Once More
63-1117, Once More, The Rock Church, New York, NY, 112 min
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L-1 I want to say that I... [Congregation applauds--Ed.] I appreciate that. Thank you, very much. I want to say that I certainly love this fellow, too. Brother Joseph has been my friend for years. I would like to have the opportunity, sometime, to tell you how we ever come together. But I--I just trust that the Lord loves me like Joseph does, and I'll be all right then. God bless you, Brother Joseph. [Brother Joseph Boze says, "Thank you."] The Lord bless you.
L-2 I believe we were going to sing that, "Now I believe." And let's mean it from our hearts, tonight, "Now I believe." All right.
Now I believe, now I believe
All things are possible, now believe;
Now I believe, now I believe
All things are possible, now I believe.
All things are possible, now believe;
Now I believe, now I believe
All things are possible, now I believe.
L-3 Let us bow our heads, just a moment, while we remain standing. And in this moment, let's bow our hearts, also, to Him. Now I wonder if there is any in the congregation would like to be remembered in this prayer, just by raising your hand to God, saying, "God, this signifies I have a need yet, and I'm wanting You to supply it." God grant your request.
L-4 Our Heavenly Father, Great and Almighty Jehovah Who formed the earth out of Your Word, and has given us the opportunity to sojourn here and make our decision whether we want to live or die. "Choose you this day." And we choose between death and Life. So I pray, Father, if there be some in here that does not know Thee as their own beloved Saviour, that this night they will choose You, which is Life, to know. And then if there is those here tonight that's sick unto physical death, that they will choose You, tonight, as their Healer, and it will also mean physical restoration again. [Joshua 24:15]
L-5 Oh, Thou art so good to the sons of man, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance. You send forth the clouds for the rain, and bring forth fruit and food upon the earth, to feed Your children. And we are so dilatory, Lord, and so destructive, to waste and to be selfish. And, O God, just forgive us, Lord. We--we plead for mercy. We would not want Your justice or Your judgment; we want Your mercy, Lord, so we pray that we may be partakers of Your mercy.
L-6 And, Father, not that this congregation hear me; but that You might, standing here in this place that's been dedicated. I thank Thee for this fine fellowship. And I believe, with my heart, that if You should come tonight, there would be a host of New York people go in that great Rapture. And, Father, we pray that we will be lights, not under a bushel, but under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that lights the candle, that we might be lights to this dying world, as the great dismal fogs of unbelief is floating in from every side. We know soon we'll see our Lord break back that fog, when the Light begins to shine. And we trust, Lord, that You'll make us ready. If there is anything we have need of tonight, supply it to us, Lord, through Thy grace. For we ask it in Jesus' Name, Thy Child. Amen.
L-7 I am not very expressive. But I would like to say to Pastor Vick, his little co-worker there, and the choir, fine bunch of ladies and men, and all the cooperating pastors, laity, all of you, and the visitors, strangers in our gates. I want to thank you for your support this week, of your prayer and cooperation, to try to bring the Gospel Light to this city.
L-8 And our efforts, Pastor Vick with many other pastors, are, we are seiners in this great lake. There is fishes in here that belong to God. We do not know who they are and where they are. But as he stands at one corner, another at another corner, seining, I just come to weave my net with theirs, with the ministry that's given, mine with theirs, to try to reach out and get a--a little larger group in, that we might present them to God, and say, "Father, is there any fish in here? Is there any seeds of life, predestinated to be in the Book of Life, that the Lamb died for?" If they're there, we feel, that when the Gospel Light strikes, they'll see It right quick, because they are predestined to that.
L-9 Now we are sorry that we did not have room to accommodate the people. Each night, nearly, when I've come up, there's been great throngs of people all up-and-down the street, walking, trying to get in. And some crying; some different, you know.
L-10 But I know that it's they have a law here, a fire marshal's law; just so many, you have to leave so much aisles, and so forth. And that they cannot help. Because that we are, as Christians, we've got to do that. For the Bible said, Jesus told us to, "Give Caesar those things that pertain to Caesar, and then to God those things that belong to God." So we try to. And if we will not obey Caesar, it's doubtful that we'd obey God. And as long as--as Caesar's laws doesn't interfere with God's, we must obey God first. And then these fire hazards, and so forth, well, they know how to take care of that, and they told us. [Matthew 22:21], [Mark 12:17], [Luke 20:25]
L-11 I--I was asking for mercy for the people, and seeing them up-and-down the streets, and things, and the sick, and trying to get in, and bringing them in cabs from across somewhere else in New York, or Long Island and Jersey, or different places, and Manhattan. Well, you see, but we--we can only ask. And then when I find out that that's the law, why, he said, "If the fire marshal would come in and catch us crowded like that, he would close the whole meeting." So that would cut everybody out.
L-12 I want to express my gratefulness to the--the--the owner, or whatever it might be, or the company that owns this building, and to the management for letting us have this building, and for the custodian and the courtesy of--of giving us right of way. They've been very, very nice. And if they're... If they don't at this time have Eternal Life, I trust that God will give them Eternal Life.
L-13 And now this may sound like a--a rashel statement, but I say this only because of I'm zealous for Christ. I do pray that if this building be used at any time, from hereafter, for dances or worldly entertainment, that the Holy Spirit will throw such conviction upon those people until they'll weep. I pray to that. Because I'm sure that the people even that owns it would rather see souls saved to the Kingdom of God, than to have the other going on.
L-14 "And now you're welcome back," for me to come back, that just fills my heart. Because, little odd ministries is sometimes so unwelcome amongst brethren, especially some of them that that in their certain organization that they are built up to a place till they cannot accept it, see, because there is a system behind it. Not that many of those precious man...
L-15 I've met Catholic priests that's took my hand and just looked me in the eye. And think I didn't know what was going through his mind? That's discernment, you see, what you see here. He wanted to embrace It, but couldn't do it; see, he--he would be excommunicated, see. Protestant ministers, the same way, fine brethren, and they--they want to do it.
L-16 That way, when I speak against some denomination, or the denominational system, it isn't the people in there. It's the system that I'm against, you see, that holds them apart, holds us from receiving. See? They draw up their declarations, say, "We believe this, period!" If they would end it with a comma, "We believe this, plus as much as the Lord can show us out of His Word," it would be all right. But they do not do it that way. You know that. It couldn't be a denomination and do that, see. It would just be the move of God, moving on all the time, you see. And the...
L-17 Each one becomes a latter rain to the other. See, Luther was a latter rain to the Catholic. And John Wesley was the latter rain to Luther. The pentecost was the latter rain to the denomination. Now the Pentecostals are organized, now what's going to happen? See? See? See? [Deuteronomy 11:14], [Joel 2:23]
L-18 But remember, the children of God never drove their stake tents down or--or so tight but what they could pull it up. And when the Fire moved, the Pillar of Fire, they moved with It. See, they moved with the Pillar of Fire. [Exodus 13:21-22]
L-19 But when you get the Pillar of Fire doing something, the Holy Spirit doing something, and then after that man with a message departs this life, then they say they organize upon his work. And the Pillar of Fire moves right out and leaves them sitting there; just goes right on. They're so staked down till they can't move, and, but in there is many fine-hearted people. [Exodus 13:21-22]
L-20 I don't know when that I have had any more liberty to speak just my heart than I have right here.
L-21 Now, there, they say that, "The New York people are cold, different, informal; the great molding pot, where they get a handful of the worst out of every nation, and dump it in and grind it up, and you got New York, see." But I want you to know, in there, some of the saints of God are in there also, see. That's right. It's true. And everywhere I go, around and around the world, I find the saints of God are in every nation, everywhere. And the strange thing is...
L-22 I might say this to some of you, just drop it in. As a missionary, I--I find that I go into a nation that doesn't even know which is right or left hand, they do not know what any words, how to spell anything, only thing they know is just kill and eat. But let those people receive the Holy Spirit, and they do the same thing you do, and act the same way you act, not even knowing one word about it. So, you see, it's to all races, all peoples everywhere, and we all have the good and bad.
L-23 And I do feel, tonight, and thank our Heavenly Father, for I--I believe that part of the cream of the crop, I have the privilege of speaking to, tonight.
