starch out of you. That's what It is. It washes you in the Blood, irons you out. That's what It come to do. It come to straighten you up. He said, "Make the crooked places straight." That's what It come to do, straighten it up, make the high places low, make all the mountains look like they're all dancing like little rams, and all the leaves are clapping [Brother Branham claps his hands--Ed.] their hands to you. The birds sing different. Joybells a-ringing. There's no excuses. That's what It come to do. That's the purpose of God send the Holy Ghost, so you would do these things. That you would work--walk after Him.
109
Now, I don't want to hurt you, but I've told you I'm here with the
deepest of sincerity. To keep from pinching you, once in a while I jump
off on a line somewhere (and just stay with the Truth.), but staying
there and make it in such a way it won't pinch you too hard. 111 If the Bible says it's wrong for a woman to put on a garment that pertain to a man, and you wear these little old overalls and slacks out here on the road... You grown women... I guess a little baby would be all--think if they're play with little boys and things. But look, when you--when you grown women fifteen, sixteen, eighteen years old, and up to grandma, out here on the road... And the Bible says it's an abomination in the sight of God for a woman to wear those things, and you wear them anyhow, and say you got the Holy Ghost? I wonder sometimes. The Holy Ghost will follow God's Word to the letter. And a preacher behind the pulpit that ain't got grace enough to preach it, I doubt he's got It. Well, that's what the Holy Ghost is for. 112 It's to give unction to the preacher. It's to give holiness to the group. It's to set the church in order. It's to bring a unity of spirit. It's to unite us together with power. It's to unite us together with love, brotherly love. I don't care if you're Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, whatever you are, if we've all been by one Holy Spirit baptized into one Body and become members of the Body of Jesus Christ and not... There's nothing present, nothing future, hunger, starvation; nothing can separate us from the love of God, the love of Christ--love of God that's in Christ, because we are borned of His Spirit, washed in His Blood. We are a new creature. That's what God came to do. That's what the Holy Spirit's for. Yes, sir. That's what...
113
Now, people. Look at me in the face. A lot of hands went up you had the
Holy Ghost. See? Sure, there was. Oh. Now, I'm--I'm just going to
bounce just a little bit here. This is taped. But we're going to get
more to it tomorrow night. If you say you've got It and are guilty of
these, I wonder what's a-leading you. God will never lead you off the
Word. He'll keep you with the Word, 'cause that's God's own laws of His
church for His people, for women, and for men.
116
Now, I don't mean to hurt you. I love you too much. But, brother,
sister, do you realize what--that I know that I've got to stand in the
last days at that resurrection with this generation of people and give
an account for this Word? And the Holy Spirit showing this and me
preaching out yonder, where you going to stand? How you going to get by
with it? You can't do it, friend. Don't... Now, stop that. Whatever
you're doing that's wrong, stop it. You say, "I can't." Then you
haven't got the "Can'ter" in you yet. When the Holy Spirit comes, He
gives you power over the world. And if you... Listen what He said: "If
you love the world or the things of the world, it's because the love of
God isn't in you." Now, there's no excuses. He makes it plain, and we
got to come up to that mark.
118
Now, come up to it, brother, sister. Don't let some of these
intellectual colleges around here tell you, "Oh, that's old-fogy
stuff." If it's old-fogy stuff, then God's old-fogy. And if God's
old-fogy, then I am too. Amen. I want to be like Him. Why? His Spirit
is in me that hungers and thirst, calling everything contrary to the
Word...
123
And the Holy Spirit will always lead you to Truth, and His Truth is the
Word. "My Word is the Truth. Let every man's word be a lie, but let
Mine be true."
127
And I thought when I see a woman walk down the street with herself all
carried out like that and man's clothes on, that's what it looks like
to God; it's an abomination, something that's filthy and stinking
before God. Yet, she'll go to church on Sunday and decorate up.
