L-1 Let us bow our heads.

L-2 Dear God, we are very thankful today for the great outpouring of Your Presence, in our midst, already. And we're expecting this, exceedingly, abundantly, this afternoon. We thank You for this marvelous song from this fine Christian woman that's just sang this hymn; and Your Spirit that came down, and the interpretation thereof. Lord, let it be so, we pray. And, God, I pray that You'll bless each and every one of us, and may our hearts be filled with joy when we see this take place.

L-3 Dear God, we pray, this afternoon, if there be some here that's unprepared to meet You, may this be the hour that they'll make that final decision and will come into Thee, through the new Birth. Grant it.

L-4 Bless all of us, Lord, who has been a long time in the road. We pray that You'll teach us new things by Thy Word. Give us better understanding by Thy Spirit, Lord. May He come and interpret the Word. The only interpreter we have is the Spirit. We pray that He'll grant that to us, today. We ask this in Jesus' Name. Amen.
[A sister begins to prophesy. Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]

L-5 That suffices. [A brother speaks to another brother--Ed.] What a time! I don't know any better place to be, lest it'd be in Heaven, for we're just feeling the anointing of That now, see, setting together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus, gathered in Heavenly places. [Ephesians 2:6]

L-6 God bless Sister Florence! And she is going through a time of sorrow, and shadows; her father just taken. And I--I pray, "God, bless that child."

L-7 And Brother Demos, load on both shoulders, and the weight of all these conventions and things. He needs our prayers, too. God bless Brother Shakarian!

L-8 Brother Carl Williams, I'm certainly happy to be here in this convention with you, amongst all these fine brethren. And I had the privilege of meeting some. And now this is my finishing part of the service, as far as I know, so, why, I expect now to be able to shake hands with some of these fine men, and--and get to meet them, for I expect to spend Eternity with them, in a--in a better Land.

L-9 Just a--a little thing, I hope I will not be misunderstood. And not a coincidence, I do not think, for I--I think it was providential, that yesterday I was given a present by a friend here, from a friend of mine, Danny Henry. He was the boy... One day, in the Christian Business Men's convention in California, I was having a--a meeting. I was speaking very hard against the--the condition of the time.

L-10 And I--I hope that everybody understands that, not have evil in my heart. It's not that. No. You surely will understand I don't mean it that way. But I have to just say what comes to me to say.

L-11 And then after that, this little fellow, a Baptist brother... And I think he's some relative to a movie star. And he came down to put his arm around me, to say, "The Lord bless you, Brother Branham. I just want to offer a word of prayer." And he started speaking in French. And the boy doesn't know one word of French.

L-12 And someone raised up, kind of a big woman. From... I believe she was from Louisiana. She said, "That's French."
Then there was a man over there, said, "That's French."

L-13 And they had wrote out what it was. I have the original copy here. And then, happened to be, a young fellow walking from the back, and coming forward, want to see their notes. And he was the U.N. interpreter of French. "Just exactly French."

L-14 And I would like to read this note. This is the original note of one of them, and it was from this man that had interpreted. I may not be able to call his name just right. Le Doux, Victor Le Doux, he's a full-blooded Frenchman. Now, here's the message.
Because thou has chosen the narrow path, the harder way, thou has walked of your own choosing, thou has picked the correct and precise decision, and it is My Way. Because of this momentous decision, a huge portion of Heaven awaits thee. What a glorious decision thou has made! This, in itself, is that which will give, and make come to pass, the tremendous victory in Love Divine.

L-15 When I got that... You know, when I first heard people speak in tongues, I--I wouldn't criticize nothing, see, because I've seen it genuine. But, always wondered. But when that happened, and knowing what the commission was, behind it, I--I knew it come from God.

L-16 Then, his brother setting here, a--a real well-known attorney, gave me a present from Danny. Danny has just left the Holy Land. And he was laying on the tomb, in the tomb, rather, where Jesus had been lain after His death. And when he did, he said he got to thinking of me. And--and the Spirit of the Lord come upon him, and he went out on Mount Calvary where the crucifixion taken place, and got a piece of rock. And he came back and made me a pair of cuff links out of it. And I really cherish them.

L-17 And now, this, of course, Danny doesn't know this. But, this morning, while out in prayer, I just looked down at those cuff links, and each one of them, if you'll notice, is blood stained, and also has a straight line right through each one. And here in the message that he give from God, of the straight, narrow way. How it just fit in, just exactly! I thought that was kind of maybe providential. Or, I'm certainly thank Danny. You tell him, brother, that how I appreciate that. And the stra-... Another strange thing, I asked my wife the morning I put on a shirt, had to have a cuff link in it, and she said, "I forgot to bring your cuff links," so the Lord had some provided for me.

L-18 Oh, it's a glorious life! Isn't it, brethren? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Just to walk in the simplicity of--of the Gospel! And yet, in Its simplicity, It's the greatest thing I know of. I know nothing of It. And being that It was made simple, that I had a chance to come into It, see, too, by the grace of God.

L-19 Now, this afternoon, I don't want to take much time, because I know you're going to churches tonight. I think, all you visitors here should look around on the platform, see these ministers, and they're, oh, they'll be glad to have you in their service tonight. They'll do you good. No doubt you went to some Sunday school this morning in the city. And while we're having these conventions, and being the Full Gospel Business Men, I think we ought to give all of our support that we can to our churches, because that's where our businessmen goes. And, now, it's a house of God, and I hope you will visit some church tonight.

L-20 Tomorrow night is the closing of the convention, I believe, and I guess they've announced the speaker. Which, I am to be here, the Lord willing, to hear his message.
God bless each and every one of you.

L-21 Now, I am, don't claim to be a preacher. I'm--I'm kind of... I haven't got enough education to call myself a preacher. Preacher, when you say that, they expect you to have a couple degrees in college. And--and I don't have anything but This little slingshot. See? I try to come after the sick sheep, if I can, to bring them back to Father's pasture.

L-22 If I make mistakes, forgive me. I'm not a theologian. I don't criticize theologian. Theolo-... Theology is all right. It's what we need. But sometimes I criticize the condition that we've gotten into. That doesn't mean to any certain individual. It's just the Message. I--I wish that It wasn't mine to give. It tears me to pieces, 'cause you know how you feel of your own children. See? Don't you hate to have to give a child a scolding, bawling out, or something, though? I'm a parent, too, and I know what it means. And I--I trust that you'd forgive me.

L-23 And I want you do like this. When you're setting, this afternoon, going to ask you a favor. Just got a little short, few notes here. As I've told you, I have to make this, write my Scriptures out. Used to be, I could almost quote the Bible by heart, but not now. Went through too many hard battles, got too old for that. But I trust that--that you'll listen to me just a little while, this afternoon, and just really open your heart and try to understand what I'm digging at. Then I think it'll be better, especially the pastors of the city and different places. I--I trust that you'll listen real close.

L-24 And now you do that, do by that the way I do when I eat my favorite pie, cherry. Some of my favorite meat, chicken. But when I'm eating a fine piece of cherry pie and I hit a seed, I won't stop the pie. I just throw the seed out, and keep on eating pie. See? I hit the bone of a chicken; I don't throw the chicken away. I just throw the bone away.

L-25 So, what if I'd say something that you wouldn't agree upon, any time? Just throw that part away. And, but, look at it real good, be sure it's bone, now. See? [Congregation laughs--Ed.] And then may I also say, if it's a Seed, remember, It brings forth the new Life. So look real hard, and may the Lord bless.

L-26 Brother Carl Williams said something the other night about turning loose, to praying for the sick, which would be very fine. I know that would be fine. But we just... we're not fixed here for that, to bring a prayer line. And I don't know whether Brother Oral, or any of the other brethren has ever had a prayer lines in the conventions or not. I don't know. I've tried it, two or three times. But, usually, if a crowd like this, you'll have to give out prayer cards, see, in order to do it. Cause, you can't. It's not an arena. It's a house of God. See? It's dedicated for that. And we... They press and push. And you have cards, you line them up, orderly.

L-27 So Billy asked me, said, "Shall I go over and give out cards? The people are asking me for prayer cards."

L-28 I said, "No, Billy. Let's just leave the Holy Spirit do what He wants to do." See? That, see, and let Him maybe build faith, and just be healed right there where you're at. See? But the... See?

L-29 Divine healing is a minor in the Gospel. And you can never major on a minor. Anyone knows that. But they... It's a bait that's used to get people to believe in the supernatural Presence, or God, the Supernatural is present. And then, by that, if they can recognize His Presence, then they are healed, see, by faith, believing It.

L-30 Now I want to read some out of God's Word, the New Testament. And then I want to take a text from this New Testament, and this Scripture, and speak this afternoon on a subject for just a--a little while. And I don't want to keep you too long for the services tonight. But remember, I hope I've made myself clear. Just give it your attention for a while, if you will.
Now, before we do this, let's bow our heads again.