L-24 Now you can imagine the responsibility, to speak to a--a group that would lay onto every word you say, and then you'll have to answer for what you told them, at the Day of Judgment. Because, through the little humble ministry, it gives people faith to know that a human being cannot do those things. It has to come from God, therefore that they lay onto every word you say. So I never try to build something, thinking, or writing down Scriptures and--and notes that it would be something that I thought would make the people all elated. See, I--I try to pray and to think of something that would be constructive to you, that would help you.
L-25 Cause, I'm not here just for us to clap hands and shout, and run up-and-down the aisles. Oh, I believe in that, sure, but there is more than that to it. It's got to have a foundation for this, you see. I believe that when you jump, and when you come back down, then live as high as you jumped, you see. And, if you don't, don't jump. See? So then just always jump as high as you live. And now that's--that's what we should do. Because, after all, see, your--your life speaks louder than your testimony, you know. See, people know what you are, by the way you live and the things you do.
L-26 And now I've been very long at night. Supposed to be out of here, well, I guess, at the correct time, in the next twenty minutes, and I haven't even started. And I, I'm slow. I--I just...
L-27 I--I'm always late. I--I--I was late getting here, I was a little over nine months. And then I was... That's right. When I was born, I was a little overtime, my mother said. And then when I got it, what education I got, I was always behind. And when I got married, I had my wife waiting about three hours till I made a sick call; I was late at my wedding. Now if I can just be late for my funeral, that's the next thing, see, that's the main thing. I don't say that for a... But that's the truth.
L-28 But I--I've never tried to educate people into It. I never tried to think; just let the Holy Spirit have Its way.
L-29 I've got two girls at home. I was just talking to them, a few moments ago. One of them is Rebekah, the other one... That's the older. The younger one, sister next to her, is Sarah. And they are about nearly five years apart. Sometime ago, I was in a missionary meeting, come home late. And they are daddy's girls. And they even now, Rebekah is a young woman, but she is still daddy's girl. And I love my children. And I remember they would sit up and wait. I wouldn't come in for months. And then when I come in, they would wait to see me. Well, they were little. It's been several years ago, about ten years ago. I had been overseas, and I was coming in. And the plane was late, and so the little girls got sleepy and went to bed. The sandman got in their eyes, or throwed the sand in their eyes, rather. So then, well, wife waited up.
L-30 And finally I got in early, around three o'clock in the morning. So then I was so tired and weary, I couldn't sleep. I laid down for about an hour, and I got up, went in the living room, sit down in the chair. And after a while, it broke day.
L-31 And the first thing you know, I heard a noise back in the room, and it was the two girls had had woke up. And Rebekah woke up first, the idea struck her, "Daddy's home," and here she come, out of the bed and here she come! Well, that woke her little sister up.
L-32 I--I guess my children is like yours. When the oldest one wears something almost out, the next one gets the hand-me-down, so Sarah was wearing Becky's pajamas. And that was the times that they had these kind of rabbit-feet pajamas, great big feet in them, and they were certainly way too long for--for Sarah. And so she couldn't keep up, her legs was too short.
L-33 And so Rebekah run in and jumped up on my knee, and throwed both arms around me and begin to hugging me. And, course, I had to cry a little. So, and poor little Sarah thought she was left out, Becky had beat her; so she was standing at the door, and her big black eyes looked up, and the tears on her cheeks.
L-34 So Rebekah turns around and said, "Sarah, my sister!" She acted something like, I think, some of the churches try to do, you know. Said, "I want you to know that I was here first." And she said... And she had both arms around me, and she said, "And I've got all of daddy, and there is none left for you." Now, that's what they try to tell us, a lot of times, you know. Well, Becky was kind of long-legged and so she could reach the floor; she was pretty well established, you know, like many of the churches.
L-35 But little Sarah, she was so hurt, until I looked at her and I winked my eye at her, you know, and motioned like that. And stuck my other knee out. That's what she was waiting for. Here she come! And she jumped up on my leg, and it was a little too high for them short legs of hers, and she was wiggling about like she was going to fall. Well, I caught her with both arms, and she put her little head up against my bosom. And she kind of liked the feeling, I guess, and so did I, so I was hugging her.
L-36 And she raised up, and she looked up at Rebekah. And I thought this was pretty good. She said, "Rebekah, my sister, I want to tell you something, too." She says, "It may be right that you were here first and you've got all of daddy, but I want you to know daddy has got all of me." So... [Congregation applauds--Ed.]
L-37 I am not a theologian. I didn't have long enough to grow in some school of theology, but I--I hope He has got all of me, yeah, that's all, so He can use me.
L-38 Last, but not least, by no means. I--I never come here... And I asked them not to take up any offering, see. I--I don't come for that. I've never took up one, myself, in my life. All my... I've been a minister for thirty-three years, I've never took an offering in my life. There has been some taken for me, by ministers. But I never took one, in my life, and I--I hope I never have to.
L-39 But that you have done it, it will go, I will take it and put it into foreign missions, and go over, myself; to bring the people that hasn't the privilege that you have here, to bring this same Gospel to those who cannot afford to send for me or pay my way. Therefore... [Congregation applauds--Ed.] Thank you. That they, too, who are underprivileged might have the same privilege that we have here. And not one penny of it will be spent for, you know, drinking, smoking, or... It'll be for the Kingdom of God. And I trust that God will, in that, give you a great mention. "Insomuch as you have done unto the least of these, My little ones, you have done it unto Me." And may the Lord bless you. And now I'm going to try tonight... [Matthew 24:24]
L-40 I want to ask one question. How many was in that great prayer line last night, that passed through under the hands of these ministers, that feel the Holy Spirit is already working in your case? Let's see you put your hands up. Oh, that's wonderful. That's just fine, beautiful. He always does. He works in your behalf.
L-41 Now I thought, tonight, being we've had so much healing services... And we have seen the Lord Jesus in His great power, making Him the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we have learned through the week, that there has been many great signs that He has showed us, of His Presence, right here with us now, in the form of the Holy Spirit. [Hebrews 13:8]
L-42 Now next Sunday, I'm to be at my tabernacle, Sunday morning and Sunday night, in--in Indiana. And then the following week, I am in Shreveport, Louisiana, in a big convention. Then after that, I go to Yuma, Arizona. And back to Phoenix, for the Christian Business Men. Then back to Indiana, for the Christmas holidays.
L-43 Then back to Phoenix again, if any of you is around there and have friends. Beginning on the nineteenth, they give me that nice, about four thousand seating, Ramada auditorium, air-conditioned, free, prior the international convention of the Christian Business Men. And I speak two nights out of the four, and Mr. Roberts one night and I think Brother Brown one night, and I think mine is the opening night and the closing night. And then from there, on and on.
L-44 Pray for me. And now I--I need your prayers. If there is anybody needs prayer, it's me, see. And Satan sure... I'm a target for him, you know. And I have to keep up the faith all the time, that shield, to march on. The Lord ever bless you.
L-45 And if I never see you no more until that Day, I will meet you in the morning, see, at that Gate. And then in There, I can say as I say now, I'll still be believing this same glorious Gospel, and believing that Jesus Christ is not dead. But He is alive among His people, and His Gospel is the same. And the things that He did, we are to do till He comes. And I realize that God will judge me for those things that I have preached. I--I'm have to answer to God for what I say.
L-47 Lord Jesus, take the Word now and feed our hungry souls. We are waiting patiently, Lord. We are under great expectations. Like at the last day of the feast, how the people rejoiced! We're thinking of Simeon in the temple, promised by the Holy Ghost that he would not see death until he seen the Lord's Christ. And there it was, on that great day, when the women come in to have their children circumcised, offer the gift for purification, and it was at that time that the--the Jesus was brought into the temple. And Simeon, maybe off somewhere in a side room that morning, in the office, but the Holy Spirit made him the promise. And here was the Messiah in the arms of His mother, the little Fellow out there wrapped in His swaddling cloth. [Luke 2:20-34]
L-48 And Mary, them keeping their distance away from her, because she had a--a bad name, so thought the people, "the Baby was born out of holy wedlock." No one wanted anything to do with that woman. But in her heart, she knew What she held in her arms. And, Father, may our heart tonight cradle that same hope. No matter what the world says, we know What has entered our life.
