The Impersonation Of Christianity
57-0127A, The Impersonation Of Christianity, Memorial Hall, Lima, OH, 91 min




And then with a luncheon with Dr. Wer--Weirwill (I just can't get that right) and his brothers and some more, Dr.--dentist and some groups that we had lunch together just a few moments ago. And I... This has certainly been a joyful day, and I trusting to God that it will continue to be that way throughout the day for all of us, as we have met together again in Christ and just setting in heavenly places with Him. [Ephesians 2:6]

One week, now, week... In about another week or ten days, the Lord willing, I'll be in Phoenix, Arizona, where the kids are all bare-footed, running around, then over into California and then up the west coast again where it's freezing again. And that's the way evangelistic services go or life goes, rather, for an evangelist. But it's such a privilege to serve the Lord. How glad I am.
And it's a--it seems like someone was saying, "Brother Branham, I guess your entire life is a victorious life." Oh, you just don't know it all. Oh, it's--it's a victorious life, like you know it to be in Christ. Oh, what a privilege it is for me to know that He lets me talk to His children and how that we get to come together and speak, talk, and worship. That's wonderful. But the things that goes with it is very hard, such as leaving the family for one thing. I've a lovely family, and a little boy that when...

During that time I was in Minneapolis once in a meeting... Where I go for my next meeting, after here I go to Evansville then to Minneapolis, then to Phoenix after a short stop in Louisiana... So then I was up there, and I was taking the life of Joseph, just reading his life. And you know, Abraham (preached on this morning)--Abraham was election. And Abraham begot Isaac which was justification. Isaac begot Jacob which was grace. And Jacob begot Joseph which was perfection, not one thing against Joseph. And I seen his great life, and I said, "Oh, God if..."

"Oh," I said, "I'll be so happy someday when I cross over to meet Joseph and shake his hand, see Daniel and ask him how he felt when those lions down there and that Pillar of Fire of Light stood there and held those lions off all night long. See the Hebrew children, how they come out of the fiery furnace with that Pentecostal wind around them whirling around, keeping the breezes away..." I said, "What a wonderful time." And I said, "Oh, God, if You ever give me a child, I'll call his name Joseph--boy." And Billy was a good sized boy then, and then... You know, as I looked on, I got into the... Well, I don't know what to call it. I can't explain that; I don't want... You can't explain God. God's beyond explaining. [Matthew 6:6]

Oh my, right from the meeting, "I'm going to have a boy named Joseph." Well, after while we knew that we were going to have a baby. Everyone said... And my wife, her people and all of them has to be caesarean section birth. And so the doctor said after Rebekah was born, said that ought to settle it on account of two conditions that she couldn't never have no more children. Well, I said, "The good Lord knows all about that."

I said, "I don't know." I said, "But we're going to have a Joseph. So..." I said, "I kinda believe it is."
And when it was born, it was a girl. Oh, you talk about razing me. Everywhere I got letters said, "Oop. Your vision is getting wrong." It never lied. I said, "Joseph is coming."
And so when the doctor delivered the little girl, he said, "Oh, Mr. Branham," he said, "so thin," he said, "We should do something about this." He said that--they no more children could come up. But oh, no. Joseph is coming. And so standing there...
Then after awhile went--went on four years passed. Some of them kept saying, "Well, that's one time it failed."
I said, "No. Remember I never said that was Joseph. I said, 'Joseph is coming.'"

So then after awhile, I was... All of them said, "Is this Joseph?"
I said, "I don't know. But Joseph is coming."
So when we got right down just a few days on the Caesarean and things I couldn't speak before a mixed audience. But they're supposed to go in for their operation way before the time. And there had been some lady that lived in the city that the poor thing got all mixed up that she thought that she ought to be the spiritual leader of my life and tell me where I should go and what I should do. I just refused it flat (see?), because the Holy Spirit does that.

And she come to me, said, "Oh, Bill, did you hear that?"
And I said, "Oh, that don't make any difference. God said we're going to have a baby and that settles it." So we...
I--I could sense, you know, and her so weary... I just went to a place; I've got a secret place (You've heard of it.), way back where I go into a cave, pull back; the FBI couldn't find me. So I--I goes back in there. I was back there praying, and the Lord sent me out to the front of the... when He speaks to me... There's an old log lays right across, way in the hills where I used to trap when I was a boy. And in there He--He let me know not to let a bit of worry...
And when I went home, pulled in down at Brother Wood's (the man's here with me and sister), I seen the poor little fellow coming out in the back yard, her little face looked gray, and she was going to empty some slop out at the--the garbage can. And I walked up to her. She was crying. She said, "Oh, Billy," said, "Margie can't even take care of me." That's the nurse, Mayo nurse that was healed in my meeting, weighing thirty-five pounds, of cancer, the first case. And she's on the cancer clinic in Louisville, been dead (nearly ten years). She's nursing now at the hospital. So...
Said, "Margie's on an emergency, can't take me in," said... She loved her so much.
I said, "Look, Honey, we love Sister Margie, but we're not depending on Sister Margie; we're depending on the Lord Jesus. See?" I said, "We love Sister Margie." And I said, "I want you to be of a good courage."
Said, "Why?"
I said, "You know where I been?"
She said, "I have an idea."
I said, "I got THUS SAITH THE LORD." That settled it (See?), right there.