There'll go a man down there, and drink, and cheat, and love money, and
cheat his neighbor, and everything else to get a little extra money,
and do these things, and gamble, and smoke, and drink, and lie, and
then goes to church and testify: abomination, filthiness. That's the
intellectual church. 129 And today over--cancer is causing... Ninety something per cent of the deaths of throat and lung cancer is caused by smoking cigarettes. "Defile the body, I'll destroy it." But they're so hell bound, rolling on like that, they don't know. And some preacher standing in the pulpit with four degrees out of college, smoking hisself. Let me tell you something, brother. The Holy Ghost was sent to call men and women out of that thing. Separate yourself. The word "church" means to be "separated." "Come out from among them," said the Bible. "Touch not their unclean, and I'll receive you; and you be sons and daughters to Me, and I'll be God to you." Oh, my. I don't mean to be mean, but I mean to be honest and to be truthful. Yes, sir. Oh, what a horrible thing.
130 Men and women, where do we stand today? Where we at? Let's stop.
132
There was Moses (the same God that I serve), stood yonder at a hundred
and twenty years old. There was Caleb, stood at the age of ninety with
a sword in his hand and said, "Joshua, put this sword in my hand forty
years ago." He was eighty then. Said, "I'm just as good a man today as
I was then." Amen.
134
Here sometime ago, we had a fire down in the city here, Pfau Oil
Company caught on fire. They had the Jeffersonville Fire Department
down there. And a friend of mine (good man), never used to big fires
like that, he was walking up, saying, "Spurt a little water over here,
boys. Spurt a little water over here."
137
Each person setting here's filled with something. (Then I'm going to
close. I may have to after that.) You're filled with something. You
can't set there without being full of something. You've got a life in
you. That life governs you, and that life is governed by a spirit. Now,
you might be full of the world, loving the world or the things of the
world. God be merciful to you. You might be full of creeds from some
church, some little prayers that you say, you think that it's going
to--or pray to some dead person, or--or make some kind of a sign across
you. God be merciful to you.
140
In the world to come through our Lord Jesus Christ and Who said He was
coming in glory and majesty... The sea will give up its dead. The
corruptible bodies of those that sleep in Him shall... Sleep in Him...
How do you get in Him? By one Spirit we're all baptized into one Body.
The corruptible bodies of those that sleep in Him shall be changed and
made like unto His own glorious body, whereby He's able to subdue all
things unto Himself. "I heard a voice from heaven," said John. "Said
unto me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord...?... that
die in the Lord from henceforth, for they rest from their labors, and
their works do follow them.'" That's what He sent the Holy Ghost for.
Oh, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. "I am in Him, and He is in me;
the Father in Him, and He in the Father; and the Father in me, and I in
Him." 142 I can hear the water splash yonder on the Ohio River. When I was a little old boy preacher about twenty-two years old, singing that there, and I heard... Looked up above me and heard a Voice, said, "Look up." Here comes that big Light hanging right yonder, come moving down over me and said, "As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, you'll have a Message that'll forerun the second coming of Christ." Oh, how could I believe it? But it happened just the same. And tonight revival fires are burning around and around the world. The great ransomed Church of God lifted Herself out of that place. And great campaigns of healing, and signs, and wonders, and miracles, showing forth the coming. 143 You're an alien, and you're a stranger. You do strange things, different from what you used to do. You don't act like you used to. The people... The Holy Ghost, when It comes upon you, and you become filled with the Holy Ghost, you ignore the things of the world. You ignore the things that would beset you; you ignore it. Then you become a--a odd acting creature, the ugly duckling to them, the little eagle that was hatched under the hen's nest, that I preached: "And When the Eagle Stirs Its Nest." You're a funny looking creature to them. But, oh, my, walking up the King's highway. Amen. Oh, it's a highway to heaven. I'm walking up the King's highway. Say, "Look at that holy-roller, that ugly duckling. That's that holy-roller preacher."
144
A famous Methodist preacher said to a man today in Louisville, said,
"I'd like to help Brother Billy, but you know what it'd do, I'd have to
stick my neck out." You don't have to stick your neck out for me; He
stuck His Life out for me. Amen. Just walking up the King's highway,
that's all. Oh, my. Filled with His Spirit, borned of His Spirit,
washed in His Blood, hallelujah happy...