L-49 And at that time, Simeon, the one that said that he... The Holy Spirit told him that he would see the Messiah. Yet, old, well-stricken, an old sage, honorable man, but he believed the Word of the Lord to him. The Holy Spirit coming to him, and, he going, led by the Holy Spirit, down through the building, around this great string of mothers. With two and a half million people that time, overnight there might have been as many as several hundred babies born. And there they were, standing ready for circumcision and purification. [Luke 2:25-34]
L-50 And how the Holy Ghost led him right to this little rejected person! Reaching over, picked the Messiah in his arms, with tears running down his beard. He said, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." [Luke 2:29]
L-51 Staggering through the building come an old prophetess, to whom the Word of the Lord comes to, and also prophesied of Him; blinded in eyes, but not in spirit. She knew That was the Messiah.
L-52 Lord God, may our eyes come open to the fact that He is still the Messiah. And may we embrace Him, tonight, for we have confessed that we are pilgrims and strangers of this world. This is not our home. This is not our land. We are a different acting people because we are borned from Above.
L-53 And we who hold this promise in our heart, may we see the promise that Jesus made to His Church, that we would see just prior His Coming, as we see the days of Noah returning, "eating, drinking, marrying, given in marriage, and immorals of the land." Then He said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, to the Gentiles, before the fire fell, that God came down and was manifested in flesh, by knowing the secrets of the heart's of the people." And He promised the same thing to return. May we have the privilege tonight, Great Holy Spirit, for we humbly ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. [Luke 17:26-30]
L-55 Oh, I think now to be conscious of the Spirit near us, Light. Break out of the shell of the hour we're living, and the time, and be conscious of the Spirit of God now among us.
L-56 Let us turn to the Book of Judges, the 16th chapter, beginning with the 23rd verse, as we read the Word.
L-57 And as you are turning, I might say, my thinking in choosing this chapter to read this afternoon, at the closing of this meeting, might be something brought forth which would be constructive to the Church. And always I wait to see what the Holy Spirit will say, in the room, as It strikes me. I might jot down different Scriptures and things, then wonder what it will be when I get there. "What will He say concerning This?"
L-58 And now listen closely, just try to be just as attentive to It as you possibly can, as we read. For, in here, if it be the will of the Lord, I am trying to set forth a parallel, parallel from one to another. And listen close now, 23rd verse, beginning.
And when the lords of the Philistine gathered... together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.
And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and destroyed and destroyed our country, which slew many of us.
And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, for he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and they were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
And Samson called unto God, unto the LORD, and said, O Lord... remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be... once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
And Samson took hold of the two... pillars upon which the house stood, and on which he... borne it up, of the one, and the... his right hand, and on the other... his left.
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death was more than they which he slew in his life.[Judges 16:23-30]
And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and destroyed and destroyed our country, which slew many of us.
And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, for he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.
And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.
Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and they were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
And Samson called unto God, unto the LORD, and said, O Lord... remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be... once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
And Samson took hold of the two... pillars upon which the house stood, and on which he... borne it up, of the one, and the... his right hand, and on the other... his left.
And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death was more than they which he slew in his life.[Judges 16:23-30]
L-59 What a sad sight! Must have been a hot afternoon, sun shining down at its great celebration, and three thousand Philistines looked down from the galleries of the stadium, as the pair entered. High honored war lords, and their fine-jeweled ladies, leaned forward to get a good look, as the boy led this blind man! The halls had echoed all afternoon with drunken revelry, celebrating, (here is what hurts me) celebrating the victory of their fish-god, Dagon, over Jehovah's servant. What a disgrace! What a thing had happened! The man had failed. Not, God had not failed. [Judges 16:23]
L-60 And what Jehovah must have been thinking as He looked down and see all this going on! Drunken conglomeration of women half stripped, fine-jeweled and decorated, and fixed up, their drunken husbands drinking and celebrating to a god, a fish-god, an idol that had took the victory over Jehovah's servant. [Judges 16:23]
L-61 The lad led the stumbling blind man to the middle, of the pole--the poles where they stood, two of them, holding this great big slanting pillars, or a great big hall that slanted down in this manner. And two great big huge posts, as I could think of the setting; holding the people, of three thousand war lords, and the celebrity, the--the finest honored soldiers, the greatest warriors. Just that the--the celebrity was invited to this, because it was a celebration. [Judges 16:25-26]
L-62 And across from them was this huge image of a fish, with human blood beneath it, upon the altar, sacrifice to this fish-god, a total pagan statue that can neither speak, hear, nor breathe. But they--they, in their ignorance, they was worshiping this god, thinking that he had give them the victory, a celebration.
L-63 And then led to these posts in the floor, where they could all see, the--the main event was just about to take place. There had been many entertainments, maybe like they used to have, monkeys; and they had gladiators, and when they would duel, and the gladiators would say whether the victim (is on the floor) should be killed or not. And they had to see shedding blood. And all the--the events had taken place, and now the main thing come up. The preliminaries were over. And the main event was to make fun of Jehovah, make fun of our God, all because His servant had failed Him. [Judges 16:24-26]
L-64 See, He is God, that's true, but we're His servants and we got our commission to carry out exactly the way He said to carry it out.
L-65 Then we find, in their drunken irreverent condition as they were in, and now they had all raised up because there was a great silence, perhaps a trumpet sounded. And they were going to have the main event, to what they were celebrating, bringing in Jehovah's witness; bring him out there in the middle of the hall, that they all might make fun of him, and make sport out of him. [Judges 16:24-27]
L-66 Look at him, humiliated, broken, a symbol of a--of a fallen church, spiritually stripped, morally broken. What an example that is of the conditions of today! [Judges 16:24-25]
L-67 "Samson, this was Samson, Samson the great; so this was him, the great mighty instrument of God?" Why, many Philistines, I would imagine, them war lords standing there, looking there; why, at the very remembrance of his name, the whole country trembled. Just say "Samson," that's all you had to do, just mention the name "Samson" and everyone trembled at his name, and now look at him.
L-68 You know, it used to be that the Name of the "Lord Jesus" had a great reverence, people highly honored It. And the ones who honored It could cast out evil spirits, by It, and could make nature obey their command, through His Name.
L-69 But I think that Samson here, what I want to parallel it to, is the modern local... or not local, but the--the modern conditions of the church today. It's a perfect parallel. The church has long lost its respect; not because that God has failed the church, but the church has failed God. It wasn't because that God had failed Samson, but Samson had failed God. Where, we ought to be standing in such a condition like the church was when Ananias and Sapphira was brought before the church. But instead of that, we have long compromised with the things of the world and brought it in, until, today, it to be called a bunch of holy-rollers, or--or just an ordinary other denomination, just some church. There is not... It hasn't, doesn't pack the dignity that it should have. [Judges 16:24-25], [Acts 5:1-11]
L-70 I guess, as they stood there, standing to their feet, when the main event was taking place. And let's just take ourselves back there for a few minutes. And I would imagine, the Philistines, many of those great warriors standing there, with their fine-jeweled women, their arms around them, drinking a toast to Dagon. "Hail, Dagon, thou art victorious over Jehovah! We have showed them what we can do. We show this fellow, who claimed so much, that there is nothing to Him." [Judges 16:24]
L-71 That's almost the condition of the church today. We who have the keys of the Kingdom in our hand, with every spiritual gift that God give to man, laying in the church, long have we compromised with--with creed, and so forth, until we've windled all the power of God out of it, until it becomes no more than a lodge.
L-72 Like in a recent event, when a Mohammedan stood by the side of our foremost evangelist, and he said, "I'll bring up thirty people that's sick and afflicted, and you heal fifteen of them and I'll heal fifteen of them." And I say not this against the evangelist, by no means; but the evangelist took off and left the man alone, without an answer.