L-31 You know, we could sing too much. We could shout too much, till we got hoarse. And we could sing at the wrong time, or shout at the wrong time. But here's one thing, we're never out of order when we're praying. "I would that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without doubt." Or... [I Timothy 2:8]

L-32 Father, it is the greatest privilege that a mortal ever had, was to close his eyes and open his heart, and speak to You. And we know that You hear, if we could just believe that You hear. For Jesus said, "If you ask the Father anything in My Name, it'll be granted." That was on conditions, if we wouldn't doubt it. So, Father, help us to believe, this afternoon, that our petitions will be granted. And may there be not one shadow of doubt, anywhere. But may it come to pass, the things that we're asking. And that is, God, for Your great Name to be honored today, by bringing into Your Kingdom every lost and straying soul that be under the sound of our voice, or this tape would ever reach, out into the heathen lands, where around the world they go. [John 14:13]

L-33 I pray, Heavenly Father, that there will not be a feeble person in our midst today. When the service is finished, may the Lord God save every lost soul, and heal every sick body, and fill His children's heart with joy. That's why we have faith, Lord, to ask in Jesus' Name, to God our Father, because that He promised He would hear. And this is for His glory. Amen.

L-34 In Saint John's Gospel, the 17th chapter, and beginning with the 20th verse, I wish to read for a--a text. I think that is right.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their words;
That...

L-35 I believe I have got the wrong place. Now, excuse me just a moment. I'm looking for Jesus' prayer that... Or, not Jesus' prayer, rather, but for His... I might have got marked down here on my text something wrong. It's where Jesus prayed that... or was saying that as a woman in travail for birth of her child, birth, childbirth.

L-36 That in Luke or John? Jack, which is that in? [Someone says, "John 16."--Ed.] 16th of John. I thought that was right, but it didn't sound very much like it. The 16th of John. ["21st verse."] The 21st verse. [Another says, "Yeah."] Sure, 21st verse. Sure. Here we are. John, Saint John 16:21.
That they... may be...

L-37 No, Brother Jack, that's still wrong. [Someone says, "Try John, verse 21." Another says, "21." Another says, "21st verse of 16." Another says, "16."--Ed.] It's twenty-... 16:21. I got the 16th chapter of Saint John, 21st verse. But it... Am I wrong? [A brother says, "Let me transfer, right where it is."]

L-38 Well, there's a mess in this, mix in this Bible. Yes, sir. [A brother says, "They--they have printed it wrong."--Ed.] They printed it wrong. Yes, sir. [Congregation laughs.] You know what? That's exactly the truth. Here's a brand-new Bible. I've just gotten it. And it's got--it's got the... It's printed wrong. [Brother Branham's Scofield Bible had pages 1138-1139 stuck together. Hear This Day This Scripture Is Fulfilled 65--0219.]

L-39 [A Catholic archbishop priest standing on the platform, Rev. John S. Stanley, comes forward and gives his Bible to Brother Branham, and says, "Just--just draw a breath. There's a reason why it was done, and you know it. God will show you something to bring out of this, that's wonderful."--Ed.] All right. ["Just use mine here, brother."] Thank you. Thank you, very much. 16:21. Thank you, very much. That's true.
A woman when she...

L-40 Thank you, very much, my brother. I sure appreciate that. [Brother Branham returns the Bible to the Catholic priest--Ed.]

L-41 Now, that certainly is a misprint here in the Bible; page has been put in wrong. And I just found it on my old Scofield Bible, and picked up this one and run up here with it, just a few moments ago, 'cause my wife just give me this for a Christmas present.

L-42 Now, I want to--to speak this afternoon upon a subject that I announced: Birth Pains. Now, that sounds very bad, but it's in the Bible.

L-43 I believe that Jesus here was speaking of, as He said, "You will have sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy," speaking to His disciples here, knowing that the birth of--of Christianity was coming into existence. And now the old has to die, in order that the new is born. To have anything that gives birth, has to have pains of distress. And they certainly was going to go through the pain of distress and anguish, to get from the law unto grace. [John 16:20]

L-44 Normal, natural birth types the spiritual Birth. All things of the natural is types of the spiritual. And we find out, if we look out here on--on the ground, and see a tree in the earth, growing, is struggling for life. That goes to show that there is a tree, somewhere, that doesn't die, because it's--it's crying out for something.

L-45 We find people, no matter how old, how sick, what condition, they're crying out, to live, because it shows there is a life somewhere where we live, live forever. Notice how perfect.

L-46 Now, in First John 5:7, I believe it is, if I'm not mistaken, It said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; these three are One. There are three that bear record in earth, that's water, Blood, and Spirit, and they agree in one." Now notice. The first three are One. The second three are earthly, which agree in one. Cannot have the Father without the Son; you cannot have the Son without having the Holy Ghost. But you can have the water without the Blood, and the Blood without the Spirit. [John 5:7]

L-47 I think, through our ages, has proved this to be true; water, Blood, Spirit; justification, sanctification, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That types, or makes the... or, and an antitype, which takes away from the natural birth.

L-48 Look when a--a woman or anything in travail, for birth. The first thing comes to pass, the breaking of the water, a normal birth; second thing is the blood; and then comes life. Water, blood, spirit; and that constitutes the normal, natural birth.

L-49 And so is it in the spiritual realm. It's water; justification by faith, believing on God, receiving Him as your personal Saviour, and being baptized. Second, is sanctification of the spirit, that God cleanses the spirit from all elements of the world, and the desire of the world. And then the Holy Spirit comes in and gives new Birth and fills up that sanctified vessel. [I John 5:7-8]

L-50 For instance, like this. Now, that, I told you. What you don't believe, lay aside, then take the pie. Notice. Now, a--a glass is laying out in the chicken yard. You don't just pick that up and put on your table and fill it up with water or milk. No. By picking it up, is justification. Cleansing it, is sanctification, 'cause the Greek word sanctify is a compound word, which means "cleansed, and set aside for service." Not in service; for service. Then when you fill it, it is put in service. [Ephesians 5:26]

L-51 Excuse this now, not to hurt. There's where you Pilgrim Holiness, Nazarenes fail to walk on up into Pentecost. You was cleansed by sanctification; but when you were ready to put in service, by the gifts of speaking in tongues and other things, you turned it down, dropped back out in the pen again. See? Now, that's--that's what happens. It always does that.

L-52 Now, not to criticize you now, but just I--I want to get this off my heart. And that's been burning me ever since I been here, so I might as well. Just, if Carl's grace, and Demos and them, and your all's, I--I'll try my best to deliver my soul from it, see, then it's up to you.
Normal, typing the spiritual.

L-53 Now, we find out then, and it's fully born. When the baby, usually... Now when the water breaks, you don't have to do very much about it. And when the blood comes, you don't have to do much about it. But, in order to get life in the baby, you've got to give him a spanking, and make him yell out. And that's a... Now, without education, as my brethren here are so well-trained to it, theirs, but I have to take nature to type it. And there you are. That's what happened. It taken a real spanking, to get this to them.

L-54 Now, you take a little, some kind of a shock. Maybe, wouldn't have to spank him, but just shock him a little. The very idea of him being born, sometimes, will do it. Grab him, shake him. He don't start breathing, spank him a little, and then he yells out, in unknown tongues, to himself, I guess. But, he--he, anyhow, and he's making a noise.

L-55 And I think if a baby is born just by--by stillbirth, with no sound, no emotion, that's a dead baby.

L-56 That's what's the matter with the church today, the system; we got too many stillborn children. That's right. They need a Gospel spanking, you see, and so to wake them up, to bring them to themselves, so that God can breathe the breath of Life into them. And now we find that that's so true. It's crude theology, but it's the Truth, anyhow.

L-57 So, notice, in a seed's birth, the old seed must die before the new one can be born. So, therefore, death is hard, any time. So, it's painful. It's distressful. Birth is the same, because you're bringing life into the world, and it's--it's painful.

L-58 Jesus said that His Word was a Seed that a sower went forth to sow. Now, we're all acquainted with that. And I want to teach this like a Sunday school lesson, 'cause it's Sunday. Notice, then, this Word, being a Seed. But, remember, the--the seed is only bringing forth a new life when it dies. [Matthew 13:3]

L-59 And that's the reason it was so hard for those Pharisees to understand our Lord Jesus Christ, because they were under the law. And the law was the Word of God in seed form. But when the Word was made flesh, and become, not law, but grace. Now, grace and law cannot exist at the same time. Cause, grace is so far above law, law is not even in the picture. And therefore it's so hard for the Pharisees to die to their law, so that grace could be born. But it must go. The two laws cannot exist at the same time. [Romans 11:5-6], [John 1:14-17], [Romans 6:14-15]

L-60 There cannot be a law says that you can run this semaphore, and the other one says you can run it; one says you can, one says you can't. They, it has to be one law at a time. Maybe one time you could have went through it; caution, go through it. But this time it's red. Stop! See? And so there cannot be two laws exist at the same time.