146
When I went over to Rome, I noticed that they, everyone had a Roman
spirit. When I went to Greece, they all had a Grecian spirit. When I
went to England, they all had a English spirit. When you go places, you
find... And you find the American spirit; it's horrible.
148
A Roman comes over here and he scratches his head; and a German comes
over here; a American goes there. Why? You got the spirits of them
countries you come from. That's what makes us so much different to the
world. You're from above. You're born; you're--you're a citizen of
another Kingdom. You believe it? That's what the Holy Ghost is, is to
make you a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
150
One more Scripture, if you want to write it down: John 12:24. Let me
quote it to you right quick. Jesus said, "If a corn of wheat falls into
the ground, except it die, it cannot bring forth another life." Now,
look. One closing remark now. And remember then, it is absolutely, now,
to you people--It's absolutely essential, and necessary, and
compelling, and compulsory that you receive the Holy Ghost now, for if
you don't, you can't come in the resurrection.
152
There can be two men, one of them just exactly--both of them just
alike. One of them can be a good man; he could do good works; he could
do so forth; but except that man has Eternal Life in him, he'll never
rise in the resurrection. He can't do it; there's nothing there to
raise. There's nothing to bring him up; there's no life. So you see, my
dear brother, my dear sister, except a man be borned again, he can in
no wise come back into this Kingdom. He can't. "Except this Corn of
wheat falls into the ground and dies..." He's talking of Himself. But
He had, not perpetual life; He had Eternal Life. And the Life He gave
to you, that you might have the same kind of Life... 154 When the moon and stars is gone, and the earth has weeped itself into the--the mountains, and the deserts and everything has--has--it's no more, and the world's a-toddling like a drunk man coming home at night, and the stars refuse to shine and fall from the heavens, and the moon turns into blood, and the--the sun blushes and hides its face, when they see the Son of man coming, you'll shine in the righteousness of Jesus Christ to come forth from the grave as a young, beautiful woman to take your mate and live forever and forever and forever; and all eternal ages you'll still be living. That's what the Holy Ghost is for. 155 If you feel the least tug, don't turn It away. What is the Holy Ghost? God in you. What's It for? To continue His work among His people; to bring His church together; to bring a church to a place in this day, far beyond the Lutheran, Methodist, and Pentecostal, into a place to a adoption and a rapturing grace, that when this part of the church, when the Spirit moves into this church here, it'll just raise. And it'll bring forth, bring forth all of the redeemed that's touched that Spirit. Those Lutherans who stood there with all the light they had in Justification; those Methodists that fell on the floor, and they throwed water in their face from the Spirit striking them through sanctification; those Pentecostals, that they walked up and down the streets and they called them "tongues demong," and "Jabberers," and "goose language," and all of that; they'll stand in the righteousness in the sight of God at that day just as certain as this Bible stands here. If you believe me to be a servant (You call me His prophet; I don't call myself that, but you listen.), I'm telling you in the Name of the Lord: Those that are in Christ will God bring with Him at His coming, at the resurrection, and only those that are in Christ. 156 How do we get in Christ, folks? By one creed we are all joined in? No. By one handshake we are all pulled in? No. By one water we are all baptized in? No. Or by one denomination we are all denominated in? No. "But by (I Corinthians 12:13)--by one Spirit (Holy Spirit, God's Spirit) we are all (Methodists, Baptists, Lutheran, Presbyterian... 'Walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness.')--by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body and been made partakers of His grace." 157 You cannot go to judgment. "He that heareth My words and believeth (No man can believe until he's got the Holy Ghost.)--and believeth on Him that sent Me (when the Holy Ghost has testified of His resurrection) hath Eternal Life, and shall never come into judgment, but has passed from death unto Life." What? You'll never catch the judgment. You'll never stand at the white throne for judgment; you meet your judgment right here. You've passed your judgment when you've passed and say, "I'm no good, and my learning is no good. Lord, come into me, and take me, and lead me, Lord. I don't care what this crazy world says. Lead me, Lord, by Your Spirit." You've judged then. Judge yourself as a fool for Christ. And in His righteousness that day we'll stand immortal in His likeness.
