E-1 ...?... And you just go on home from the platform. Good morning, friends. It was... Them fans are getting me. So we're happy to be here this morning just for a few moments to--to speak with you. And I don't think Brother Neville ever has any certain place in the Scriptures where he's going to have Sunday school, so we just, maybe just let the Holy Spirit, as we feel led to--to start wherever He desires, or what chapter we're to read from. I kind of like it that way; there's no regular routine about it then, nothing formal; we just receive it as from the Lord, and go right ahead.
And I've been pretty busy. We had a lovely meeting at Cadle Tabernacle. And the most lovely part of it, besides the healing, to my opinion, was the last night, the altar call, where the hundreds poured down the line there, and packed all the altar space out, and every aisle, and up and down the sides, and were people coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the main thing, after all, is see people being borned again, coming into the Presence of God.
And see the little group here, we don't have any denomination or no membership; we just have fellowship one with another. What comes in, we preach the Gospel to them.

E-4 I just wanted to recognize, this morning, two brethren in the back that I know very well, two dear friends of mine, Brother Sothmann from Canada, he and his friend. And they're from up in, I believe they're... The candy man, what is the place you live, brother? I can't... And then the brother next to you there. What? Iowa, that's right. Eating his candy, coming down the road. I should've knowed where he lived at, didn't I? So we're very grateful to have them in today, as our visiting friends with us. They're fixing. I think, to go on to Canada now, and then come on over to the next meeting which will be at, beginning this week, latter part of this week, and the twenty-third, at Minneapolis, the Christian Business Men.
Thursday night, I'll be in Chicago, at the Chicago Gospel Tab... Or I believe it's the Philadelphian Church now for Thursday, this coming Thursday night in Chicago,
This afternoon we was supposed to be at Junior Cash's, about two o'clock now, for (if everything works around right) the dedication of that tabernacle. And--and I think he said he had some mutes that... The word's got around about the mute being healed at Indianapolis, which was borned a mute, and was about twenty-eight years old, and never spoke or heard. And they're bringing some mutes in there this afternoon. If I can just get into it now to pray for them. And that's on one old is it old 3, old State Road 3, at just above Charlestown, if I can possibly get there.

E-8 I've got some mighty strenuous things I got to run to do right away. And so then tomorrow, down--got to go down in Kentucky on a trip. And it kind of keeps pretty busy. But after I get through these meetings now. I got a little time. I have a little vacation; I'll be back in about six weeks. I'm going to Canada and then over to the west coast. So be in prayer for me. I got lots of decisions to make right away, so real important decisions, so you pray for me. I'll be depending on you to pray for me.

E-9 Now, the services tonight, as our dear beloved pastor, Brother Neville, who has always been inspiration. And to come in of a morning, I thought I'd just come in, set down, listen to him speak. But he's one man that's got a lot of courtesy, that he just--he wants someone... He "prefers." I think that's Scripture, "preferring one another..." (You see?), he... I--I like that. And I'm sure we're all happy of Brother Neville, our pastor, being that type of person. What a man is, he is at his heart. See, that's... And he, expressing himself like that, shows what he is.

E-10 Now, I been kinda un... Well, frankly, I just been up about thirty-five minutes, so then I kinda in the middle here of what to start on. I got three places picked out here in the Scripture. Got one of them on I Peter, and the other one on the Book of Jude, and one on Revelations. Now, where we going to start at this time? May the Lord help us now, and bless us greatly and abundantly, as we look to Him.

E-11 And so I hope that fan doesn't cut too much draft from anyone. Does it? Or, I think that's mostly for the pulpit. Isn't it, Brother Cox, this here? Yeah, well, I'm sure glad. It--it does me a lot of harm, this with no covering on top of my head. May... The women supposed to have a covering up there, but not, I guess, the men are not. It come out, and the pores never closed up behind there, to where the hairs come out; and just the least draft, and I'm hoarse in a few minutes. So I have to kind of watch that. Old age just does something to you, doesn't it?

E-12 Well, oh, but let's try the Book of... I'm afraid I'll get too deep if I try to get into the Book of Jude here, because it's on the "gainsaying of Core" and--and "running after the error of Balaam, and perished in the gainsaying of Core," which probably take us a long time. I want to pray for the sick that's here this morning...

E-13 Let's turn over to Revelation and start there just for a verse or two, to get a little background and teach for a few minutes, till the kiddies come out. And we'll close and have prayer for the sick, right away. Now, the Book is the last Book of the Bible. And there's no one in here... This same Book said that no man in heaven, or in earth, or beneath the earth, was worthy or able to take the book, to open it, or to loose the seals, or anything. No man, archbishop, or whoever he may be, he's not worthy, and had no way of doing it. And then the Lamb came, that was slain before the foundation of the world, and took the Book out of the right hand of Him that set upon the throne, and, for He was worthy, and He opened It and loosed the seals.
So let's just ask Him if He'll loose It to us this morning, and open It, while we bow our heads just a moment.