L-73 What a--a--a letdown to our God, for the Word is God. And the promise of the Word is a promise of God, "These signs shall follow them that believe." [Mark 16:17]
L-74 And it's almost come to another challenge, or another celebration, when heathen gods can speak to the church, and the church stands helpless, defeated, spiritually stripped. Now there is something that's done that, that's been the cares of the world entering into the church, and it's got it no more than any lodge. We find that. I believe... [Judges 16:24-26]
L-75 I don't know what I would have done in the case. I would have to wait to see what God said. But I believe I would have felt like the Hebrew children, "Our God is able to deliver us from this! But, nevertheless, we'll never bow to your image, whether He does or does not." [Daniel 3:17-18]
L-76 But we've lost the courage; that's what Samson had done, lost its power. The church has lost the influence of its testimony, that it is a--a living, moving, Body of Christ. It has accepted dogmas, mixed it in with their beliefs, until the Word has not the pre-eminence. As Jesus said to that helpless church that He come to, "You have taken the Commandments of God, and, with your traditions, you've made Them of no effect. Made the Commandments of God without an effect, by your traditions, to explain It away." [Matthew 5:6], [Mark 7:13]
L-77 Sometime ago, in a school. There was a fine New York man here that come to my house, and he said to me... He was a Baptist brother, and he said to me, "Brother Branham, I am a--a Baptist." And I had him to come in and sit down, he and another brother. And we talked, for, at length. And after a while, he said, "When I was a little boy, I was called to the ministry." He said, "My precious old mother washed over a washboard, to send me to school." And said, "The day that I was going and received my degree of Bachelor of Art, my B.A. degree," he said, "I thought then surely Christ would be in that, but," said, "He wasn't." Said, "When I received my doctor's degree, then I thought, 'Christ will be in that,' but He wasn't." He said, "And when I got my L.L.D., Doctor of Literature, and so forth." And said, "I've got enough degrees and honorary degrees till I could plaster your wall with them, and where is Christ in all of it?" He said, "I'm still looking for Him." Said, "I'm going to ask you a question." Says, "Has the teachers been wrong?"
L-78 I said, "My brother," Jewish to begin with, I said, "I am in no position, as a--a--a seventh-grade education, to say that the teachers are wrong. I--I--I could not say that. I--I don't feel qualified to condemn anybody. But I'll say this, that I have found Him, and He wasn't in that."
L-81 I said, "No. I have just received the pentecostal Blessing, see, not the Pentecostal denomination. The pentecostal Blessing!"
L-82 And he said, "Well," he said, "I've--I've been to their meetings. And I have seen them kick over the chairs, and throw a book through the window." And he said, "You couldn't call that the behavior of the blessed Holy Spirit."
I said, "I'm still not able to judge God."
I said, "I'm still not able to judge God."
L-84 I said, "In my travel, I find two classes of people." And I said, "One of them are fundamentals, positionally they know by the mechanics, that they are to be sons and daughters in God." And I said, "The next I find is the Pentecostals, they with the baptism of the Holy Spirit." But I said, "The fundamentals positionally know where they're at, but they don't have any faith in the Word. And the Pentecostals has got a lot of faith, but don't know who they are." And I said, "It's like a man that had money in the bank, but could not write a check; and one could write a check, but had no money in the bank. If you could just get them together!"
He said, "Well, what makes them act like that?"
He said, "Well, what makes them act like that?"
L-85 I said, "It's letting off the steam." I said, "Now, I don't think that would have to be necessary," I said, "but they they've got to give vent somewhere." And I said, "Now if they would just take all that steam and could know how to direct it fundamentally, in the Word, the big regime of God would start moving on."
L-86 There is where Satan got in, to make it all mechanics and no dynamics. Back, all dynamics and no mechanics. See, we've got to put it together. We've got the power of the Holy Spirit, but we've got to come back with the Word to feed this machine. We can't feed it on creed. It won't burn it; chokes up the flues, and it will not burn it. It was made for the Word of God. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word," not just part of It, "every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." [Matthew 4:4]
L-87 So here we stand, a Church commissioned on the last commission, the last thing that Jesus said to His Church, the last commission given, "Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all nations. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And..." And is a conjunction, to tie your sentence together. "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; if they take up serpents or drink deadly things, it will not harm them; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." [Mark 16:15-18]
L-88 So why should we have to stand in the presence of some heathen god and take a defeat? We stand again like Samson, spiritually stripped, morally broken, our churches. What has happened, they--they used to be honorable men and women, and today you--you... it's terrible. Now let's just look a few minutes at some thoughts that passed upon this. So there stood Samson, and, pardon me, here he is again today, again stripped morally, spiritually. And it's also a symbol of a fallen nation. But we're speaking of Church, because Samson was God's servant, supposed to be, and the Church is supposed to be God's servant in the earth. [Judges 16:24-26]
L-89 Many great warriors standing there, sober up for a moment, as the liquors run off of their... probably their armors and breastplates, and their arms around their pretty, jeweled queens, as they looked out upon there, and many of them looking at this sight. A little boy holding this big bulk of a man, and no eyeballs in his sockets; they had been burnt out. [Judges 16:24-27]
L-90 That's what the enemy does. The first thing, when he gets a hold of you, he does like he did to Samson. He shuts your eyes off from the Light of the Gospel. Now he cannot see. His eyes are gone. Long has the church lost its spiritual sight, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and every promise is true. [Hebrews 13:8]
L-91 And as they stand there now, no eyes, a ridiculous sight, a disgrace standing beneath the fish-god, a captive of the very nation that God raised him up to destroy. [Judges 16:24-27]
L-92 Now I'm going to come home just a minute. And here is our Pentecostal people that, fifty years ago, left that muck of denomination, God called us out to be a separated people. And we stand, today, just dozens of organizations, different, and Pentecost all fighting one another. The very thing that God called us out to defeat, it has defeated us. If one goes to this denomination, has a meeting, the rest of them don't want to cooperate. Just now and then you can find one. That's right. And denomination has always been a curse in the sight of God. It never was; God never did. That never was His plan.
L-93 God cannot change His program. God deals with individuals. There were millions in the days of Noah, but Noah was the anointed one. There was millions in the days of Elijah, never Elisha and Elijah at the same time. On down, each generation! There were two and a half million in Egypt; Moses went down. See? There were millions in the days of Jesus. Even when John the great prophet stood, when he seen this great Mighty One come on, he said, "I must decrease now, my work is over; and He will increase, God." He pointed them to the Lamb. [John 3:30]
L-94 But, see, that went on for three hundred years, until the Nicaea Council, and then we had to have an organization. Then from that on, that fell. And every time that a message comes forth, and they organize it, it dies spiritually and never comes back again. So it's a cursed thing, to the church of God, for man to put his hand upon the moving of the Spirit. Always.
L-95 Then they take them out there and get seminary ministers, and they rub shoulders with the world, and so forth. The first thing you know, they got the women acting like the world, the men. The first thing you know, politics and bishops, and they want a straw in their hat, and they cut and push, and fuss and fight, until the Spirit of God is completely grieved away.
L-96 Some of them remember seeing Samson when the anointing was upon him. Standing in a field, with a thousand Philistines laying around him, with nothing in his hand but an old brittle jaw bone of a mule, that he had beat through inch-thick helmets of brass, knocking Philistines one way and the other, when the Spirit of Lord was upon him. And many of them had took refuge to the rock. And him standing there, saying, "If you want some, come on out!" Some of them remember seeing that. [Judges 15:15-16]
L-97 Some of them might have whispered across, and said, "Do you remember in Gaza that night, when it was noised abroad that our enemy was in the city? And we got the army, we locked the gates. And the gates, weighing maybe six or seven tons, those big brass gates, where a whole four or five chariots abreast could move in, an army moving in the city. And we took the army, with our spears and swords, and we stood and said, 'now we've got him.' And when we awakened!" He just walked right down through them, shoving them right and left; took the gate and pulled one off, and pulled the other one off, and laid it on his shoulders, and walked up on the mountain and sat down. That's when the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. One day... [Judges 16:1-3]
L-98 Some of them might have remembered when they seen a lion roar against him, which would have killed him in a second. [Judges 14:5-6]
L-99 If any one knows what, how fast a lion can kill you. And with a one big blast and a roar, in a split second they kill a--a two-ton wildebeest or a buffalo; with just one of them paws, break his neck like that, or bite him like that, and he is gone. Don't even kick a hoof, kills them so instantly.
L-100 And here this man walking along, and a lion roared, and he was helpless, not even the jaw bone of a mule in his hand. But the Bible said, "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him," and he grabbed the lion and tore him apart. [Judges 14:5-6]
L-101 But now he stands, helpless, all stripped of power. It's the same thing now, the church stands the same way. Where, once the church used to cast out devils. The church used to raise up the dead. The church used to do the things that Jesus did. Sin could not dwell among them, the Holy Spirit came in and condemned it. If a man done something secretly, and belonged to this Christian group; as soon as he come in, the Holy Spirit revealed his sin. He either repented or perished. But, you see, we don't have it no more. [Judges 16:24-27]
L-102 And they won't receive it no more. And when it does come, they try to call it an "evil spirit," that they might receive that much more condemnation. Something has to condemn them.