And I said, "Yes, ma'am."
She said, "I am showing you a fine 7 pound 3 ounce boy."
I said, "Joseph, you've been a long time getting here. But I'm sure glad you're here."
Said, "Why'd you call him Joseph?"
I said, "That's who he is."
It's so hard to leave him, as he's just begin to know how to walk around and holler, "Where dada?" But it's such a privilege to do it for the Lord Jesus. And I know you men, many of you here, same way you have things. But one of these glorious days, if I'm faithful to my Saviour, to His guiding hand I'll cling, He will guide us over the river. That's the main thing.

I was so thankful for last night, the first time that I've had that since I--for years and years. How many's attended my meetings in other places? Just... You know, that's true. And I...
This wouldn't happen to be who I think it is, is it...?... Oh, my, is Jimmy here? The... This man, Brother Green, and his son-in-law's wife can drive a Ford, his other son-in-law. And I just wondered if Jimmy was here, a fine Baptist boy, and I certainly love him.

Standing here last night, when I had the regular line, without the other (See?), and so I put my hands up over those lumps and knots and things. You just feel something happen under your hand and look away and it wasn't there. That--that makes you feel happy. I tell you; it really does. Makes me feel like going back and having a healing services.
Over in the--this blessed old Bible, which is a guide Book to Life Eternal, and in the Ezekiel the 36th chapter, and we're going to read a--just a line out of the--the 36th chapter, the 27th verse. And for a text I want to use this afternoon the "Impersonation Of Christianity." And may the Lord add His blessings to His Word as we read it.
And I will put My Spirit in you... and you shall keep my judgments, and do them. [Ezekiel 36:27]

And Ezekiel was one of God's eagles, who could fly way up and see hundreds and hundreds and--of years to come. You know, it's like, higher you go the--the farther you can see. And so the--the eagle has a--a real keen eye to go with that altitude; 'cause if he didn't have much of a eye, it wouldn't do him any good to go up high; he couldn't see very far. But the eagle's eye is far better than the hawk at any time. He can out-see the hawk, out-fly him anyway he wants to. And he's way higher than the hawk. [Deuteronomy 32:11]

And I thought, "Oh, what a miserable thing that poor bird is. For he was built, made to be a heaven flying bird. And here he is trapped for the rest of his life in a little cage." And to know that he can look and see the things that, the places where he longed to be, but he could not get out of his cage.
I thought, "What a miserable person--a bird he must be." I thought, "That's about one of the most saddest sights I ever seen."

But there's one thing about it. There could be such a thing as some kind-hearted person let that eagle out of there. And I'm so happy to say to the sons of Adam this afternoon, that there has been a kind-hearted person come to the sons of Adam, the Lord Jesus Who will let everyone go free that wants to go. It's up to you.

And there'd been a brother who was a Nazarene, was at the platform, and he'd sold pencils on the street. And he had crutches he'd walked on for years. He'd stand on these crutches with his hat out and have pencils to sell, a beggar. And when the Lord in His Divine providence, wisdom, and grace to the man, showed a vision, told him about what something had happened, and the man was instantly healed. And the next day he had a big sign on those crutches walking down the street, like this, packing it around, showing everybody. "These old buddies used to support me. Now, I'm leaning on the everlasting arms (And he was... ) of the Lord Jesus."
And he was so enthused. And when he come back to the service that night, he was setting up in the balcony, something like that. And the best I remember, it's got two or maybe--maybe two or three balconies. And anyhow, I was just beginning to speak as now, and he was just so carried away, the poor little brother, till he raised up and said, "Brother Branham, I want to ask you something."
I said, "Yes, brother."
He said, "I heard you preaching, and I just knew you was a Nazarene." And he said, "Then I hear you--somebody else say that you was a Baptist." And said, "Then I see all around you is Pentecostals." Said, "What are you, Brother Branham?"
I said, "That's easy. I'm a Pentecostal, Nazarene, Baptist." I said, "Is that..."

And it seems to be that some people have such a hard time trying to live a Christian life, when really, it isn't that, it is...

I said, "No, sir, it kept me during that time." So that's what it's for. I can't keep Christ; He keeps me. It isn't whether I hang on; it's whether He held on. And it's a gift to me.
And then when, noticing that people have this hard time, there's got to be something wrong somewhere. Now, if the Christian religion only consists of a declaration of a creed, denominations, or intellectuals, then we don't need nothing but a real good smart group of people. That's all we need, if the church is to be governed by an intellectual.
Now, intellectual is all right. You can receive the Word intellectually, but let It soak down through to the heart. That's where it--it begins to read the results.