L-61 Now, we notice that it always... My thought now to you, it takes pain, distress, discomfort. Look how them Pharisees died to that law, through pain, distress, discomfort. But it must be.

L-62 Now, we find that rain which brings forth fruit upon the earth, "It's born," as the poet said, "in the fields of thunder, in a ragged, jagged skies." But if we didn't have the thunder and the ragged, jagged skies, the little distilled drop of rain that's been lifted from the seas and distilled from the salt, it would not be born. It takes that lightning, thunder blasts; ragged, rugged, fearful thing, to bring forth the soft petal drops of water. It takes pain to bring forth birth. It takes dying. And as the clouds die, rain is born, because rain is a part of that cloud. One has to cease so the other one can exist.

L-63 Now, and my brethren here, some of them was able, they could give you all the laws of those things. I can't.

L-64 Now let's drop over to another thing, just for a little proof. I think one of the prettiest flowers... Everybody has their own ideas of them. But I think the prettiest flower that I've nearly ever seen, is back in the east, our pond lily. How many ever seen a pond lily? Oh, there's just nothing like it, to me. But did you notice what that pond lily had to be? I think of what Jesus said, "Consider the lily, how it toils and spin, but yet I say unto you, that, Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these." For, Solomon's glory and his arrayment was all artificial. But the lily, in its beauty, is life that's making it beautiful, not some artificial smear on, paint on. [Matthew 6:28-29], [Luke 12:25-30]

L-65 Just like our women, I don't think you have to have all this green, you know, and eye winkers, you know, out like that, and all that manicure or--or not, I get that stuff mixed up, all on your face, to make you pretty. Pretty is as pretty does. If you'll add a little Acts 2:4, mix it all up together, the little John 3:16, it'll beat anything that Max Factor ever did try to fix. See? Your husband will love you more; everybody else will; I'm sure God will. [Acts 2:4], [John 3:16]

L-66 "Lily," He said, "consider it, how it grows, toils, has to bring itself up." This little pond lily, look where it come through; dirt, muck, mud, muddy waters, dirty waters. It pressed its way through all of that, this little germ of life, working itself from the bottom of the pond where the frogs and--and things are at, and then brings itself up through all of that. But when it gets in the presence of the sun, it's born. The little seed bursts open into life. It cannot do that until it goes through all that process. It's got to come through that. That's what makes it, is because that the sun itself is what's drawing it. And when it gets fully above all the dirty waters, and muck, and so forth, then it's so happy. It just gives its life out freely. And it's a beautiful life when it gets in the presence of that which is drawing it up. [Matthew 6:28-29], [Luke 12:25-30]

L-67 I think that's a beautiful type of Christian life. When, Something is drawing you out of the world, until one day you're born right into Its presence, by the Holy Spirit. How beautiful! If you try to help it, you kill it. [John 12:32]

L-68 Like a little chicken when it's being born, you know, if you ever noticed one of the little fellows, right on top of his little beak, or any bird that's born from an egg. It--it's got... It's maturing, this old egg shell. The old inner parts of the eggs has to--to rot away. And it has to take this little beak, and scrape back and forth until it breaks the shell out. We call it, pipping its way out, down in Kentucky where I come from. Pipping his way out. They have never found a better way. See? See? Why? It's God's provided way. You try to help him, you'll kill him. Pick the shell off of him, he'll die. See? He's got to labor, strain, break forth.

L-69 That's the way a Christian has to do. It ain't somebody just shaking your hand, taking you in. You got to lay there till you die, rot, and are born into the Kingdom of God. It's God's provided way. You don't go in by book, or shake hands, and join, pump up, pull down. You--you just simply have to get away from the old shell. Notice, no better way have they ever found.

L-70 They found no better way for a baby to get what it wants besides God's way for it. Now, when that little baby is born, you could set a bell down here beside his little crib, say, "My little son, I am a--a theologian in the way. I've read books on how to raise a baby. And, I tell you, you're a modern child. You been born in a modern home, by a modern parent. When you're hungry, or need mother or I, just ring the little bell." It'll never work. The only way that it can get what it wants, is to cry for it. That's God's way.

L-71 And that's the way that we get what we want, is cry for it. Cry out. Don't be ashamed. Say, "I'm hungering for God." Don't care whether the deacons, pastors, or whatever it is around, scream out, anyhow. The Jones are setting there; what difference does it make? Cry out, that's the only way there is to get it, until you get help. He taught that when He was here on earth, you know, about the unjust judge.

L-72 A little dewdrop, I don't know the formula of it. Maybe there'd be a science here of... I'm just going to say a way I think. It might be some kind of a congested group of atmosphere come together in a dark night, and it falls to the earth. And when it does, it's born in the night. But in the morning, it's laying there, cold, and shivering, on a little blade of grass, or hanging on your clothesline. But just let the sun shine out once, did you notice how happy it gets? It just glistens and quivers. Why? It knows that it's that sunlight is going to draw it back to where it was at the beginning.

L-73 And so is every man or woman that's born of the Spirit of God. There's something about it, when Light spreads over us, that we're happy, because we know we're going back to where we come from, from the bosom of God.

L-74 Can sparkle with joy, when the sun hits it, of course, knowing it's going to where it come from.
Little crude things, but we could keep on with them, but let's find something else.

L-75 We know the old seed is, must, before the new seed can come out of the old seed, it must rot, absolutely. Not die, only, but rot after it's dead. We know that to be true.

L-76 That's the same thing in new Birth. We never go back, but we go forward when you're born again. And that's why I think, today, we have (so many) not so many, rather, genuine new Births, is because the seed is, maybe, will sympathize with the Word or the person, but they don't want to rot away from the old system that they were in. They don't want to come out of it. They want to stay in the old system, and claim the new Birth, or the Message of the age. We found that under the Luther, Wesley, Pentecostals, and all other ages. They still try to hold on to the old system, and claim This. But the old system age must die, rot, in order bring forth the new one. They still want to cling.

L-77 Notice. They know the old system is dead, but they just don't want to rot out of it. Now, rot, is when it really is done away with. When a... A claim is made, that they are new Born, but a claim is only a begotten sign. Rotten, brings forth the new Birth. Got to rot away from it, just as we did in all ages, through the Wesleyan, and all forth.

L-78 But, the thing of it is, after that, new Birth is born. Wesley or... Luther came forth with one word, "The just shall live by faith." Well, he could not no longer cling on to the old system. He had to come out of it.

L-79 And then when the Calvinists got the Anglican church in such a condition, under the Calvinistic doctrine, until God raised up an Arminian doctrine, which was John Wesley. The old system had to die, in order for the new to come on.

L-80 And when Wesley's age ceased, and all the little ages, or blades that come out on the stalk, or the tassel, in Wesley's time. See, when Pentecost come out with the restoration of the gifts, they had to come out of Baptist, Presbyterian, Pilgrim Holiness, Nazarenes, church of Christ, so called, and all that. They had to come out of it, rot away from it, to accept the new Birth.

L-81 You're always called crazy. But it's as Paul said when he rotted out of what he once claimed. Said, "In the way that's called heresy, that's the way I worship the God of our fathers." In the way that's called heresy! See? He had accepted the new Life, that the Old Testament had give Birth to the New, and he had to rot away from the Old and just make it a shadow. In order to be... [Acts 24:14]

L-82 That's just where we are at now. Now, bear with me. But that's my idea. The churches has got so systematically till you can't get into one 'less you belong to one. You've got to have a fellowship card, or some kind of identification. And by believing this, the only door I nearly have open is these Business Men. And as long as they're not an organization, I can go in with them, but, and get to bring the Message, that I feel that's on my heart, to the people. But it's got so systematically. And I love you Pentecostal people. And pentecost is not an organization, anyhow. You just call yourself that. Pentecost is an experience and not a denomination.

L-83 But, you see, the thing of it is, is so hard for many men. When they look at It and believe It, and see It so identified by God, in the Word, yet, it's so hard to rot away from that thing you been in. "What would I do? Where do I get my meal?"

L-84 What? God is your meal. God is the thing for you to hold on. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness." I'll leave it lay at that. You know what I'm talking about. [Matthew 6:33]

L-85 We are told by God's prophets that we are to have a new earth, a new Heaven and a new earth. If you want Scripture of that, it's Revelation 21. I could quote it for you, have it here. John said, "I saw a new Heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and first earth was passed away." It was gone. Now, if we're to have a new earth, the old earth and the new earth cannot exist at the same time. Or, the new world and the old world cannot exist at the same time. There can't be two world orders together at the same time. Now, in order to get the new earth, the old one has to die. Now, if the old one has to die, then it's giving birth pains for a new one now. [Revelation 21:1]

L-86 And then if a doctor went to examine a patient that was in labor now, the... one of the things that doctor would do. Which, I'm talking in the presence of two or three, I know, of good medical doctors here, Christian doctors. And I--I--I would ask you this. One of the first things that doctor does, after he's been watching the patient, is to time the pains, birth pains. He times the pains, how close they are together, and how much more terrific each one gets. One is more harder to have than the other one. Next one, still harder, get closer together. That's the way he diagnoses the case, by the birth pains.