E-15 Our heavenly Father, today we're grateful to Thee for the privilege of coming to Thee in the way of prayer, and for believing, and having a faith that Thou will honor whatever we ask. Because, not because it's we asking, but because we're obeying what You said, "Ask, you shall receive. You have not, because you ask not. You ask not, because you believe not." And, Father, we love to ask You, because we believe that we will receive that what we've asked for. And the first thing, Father, for my own sins and the sins of this congregation, this morning, I humbly ask forgiveness of all of the sins of disobedience, and sins of omission, and whatever it might be. We pray, God, that You'll cleanse our hearts and souls just now from all iniquity, all sin, trespasses. And let the Holy Spirit just renew in us a right kind of a heart and mind to serve You. Grant it, Father.
And we pray that You'll heal all the sick and afflicted, and by the Word, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing of the Word of God." And may the Holy Spirit now come in and--and take ahold of the Word, take It right out into those new, fresh, clean hearts out there, and plant It there with great faith that'll just move them higher, higher up the road, until they are in the Presence of the Lord Jesus and receive their healing, blessings that they're asking for. For that's what we come for, is to pray to Thee and to ask Thee, and to be cleansed and scoured out, and--and healed, and set back into service again, Lord, to serve You in every little corner that Thou has sent us to. We ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, God's Son. Amen.

E-16 The Book of Revelations was the sealing of the last testimony of the Lord Jesus. And it was given... The first chapter, we'll start at. I was thinking maybe we'd have start over in some of the other symbols. Now, the whole Book is written by symbols. There's hardly anything just direct with the Word, where you just place it right out and say... It's by symbols. And God has a way of doing that and a reason for doing it. God does nothing without He has a reason behind it. And would anybody (this is a class now), would anybody have a thought, the reason He did that? Here it is; so He could hide it from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and would reveal it to babes such as would learn. Isn't He kind, to do us that way?

E-17 Now, if the great scholars, and so forth, had all the--all the Gospel in the way they set it down, we'd just have to bow to that, then they'd go out here and make all kinds of traditions and things, and we'd have an awful time. And they'd get up with their speaking in their scholarly way, till, why, they'd be going over our heads, and we wouldn't even know nothing about it. But we're so thankful that our kind heavenly Father had mercy on the poor and the illiterate, as I am, myself, to promise me, and to you, that if we would just set down and ask, that He would reveal Hisself to us. Isn't that wonderful? All of our creeds and all of our emotions, and everything that we've got, all those are just added.

E-18 There's only one thing that any person has to do to know Christ, believe on the Lord Jesus with all our hearts, thou shall be saved. So now we have forms of baptisms, and we have different creeds, and different in the things that we do, and little things set up. But that's all manmade. Just where we taken this and had a little issue out of it, and over here and make a little issue, the Presbyterians, and the Evangelicals, and the Fundamentals, and so forth, and the Pentecostals, and the Holiness, and the Calvinists, and they all have a little theories that they pet them, and they make doctrines out of that, when really, the only thing is, believe on the Lord Jesus. "Search the Scriptures. They are They that testify of Me," said Jesus.

E-19 Now, how simple it is then, that no matter how--how illiterate (That's "uneducated.") any person might be, they can be just as saintly and godly as an archbishop. See? Isn't that wonderful? No matter how downcast you are, whether you're--whether you're a potentate or whether you'd be a streetwalker, God loves just the same, and died just as much for the prostitute as He did for the potentate. See? Yes. You go to thinking of those things, then it--it changes everything, doesn't it? It changes the whole mental attitude, changes your opinion towards God.

E-20 Sometimes you're being just leaning a little to the election sake. And that's the reason that I turned away this morning from Peter, because the last few times here I been hitting at election so hard, I thought maybe I'd get away from that just for a little bit, 'cause you'd think... I don't want to go to seeds on nothing. But the thing that I was thinking of here, someone says, "Brother Branham, if God, election, yes, and if he's called to election, well, then, my, I just do anything I wish to." Well, that shows you haven't been elected yet. Exactly.
Because you would love Him so much to think that--that He loved you so much when you were unlovable, and before you had anything to do with it. He chose you. How could you turn anything down like that? Why, it looks to me like that would just set, that would set e--e--election so much higher than--than law. It would, or it would set legalistic idea. Why, it would just go beyond anything; to think that, when I was unlovable, He loved me. To think, when I had nothing I could do about it, He picked me up and saved me by His grace. I surely should be grateful enough to serve Him and love Him. See? So that's the way we feel about Him when we count the blessings over.