So, we must come to this conclusion that God intends the Holy Spirit to run the church. Now, I don't mean just the Spirit gets up and preaches, because the Holy Spirit sets people in the church for certain things. But I mean, if just the intellectual is all it needs...

Now, the new heart does not mean work up the old one. It doesn't mean that the church needs a face-lifting. It means the church needs a birth. God's church don't need a polishing; it needs a conversion. That's right. Then just to take the old church and set, say, "Well, I tell you, we'll change the deacon board. We'll swap pastors."
That isn't what the church needs. It needs the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It needs the power of the living God.
A revival doesn't mean to go out and get new members, a revival means to revive that what you've already got. [Ezekiel 36:26]

Now, what does the revival take? It takes the wind to come, go to blowing. That's what the church needs, is some of that wind that fell on the day of Pentecost, sweep down and revive us, not a new Baptist, not a new Methodist, but a revival in the Baptists and the Methodists. And what does that kicking of the water do out there? It--it's for a purpose. It washes all the trash out of the water up on the bank. That's what a revival does, kinda beats all the differences out of us, if we let the Holy Ghost do the beating. And then it makes us so different, clears it up, clears up the waters then.
Now, you can't just have a polishing time in the church as a revival. And I trust that after this meeting, that there'll be revivals everywhere through this city; I do. All over the country, I think it's revival time. And this great revival that we're speaking of has to come from heaven. It can't come by man. It wasn't borned of man. It's borned of God, and it has to come from God. And you can't put this revival in an old theology and mix it up. Jesus said that in Saint Luke. You can't put new wine in old bottles. [Mark 2:22]

But I found out that back in the days when Jesus was speaking of, the bottles wasn't made of glass. They didn't have the glass blowers in those days. And they was made out of an animal skin. And the animal skin had been tanned and was sewed up, or tied up and they put the--the wine, the water, the liquids in a skin bottle. And then after that bottle becomes so old, until it--no wine in it or anything, it dried out. The animal oil of the skin left it. And then it got hard and stiff.

You try to take the baptism of the Holy Ghost with an old experience of some long drawed out church experience, it'll blow up sure as the world. "But new wine," said Jesus, "goes in new bottles." The new bottles has still the animal oil in the skins, and it's flexible. That's the way God's church must be for a revival: flexible. [Mark 2:22]

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is just as real today as it ever was, "Poof, I don't believe it."
And what do you do? You spoil both bottle and wine. You're casting pearls before swine. Your message is gone to pieces, and no one receives it, and it just blowed up till that's all there is to it. But you get new bottles and put some new Holy Ghost wine into it, and the Word says it's working alive in our hearts and it says, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever."
The wine says, "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
The new bottle says, "Amen, such as I."
Said, "Jesus Christ was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, with His stripes we were healed, just the same yesterday, today and forever." The new bottle said, "Amen." It spreads out with new life. Both of them is kept and preserved. So you can't put new wine into old bottles.
On the day of Pentecost, God had a hundred and twenty brand new Pentecostal bottles setting with their necks up. And when the Holy Spirit fell from heaven, It filled those bottles, and they bounced all over the place, preaching the Gospel to the known world, declaring that Jesus Christ was the same yesterday, today, and forever. Notice it. [Mark 2:22], [Hebrews 13:8], [Matthew 7:6], [Isaiah 53:5]

I said, "Nothing better."
So we got twenty-one horses, and packed up, and we was eleven hundred miles from a hardtop road and about two hundred miles from a grade, with twenty-one horses, back hunting mountain goats.
And I remember one day... I just love the outdoors. There's where you find God. If you'll just get alone in nature, you can see Him. And I'd been tracking an old grizzly bear. I didn't want him, 'cause I didn't have money enough to buy a pass to take him out. But I just wanted to look at him. And I chased him from hill to hill on my little horse. And I was having a lot of trouble with this little horse; he was just a three year old, and he was determined to throw me. And so, he'd stop once and awhile and just see how good a throw he could make out of it. And so around the bushes we would go.

So then I thought, "Now, which a way did I come?" I thought, "If I climb to a higher mountain..." And it'd been raining, a little fog in the valley. So I thought, "Perhaps maybe I can find my direction."
On the road up I caught my direction, but I seen I had to turn and go another way. I was way late getting in. And I thought, "Lord..." Riding along there on my horse and just praising God for being alone, I thought, "Oh, it's so beautiful to be alone in the woods." I just love it. And it's...