L-87 Well, if the world has to give away to the birth of a new world, let's just examine some of the birth pains we're having on the earth, and then we'll see about what day and just about how far she is along in her labor.

L-88 The First World War showed great birth pains. It showed one of the first birth pains of her going into labor. Because of that time for her, we had brought forth the bombs, and we had machine guns, and poison gas. And you remember. Maybe many of you cannot. I was just a little boy of about eight years old, but I remember them speaking of this mustard and chlorine gas, and so forth. "How just look like it'd just get started and," they said, "it would burn up the whole earth. It'd kill everybody. Well, it might be a--a--a breaking of that, just winds blow it across the earth." And how everybody was scared to death of that great weapon of poison gas! The earth went through, had its first birth pains.

L-89 And we find out now, we've had a second war, World War, and her pains was much greater. It's more terrific all the time, the birth pains of the earth. She almost had to give away, during the time of the atomic bomb, because it would destroy a whole city. It was much greater than the pains of the First World War, of destruction to the earth.

L-90 Now, she knows that her time of deliverance is at hand. That's the reason she's so nervous, flusterated, as she is, is because that there is a hydrogen bomb, and missiles of the air that could destroy the whole world. One nation is scared of the other, no matter how little it is. They got those missiles that they claim will just... One of them. They can direct them by the stars and drop them anywhere in the world they want to.

L-91 Russia, as I heard on news, other day, she claims that she can destroy this nation, and--and keep the atoms or the things from breaking up her nation. We don't know what to do about it. Everyone is making these claims, and it's so.

L-92 People's science has broke into God's great laboratory, until they're going to destroy themselves. God lets, always lets wisdom destroy himself. God doesn't destroy anything. Man destroys himself by wisdom, as he did at the beginning, taking Satan's wisdom instead of God's Word.
Now, she knows she must give away. She cannot stand it.

L-93 Russia, I believe, would destroy this nation today, if she thought that she could destroy it, and then preserve herself. Any of those little nations could do it. But, they're afraid, because they know that this world cannot stand in its orbit under such conditions.

L-94 So, the world knows that her birth pains is so great, she's got to give away. There's going to be a new birth, born, at hand. I'm thankful for that. I'm tired of this one. Any--any one knows that--that here is the place of death and sorrow, and all kinds of discrepancies, and so forth. I'm glad that she has to give away. I'm glad that time is at hand. As John said, of old, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." [Romans 8:22-23]

L-95 Now, she must rot, of course, as I have said, in order to bring new birth. Look what she has rotted into. Notice, my brethren! She's totally rotten. Her politics and systems is just as rotten as they can be. There isn't a sound bone in her, in her world systems, her politics and her religious politics, and whatever it is. One says, "I'm a Democrat. I'm a Republican. I'm Methodist. I'm Baptist." Why, the whole thing is rotten to the core. There's got to be something give away. She can't stand. If you put a George Washington or an Abraham Lincoln in every county in this United States, it still couldn't come back. It's beyond redemption.

L-96 There's only one thing can help her, that's the Coming of the Creator. Amen.

L-97 She knows she must give away. She's in pain and distress. One don't know what to do. One is looking this way, and one that way, and everything. One is scared of the other. One trying to do something will destroy this one. This one trying to contradict that one, destroy the other. Until, now they got it in the hands of sinful men, who could destroy the whole world in a five minutes time. See? So she knows she can't stand it. The people knows she can't stand it. And the world knows that they're going to, it's going to happen. [Romans 8:22-23]

L-98 For, God said it was. "The whole heavens and earth is going to be on fire." It's going to be a renovation of the whole thing, so a new world can be born. God has prophesied it. [II Peter 3:10-13]

L-99 She's rotten, in all of her systems, and she's got to do that, to rot away.
That's why she, I said, she is so nervous and red in the face, and flusterated. And earthquakes, everywhere, and up-and-down the coast. And tidal waves in Alaska, and shaking up-and-down the coast, of earthquakes and things. And people writing, "Shall we leave it? Shall we leave it?" See? They don't know what to do. There's no safety zone but One, that's Christ, the Son of the living God. And there's only one thing that is the safety zone, and that's Him. All outside of There will perish, just as certain as God said so. [Romans 8:22-23]

L-100 Now let's look at the Doctor's Book, if she is in this kind of a condition, and see if this is supposed to happen when the new earth is to be born. Matthew 24, in the Doctor's Book, which is the Bible, and let's see what's prophesied, what her symptoms would be.

L-101 Now, if a doctor knows the symptoms of birth of a child... And just about time the child is to come, he gets everything ready, because he knows that that is the--the time the child is to be born. Because, all symptoms shows; the--the water is broke, the blood. And now the... It's time. The child is dropped, and it's time for the child to be born. And so he gets everything ready for it.

L-102 Now, Jesus told us just exactly what would take place just at this time. He told us, in Matthew 24, that the Church, true Church, and the other church, would be... Church natural, Church spiritual, "Would be so close together, impersonators, until it would deceive the very Elected, if it was possible." How that it was in the days of Noah, "How they was eating, drinking, marrying, given in marriage," and all this immorality of the world that we see today. The Bible, the Book, the Doctor's Book said it would happen. So, when we see this happening, we know that the birth is at hand. It's got to be. Yes, sir. Now, we look at that, as--as the nation; as not a nation, but a world. [Matthew 24:24]

L-103 Now, Israel, the church, let's start back with her a few minutes. And let's follow her for the next ten minutes, maybe. Israel had birth pains under every prophet that came to the earth. She had birth pains at his Message. For what did it do? The prophet had the Word. And--and she had sown so much rottenness and made so much systematic orders in her being, until this prophet shook her off of her foundation. They were hated by everybody. So, therefore, when God sent a prophet, the church itself went into birth pains. Because, the prophet, "The Word of the Lord comes to the prophet, and him only." That is, the Word that's spoken for that day is made manifest by the prophet of that age, always has been. And, the churches, they build so many systems around the Word, until he shook her off her rocker when he come. She had birth pains. [Amos 3:7]

L-104 What was it? Back to the Word! Back to the Life! Systems doesn't have a Life. It's only God's Word has Life. The systems that's built around It, where does not have Life. It is the Word that gives Life. His Message rocked the remnant back to the Word. A little group will come out and believe. Sometime, maybe... In Noah's time, only about eight people. But, anyhow, God rocked the remnant. And, destroyed, the rest of it had to rock away. [John 1:1-5]

L-105 It did that, all down through the ages, until finally the church delivered to them a Man Child, and that Man Child was the Word, Itself, made flesh. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." He conquered every devil, every power upon the earth, that come against Him, with the Father's Word only. Every temptation that Satan give Him, He rebuked Satan; not with His--His Own powers that He had, but with the Word of God. "It is written... It is written... It is written..." For He was the Word. [John 1:1]

L-106 When Satan flew against Eve, she wasn't the Word, so it failed. When he flew against Moses, it did the same thing. But when he hit into the Son of God, He was ten thousand volts. It knocked the loose feathers out of him, when He come back and said, "It's written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" There was that Man Child, made flesh. God's Eternal Word, Himself, manifested in a body of flesh here on earth, to represent the Word. [Matthew 4:4]

L-107 That's how He knowed what was in their hearts. That's how He could tell Philip where he was, who he was. He could tell Simon Peter who he was. Told the woman at the well. Why? He was the Word. Right. The Bible said, in Hebrews the 4th chapter, "The Word of God is sharper, more powerful than a two-edged sword, cutting asunder even to the marrow of the bone, and a Discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart." [Hebrews 4:12]

L-108 Why, those blinded Pharisee priests couldn't see that That was the Word made manifest, for they had wrapped up into a priesthood and a system. And the old system had to give away. It was the Word, but what had been promised had been fulfilled. So if it's fulfilled, it's got to rot away. It's the hull. The Seed went on.

L-109 Moses could not have brought Noah's message. Neither could Jesus have brought Noah's message, because it was another age. And the old seed was right, but it served its purpose and was dead and gone on. The transformation from the old to the new, where the Life was at, was what was worrying the people, what worries them yet today.

L-110 We're not building a wall, like we start off with Luther's message, go right down a straight line, or a Pentecostal message. Right. We are turning a corners. We're building a building. God's Word is the blueprint. Anybody can run a straight line, but it takes a mason to turn the corner. It takes the power of God to do that. It takes an anointed one from Heaven, to be sent down to do that. It has, in every age. And in the prophets' age, the Word of the Lord comes through those prophets, and they turn those corners, made those difference. But the builders wanted to build a wall. It's not a wall, at all. It's a building, a building of God.

L-111 Now, we feel and know that This is the Truth, that the systems was rot in every age. And every one of their systems had to rot and die out, until she brought forth that Church. Out of that rotten mess came forth the Word, Itself. "The Word of the Lord come to the prophets." Never come to the priests; It come to the prophets.