L-103 Notice, stripped of power, what must have went through that man's mind? Once that kind of a warrior, and now a little boy has to lead him around. Why? He is blind. He can't see. He has nothing to see with. [Judges 16:26]
L-104 God, have mercy upon us! The church is so denominated and so far away, till the Devil has poked out the eyesight, the spiritual sight that This is the Word of God. Not a creed; It's the Word! And God is duty bound to--to produce everything that He promised in this Bible. They say, "We, we believe..." You haven't got no belief coming, if it's contrary to This. The mind of Christ in you, you believe the things that Christ wrote, 'cause This is Christ, the Word. But look at the condition, look at the parallel, when we see that. [Philippians 2:5]
L-106 We see what went through the war lords' mind, of the fear that they once had just of his name. They was scared to do anything. They just mention Samson, that's all, everybody was gone. But now there he is, standing, a victim under Dagon, the fish-god. A Jew that despised idols, was standing a victim under one (why?) because he had failed God. Samson standing there, no doubt... Let's--let's--let's search his mind for about three or four minutes. He must have thought of all the victories he had. There he stands, what he had done. How the Lord had blessed him, and how that he once was a great man as long as he was in the Kingdom of God, keeping the promise of God!
L-107 See, he had failed, and got rid of the promise. That's the same thing the church has done, got rid of the promises. "Oh, well, that's, we'll write our own little catechism, this, you see." This is It, the Word!
L-108 Now, notice, he had thought of all of his victories. And then this must have went through his mind, and how that he had failed God's people.
L-109 It ought to be a shame, to a minister that will sit and read this Bible then walk out before his people, the world is full of Lots. The Bible said that "the sins of Sodom vexed his righteous soul," but he didn't have the courage to stand up and rebuke that sin. And there is many men today... [Judges 16:16]
L-110 And I say this with reverence, only with--with love, but just to say Truth. We may never meet again.
L-111 There is many men that reads this same Bible that we read; sits in his office, preparing his message, and run upon these Truths of God, and have to by-pass them. He would be afraid to preach against the women cutting their hair. His organization would turn him out. About them wearing immoral clothes and committing spiritual adultery. And about the men that--that takes a sociable drink on Christmas, and--and gets out and has a little clean American fun, tells dirty jokes, still maintains the office as deacon. They know them things are wrong, but they're as it was in the days of Lot. We're back to that sinful place again. See? [Luke 17:26-30]
L-112 Oh, how Samson must have been reminded, by the Holy Spirit, that how he had failed God's people, and had failed God himself. Now he is a prisoner of the very thing that God raised him up and give him power to destroy.
L-113 And with love and with... I am a member, I am in This with you; not a member of a--an organization, God forbid. But I am a member, by grace, in the Body of Christ. I am your brother. I have no selfish motives, my motive to achieve anything personally. I am only zealous for the Lord God, and I say this with--with all my heart. The very thing that you were called out of, you've gone back into it again. And as the Bible said, "As the sow goes to her wallow, and a dog returns to its vomit!" And if the vomit made the dog sick, in the first place, won't it make him sicker the second time? And if organization and creeds that had got the people so bound up, and God called you out to be a free people, and you turned right back around and done the same thing, it'll, it's a greater sin. [Proverbs 26:11]
L-114 Now they had him doing tricks to entertain them. And that's just about the way it's got, instead of a Holy Spirit.
L-115 That when someone raises up and gets arrogant, the Holy Spirit is obligated to God, to shut that thing up. I've seen them pack them from the meeting, paralyzed, blinded, dumb, and even die right in the meetings, and drop dead while they're trying to rebuke It. God in Heaven knows that's right. Many of you here has been in other meetings and witnessed the same thing.
L-116 There ought to be a holy Power surrounding, and in the church, that will make demons flee. Instead of that, it's become a laughingstock. What is it? The mechanics instead of the dynamics.
Now he is doing tricks.
Now he is doing tricks.
L-117 What caused it, what was the cause of Samson's fall? He let a woman lure him away from the promise of God. That's exactly. We all know that. He had seven locks. And he was born, his birth path, was to be a Nazarite, a odd fellow, to the Lord. But, you see, he let this woman lure him until she shaved his oddness off. [Judges 16:13, 17]
L-118 And that's the same thing that's happened to the church. You are borned a peculiar people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. But what happened? You've let the world shave off your peculiarness until you have become one of them. You had to have a denomination just like they had. You had to outshine the Baptists or the Methodists, one. And now the Assemblies is trying to outshine the United, and the United outshine the Assemblies, the church of God out this, and, oh, my, on and on, thirty or forty different organizations. See, like the dog returning to its vomit, the same thing. [Proverbs 26:11]
L-119 Notice, the same thing has been done as it was then, let Jezebel, "the mother of harlots," Revelation 17. Remember, she was called a whore, that's a--a woman that's immoral. And woman always is a represents... The church is represented by a woman. Because, Christ, one He is coming after is a Bride. And she was "the mother of harlots." What is a immoral woman? Now, it couldn't have been man, because they were "harlots," see. Is a woman that would live untrue to her husband. And she claims that she is the mother of all churches, and she is. [Revelation 17:1, 5]
L-120 And what made her a whore? Is because she committed spiritual fornications. She adopted creeds instead of her Husband's Word. Instead of becoming a rule true, mate to her husband, she took another book, of creeds. And what was she? The mother of harlots that did the same thing. Now you don't need any more explaining to that, see. You see where it's at. What was it? Organization, getting away from the Word. [Revelation 17:1-7]
L-121 Notice now what Delilah did to Samson when she kept wooing him. "Oh, you are a great man. You are powerful. But, don't deceive me, tell me wherein lieth your strength." And she loved him, and she made love to him until finally he gave in. And what did they do? The first thing she did, she had his secret taken from him. [Judges 16:6]
L-122 Well, that's the same thing that happened (and you readers and Bible students) at the Nicaea Council. The old path of pentecost wanted to stay with the Word. And they adopted some pagan ideas through Constantine and them, and brought... As Ahab married Jezebel and brought in idolatry into Israel, so did the church marry into Romanism and bring in idolatry, right straight back in the church again. [I Kings 16:30-31]
L-123 Now you've got a little bunch of harlots, on the same principles, and look what's taking place now. Mother is wooing, and again she is going to shave all your rights away from you. God help that we'll never give It up; its this Word or death! The Council of Churches, putting themselves together and uniting in fellowship around Rome, exactly what the Bible said it would do. [Revelation 17:1-6]
L-124 1933, the Holy Spirit came one morning and told me seven things that would take place before this nation was destroyed. One of them is that. It's on old paper there at the church, many has looked at it. How that we would go to war with Hitler and they'd... How Germany would fortify and build a Maginot Line, or the Siegfried Line, I believe it was, eleven years before it was ever thought of. And how that automobiles would constantly shape like eggs. And how that they would permit women to vote, and, in doing so, they would elect the wrong President. And in this would be a woman stand up that would govern the United States; not actually a woman, but a church. Then I seen her with nothing but ashes. It's going to happen.
L-125 Five of those things has perfectly been fulfilled exactly. How Mussolini would rise and go to Ethiopia, and fall at his steps; and he would be turned to the people, in shame, with a woman. Many, many years before it happened perfectly on the dot. And it's never failed, and it won't fail, because it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. And it's not contrary to these Bible. It's got to be.
L-126 Now she is making love to her daughters, wooing them right back home again. With no spiritual understanding, stripped, it's an oasis for her. They say, "Oh, what a grand thing it is." Oh, my! And Pentecostal men sitting in the council at Rome, and sending letters around, that, "It was the most spiritual time they ever seen." How could a born-again man cut off his secret, cut off the Word, and they live by the creed? That's exactly what Delilah has done today, cutting off the Word and you live by the creed.