And I looked up toward the skies; I said, "O Lord Jehovah, You are so great and so wonderful. How I love You." And I begin to hear a strange noise, real weird. And it was a mournful noise, just something that would make you feel kind (as we would say, the cute expression)--kinda spooky.
And I looked around, and I was near an old burn-over. I don't know what you know what a burn-over is or not. It's where the fire's went through years before and burnt all the bark off the trees, and they didn't stand there. And when that sun, or moon, rather, come out from behind the clouds, and all those bleached white poles, standing up trees, it looked like tombstones. And the wind blowing, as the clouds was fastly passing over, it let out a mournful sound, "Oooh!" [Brother Branham makes a sound--Ed.]
I thought, "O God, why did You put me in a place like this? This is a terrible place to be here." And I looked around, and all the moaning and groaning I ever heard, "...?..." [Brother Branham imitates sound--Ed.] The winds blow and them trees moaning in the wind... I said, "Lord, I always knew that You lived in the forest, and why was I attracted to stop at this place, for this looks like a terrible place."

And I thought, "Well, what does this mean?" And I begin to think then of places where I had been, and the people who had, I'd heard opposing and saying that all the days of miracles was past. And I thought, "That's right. That's just like some of these great big high spires of churches that stand with great names behind them, historical names that, "Once we was so-and-so; we were so-and-so." But the lifeline has been cut. [Joel 2:25]

What a spooky place to be. And I thought, "Oh, no, no doubt they were trees; they had the history behind them as trees. But the life had gone from them."
And that's what's the matter with our Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness; the denominational bugs has eat the life out of it, and it's just become a big old dead spire. What we need is a coming of the rushing mighty wind and a new lifeline to receive it. Right.

Peter said in Acts 2:38, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." And if God is still calling, the Holy Spirit is still falling. It's got to be. [Acts 2:38-39]

"I won't go over to that building. No, I wouldn't cooperate with such a thing." A lack of life, that's all, not a lack of church, a lack of life...
So I said in my heart to God; I said, "Why do You still send the wind then?" Then my mind went on down in the Scriptures, too dark to read my little Testament in my pocket. But I said, "Why would You send the wind?" And my mind went on down; the Scriptures said...?... "I will restore, saith the Lord. All that the caterpillar has eaten, all that the locust has eat; I will restore." [Joel 2:25]


But something says to me in my heart, "Yes, but every time I shake them, I loosen the roots so they can grow deeper." That's the way a great revival takes place in the city.
Now, what is these new Pentecostal revivals? They are nothing but the product from the old tree. Exactly where the old trees died, God had a way to reproduce life. Just like when we get old and die out, God raises somebody else by us like the tree, the seed, or anything else. We take the same Bible they read.

Why can't you cooperate in a healing revival? If God can heal a horse, surely He can heal a man. What's the matter? Your young, foolish teachers has pumped you full of embalming fluid and that's the reason you can't live. That's right.
Baptists? John Smith wept and prayed for revival until his eyes were closed, till his wife would lead him to the table to eat his meal. What would he say to our modern Baptist church if he should rise? What would John Smith say to rise and look upon the holiness groups? When they--he preached his last sermon at eighty-something years old, I believe it was. They packed him to the pulpit, and he didn't preach just a short one--four hours. And you can't stand twenty minutes. There's no life to receive the wind that's all.
And he said, "It breaks my heart to see our Methodist daughters wearing gold rings on their finger." What would he say now with a pair of little halter shorts on? That's the truth. And it might make you good and sick.

So when we'd--when we would get that... And then every Saturday night we had a big old wooden tub, and the teakettle setting on the stove. And one would get a bath, and just add some more water, and the next one take a bath, till all the kiddies got their bath, and then a dose of castor oil. And I just got so sick on that stuff; I couldn't even stand to smell it yet. I wouldn't want one of my kids to ever have to take castor oil.
I'd come to mama, and I'd hold that nose, and I'd cry. I said, "Mama, this stuff makes me so sick."
She'd say, "But if it don't make you sick, it doesn't do you any good."
So maybe I'll apply that to this message. Maybe it will cause the gastronomic, spiritually speaking, to get stirred up, to get you to pray back to the place where you should be.

There's where a lot of you Pentecostals fail. You had to have a new spirit. Oh, you felt good and you felt like that, "Oh, well, I just, oh, I feel fine. I--I--I couldn't have it." Well, you just got started. You're just getting fixed up now to just... You're just coming in line. He had to give you a new spirit. Why you couldn't get along with yourself with the old spirit. So how could you get along with God's Spirit? So He had to give you a new spirit. [Ezekiel 36:26]