E-22 And think, what if God said, "Now, just those who has a--a high school diploma, or at least two degrees of college, can ever be My disciple." Well, what would we poor, illiterate people do? Or "my," I'm talking to myself when I say "we"; I mean in "my," me and my family. See? What would we do? What would any of us do? What would the poor, little housewife do? What if He said, "Just the clergy's going to be saved, just the ministry, that's all, the rest of them just... He's just to set an example and make them people try to live halfway right"? What would you poor, little housewives do, and all of you? You'd be lost. What if He just said, "The white race was going to be saved, that's all; the dark race, the brown race, the yellow race, none of you has got anything to do into it, you're all lost"? Wouldn't that be terrible?

E-23 I am so glad He said, "Whosoever will, just let him come." Let no matter, young, old, little, black, white, brown, anything, just come, drink from the fountains of the Lord, freely: don't have to pay a thing for it, not a thing. And, remember, after the invitation's given, still you can't come until He calls you and elects you. That's right. "No man can." Here He says, "The fountain's free for everybody, and no man will come except My Father calls him first." And then when a [Brother Branham knocking on the pulpit--Ed.] knock comes, and said, "I'm inviting you to come, sup with Me. Children, come on," how could you turn that down? That would look to me like mental deficiency to--to turn an invitation down like that, after the kind, heavenly Father... Not just to have fellowship here, but to be saved forever, to live with Him in the bountiful of His--the boundaries of His mercy and in His glory; to swap this old carnal mind for a pure, holy, sanctified one; and to swap this old, frail body that's dwindling away; and swap it for a immortal one which will never fail; and receive a crown that'll never fade away; and swap death for Life; to swap hell for heaven; to swap gloom for happiness, oh, my, and bid ye "come." How could you turn it down? See, how could you turn it down? It's--it's terrible to think of the very thought of turning it down. Isn't it?

E-25 And, oh, my, I love to see God heal His children, certainly. Don't get me wrong. But one reason I been noticing, if you notice lately, I been trying everywhere I go, when I get an invitation, is press in to preach just a little bit. I've let down on my preaching, and it's putting too much on just the anointing and working on the--the eternal part of the supernatural, rather, that, when, to see visions. And they're wonderful, and I thank God for it; but yet the preaching of the Word is a million miles beyond that, when I see the lame walk, and the blind see.

E-26 The other night, when that lady who was setting there, had arthritis--arthritis, and dying in the seat where she was setting. And the Lord Jesus with His mercy showed a vision over her, called her out of that chair. Her doctor came to me in my room and said, "Reverend Branham, I want to ask you, what did you do?"
I said, "Nothing. It was her faith in the Lord Jesus, that did it."

E-28 How we all love that. And how we love it, to see the deaf and dumb, born deaf and dumb, to a world that's never spoke or heard, just set there like a stump, and then to hear that person stand up and talk and hear. That's wonderful. But, oh, nothing like to see a lost soul come, weeping their way down to the altar, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." The mute will die again; the paralytic will die; all the sick will get sick again and die. But that soul that's saved, is saved for eternity, forever, never to perish. "He that heareth My Words, believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting, Eternal Life, and shall never come into judgment." But's done already passed from death unto Life, because they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Isn't that marvelous?
Oh, that ought just to set in a reaction of love that would just spread all over the world. That's what Jesus intended It to do, the Gospel to all the world. It should change the human heart till they can't sleep day and night, until people are being saved.

E-30 Look at Paul, "A prisoner," he said, "of the Lord Jesus," a Jew sent to the Gentiles. His people excommunicated him as quickly as he turned to the Gentiles. See? But he become a prisoner of the Lord Jesus.
Like it would be in Africa. The white man so degrades the--the colored man there, until if you're even caught associating, "Oh, my, how horrible..." See? calling them all kinds of names, don't even believe they got a soul, many of them. And to think that a white man then being called, a man like Paul, was called to the salvation of that man. Thank God it's not in America and many other countries, but I been in that. Maybe to the yellow man, "Go ye into all." And Paul said, "I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus," but he said, "I magnify my office in the Lord." How the love of God constrained him to go amongst the unclean Gentiles, who were considered dogs. But Paul said, "I magnify my office in the Lord, because He's given me the opportunity to go minister to the dogs," otherwise.