L-112 And notice, and when It did, finally that Word altogether was born here in human flesh. The fullness of the Godhead bodily rested in Him. He was the Word. The prophets is part of the Word, the Word for their age. We, today, are part of the Word, who follow the Word. But He was the entire fullness of the Word. He was the Word. He said... [Colossians 2:9-10]

L-113 When they was accusing Him, making Himself equal with God, 'cause He was the Son of God, they said to Him, "Well, You make Yourself God."

L-114 He said, "Isn't it written in your laws, that you call those who the Word of God came to, 'gods,' the prophets? And they were. Then how can you condemn Me when I say I am the Son of God?" [John 10:35]

L-115 Where, the fullness of the Godhead bodily rested in the Son of God. He was the full manifestation of God. That's what finally... The birth pains under those prophets, why, them being the Word, they pointed to that fullness of themselves, the fullness of the Word. And then finally the systems died away, until, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." [Colossians 2:9-10], [John 1:1, 14]

L-116 Watch how it was portrayed in Jacob. Watch how it was portrayed in Joseph, exactly. Loved of his bro-... his father; hated by his brother, without a cause. He was spiritual, could foretell things, and interpret dreams. He couldn't help being that. He was just born that. He was predestinated to be that. But, was hated by his brothers, and finally sold him for thirty pieces of silver, almost thirty pieces. And was raised up, set at the right hand of Pharaoh. Looked in his prison, there was a butler and a baker; one was lost and one was saved.

L-117 Jesus in His prison, on the cross; one was lost, one was saved. Exactly. And then exalted into heavens and set down on the Throne of God. And when He shall leave again, there will be a sound go forth, "Bow the knee," and every tongue confessed. [Romans 14:11]

L-118 And when Joseph left the throne and started forward, a trumpet sounded, and every knee had to bow. "Joseph was coming."

L-119 So, someday the great Trumpet of God shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to this Word. But what's He coming after? What's He coming here for? , [I Thessalonians 4:16]

L-120 Notice, she brought forth this complete Word which was made flesh, under birth pains of the prophets that blasted out, "He's a coming! He's a coming! He's a coming!"

L-121 Now, but she was without a prophet for four hundred years, according to history and the Scripture, from Malachi until John. They only had theologians, priests, pastors. Now here we can imagine, without that, what kind of a rotten condition her system must have been in, four hundred years without a Message direct, of THUS SAITH THE LORD, from God. So, the priests, prophets, and so forth, had got it into an awful mess. She was rotten.

L-122 Then John, the promised Elijah of Malachi 3, not Malachi 4. Malachi 3, 'cause Jesus said the same thing in--in Matthew the 11th chapter. [Malachi 3:1], [Malachi 4:5-6]

L-123 When John's eagle eye got filmed over, as I believe Pember's Early Ages expresses. And he said, "Go ask Him if He is the One, or should we look for another." See? [Matthew 11:3]

L-124 And He said, Jesus, after sending his disciples back, after telling them to stay at the meeting and watch what happened. "And go, show John these things. And blessed is he who's not offended." [Matthew 11:4]

L-125 He turned and looked to His disciples and the people He was speaking to. He said, "What did you go out to see when you went to see John?" He said, "Did you go out to see a man in soft raiment?" And He said, "I say unto you, that's the kind that stays in kings' palaces." He said, "Did you go out to see a--a--a reed that was shaken by the wind?" [Matthew 11:7, 8]

L-126 In other words, every little thing come along, he shook by it? "I'll tell you, if you'll just come over and join our group, we can give you a better salary." Not John. "If you just won't preach against this and that, well, you can join in our groups." Not John.

L-127 Said, "Then what did you go out to see, a prophet? And I say unto you, more than a prophet. For if you can receive it, this is he who was spoken of by the prophet, saying, 'I'll send My messenger before My face, to prepare the way.'" That's Malachi 3:1. [Matthew 11:7, 9], [Malachi 3:1]

L-128 Not Malachi 4, at all. That's a different. Cause, that Elijah come, the world is to be burnt immediately, and the righteous walk out on the ashes of the wicked. [Malachi 4:3]

L-129 Now, notice. His Message never stirred them very much from their ecclesiastical sleep. They just said, "There is a crazy man down there. Pass him by, soon. Called hisself crazy; he's trying to drown people down there in the water. See? Why there's nothing to that old man. Why, he don't even have on right kind of clothes. He's got a sheep skin wrapped around him. Well, he's as poor as Job's turkey. Why, what seminary he ever come out of? What fellowship card? We'll not even cooperate in his meetings. We'll just let him stand down there, starve it out." See? The world hasn't changed very much, neither has the systems. Uh-huh. "But we'll just let him stay down there. He don't have any..."

L-130 You know why he didn't? Remember, his father was a priest. But why didn't he follow the line of his father, which was custom for the children to do in those days? Because he had something, too greater Message. He was to introduce the Messiah, for the Holy Spirit had said so. That little remnant that had been brought back by the Message of Gabriel, down there, knew that that would be so. So we're told, about nine years old, he went to the wilderness. After losing his father and mother, that he went into the wilderness, 'cause he had to hear exactly.

L-131 Cause, in the great big theological building there, they'd have said, "Now, I know that you're supposed to be the one to announce the Messiah. Isaiah said you was coming, so you are going to be that voice. Now, don't you think that Brother Jones here just meets that just exactly?" And he'd be easily persuaded.

L-132 But he never learned any of their systems. His Message was too important. He went out into the wilderness, to stay.

L-133 Notice. His Message wasn't like a theologian. He used types. He said, "Oh, you generation of snakes." Calling those clergymen, "snakes." This, one of the bad things that he had found in the wilderness, one of the sneaking things, was snakes. And he thought, "That's just about the best comparison I know." He said, "You generation of vipers, who has warned you from the wrath to come? Don't begin to say, 'We belong to this and that,' for God is able of these stones to rise children to Abraham." "These stones," what he found in the wilderness and on the creek bank. [Luke 3:7-8]

L-134 "Also the axe," what he had used in the wilderness, "laid to the root of the tree," what he saw in the wilderness. "Every tree that bringeth forth not good fruit," he know where he got his firewood, see, "is hewn down and cast into the fire," made firewood out of it. See? His Message wasn't a clergyman, at all. It was after nature, in the wilderness. [Luke 3:9]

L-135 But he had the Message to announce, and had the faith in his Message, to say, "That Messiah, supposed to come, and, till, He's right here among you now. I say unto you, there is One standing in the midst of you, that you know not, Whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and Fire."
"Who is He, John?"
"I don't know." [Luke 3:16]

L-136 But one day, there come a young Man walking down to the river, ordinary-looking Man. Just in a... Old John the Baptist was standing over there, the blessed old prophet, and he looked across the Jordan. He said, "Behold, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."
"How do you know Him, John?" [John 1:29]

L-137 "He in the wilderness, that told me to go baptize in water, said, 'Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending, He is the One that'll baptize with the Holy Ghost.'" [John 1:33]

L-138 His Message couldn't come from a theological standpoint or some man-made creed system. It had to come directly from God.

L-139 For, his Message didn't shake them very much. They thought, "Oh, he said he saw That. I doubt very much. I didn't see nothing. I looked. Oh, my! I couldn't see nothing about it," the priests and them said.

L-140 But he saw It, and we know now he saw It. Sure, he did. But you notice what it got?

L-141 It never stirred them out of their sleep. They went right on, cut his head off, just the same. But it--it never stirred them.

L-142 But it did get the remnant, the one that had the Life in them, that little bunch, Ann and--and Simeon, and a few of those that were waiting all for the Coming of the Lord. And Anna, in the temple, blind, a prophetess that served the Lord by prayers. And then one day when she was in the Spirit... [John 1:33]

L-143 And Simeon had prophesied and said, an old man, he said, "The Holy Ghost told me that I will not see death until I see the Lord's Christ." [Luke 2:6]

L-144 Why, some of the priests, you know, said, "Poor old fellow, he's just a little off, you know. Why, he's got one foot in the grave now, and the other one slipping. Why, just let him alone. He's been an honorable old man. But he's kind of..."

L-145 But, you see, what did he have? It was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost.

L-146 That's the same thing that is revealed to you people this afternoon. The Holy Ghost brought you here for some reason. The some... The Holy Spirit! Look at these priests and clergymen here from Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, and all. They was moved by the Holy Ghost. The hour is here. So the Holy Ghost moved on them, and they been looking for It, hungering. Then, just in a...

L-147 One day, you know, didn't have television. Thank the Lord for that day.

L-148 So, they, they was down upon the hillsides of Judaea. There was a--a Baby born. A Star appeared, and so forth.

L-149 But after eight days, the mother brought the little Baby in, wrapped in swaddling cloth. It's swaddling cloth. I'm tell... told that was... They didn't have nothing to put on. It was a--a little rag off of a yoke of an ox, I'm told, that was His swaddling cloth. Here come Joseph and them, coming in with this little Baby.