Now, watch. His Spirit was different from your new spirit. And many people gets the new spirit and think they get the Holy Spirit. They get feeling happy, and jump around, and maybe do a few things religiously. And they think that they got the Holy Spirit. Oh, no, the Holy Spirit makes you act different. The Holy Spirit makes you think different. The Holy Spirit was put right in the middle of your new spirit. And your new spirit was put right in the middle of your new heart. The new heart, the new spirit, in the middle of the new heart, and God said, "I will put My Spirit in you."
Now then, God's Spirit sets right in the middle of your spirit, your new spirit. And then you don't have to go out and act like Mrs. Jones does and like Mr. Jones does. There's just something in you; you just got the love of God so down in you, till you just live it. It isn't you; it's something in you. [Ezekiel 36:26-27]

As congressman Upshaw, you all know, was healed in my meetings after he'd been crippled for sixty-six years. He said, "You can't be nothing that you hain't."
And that's right. Be what you are. God grant the day that when the Christian church will be what it's supposed to be. If you're for Christ, live for Christ; give your all for Christ. Open up your heart. Don't think of what the things are around you. Think of what Christ is to you and in you.

Just as the Holy Spirit moves and governs His church, every little tick goes just exactly the same, and it fits just exactly in time with the Bible. Everything fits right around the Bible; no matter what the theologian says; the Bible says. It ticks right with that, 'cause if the Holy Spirit that wrote the Bible, come in to tick the Bible off and lay it out, just exactly the way it's written. Oh, I hope you see that. You see it? [Ezekiel 36:26-27]


"Oh, you don't have to worry about it, brother. It's not you anyhow. It's the Holy Spirit in you."
Paul said, "It isn't... The life that I now live, it's not me, but Christ liveth in me. The life that I now live..." Remember, he was once a religious man. Certainly he was, a scholar. And he was a man who knew all the Scriptures. And he set under Gamaliel, one of the--one of the best noted teachers of the day. They had one of the best seminaries of the day. But he said he had to forget all he ever knew to find Christ, the Holy Spirit. [I Corinthians 13:1-2], [Galatians 2:20], [Philippians 3:8]

I've sailed the seven seas by the grace of God and preached nearly to the world. And I'm in the second million souls to lead to Christ by the grace of God, and I've never seen a holy-roller yet. Of all the religions of the world I've never seen a holy-roller. It's just a uncouth name that the devil tacks onto a believer. Say, "A believer? I'm a believer."
Oh, we'll find out. He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Check it by the Word. [Mark 16:17]

Listen, I'm here to help you, not to scorn you or to make fun of you. I wouldn't do that, not at all. But you must have this new life. And the reason that you find people that come to the altar and you see in the... I take my own church, the Baptist church. They come up and make confession and are baptized, and you see them in a few weeks in the same old rut.

Now, I'm noticing in his work... And not long ago I had the privilege of talking to him. But I was in a meeting where I heard him make a statement something like this. It was at the breakfast, it was, in Louisville, Kentucky, a few months ago. And something about he said, "The Bible is the standard of God." Oh, how true. He said, "But I'll go into a city." And he said, "There's no one in the country knows any better than I do, that I'm not a forceful preacher." He said, "But God called me to do this work, and I'm trying to do it the best I know how for God." Wonderful. God could raise the man up like that, and he stay that humble.
But he said, "But I'll go in and say there was so many converts, ten thousand converts in this six weeks meeting." And said, "I return back in a year or two, and I don't find one tenth of them."

But here's where it's at. They only get emotionally worked up. And they never become converted. They never really become a believer, upon the basis of the Word. They just make a cold, formal confession, and that's about the end of it. And the first little persecution comes along and said, "John, what went with the cigars?"
"Well, I was...?... at the Billy Graham meeting."
"Well, wife, I can't stand it any longer. Get me my John Wilson's." See it? See?
"Liddy, what happened to that make-up? I seen you're letting your hair grow out. I heard you was down to one of the Branham campaigns."
"Well, I just can't belong to this club and live in peace. I'll just get my stuff back and smear my face up." Go ahead, there's one woman in the Bible painted her face to meet man, and God fed her to the dogs. That's right. If you want to be dog-meat for God, go ahead.

They can say about you anything they want to. It won't bother you. Why, my, the burdens that the world casts on you, why you seem to be so strong in the Spirit, and that new spirit in you, and the Holy Spirit took the world life right around towards heaven and the Word of God. Why, you're just like Samson. You pick up the brazen gates of Gaza, and pack them up to a certain hill called Calvary, and pray for that person. Certainly. The cross has got wings on it. It just moves along easy. [Ezekiel 36:26]

Is he just been made up in God's mechanism? His mechanism now, is not linked with some theology or some intellectual feat, but get the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then you begins, the mechanism begins to move you, not you moving it and trying, "Why here's the way I think it ought to be." God said this is the way it should be. It's for the Holy Spirit that moves right in the Word. And you just move right along. It's so easy when you do that. "A new heart will I give them." [Matthew 11:29-30]

God wants to show the world the resurrection of Christ. There He lays in the grave. He's silent; His body's chalky white. On Easter morning we hear Him holler, "All power is given into My hands." All...?... to listen. And we see gravitation losing its power, as we see light coming between His feet and the earth. Why? He's the center of gravitation. And He lifts up, up, up. It's the power of God lifting Him up, to show to us where the Lord...?... We were...?...
[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... like He wanted to have it. He appeared right...?... Oh, what a great thing it is. [Matthew 11:29-30]

Oh, if you'd see a spider in your soup, you'd condemn that restaurant and set over at the Chamber of Commerce, and you'd write it up in the paper. Sure, you're wanting that eighty-four cents, but let the devil cram anything he wants to down that soul of yours, that's worth ten thousand worlds.