E-32 Jesus Himself regarded a Gentile woman, like we are, us people here... Syrophenician woman, and said, "It's not meet to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs."
She said, "That's true, Lord, but the dogs are willing to eat the scraps that falls from the master's table."
That got Him. Amen. That woke up the Holy Spirit, knowing that soon the Jews' eyes was to be blinded and He was to turn then to the Gentiles.

E-35 I want to give you a little secret. The Lord has blessed me greatly, and to Whom I give praise, for praying for the sick. And I have watched it through these years, and I have found it to be the absolute truth. I can never, never get my prayers through till actually I get right into the real fellowship with the person I'm praying for. You've got to get down and feel that person's condition.

E-36 Here not long ago, down in Mexico, poor, old Mexican man, black, hair gray, and his mustache gray, never had, a probably, a decent meal in his life, and there he come to the platform; Catholic, by faith; moving around with a little shawl over him, no shoes on, his feet wrinkled. He was asking for me. And when he knelt down before me. I picked him up by the hands. And he reached to find his beads, and old wore-out looking beads, he'd rubbed over them so much to say his prayers. And I said, "That's not necessary, dad. You don't have to do that. Just put that away, just for a minute." The interpreter telling him. Then he felt around to me. I said, "Just come here, dad. I want you to believe on the Lord Jesus." And he put his old hands up; he got ahold of my shoulders, and leaned his head across my shoulder. I looked down at them old wrinkled feet, dusty, dirty. I flipped off one of my shoes to see if it would fit him. I'd rather go bare-footed than to see him walk off like that. See, and my heart went to him; he was blind.

E-37 Now, there's when you really get into it. All of our culture will fail. All of our signs will fail. All of our gifts will fail. But love never faileth. That's what takes to hold the grip.
And I thought, "Poor, old fellow, about the age my daddy would be if he was living." And I thought, "Maybe he's got a child too somewhere." And he was mumbling off something, and the interpreter didn't give it to me. And I looked at the old fellow, I just couldn't... Not in my eyes, but in my heart. I could just like teardrops dropping. "Poor, old thing," I thought, "he's probably never had a good meal in his life; ragged." And I entered in with him, entered into his affliction. I thought, "Besides being poor, besides his condition and his affliction, all that, yet in a dark world, can't see: blind." I thought, "O God, what if that was my daddy standing there?" Then I got the feeling of--of Him. I said, "Heavenly Father, be merciful to this poor blind man." It wasn't praying from my head. It was Something in my heart praying for that. See, but, love...

E-39 And I heard him going, [Brother Branham imitates the man's native language--Ed.]. And there the Mexicans, by the tens of thousands was screaming. I wondered what it was. He was screaming, "I can see. I can see." Then he turned around and knelt down and started to rubbing my shoes, trying to pat me on the foot, and I raised him up. And he run up and down, the old fellow stooped over, hollering [Brother Branham imitates the man's native language--Ed.], "I can see. I can see."
What was it? Entering into the fellowship with him. Love, that's what does it, no strain, just pure, unadulterated love. That'll beat all the gifts of laying on of hands. That'll beat all the interpretations and speaking with tongues. That'll beat all the... I'd say it, the melodious voices of singing. That'll beat everything, if you'll just enter into the love of God with the person you're trying to win to the Lord Jesus.

E-41 "Oh," you say, "Brother Branham, I don't pray for the sick. I got a person..."
All right, if he's unsaved... Just don't make it up. The Holy Spirit knows better than that. Don't you be a hypocrite. You really mean it. And you get to studying about that poor lost friend of yours until you just simply can't stand it day and night, you just got to go to them in love. Watch what the Holy Spirit will do. He'll pull him right to you every time. "The love of God constrains us."

E-43 Say, I have never even got to the text, and here it's time for me to close, the kiddies coming out. Let's read one verse anyhow.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him,...
I love that. Don't you? The revelation... What is a revelation? It's something revealed. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, that's what this Bible is. This Bible is to reveal Jesus Christ. Genesis reveals Christ. Exodus reveals Christ. Oh, my. I get back in there, I go to getting religious right away, or feeling that way. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, all of them, everything, even in Naomi, Ruth, Job, all of them is a revelation of Jesus Christ, that in Him might dwell the...?... that covers all space and all time; and all that eternity holds is Jesus Christ. And all these little things here is just seeds to that great meeting day when the human race will be introduced in the resurrection to the Lord Jesus. The Revelation, God revealing...

E-45 The tree reveals Jesus Christ. The flower reveals Jesus Christ. The sanctified life reveals Jesus Christ. Sure. Say, "How could the flower reveal Jesus Christ?" It dies in the fall and rises in the spring. Amen. It serves its place on earth, and beautifies. It opens up its little heart like that, say--the passby says, "Oh, isn't that wonderful, what an odor, what an aroma to smell the flower."
And the bee comes by and says, "I'll take my part out." The sightseer comes by and takes his part out. And he toils day and night to keep radiant to give hisself out to somebody else.
No wonder Jesus said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they toil, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like that."
Then the lily was revealing Christ. He was called "the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon." See it?