L-127 Now look at the defeat, today, from what it would be. Ministers, instead of God-called ministers for our Pentecostal group, you almost have--have to have a doctor's degree before you can get in the pulpit. See? That's right. The first thing, you've got to have a fellowship card. And if you... And now in our great denominations of Pentecost, before they send a missionary, they have to take him before a psychiatrist, to see if he can stand the mental test. Well, that ain't Presbyterian, that that's Pentecost. See? Now that's right. Now, I wouldn't say that unless I could back it up. See, see? Right. Tell me if that's the qualification of a minister.
L-128 The Bible said, they never went before any psychiatrist, "But they waited in the city of Jerusalem, until they were filled with Power from on High." Some of them could not write their name. A few days later, one passed through the gate called Beautiful, and he had never been before a psychiatrist. He never had his fellowship card, but he said, "Such as I have!" I have never seen a fellowship card produce that yet. [Luke 24:49], [Acts 3:6]
L-129 What are we? We are stripped, embarrassed in the Presence of the Holy Ghost. It certainly fulfills what the prophet said in Second Timothy 3, "It'd be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God." Used to be wrong for our Pentecostal women to go bathing in suits, and mixed bathing. It isn't no more, see. No, no, just like the world, just the same. All these things, see, worldly. Everything that's in the world, they just brought it in, and ministers has raised up and permitted their wives to do it. And they've done all this kind of stuff, and this generation grows along, and then the next one comes on. Just... Oh, my! [II Timothy 3:4]
L-130 Samson stood, thinking of his great victories. Let's look back and see the great early Pentecostal victories. You don't have to look plum back two thousand years ago, just look back fifty years ago. And, remember, the Roman Catholic church was first the pentecostal church. And they say that, "The church was borned, and that the Roman church was borned at Nicaea, Rome." I want Scripture for that. The first church never begin at Nicaea, Rome. The first church begin in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Oh, a victim of all the errors! Oh!
L-132 As I said, I may never see you again. I don't know. This may be my last Message to you. I may, if I... if the Lord permits, and I come back next year, we all won't be here. Huh-uh. Some of us will be gone. And each time, I must speak as if it was our last time; 'cause it is, some of us. It may be my last time.
L-133 What a condition it is, a error! And if we would only stop like Samson did, and think just a moment of what we are supposed to be, by God's Bible. Not a great big something, not going, keeping up with the Joneses; but a humble, reverent, Spirit-filled little group of people. Not shining; glowing. Hollywood shines; the Gospel glows. See, we want something shiny, the biggest churches we've ever had. We would be better off, we stood down at the alley, in a storeroom, and have the Spirit of God back on us again. That's right. Notice.
L-134 And as he stood there and realized, and his hair had begin to grow out again; but he could not be effective, because he didn't have any eyes. And he cried, "Lord, revenge my eyes. They've put my eyes out." [Judges 16:21, 28]
L-135 They're, today I might say, the creeds! "They sent me to a seminary. And the call that was in my heart, of the living God, they punched all that out of me, saying, 'Those things was for another age.'"
L-136 "Revenge my eyes!" What was Samson thinking? "There was a possibility, perhaps. Jehovah is full of love. He, it might be possible that He would hear me." [Judges 16:28-29]
L-137 Oh, I wish I could get Samson to wake to that tonight, there is a possibility! He is full of love, forgiving the iniquity of His people, from generation to generation, showing mercies to thousands that love Him and keep His Commandments. [Judges 16:28-29]
L-138 "There is a possibility," Samson thought, "if I'd only get revenge of my eyes. I can't see those things no more. They don't happen." [Judges 16:28-29]
L-139 We can't see the great Holy Spirit, in our great organizations, moving like It did at the beginning. It's gone. See, it isn't there. It's blind, and don't know it. Jesus said it would be that way, this Laodicea Church Age. "'Rich,' say, 'I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing.' And don't know that thou art naked, blind, miserable, and poor, and don't know it." See, don't know it! [Revelation 3:17]
L-140 Well, we had a slogan out, "1944, a million more," a certain organization. And through the ministry of great man, they've had a million more what? Joiners. That's right.
L-141 He knew there was a possibility, but the thing of it is, today, the people don't seem to come conscious that there is a possibility. They're satisfied to go right on down the old trend they're going. See, don't do that. Believe God! Have faith in Him.
L-142 Now they say, oh, they, "We'll sit tight." That's right. "We clap our hands, and--and everything, and shout." But you was all sails and no anchor. See?
L-143 How can you clap your hands and shout, and deny the Word being the Truth? How can you clap your hands and shout, and the Holy Spirit will walk among you, and then you say, "Oh, it's a telepathy. It's--it's something, it's just not worth it"? See? See?
L-144 We have great gatherings, glitter, worldly tinsel, great meetings, what do we get? More members. The Pentecostal church, three years ago, put more members in it than all the rest of the churches did together. That was in Our Sunday Visitor, the Catholic paper. The Sunday Visitor said they had a million converts to Catholicism in that year, and said, "The Pentecostals had a million five hundred thousand." Yeah. Yes, sir.
L-145 All kinds of scholarship, men learned to talk, in the schools, and say their speeches, intellectual, Hollywood showmen, pardon the expression, preaching to a bunch of so-called Pentecostal grandchildren!
L-146 God don't have no grandchildren. They come in. The old pentecostal father and mother, under an experience, brought you in; and you just come into the church and sit there, and automatically you was a pentecostal? He don't have grandchildren. He only has sons and daughters. There is no grandchildren. You have to pay the same price and get the same Holy Ghost that they did. You've got to be a son and daughter, not a grandson and granddaughter. He is not an old dote grandfather, soft, and lets his kids get by with anything, bless their little hearts. He is God, the Eternal One! That's right, sons and daughters!
L-147 We still got the big bulk like Samson had. He stood there with all of his power. He stood there just as big as he ever was. And we stand bigger than we were, but we're stripped of power. Samson still had the brawny muscles, he still had every physical part he had, but the Spirit of the Lord didn't come on him no more. We stand, million strong, stronger than we were, but where is the Lord. As the Angel said back there in the days of Gideon, he said, "If where and if there is still God, where is His miracles? Where is the things that He is supposed to do? Where is He proving Himself, that He is alive, and the same yesterday, today, and forever?" That's what we get. [Judges 6:13], [Hebrews 13:8]
L-148 Notice, Samson prayed right. Samson prayed, "Lord, let me die with the enemy," when he realized what was happening around him. His eyes were gone. His strength was gone. His fellowship was gone. But there was a possibility that a prayer meeting might spark it again. See? Then he prayed right, "Let me die with the enemy." [Judges 16:30]
L-149 You must die with your enemy. That's right. You must die to the enemy that's got you in this condition. That's right.
L-150 Samson was willing to pay the price to get the power of God back on him again. He seen what he was raised up to do. Not be a showman; but to be a servant, to have hisself so that the power of God could flow through him. [Judges 16:28-30]
L-151 We stand, millions stronger than we were, but the power... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... purpose.
L-152 Jesus even said, "As it was in the days of Noah, wherein eight souls were saved by water, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." All this you see walking on the street is cannon fodder. That's atomic fodder, only laid in there for judgment. The Rapture comes, there will be a scarce few. "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and, but few they will be that find it; for broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. Not all that saith unto Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter therein, but the one that doeth the will of My Father." That's the one that goes in, see; not saying "Lord," and their fine prayers, and--and revivals, and so forth. [Luke 17:26], [Matthew 7:13-14, 21]
L-153 Oh, I hear somebody say, "Now wait a minute, Brother Branham, we have revivals." Yep. That's right. That's right. We have revivals, and what do we have? It's a denomination revival, see if we can get some more in the church.
L-154 And we're having another great revival, too, we're taking all the churches into one, the Council of Churches. Yeah, getting farther and farther away from God's Word, all the time. Uniting! "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" How we going to walk with people who deny the very resurrection of Christ? How can we walk with people who said, "The days of miracles is passed"? [Amos 3:3]
L-155 You are a separated people, by the Holy Ghost. See? The world wants, today, the--the--the... What the world is wanting today is mixers. They want somebody who can walk around and--and fellowship with the world and fellowship with the people, and get a lot of members, and have a social organization. But when the Holy Ghost said, "Separate Me Paul!" God is a separator, not a mixer. A separator!