I thought I'd stand, and I put my hand on him. I said, "But young man, you got a soul in you that's worth ten thousand worlds, that Jesus Christ died to redeem." Certainly.

Looked over again, and wiped his eyes. He's old, real old. I said, "How do you do, uncle?"
He looked over and said, "How do you do?"
I said, "I'm a minister of the Gospel, and I would like to ask you a question. I saw you praying. Why were you praying?"
Said, "Come here." I went over and looked. Said, "Looky there."
I said, "What's that, the dress?"
He said, "But that stain on there is the blood of Abraham Lincoln." He said, "White man, there's still a mark around my waist here where a slave belt was one time." He said, "That blood taken that slave belt off of me. Would it excite you?"
If that would excite a colored man by taking a slave belt, what ought the Blood of Jesus Christ do to a believer, when you can pass the barroom, the gambling hall, and the things of the world, and know you are free, your heart's beating in line with God's Word, knowing that someday you're going home. Wouldn't it excite anyone? It's an excitable thing.

And he found out there was one young man there that was a different from the other men. Now, they were away from home. I preached to them in Africa. And I know they're traits and so forth. And when they... The--the Dutch went over, and got them, and brought them here, and sold them for slaves. And they were away from homes; they were disheartened. They had lot of things, and home, and their loved ones. They'd never go home again. They was a slave. They were out of their country. And they--they didn't have no courage to work or nothing, and they'd take whips and whip them. And they'd cry, "Pull on."

And this slave buyer said, "I--I want to buy him."
And the owner said, "He's not for sale."
He said, "What makes him so up-and-at-it?" Said, "Is he a boss over the rest of them?"
Said, "No, he's just a slave."
Said, "Do you feed him better than you do the rest of them?"
Said, "No, eats out in the galley with the rest of them."
"Then what makes him so much different and so up. His morale seems to be so high, his morale. So what makes him so much different from the others?"
He said, "I didn't know myself, till I found out recently that his father is a king of the tribe. And though he's an alien in another land, he knows his daddy's a king. And he acts like and conducts himself as a king's son."

Though all the way in another country, maybe in another land, you may be in another country that's a way away, an alien. But it makes no difference how far away you are, how much trouble you're in, God's still your Father. Hallelujah. Where did you come from?

What is the word "brood"? What does it mean? Like mothering, like the hen, her brood is called her chickens, her offspring. And the Holy Spirit, as it was, with His arms or His wings brooding over a bleak earth, where there never had been life... And as He begin to brood, the waters begin to separate, and the land came up. Your body was laying here on the earth then. You're made out of sixteen elements of this earth. Your body was here then. Notice, if it wasn't, where did it come from? You live by dead substance. [Genesis 1:1-2]

He said, "That's true."
I said, "Then Doctor, why is it when I was sixteen years old I eat the same food I eat now; I was getting bigger and stronger, and my life being renewed; and I eat the same food now, and I'm getting older and weaker in strength and shrinking away. Scientifically prove to me that here is a container and here's a jug of water, and you're pouring water into it, and it fills to a certain place, then more you pour the farther it goes down. There's only one answer. God has appointed." Death sets in when you're about twenty-two to twenty-five years old, gray hair starts coming, wrinkles in the face. And you're eating the same food, renewing your life, but you're dying. God has appointed.

"Oh, your virgin birth and all your stuff," he said.
I said, "Doctor, wait just a moment. If something has to die for my mortal body to live, doctor, is there something in me spiritual yet? There's got to be a soul in there that gives me the knowledge to know right and wrong and things. But if something had to die so this body could live, so something had to die that my soul can live." And I looked at him. He looked back to me, nodded his head, and walked away.