L-150 I'd imagine the mothers stood back from a distance, with their little babies with needlework and everything. Said, "Looky there. See? See? There she is. See? She was pregnant by that man. Here she comes in. That, stay away from her. Keep your distance." They still think the same thing.

L-151 But, Mary, with that Baby in her arms, it didn't make any difference what they thought. She knowed Whose Son that was.

L-152 And so is every believer that accepts God's Word into their heart! I don't care what the systems say. You know what It is. It's a promise of God. It was revealed to you by the Holy Ghost, when you were overshadowed with His Power. You know where It's at. No man has a right to preach the Gospel until he's met God back on the backside of the desert in that burning bush, to where there's no ecclesiastical system in the world can explain It away from you. You were there. It happened to you. I don't care what the systems say. You are a witness of it. Hallelujah! I feel like that old colored man I was talking about, "I ain't got room up here now." See? I feel very religious at this time, when I think. And that's right. God, Himself, revealed to you. [Exodus 3:1-4]

L-153 Simeon had the promise. Setting over in his study that morning, oh, I guess there might been several hundred babies brought in, every morning. About two and a half million Jews in the country, and these babies come in, and many born. Every eight days the mother had to come, offer offering for purification. And now here come... Simeon, setting there, you know, maybe reading the scroll of Isaiah. I don't know. But all at once... [Luke 2:25-34]

L-154 Now, if the Holy Ghost has made you a promise, the Holy Ghost has got to keep that promise, if It's really God. He, if He...

L-155 If a man comes through and says a certain thing, God doesn't back it up, it isn't Scripture, to begin with. Forget it. And if he says it's so, and God still doesn't back it up, it's still wrong.

L-156 Cause, God interprets His Message. He's His Own interpreter. What he says comes to pass, then God said, "Hear him, for it's the Truth." That's only common sense. If he says it happens, and it happens, that tells it. It must be every time, exactly the Truth, because God don't tell lies.

L-157 And so then here is Simeon setting there, taking the persecution. He was the remnant. He had heard John, and the little remnant of that day. And here he was setting there, listening at this scroll, knowing. I mean, knowing that John was coming, 'cause he--he was part of the remnant. The Word was revealed to him. And all at once, when that Baby come into the temple, then it was duty of the Holy Ghost to reveal that It was there. So he, moved by the Spirit, come out of the little study room, right down through the hall, hit that line of women. Coming right down along that line of women until he got down to where this little Baby was, they was all staying away from. Picked up the Baby in his arms, said, "Lord, let Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." [Luke 2:29-35]

L-158 And at that time, another one of the little elected in that day, was Anna, a prophetess. She was setting over there, blind, in a corner. Raised up, blind. Here she comes, led by the Spirit, among all the women and the people crowding in and out the temple, till she come right straight to where the Christ Child was. [Luke 2:36-38]

L-159 If the Holy Ghost could lead a blind woman to Him, what about a Pentecostal group that's supposed to have your eyesight? I won't go any further. You know, from there on. Notice. Oh, my! How that that church must have been in an awful mess again, it surely must have been, in that day! But it rocked the little remnant, as I said.

L-160 Now let's be honest. If we see that church in that condition today, haven't we arrived at that time again? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Now just look at the things of promise, of the Bible, that would be going on in the church at this time. We see what's going on in the world, and we see it's at its end. Now let's look in the church.

L-161 She, the church, had birth pains under Luther. Now, we know there's seven church ages, and seven messengers to them church ages, according to Revelations. Now, when Luther had to come forth, it certainly throwed the church into birth pain, but it brought forth a Luther. That's right. [Revelation 1:11]

L-162 After that, it got in trouble again, so it brought forth a Wesley. That's right.
Got forth again, and it brought forth a pentecost.

L-163 Each of them messengers of their age, rocked the... back to the Word, the Message of their age, the Message of according to the Bible. I've got coming, a book, out on that, the commentary of the first four chapters of Revelations. Read it, soon as we get it on press. And it proves, beyond a shadow of doubt, what Luther's message was, justification; what sanctification is, the next process in the natural birth. And then come the pentecostals, exactly.

L-164 Now, notice, each age rocked the church and give it birth pains. But what did they do? After the birth pains come, instead of going on with the Word, they got a bunch of men together just like the first one did. It's exactly. Right after the rocking of the apostles, then we find her going off again. Then we find out, along come many of the others, Agabus and many of the great reformers back in the beginning. Each age had done, as you study the Pre-Nicaea Council, the Nicaea Fathers, and all back. You find it all in there. Each age was rocked, every time a messenger come forth with THUS SAITH THE LORD.

L-165 Now she is in the worst stage, that, according to the Scripture, that she's ever been. We are in the Laodicean church age, "A rich, but blinded church age, that don't know it."

L-166 There wasn't nowhere in the Bible that Christ was ever put out of the church, but the Laodicea age. She's in the worst age. She's the rotten-est she ever was. Said, "I set as a queen, have need of nothing."

L-167 "And don't know that you're naked, miserable, blind, poor, and don't know it." Yes, sir. Said, "I counsel thee, come buy eye salve from Me, that I might open your eyes." And that'll--that'll certainly... The eye salve of God will certainly bring Light to the church if it wants to open its eyes to what God has said. [Revelation 3:14-20]

L-168 Notice, quickly now. Now, she is in that stage, beyond a shadow of doubt. We're in the Laodicea church age.

L-169 Now, Her messenger is promised, in Malachi the 4th chapter. He's promised to do it. And the Message is to bring back the Word, bring the people back to the Word. Birth is to be. She's to be delivered, of a new Birth, from according to Malachi 4. [Malachi 4:5]

L-170 In the church world today, there is two systems a working. Now listen real close. Now I want to see if you're going to say "amen" on this. There is two systems working in the church world today. I'm going to get this off my shoulder, and then I have it over with. We all know that that's the Word of God, and the denominational system. There is the two systems at work. Just as they was, Jacob and Esau; one after the Spirit, the other one after the flesh. And what is it? Esau and Jacob was fighting in the wombs of the mother, even to the time they were born. And so is the denominationals and the Word, fighting, one against the other. They have been, since Luther first brought the first reformation. I hope that's simple enough that you can understand it. See?

L-171 These men, if they pick up This and goes out with It, they can make more sense to It, see, to bring It to a place you would. I just want to lay this Seed, then hope they make It come to Life. Notice. See?

L-172 It's always been that. That's the reason she's bearing birth pains, because there's a fight in her.

L-173 There's an Esau, just a man of the world, very religious. And, oh, he's all right, good fellow, clean, moral, as far as I know of, but he don't know nothing about that Birthright. He's born that way. He's shaped that way.

L-174 And Jacob, I don't care what he is, he wants that Birthright. He's the spiritual one.

L-175 And them two, today, is in the womb of the church. There's a great big system trying to be formed, called the World Council of Churches. And from the womb of the church is coming forth two children. You just mark my word. The world's...

L-176 The Word must deliver the Word Bride Church. The Church has got to be delivered out of her, a Bride for Christ. Them that fell asleep in all ages will make up that Bride that come out on the Word that they come out on, like from your feet coming to your head. She gets--gets greater, and more you have to have, and so forth. As the body grows up, so does the Body of Christ grow up. And then finally the Head will come to It, the Head of It will, now, if we notice, 'cause It's--It's all linked to the Head. The Head does the turning, pulling.

L-177 But these systems will not grow out of That, 'cause it's a system, and it cannot bring forth. A cocklebur cannot bring forth a bunch of wheat. But they're both in the same field, watered by the same water, and the same sunlight. One is the Word; one is not the Word. And them two are fighting. They been fighting since the first reformation, and they're still fighting.

L-178 Now, I don't have to go any further on that, do I? Surely you know what I'm talking about. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Yes, sir. There we are. There you are, a system. What system are you in?

L-179 Just imagine now, if you would have lived back in the other days, under the jolting of God's prophets and Words that come forth, what side would you want to be on back there?

L-180 Well, you got the same choice today. She's fixing to bring forth the perfect Word back there, and the Word is coming for the Word Bride. As a--a woman is the part of a man, taken from him, so the Church will have to be a Word-abiding Church, every Word of the Bible; not systems, dogmas, or nothing added to It. It'll have to be in an unadulterated, pure, virgin Word. Right.

L-181 And in the days of the Light of the Luther, when the church bolt shut, Luther force. She went under pains, but he come forth, "The just shall live by faith. And this is not the communion." [Habakkuk 2:4], [Romans 1:17], [Galatians 3:11], [Hebrews 10:38]

L-182 Now, we find out, that, under the days of John Wesley, she gave pains again, but there was--there was a Wesley born. But what did he do? Went right back like mother did.