L-156 He knew that his backslidden strength, though there it all stood, the great regime that he ever was, he stood there, but his backslidden strength could not meet the challenge of the hour. [Judges 16:28-30]
L-157 And the church knows that, too. The evangelist knowed that when that Mohammedan challenged him. Your intellectual strength doesn't meet the challenge of the hour, 'cause the Devil is loose among us, with powers that nothing can--can dare to challenge but the Spirit of Almighty God, when this Word is made flesh. And it's going to get worse and worse, constantly worse.
L-158 He knowed that he was insufficient. He couldn't do it. And he knowed what would happen if God answered his prayer.
L-159 I wonder if we're that willing tonight? I wonder if the Pentecostal world is willing, tonight, to make that same agreement with God? "Lord God, if it knocks my denomination to pieces, if they excommunicate me from the council! I don't care if they take my fellowship card, and I have to lay on my stomach, and drink branch water and eat soda crackers, instead of riding around in a big car with a big salary! I don't care what the price is. That system drove me away from You. Take me back again, Lord. I'll believe Your Word. Revenge my eyes that's been put out. Let me die with it. Amen. Let me die out to my ownself. I don't care what they say about me. I may be bishop, I might be this, that, or the other, I don't care what they say. Bring back the power of the Holy Ghost in my life. I've been blinded long enough." [Judges 16:28-30]
L-160 Oh, church, are you willing for that? "Let me die with the rest of them. Let my name, as reverend, doctor, or whatever it be, perish. O God, just give me again, just send upon me again, that glorious Power that fell on the Day of Pentecost; that can meet the challenge of this hour, in the face of communism or anything else that rises. Let me die, Lord, with them." There is a possibility, you know.
L-161 You know what? On such a confession, the Philistines, they was too drunk to notice what he was doing. All at once, when he seen there was a possibility, he turned his head up towards the sky, and the tears running out of the blinded sockets. He begin to move his lips; tears falling from his eyes. They wasn't noticing him. They were too busy making fun of him. He wanted God's Word, the real living God to come on the scene once more. He had failed Him. He knowed he failed Him. But he wanted to see the living God, living here, to prove to that Jezebel outfit that He still was God. [Judges 16:26-30]
L-162 Oh, if it takes the starch out of you, if it makes you not act like some kind of a movie star, if you have to let your hair grow down, and put on an old-fashion dress, "I don't care what it costs. I'll take the way with the Lord's despised few. Lord, let's see it again, let's see the Presence of God moving before this Jezebel!"
L-163 He was aware of what happened if God answered his prayer, but he was ready and in dead earnest. [Judges 16:26-30]
L-164 That's what we have to do. Get ready, make up your mind. Shut your eyes, let your affections... Don't alter God's Word to you; alter yourself to His Word. "Not my will; Thine be done, Lord. Not what I think about it; it's what You said about it." That's right.
What did he cry? "Lord!" [Luke 22:42]
What did he cry? "Lord!" [Luke 22:42]
L-165 Said, "Little boy, put one of my hands upon this post. It's possible." Oh, my! "Lead me to the post that holds this, because I want to rest my hands. I'm tired. I've been made fun of, long enough." Oh my! [Judges 16:26]
L-166 "I know, Lord, what it's going to cost, but maybe You will. There is a possibility. You're full of mercy. I've failed You, Lord." That ought to be the cry of the church, tonight.
"Little lad, would you put my hand upon one pillar?" "Yes"
"And my hand upon the other pillar?"
"Yeah."
"Is my hands placed right?"
"Yes, they are right." [Judges 16:26]
"Little lad, would you put my hand upon one pillar?" "Yes"
"And my hand upon the other pillar?"
"Yeah."
"Is my hands placed right?"
"Yes, they are right." [Judges 16:26]
L-167 And he started to pray. And he said, "Lord, revenge my eyes." In otherwise, "I've done wrong. But just once more, Lord, once more!" [Judges 16:28]
L-168 Oh, if that could only be the objective of the Pentecostal move tonight! "I'm willing to forget about whether I'm this way, or oneness, twoness, threeness. I'm willing to forget about all these worldly things and everything. Just once more, Lord! Once more take me out of this creed and this thing that I'm bound up in! Once more! Once more let me see the appearing of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Once more, Lord, once more!" The church would scream that, though they've been blinded from these things, blinded from their brother and his idea. Just take God's idea and you won't have to argue about It. "Once more, Lord, once more!" [Hebrews 13:8], [Judges 16:28]
L-169 Then there stood that big bulk of a frame, powerless and helpless. All at once, he begin to feel something happening. Every fiber of his body begin to fill with the Power of God.
L-170 Oh, if the church could only get to that again, and all the way from the preacher to the deacon, to the laity, every fiber and every member of the body would be filled with the Power of God!
L-171 Those big brawny muscles straightened up, and he crushed it together. "Let me die with them, Lord! Let me die with them! You raised me up to destroy it. Now I've built myself up around it; let me destroy myself with it, my reputation and whatever it is. Let me destroy it, but I want to see the Power of God again." [Judges 16:30]
L-172 Always, when the Power of God comes in, the walls that you've built around you, fall. Your denominational walls will crush, and God will be known again. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. [Hebrews 13:8]
L-173 His every fiber filling with the Holy Ghost, every muscle filled, every bit of his body was just filled up with the Holy Ghost. That was Samson's greatest victory. [Judges 16:25-30]
L-174 Oh, Church of the living God! I'm going to omit the rest of my notes, to say this one thing. Why don't we? Are you ready, Assemblies of God? Are you ready, you, United Church? Are you ready, Oneness, Trinity, whatever you are? Are you ready, church of God? Are you ready, all the rest you denominations, to forget this nonsense and the thing that you've done? Look where you got people, tonight, and what kind of a condition they're in.
L-175 O God, let's break them walls down. "Once more, Lord!" I don't care, we're at the end of the time, folks. We ain't got much left. We better be hollering right now, crying out. "Once more, Lord, once more! Just this once more, at the end of the world, let Your strength fill my every fiber. I'll break away from all these things. Fellowship cards, and bishops, and denominations, and everything, don't mean a thing to me. I want You, Lord, more than anything." [Judges 16:28]
L-176 Let's think of it, as we bow our heads just a moment. I'm urged to do this. "Once more, Lord!" Everybody, sincerely, reverently, just as reverent as you can be. Just have faith, and down in your heart say, "Once more, Lord!" [Judges 16:28-30]
L-177 Lord Jesus, Great Master of Life, the Shepherd of the sheep, come forth, Lord. These people are hungering. They're thirsting. Lord, years I've wanted to see this happen, maybe it will. Just once more, Lord, one more great move of the Spirit! One more time, Lord, and the Church might receive the rapturing faith to go in. Grant it, Lord. Make known that You are with us, and we will praise Thee for it. In Jesus' Name we ask it. Amen.
L-178 I know it's not many words, I know it ain't a long prayer, but He knows my objective. I meaned it. Can Jesus live among us tonight? Can Jesus once more come to us and show that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, as we've been taught? Is there sick or afflicted, or downcast, in here, that--that you know there is no prayer cards out (we taken them all last night), but believe God, would raise up your hand and say, "I am in need, Brother Branham. I pray to God that He will speak to me"? Raise your hands, wherever. It's all over. [Hebrews 13:8]
L-179 Now here is (what?) the grace of God to bear record of what I said is the Truth, see. See, a man can say anything; unless God vindicates that, then it's wrong. Now you believe.
L-180 And I want you to believe me as His servant. I want you to say to God... You see, when He met me, He said, "If you get the people to believe you, and then be sincere."
L-181 And now if Jesus stood here, tonight, and if you were sick or needy, whatever, He could not heal you; He has already did it. But Jesus and the Word is the same. He is the Word. And He said, "Man should live by this Word," not by a creed. By the Word! "And He that believeth on Me," not make-believeth, but believeth, "the works that I do shall he also." [John 14:12]
L-182 How could He perceive what was in their minds? How did He do it? And they thought He was reading their minds; and He told them He would forgive them for that, "But when the Holy Ghost come to do it, to speak against That would never be forgiven." Now we've been through it, right straight through the Bible, and find that God, if He identified Himself then as Messiah, by showing that He was the Prophet and the Word. Because, the Bible said, "The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword," Hebrews 4, "and Discerner of the thoughts that's in the heart." That's the reason they couldn't hide nothing from Him. And the things, that, that's how they knowed. [Luke 12:10], [Hebrews 4:12]
L-183 That's how the woman at the well knew that He was Messiah. She said, "Sir, I perceive You're a prophet. We know, when the Messiah cometh, He'll tell us those things. That's what He'll do."