E-47 How Mr. Lily, pastor Lily, he's a wonderful school--a wonderful Bible teacher, Mr. Lily is; he gets down into the dark, the dark place; he pushed hisself up through the darkness of the earth. So what to do, to glorify himself? To glorify everything that comes in contact with him. And he has to toil day and night to keep his radiance of beauty, to keep the perfume a-flowing. He's pulled day and night from the earth to give out.
That's what a real Christian does. You pray and humble yourself, and keep before God day and night in order you might give yourself to somebody else. Not what you keep, it's what you give that counts. You must give yourself out to others. That's the way Jesus did. He gave Hisself to others.

E-49 And this Revelation of Him here, the last Revelation written...
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto the servants things which must shortly come to pass;...
This is the last Book; and He sent His angels to signify It.
... sent to signify it by his angels unto his servant John:
My, how we could day--deal there a week. Notice. It's a Revelation, this Book is, to the servants of God for the last time, "when the time is at hand," when this Book will be revealed. Now, on over in the Book, we find out that the Book was closed, and shut up, and sealed until the end time. Through the ages they've tried it. Remember, the Bible that was taken out of the hand of God setting on His throne. It was closed and sealed with seven seals on the back, and no man in the heavens and earth, nowhere, was worthy to take the Book, or to loose the seals, or even look thereon. But the Lamb come and opened It.
You remember Daniel? Daniel, at the end time, he saw a flash vision at the closing of his ministry; a vision seer...
And look here, "sent His angel," about sixty-some-odd years after Pentecost, here He's sending His Angel to signify things that must shortly come to pass."

E-54 Now, when was the Book of Revelations ever wrote? The first place, it was wrote before the foundation of the world. And, John, only by the Holy-Spirit-filled heart... Do you see?
Angelic beings associate together. Oh, I hope you get that, that just dropped right down, free. Look. And if you've got the Holy Spirit in you, then you're a candidate for association with the unseen world and the Supernatural. No wonder people can't believe in those things; they've never come in contact. They got nothing in here to believe with.
But when the Holy Spirit comes into the heart, quickly He becomes then a--a twofold being: one of the earth to die; and one of heaven to live. Amen. In his body he's still subject to death; but in his soul he's passed from death unto Life. In his body he has his earthly contact with his five senses; in his spirit he has a contact with God through the Holy Ghost. And the Angels of God visits them, and speaks with them, and they are messengers sent from God to reveal, and to bring messages from God to the individual. He's out to get the first things first. You can't put the cupola on before the foundation's laid. See? So we got to remember that, put first things first. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; all these other things will be added unto you."
... angel sent to signify these things...

E-56 Daniel, when he was closing his ministry, a great prophet, there was an Angel that followed him. And the Angel told Daniel, said, "You are beloved before God." And now, Daniel couldn't talk, perhaps, face to face with God, but God sent an Angel as an inter--intermediate between him and God, that He could talk between them, and bring... Angel, the very word "angel," means "a messenger."

E-57 If a boy was at the door, and knocked at the door latch, tell the ushers, "I have a telegram here for Mrs. So-and-so and Mr. So-and-so." He would be a messenger, a earthly angel.
Your pastor, when he stands here on the platform, ministering the Word of God, he is God's angel to the church, messenger to the church. Therefore, a pastor should never leave that Word, but stay straight with the Word, because He's feeding the shepherd's place, 'cause the--the word "pastor" means "shepherd." Look it up and find out if that ain't right. A pastor is a shepherd, and the Holy Ghost has made him overseer over a certain flock to feed them. What with? The Word of God. Amen. Oh, my, what a...

E-59 Watch all those names; they mean something, every name in the Bible. When you see one name in the Bible, it means something. Did you know Israel's wives, when they gave birth to the twelve patriarchs, each one of those mothers, when they were having the baby, and the baby was being born, and them groaning, the groans that they came out, and named those boys in the very groans that they give, signified the nature of the child, and the place they'd make their final resting place. Every groan (Amen.), under the power of the Holy Ghost...
That's the reason we should be groaning in the Spirit. Now, I don't mean a lot of put on, but I mean really in travail for the Church. Then the Holy Spirit... Then you can get some real speaking with tongues and interpretation. The Holy Spirit making utterance and tells through groans and prayer; be real truth too. It'll be something right now that you'll see take place.