L-183 Then under the days of pentecostals, your fathers and mothers come out of that thing and hated it. They went out on the street, your mother with no stockings on, beating on an old tin can, and talking about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and some old guitar. They laid out on the streetcars' tracks, stayed all night in jail. And we're so starchy, and went right back into an organization and made ourself the same muck. They drawed their children back in that they come out of. They would turn over in their grave. They would be ashamed of you. I know that's hard, but it's the Truth. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]

L-184 You say, "I thought you loved people." If love isn't corrective, then how can you produce love? Love is corrective. And I do love the world... I'm--I'm zealous of God's church.

L-185 And to see these systems that's binding it down under dogmas, is rottening away. And God declaring His Word to be the Truth, and still they hold onto it. Amen. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] That's true. You know it's the truth, brother, sister. ["Amen."] That's just This. That's the simple way of telling It. It--it isn't the breaking down of Greek, and things, but it's the breaking down and showing common sense. Surely you can understand That. Two and two is four. See? Now we know that That's right.
Now, the Word must produce the Bride.

L-186 But the old system has to keep its type. It has to produce an Esau who sold his birthrights.

L-187 Here it comes. I feel it. I hope you don't think I'm crazy. But if I am, let me alone. I feel good this way. I'm better this way than I was the other way. I--I may be crazy, to the world. I--I--I know where I'm at. I know where I'm standing.

L-188 Look. It's going to produce a stillborn baby, an ecclesiastical system that's going to bring all the denominations together, to produce an Esau that hates Jacob. Amen. I hope you see it, a stillborn, dead denomination, all of them going together.

L-189 Oh, Word believers, give in to my Message. Hear me, not my Message, but His Message that He firmly declares to be the Truth. You've got to choose from somewhere. You can't sit still after this. You've got to make your choice.

L-190 Remember the other day, down at the Westward Ho there, on that morning, on that breakfast, how the Lord let me show you that wheat? How it's come up through Luther, through Wesley, and the tassels, and so forth, and little springs off, every church represented in a stalk of corn. Then He went right down into that wheat, as it was, and there was that little shuck, looked just exactly like the real grain of wheat. When you go out and look, if you don't know your wheat, you'll say you got wheat there, but it's just the shuck. Then you open that shuck up, there's no wheat there, at all. Way back, there's a little bud of life coming forth. You take a glass and look at it. And when Pentecost first come out, it was so close, Jesus said in Matthew 24:24, "It would deceive the very Elected if it was possible." What was it to do? A support to the grain. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Now, the tassel... [Matthew 24:24]

L-191 Look here. The blade doesn't look like the grain that went in, neither does the tassel, but it's a little more like it. And the shuck is a whole lot like it, but still it ain't the wheat. It's the carrier of the wheat.

L-192 Don't you see how those messages has come with birth pain? But the Life left right out of there, to go to the next message. The Life went right out of Luther, into Wesley's message. Right out of Wesley's message, into pentecostal message. Now it's time again, to leave the shuck. What's the matter? There's nature, in every form, declaring that's the Truth.

L-193 Now you see why you think I'm crazy. Maybe I am, as I said. But there's Something in me. I can't stop It. I never put It there. It never come by my own choosing. It's God. And He confirms It, to prove that It's the Truth, to make It the Truth. Not as I have anything against Luther, and Wesley, Pentecostals, or Baptists, or whoever. Nothing against nobody. The systems is what I'm against, because the Word is against it; not the men. Look at these priests and clergymen setting here, today. They wouldn't be here if they listened to the system, but they had the common audacity, of the Word of God, to step out and accept It. Hallelujah means "praise our God." It won't hurt you. [Someone says, "Amen."--Ed.] Means "so be it." I believe It. I believe and know that It's the Truth. It's confirmed to be the Truth. Someday you'll find out, maybe too late. Now watch. Watch.

L-194 The Bible said, "His Wife has made Herself ready," at the end of the age. How did She make Herself ready? To becoming His Wife. And what does She? What kind of a garment She had on? His Own Word. She was dressed in His Righteousness. That's what. It is right. See?

L-195 Vision! Notice, just closing now. I want to say this one thing just before closing. That's what led me to say this. Now, it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. If a man would say that, without, putting it in his own thinking, he would be a hypocrite and should go to hell for it. That's right. If he would try to get a bunch of people, fine people like this, and deceive them, why, he would be a devil in human flesh. God would never honor him. You think God would honor a devil or a lie? Never. See? It goes over the top of their heads, and they don't get it. He pulls the Elected out.

L-196 Look at all the prophets through the age, how He got the Elected.

L-197 Look, coming down through, even to the reformation. Like, the Roman Catholic church burnt Joan of Arc to a stake, for being a witch. That's right. Later on they found out she wasn't. She was a saint. Course, they done penance, dig up the priests' body and throw them in the river. But, you know, but that don't settle it in the books of God. No. They called Saint Patrick one, too, you see, and he is about as much as I am one. So, we notice, look at his children. Look at his place, up, look at how many killed. Look on the martyrology and see how many was killed there. You see, it isn't so.

L-198 But the claim of the people, that doesn't make it so. It's what God said and proves, that it's Truth. "Prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good."

L-199 Now we find, now, here about a few months ago, one morning, I was walking out of the house, and a vision came.

L-200 And I challenge anybody here, that's knowed all these years, to say at any time that the Lord ever let me say "THUS SAITH THE LORD" but what it happened. How many knows it's the Truth, raise your hand. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Right. Could anybody speak contrary? [Brother Branham pauses. Congregation is silent.] It's true.

L-201 Don't pay any attention to the messenger. Look at the Message it is. [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] That's what is. See? It isn't that. Don't notice the little [Blank.spot.on.tape.] baldheaded, you know, person, 'cause it's just a--it's just a human being, all, and we're just all the same. But watch what's happening. That's what declares it. I was taken...

L-202 Now, I know people say all kinds of things, and we know that a lot of it's not right. I can't answer for what other, any man says. I got to answer what I say. I can only say whether it's Truth, or not. And I--I--I'm the one has to be responsible for it, not what somebody else says. I can't judge no one. I wasn't sent to judge, but to preach the Message. Notice.

L-203 I was to have a--a preview of the Church. And I was taken by Someone who I could not see, and was set up on, like, a stand. And I heard the sweetest music I ever heard. And I looked, coming, and a bunch of little ladies, about, looked to be of, oh, some age around twenty, eighteen, twenty. And they all had long hair, and was fixed in different dresses, type, dresses. And they were marching just as perfectly in step, with that music, as it could be. And they went from my left, going around this way. And I watched them. And I looked then to see who was talking to me, and I couldn't see no one.

L-204 Then I heard a rock-and-roll band coming. And when I looked over to my right side, coming up this a way, coming back, here come the churches of the world. And some of the... Each one carrying their banner, from where they were from. Some of the dirtiest-looking things I ever seen in my life! And when the American church come up, it was the awfullest I ever seen. The Heavenly Father is my judge. They had on these tattletale gray skirts, like one of these barroom girls, with no back on it, up here; holding up like a gray-looking piece of paper; and like hula dancing; paint; short, bobbed hair; smoking cigarettes; and twisting, as they walked to rock-and-roll.
And I said, "Is that the church of the United States?"
And the Voice said, "Yes, it is."

L-205 And when they passed by, they had to hold it like this, and put the paper behind them when they passed by.

L-206 I--I started to cry. I--I just thought, "Of all my labor, and all that I've done." And everything that we ministers has worked together... And, brethren, I--I don't know how much you'd believe about these visions; but it's Truth, to me. It's always proved to be true. When I seen that, and knowing what was going on, my heart liked to broke in me. "What have I done? How have I missed it? I've stayed right with that Word, Lord. And how could I done it?"

L-207 I thought, "Why could You give me a vision, not long ago, and seen me in There? And I said, 'Well, will they have to be judged?' He said, 'Paul's group, too.' I said, 'I've preached the same Word he did.'" Christian Business Men carried the article of it. And I said, "Why? Why would it be like this?"

L-208 I seen that bunch of prostitutes going by like that, all dressed up like that, and called, "The church of Miss U.S.A." I--I just fainted.

L-209 Then, directly, I heard that real sweet music come again, and here come that same little Bride coming by again. He said, "This is what comes out, though." And when She walked by, She's exactly like the One was in the first place, walking to the step of the music of God's Word, marching on by. And when I saw it, I stood there with both hands up, crying, like that. When I come to, I was standing on my porch out there, looking right out across the field.

L-210 What? She's to be the same Bride, the same kind, built out of the same kind of material that She was in the first place. Now read Malachi 4 and see if we're not supposed to have a Message in the last days, that will "turn the hearts of the children back to the fathers," back to the original pentecostal Message, Word by Word. Brothers, we are here. [Malachi 4:5-6]

L-211 Now, this church is supposed to get a sign, and its last sign. We find out here, in the--in the--in the Scripture, see now, see, the great birth pains that's being in this Laodicean age. It's boring. Their church is being born again. Not...

L-212 There'll never be another organization. Anyone knows that every time a message went forth... Ask these historian. After a message went forth, an organization come up out of it; oh, Alexander Campbell, everything else, Martin Luther, and everything. They made an organization out of it. And usually a message only goes for about three years, a revival. This has been going for fifteen years, and there's been no organization come from it. Why? The shuck was the last. We're at the end.