He said, "I am He." [John 4:19]
He said, "I am He." [John 4:19]
L-184 She run in and said to the people, "Come, see a Man Who told me what--what I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?" And they believed it. [John 4:29]
L-185 But somehow we don't, seem like the world don't want to believe it. But, God rich in mercy, it's a possibility that He might do it again. He has to identify Himself like that, the Messiah. He can't do it to the Samaritans and Jews, and then leave the Gentiles out. It's got to be done, so you pray and you touch the border of His garment.
L-186 And to the clergy. "He is the High Priest now that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." That is true, Hebrews 3.
L-187 "Now He is the High Priest," we all believe that, "that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. And He is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Then His Life, His actions, His everything is the same. "A little while, and the world," kosmos, the order, "will not see Me no more," they'll never see it. [Hebrews 4:15], [Hebrews 13:8], [John 14:19]
L-188 Remember the Angel that come down, in a form of a man, that talked to--to Abraham, the called-out, elected Church. He never went down in Sodom and done down there like those other fellows went down there and preached, like Billy Graham and them today, with that G-r-a-h-a-m again, like A-b-r-a-h-a-m. See? Each, watch, had their messenger. They've got it today, the same thing come. Go up here to the called-out Church, who wasn't in Babylon, and there is where that mysterious thing was done; when He told Sarah, when she was in the tent behind Him, what was wrong. [Genesis 18:10]
L-189 She laughed. And He said, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying in her heart, that, 'These things can't be'?" And Abraham called her forth, and she tried to deny it. And He said... [Genesis 18:13]
L-190 Look, here is the grace. Here is--here is the possibility. God would have struck her dead, right there, but He couldn't; she is part of Abraham. For our unbelief He would strike us dead, but He can't; we are part of Christ. Grace holds us. See? But He still has to keep His Word.
Now you pray.
Now you pray.
L-191 I don't see a person that I really know, in the building. But Brother Pat Tyler sitting over here on the end, I do know him. But as far as... And I think Brother Bill Dauch sitting right here, and his wife. Outside of that, that's the only people that I know, Brother Joseph. And if the Holy Spirit would speak to them, I'll just tell you what about it, and then omit it and tell you after the service.
L-192 But once more, Lord, once more! "The works that I do, shall you also." Now you believe, and see if that same Light that you see constantly... [Judges 16:28], [John 14:12]
L-193 Well, when we got through with the Church Ages, down there in the tabernacle, about this many people. There is people sitting right here now was present. That same Pillar of Fire come right over by the side of the wall, and drawed out those Church Ages the way I had them on the blackboard. Is that right? Many of you was there. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] And the people fainting, and everything else. I said, "There It is now, if there's a question."
L-194 They got the picture of It, here in Washington D.C., copyrighted as "the only supernatural Being was ever photographed." George J. Lacy, the head of the F.B.I. fingerprinting document, examined It, when that Light was there. And he said, "Brother, Mr. Branham, I said it was psychology. I've attended your meetings; but the mechanical eye of this camera won't catch psychology, see." Said, "The Light struck the lens."
L-195 Well, if that is Christ that stricken Paul down, and called Him, "Lord," see, "what would You have me do?" the Life that was in Him will be reproduced in us, then. See, He is here with the called-out Church. [Acts 9:6]
L-196 And may it come to pass, once more, Lord, that this people may see that You still live. And You're not dead, and neither have You left Your people. They are here, but, Lord, they have had their eyes punched out by a organization, a Jezebel Delilah, that took them from the true Word, to a creed. May the walls fall, Father. Grant it. Once more, Lord! As I said, there is many here I'll probably never see again. But once more, Lord, let Jesus appear among us, in the form of the Holy Spirit; that He might reproduce the Life in us, that He was then, to fulfill His Word. [Judges 16:28-30]
L-197 "He is the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." Let the sick and afflicted touch this Master. You're the same One, Lord, that could tell Simon Peter, when he come up among them, "Why, your name is Simon. You're the son of Jonas." You're the same One, Father. You don't fail. Same, little woman that touched His garment, the same Christ lives tonight. May it be once more, Lord, once more! For Jesus' sake I ask it. Amen. [Hebrews 4:15], [John 1:42], [Matthew 9:20-21], [Luke 8:44]
L-198 Now no one moving. Reverently, let's be down sincere and reverent. We don't hit these things haphazardly.
L-199 It's a promise of God. The Divine Spirit of the living God promised that in His Word, and that Word is Life and Spirit. Jesus said it was. And He and the Word is the same, and man lives by that Word. That Word lives in man.
L-200 Now, as a gift. Now I'm going to tell you a secret, as I leave. You've been sweet and kind. I've never exactly expressed this, I know of, public, before. "Brother Branham, what is that gift?" It's a gift of knowing how to get William Branham out of the way, so Jesus Christ can live through a vessel. Just getting yourself out of the way!
L-202 Now have faith, and believe. Say, "Lord, that man doesn't know me. And yet You said, 'a little while, the world,' Babylon, or Sodom, won't see You. 'But ye shall see Me. You shall see Me, for I will be with you, all the way to the end of the world.'" [John 14:19], [Matthew 28:20]
L-203 It hasn't come to an end yet. "You will see Me. Ye shall see Me, for I'll be with you, even in you." You'll see His Life reproduced in the believers. [John 14:16-20]
L-204 Now, in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I take every spirit in here under my control, for the glory of God, that the works of God might be made known again, if He so sees fit to do it.
L-205 No more than I had said that word, I looked here in the corner, and here... Can't you see that Light hanging right there, amber, moving around? Or is it, am I in another dimension, and just imagine, my spirit?
L-206 There is a little woman sitting there. She is in trouble. She is suffering with a--a stomach trouble. And she's had an operation, for cancer, and the cancer was on the breast. They removed the cancer, little lady. Yes. [The sister says, "That's right."--Ed.] That's right.
L-207 So now you'll know. I don't know you, but do you believe me to be His prophet? I'll say it plainly, tonight; I'm leaving. [Congregation rejoices and says, "Amen."--Ed.] Do you believe me? ["Amen."] Do you believe that we're promised that in the last days, according to Malachi 4, that would "turn the hearts of the children back to the Father"? ["Amen."] [Malachi 4:6]
L-208 Why, Mrs. Taylor, that's your name. You can go home, and Jesus Christ make you well. [Congregation rejoices--Ed.]
L-209 What do you think? You've had an operation, too. Do you believe? If you do, with all your heart! Your operation was also cancerous, tumor, in the bowels, intestinal tract. But now you're suffering with complications. If you will believe, Mrs. Shukwit, with all your heart, that Jesus Christ will make you well, you can have what you ask.
Do you believe? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]
Do you believe? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]
L-210 Here, a lady back here, she is a colored lady. She is suffering with something wrong with her eyes, and with her limbs, her legs. Her name is Mrs. Washington. Stand up, if you wish. You are healed.
L-212 By the way, It struck another colored woman sitting right out here on the end. She is suffering with a heart trouble. Her name is Mrs. Harris. Do you believe, Mrs. Harris? Your heart trouble has left you.
L-213 What did she touch? She never touched me. She is twenty yards from me. She touched the High Priest.
L-214 Here, here is another woman, I turn my head, sitting right here. She is suffering with a heart trouble, too. Mrs. Carter, stand up, Jesus Christ makes you well.
L-215 Way back, a woman with an ulcerated stomach. Her name is Mrs. P-a-o-l-i. Mrs. Paoli, stand up, Jesus Christ healed you. All right. There you are.
L-217 Let's stand up. Let's confess our sins, and pray, "Once more, Lord, let the Holy Ghost fall upon us!" Raise up our hands.
L-218 Lord God, we stand embarrassed; the world makes fun of us, Lord. Help us, tonight. Let the Holy Ghost come again, be poured out upon the people. May He come now, Lord. May every sick person be healed. Every sinner be saved, every seeker filled. Once more, Lord, once more! Just once more, Lord! Once more let the Holy Ghost fall among the people!