Then up come the grass; up come the vegetation. The Holy Spirit kept brooding. Father said, "That's wonderful." Then up comes the fruit trees. Then out of that the birds flew from the dust. The Holy Spirit kept brooding, cooing, making love, brooding from the earth. Out of there come the animal life. Then after while come a man. The Holy Spirit brooding from the earth, brooding over the earth, He brought together a man. From there, a byproduct He made a woman. [Genesis 1:1-2, 26-27], [Genesis 2:7, 18-24]

And I hear him say, "Peace, be still." And the wind stopped. And I can hear him say, "Sweetheart..." As she laid her little head over on his shoulder and as they walked around never to be sick. She didn't have to have any Max Factors to make her look pretty. She was to be that way forever. And with her arms around Adam's great arm, they walked as sweethearts through the garden. And after while Leo the lion gave a roar. There was no fear. He said, "Come here, Leo." And he rubbed him on the back. Sheetah the tiger come up, rubbed her. And they followed along behind them like little kittens.
And the sun begin to set on the first day, or the sixth day rather. And as it begin to set, Adam says, "Sweetheart, we must go to church tonight. We must go up to the cathedral." And as they went to the great trees and knelt down that soft...?... God moved down through the trees. Hear His tender voice of the father saying, "Children, have you enjoyed your stay on earth today?" And He kisses them on the cheek, as it was, and lays them down to sleep. The lion, He laid him down and Sheetah the tiger. No harm, no danger. [Genesis 2:7, 18-24]

What brought you in the first place. Dust thou art; sin crept in, and we had to go, we're still... God will never be defeated. He expected this earth to be inhabited, so He just made women to bring children. He still pours the calcium, and potash, and the--the elements into them and builds them up. Then He brings them to a place and lets you make a choice. And if without a choice, God made me one day a young man, strong, and healthy, and happy, and the Holy Spirit... Not some cold, formal theological, theological seminary dogma, but the blessed Holy Spirit, not the tree of knowledge, but the Holy Spirit (You see, it's God's program.) begin to woo over me and make love to me, and I accepted Him. And then He came down into my heart and took His place. [Genesis 2:7, 18-24]

Now, when the Holy Spirit coos to you, and says, "Sinner, you're God's love gift. I want to make love to you." Won't you do it? Why don't you just open your heart and say, "Yes, Holy Ghost, here I am. Here I am. Oh, I don't care what anyone says. Holy Spirit, I want You. I want You. You're the One that I'm looking for. You're the One." [John 6:39, 40, 44, 54]

And He built a great, modern, new home. And He's been brooding there, and beautiful lilies has come up in the yard around there. The pretty grass is growing, and a super-duper highway running through it. What? There's been a new person move in, not the old fellow that once laid there that made you fuss, cuss, treat your neighbor wrong, be denominational, narrow minded, skeptic, infidelic, with a little half enough religion to make you sick. But He cleaned you out. The Holy Spirit there brooding. As the Holy Spirit broods, He will bring forth love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience. He will decorate His house up right. Sure, He will take that old tin can alley out of your, there, and make your old doubts and fusses and so forth... He will put a highway through there, so all things can run smooth for you. Amen.
Oh, brethren, what we need today is a--not a new mayor of the city, not new police on the force, not a new denomination, not a face-lift to the church, but we need an old fashion Saint Paul's revival and the Bible Holy Ghost back into the church again. Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostal, and all of you, get back and... What we need today, somebody with this experience to be a challenger, somebody that knows God to stand out. [Galatians 5:22], [Matthew 12:43-45], [Luke 11:24-26]

One day when the Swiss moved out and got their little homes and things in the Swiss mountains, and praying Christians... And when they had their little homes and everything lovely, a great invading army come marching in. The Swiss gathered at the bottom of the mountains with old plowshares, or hooks, pruning hooks and whatever they could have to fight with. They wasn't war men. They just gathered with sticks, and stones, and whatever they could fight to defend their land.
But their babies and mamas... Where those soldiers had come in and killed their babies, and ravished the women on the streets, and whatmore, tore up their homes and take their living... And here come a great army, fully armored, well trained: tromp, tromp, tromp, long spears, well trained, like the brick wall, comes marching into little Switzerland.

They was not trained; they were untrained when the other army was trained and every step just the same. On, on, on it come. Finally, something must be done. Their little economy of a Swiss nation was at hand; everything was at stake.
Finally, a young man by the name of Arnold Von Winkelried stepped out, and he said, "Man of Switzerland, this day I'll give my life for Switzerland." Said, "Something must be done, and I will do it." He said, "Across yonder's mountains is a little white home, where a sweet loving wife and three little children wait my return, but they'll never see me again; for this day I'll give my life for Switzerland."
And all the men looked surprised and said, "Arnold Von Winkelried, what will you do for Switzerland?"
He said, "Just follow me. Follow me and fight with what you got the best that you can."

When those Swiss soldiers seen what had happened, and they run in and with their plowshares, and their pruning hooks, and their rocks they drove that army completely out of the nation. And they've had peace ever since. There's been no wars in Switzerland. Just name Arnold Von Winkelried in the mountains and watch their cheeks color up and the tears run down. They know what their land of peace, what it cost. But the play of heroism, oh, that was just a little thing, till one day something else happened.