158
Only one way, how? "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body."
And when you're in that Body, judgment has already judged that Body;
and you've accepted Him as the propitiation of your sins. You say,
"I've done that, Brother Branham." Then if the Holy Ghost has come back
and give you a seal as a sign, that Spirit brings you into the Body of
Christ. You turn back the other way, and you're a new creature in
Christ Jesus. You've passed from death unto Life. Old things have gone,
and you are new in Christ. Amen.
160
As Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob sojourn, dwelling in tents in the
land, they professing they were pilgrims and strangers, the seed of the
heir, the heir back there; the father, the heir. We are their seed. And
they was looking for a city whose Builder and Maker was God. Amen. They
were searching. And today their seed is still looking for a city that
comes in... 162 There's only one way to find it. There was a Stone cut out of the mountain without hands that rolled into the world and smashed it out, and it become like wheat--or chaff on the threshing floors. Let that Stone, the Christ Jesus, that Stumbling Stone to the world, a Stone of an offense, a laughing Stone, a Stumbling Block to the church; but a precious and a Lodestone to the believer, a Stone of assurance, a Stone of rest (Oh, my.), resting... I know that I've passed from death unto Life. My soul is at rest. Oh, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest to your soul." "A--a Sign that's to be evil spoken of," said the--the prophet to Mary. It'll be a Sign. Sure it will. But It'll be an assurance; It'll be a love. It'll be a satisfaction. It'll be something that you know you've passed from death unto Life. 163 My brother, my sister, as your brother, as your servant in Christ, let me persuade you with all my heart, don't you let this go over your head, or go by you, or under you. Receive It into your heart, and you'll be a happy person on earth. I'm not promising you you'll get a million dollars. No, sir. Brother Leo, I think there's been too much of that promised now, millions of dollars and things that... Different ones said, "If you'd be a Christian, you'd get a million dollars, and you'll be a rich man." I'm not promising you nothing. I'm promising you this. The only thing I can promise you is salvation. His grace is sufficient for every trial.
164
The people at Pentecost, they didn't even want what they did have. Now,
talk about millionaires. They didn't want what they had, Sister Angie.
I'd like to hear you and Gertie sing one of these days (Where is she
at?), "Homecoming Week," one of these days. Many of them has done
passed across the border since then. Oh, my. They didn't ask for great
things. They didn't ask for money. Why, Peter said, "Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, I'll give it to you." And I say that
tonight, friends. The joy, the love, the assurance, that I have of
Christ and His resurrection: such as I have, I offer to you. I offer to
you as God's children. And you come and stay at the cross if God calls
you, and don't you get up. 166 Brother Othal, I'm telling you, it just sets you afire. Here's an old boy setting here, an old brother of mine, that was a gangster walking with guns on his side, looking for a man around the corner, somebody to blow their brains out. And what happened? One day he looked and believed unto Life. And he walked on. He followed my meetings. And the poor guy, with not enough to eat, and laid, and slept in bushes by the side of the tent, hungering and thirsting. One day the Holy Spirit come. Oh, my brother, it changed you, didn't it? It brought Life and took death away. Hatred left and love come in. Oh, my. Enmity and strife all fell away; new Life come in. Look here at others times others, others times others, and out through there. Oh, the joybells of heaven ringing. Friends, there's no way for me to express it. 167 Listen, that I might leave this. If you have believed my testimony as a servant of Christ and have tried to show you out of God's Bible it's right, and if my words seem like they might be just a little strange about this, look at that picture in the scientific world. Watch the fruit that this Pillar of Fire that led the Children of Israel, watch the fruit It bears. See what It does, what It tells. It's not Me that speaketh; it's Him that Speaketh through you. You see? It's not me that sees the vision, it's Him that speaks through you. It's not me that heals the sick; it's Him that's in you heals the sick. It's not me that preaches; I'm a backward coward that'd run from the very thought; but it's Him that speaks through. I don't know the Word; but He knows It. That's it. That's it. That's what it is, and there He is. And that same Angel of God is right here in this building tonight. Oh, how I love Him. | ||||||