"What will You do," said the Angels.
"Watch."
One day standing down there among the sons of men, He looked down through the greatest dread that man had, which was death, and as He raised His arms and went to a place called Calvary, He plunged Hisself into the darkest mix that man ever feared, which was death and conquered it. And when He ascended up on high, He never sent down a deca--declaration of theological faith; He sent back the Holy Spirit and said, "Take this, and fight with everything you've got within you. Take this and follow Me. As the Father has sent Me, so send I you." And the Father that sent Him, went with Him and went in Him. And when He sent us, He come with us, in us. [John 20:21]

That's what we need. That's what the church needs, not a face-lifting or a bunch of new members, but revive that what we've got, and fill with the Holy Ghost, and set out to fight the enemy, to pray for the sick, heal the sick, cast out devils. Freely you receive; freely give. These signs shall follow them that believe. Christ put into the hand of man the strongest weapon that was ever put to human beings, was the baptism of the Holy Spirit: a new heart, a new spirit. "And I'll put my Spirit in there." And then fight with what's in you until death shall set you free. Let us pray. [Matthew 10:8], [Mark 16:17], [Ezekiel 36:26-27]

When that little baby was taken and you taken it out to the grave, you patted its little cheek, you said, "Darling, mommy will meet you, daddy will meet you." What was it? It was the Holy Spirit brooding. [Genesis 1:1-2]

Do you say, "Next year I'll try to do better. The next time they have a revival I'll go up to the altar. Maybe when I get a chance and my work's done, I'll have a little time to pray." Oh, do you do that? The Holy Spirit is brooding. I don't know you; God does.
But I want you to raise your hands to Christ right now and say by lifting up your hands, "O Christ, I now know that Your Holy Spirit has been brooding over me to call me to the service of You." Oh, you might not be a preacher or a missionary. You might just be a church member in your church. But the Holy Spirit's calling you. He wants you to have a testimony to that church. Would you raise your hand to Him just now as a sign that's saying, "God, it's me; I'm answering now."
God bless you. Oh, my. Up in the balconies, up what's in there. God bless you back in there. Oh, that's good. [Genesis 1:1-2]

The world had to become mechanicalized, building of houses, iron, metals, so forth, and then all of a sudden out of that cold, religious, formal world a prophet raised, an Angel appeared, signs begin to take place, and the world was destroyed.
Coming out of Egypt hundreds of years later, when the church had cooled off and their religious ceremonies had got so cold and formal and indifferent, it was just about going home time, an Angel appeared; a prophet was borned; a message was given; signs and wonders were done; supernatural come into existence, which had been dead among them for years and they was denying it. It was at the end of the road. [Luke 17:26]

Father, it's cooled off now for all these years. And here we are at the junction again. The cold, formal world with her ecclesiastical...?... The formal rituals their church joins. And they're just a...?... They can see with their own eyes that the supernatural's being done, Angels appearing, message gone forth; the works of God is being manifested. O God, shake every heart.
And in this little building this afternoon, where just a few of us has gathered together, there has been dozens of hands that's been raised. They want this wheel in the middle of the wheel. They want your Spirit in their life to govern them, and to make them new creatures, and to control them, and to give them...?... their Christian life and to live within them.

O God, today in Your own created Being, may the Holy Spirit brood just now to those hands that went up and others besides them, will change their nature to lamb, a new spirit, a new heart, and may the Dove come and set upon their heart, guide them and give them Everlasting Life. This blessing I ask for this little church and this people in the Name of Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen. [Ezekiel 36:26]

Now, I want you to do this you that raised your hands and you that ought to have done. I'm not telling you to change your churches. No, sir, no. You just go to Christ and live for Him with all your heart.
Go, tell your pastor, when the Holy Ghost has just filled you, and you say, "Pastor, I'm going to be a different member from what I have been. My life is going to be rich and royal, because in me dwells the Holy Spirit." Oh, how he will appreciate it. And maybe you might lead him to the same experience if he hasn't already had it. Who knows? That's what we want.
The Lord bless you. And you're a lovely audience to talk to. And I pray that each one of you will be filled with God's Holy Spirit.
How many believes what I said to be the truth...?... Thank you. And may the Lord bless you. Now, I'm going to ask your pastor Brother Vayle, if he will come here and finish the service, while I go to pray and make ready for the healing service tonight. God bless you, Dr. Vayle. [Brother Branham speaks to Brother Vayle--Ed.]
Well, I guess, before the healing services. I do. Brother Vayle was asking me; they wanted some photos. Them photos can be taken any time just till the inspiration strikes for the vision, 'cause the Light that I look at... It--it is a Light.
How many know that Jesus Christ is a Light now? Anybody that knows the Bible knows that. Certainly. He was the... Any time while I'm preaching and so forth tonight, will perfectly all right. The Lord bless you with all the goodness of heaven is my prayer...?...