L-213 See the birth pains? See what's the matter? Just a remnant will be brought out. Just a remnant will be brought out. And that's why I'm crying, and straining, and pushing, and laying aside every favor of man on earth, to find favor with God, and just moving on in His Word.

L-214 She's in pain. That's what's the matter. She's going to give birth. She must make her choice. The handwriting is on the wall. We see the earth is just about ready to go. That's right. And we see the church, she's so rotten, she's about ready to go. And the birth pains is on all of it, on both the world and the church. [Daniel 5:5]

L-215 And there's about to be a new world born, and a new Church born, to go to it, for the Millennium. We know that.

L-216 Look. God gives her... And listen to this close, then I'm closing. Her final sign; her final Message, her final sign. Her final sign, is, she has to get in the conditions like she was at the beginning; the world, the church.

L-217 Look how it was in the beginning, all them years, without, from Malachi until Jesus. Look at it, all the years now. Look at it, all back in there, the corruption they got into it. Look at the earth, how it was on each time, like in days of Noah, so forth. Has to be in the same kind of a type, and we see that. "As it was in the days of Noah." We see all these things just patterning up.

L-218 Then, we get one final sign. In Luke, the 17th chapter, the 28th verse, Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." For, as it was in Sodom, see. Now, Jesus read this same Bible, the same Genesis we read. Now, close, don't miss it. The same Bible we read, Jesus read. And He said to His Church, "Look back and see when the days of Sodom returns again," perverted people, men losing their natural. [Luke 17:28-30]

L-219 Look at the homosexual, how it's on the increase across the world today, in a newspaper just recently. You ought to get in my office and read letters from mothers, for their boys. And homosexual is on the increase of, I think, is twenty or thirty percent in--in California, alone, over last year. A great bunch of the... of even government people, has proven to be homosexuals. You government men know that. Your magazine, I read it, and in the different things has taken place. If you...

L-220 [A sister speaks in another tongue, and then she gives an interpretation. The same sister again speaks in another tongue, and then again she gives an interpretation. Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]

L-221 Now, if I have the right understanding of the Scripture. That's exactly what God said would take place. "Let him that speaketh in tongue also pray that he may interpret." [I Corinthians 14:13]

L-222 That be true. I've told you Truth, then God is here, confirming It. It's the Truth. That's true.

L-223 Now look. What was that last Message that Jesus said? "As it was in the days of Sodom," now watch, just before the Gentile world was burnt up, the fire. Now try to understand. What happened? There was a bunch of people, lukewarm church members, like Lot and his group down in Sodom. There was another man that had already come out of it. He wasn't in it, to begin with. That was Abraham, the one that had a promise of a coming son. You understand? Say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] All right.

L-224 And, now, just before the climax of the destruction came, God appeared to Abraham in many forms, but this time He appears as a Man. He was a Man. And he come up to God.
Now, you say, "It wasn't a Man."

L-225 It--it--it--it was God in the Man. Abraham called Him, "Elohim." It was a Man.

L-226 And, look, He set down, with His back turned to the tent, and He said, "Where is Sarah, your wife?"
Said, "She's in the tent, behind You." [Genesis 18:9]

L-227 Said, "I'm going to visit you according to time of life, that I made you a promise." And Sarah laughed. And He said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" See? [Genesis 18:13]

L-228 Now, that's what was going on in that day. Just to show the last sign that Abraham saw, the Elected group pulled out, away from Sodom. Now, don't miss this parable, whatever you do. The group that had been pulled out, that wasn't in Sodom, to begin with.

L-229 But two of the Angels went down into Sodom. And when They got down there, we find Lot. And He found him in a backslidden condition, all homosexuals and perversions. You know the story.
But there's One that stayed with Abraham, was Elohim.

L-230 They preached the Word down there. Preaching the Word smited them blind, and they couldn't find the door. That's what it is today.

L-231 But the One that was with the group that was pulled out, done a miracle before Abraham, to show that Who He was, and was with Abraham.

L-232 He said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" concerning this baby. And Sarah come forth and said she didn't. And said, "But you did." And He would have killed her right there if she wasn't a part of Abraham. [Genesis 18:13]

L-233 So would God slay us if we wasn't a part of Christ. The mercy of Christ all holds us together, us doubters and perversions in the Word.

L-234 But, notice, notice what happened. Jesus turns back around now, and says, "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the end time when the Son of man begins to reveal Himself." [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] See? "Son of man" always, in the Bible, is a prophet. See? He come in three son's Name: Son of man, Son of God, Son of David. See? And He pronounced His Name, "Son of man," because that's the work He done, of a prophet, seer. He said, "In the days like it was in Noah, when the Son of man begins to reveal Himself, that will be the time of the end." [Luke 17:28, 30]

L-235 Now let's just think, just for a minute. Never has the world had a messenger over the world. We've had Finney's, Sankey's, Moody's, Finney's, Knox, Calvin, so forth, all around the world, messengers to the church in these birth pains. But never did we ever have a man going out with an international message, until this day, with his name ending in h-a-m. A-b-r-a-h-a-m, which is six letters... A-b-r-a-h-a-m is seven letters.

L-236 We got one today named G-r-a-h-a-m, six letters, and six is the number of the world, creation day. When did the world ever have a man down into it now, preaching down in the kosmos, down there in the world, down there calling the people out, "Repent, repent! Perish, or come out of it," until this age? G-r-a-h-a-m, look what he's doing, preaching the Word, blinding the outsiders, calling, "Come out," a messenger from God. Jesus said that would take place just when the Son of man will reveal Himself. Now, that, where's that at? Out there in the church orders, world. And they begin to hate the man, for it.

L-237 But, remember, there was a group, also, that was a spiritual group, the Jacob group, not the--not the Esau group. There's a Jacob group was looking for the son, that wasn't in that Babylon, and they received a Messenger. Understand? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Abraham, A-b-r-a-h-a-m, they received a Messenger. And that Messenger, what was the great, outstanding thing He done, to show it was at the end time? He discerned the thoughts that was in Sarah's mind.

L-238 And Jesus, the Son of God, which was made flesh, showing that the Spirit of God would come back down in that little elected Group of at the end time, and would reveal Hisself in the same manner. Birth pains! Oh, brother, please try to understand. Try hard. Open up your hearts just a minute. Look to Christ. That same God is right here now. That same One. He promised these things. And if He promised them, He certainly is able to do them.

L-239 Let's bow our heads just a moment. I want you just to think, solemnly.

L-240 Father, it's in Your hands now. I done all I can do. I pray that You'll help the people to--to understand. The Seed has been planted. Pour the water, the Spirit, upon It, Lord, and water It for Your glory. If I made a mistake, Lord, I didn't mean to. I pray, God, that--that You'll interpret It right, to their hearts, that they might see and understand. Grant it, Lord. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

L-241 The Lord bless you. I love you. This God that preached this Word, this God that's responsible for this Word... I'm only responsible for saying It. He's the One that has to quicken It. That same God is here.

L-242 Now, how many out there has a need? Raise your hand. Did He promise to do these things in the last days? Now you look to me. Now it's like Peter and John said, "Look on us." As if... See? He told him. Now you look this way. Now, please don't move around. This is a very... I'm--I'm trying, my whole heart within me. Just be real reverent. See? Each one of you, a spirit, when you move. Course, you're a unit. I'm trying to catch faith of the people.

L-243 A little woman passed by and touched His garment, went out and set down. Jesus told her what her troubles was, and she was healed.

L-244 And now He promised to do that again, the Son of man would reveal Himself like He did at Sodom. The world is in that condition. The church is in that condition. Now has God kept His Word? See if He has, or not. Oh, we've had signs, jumping, speaking in tongues, prophecy, so forth. But, wait, there's another sign. Oh, we have many carnal impersonations. That just makes the real one shine. Any bogus dollar should make the real one shine.

L-245 Now you pray. You believe. Just, I--I challenge you to do that. You look, and believe what I've told you. How many believe this to be the Truth? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Care who you are, where you are. I'll just...

L-246 Everyone in here, as far as I know, is a total stranger, except Bill Dauch and his wife setting right there, as I know of. I think I know this little preacher here from Germany, setting there. And, brother, and two or three people setting right there.

L-247 Somebody back over in the audience, look, way back. I challenge you to believe what I've told you is the Truth.

L-248 What about when that Angel of the Lord came down on the river yonder, thirty-three years ago, and made this remark? How did I know?

L-249 And my own Baptist pastor turned me out of the church, said, "You--you had a nightmare, Billy."

L-250 I said, "A nightmare, nothing, Dr. Davis. That's the way you, the attitude you take, you might as well take my fellowship card."

L-251 I knowed there'd be somebody, somewhere, would believe It. God wouldn't send a Message lest there be some to receive It.

L-252 Oh, sure, when I went forth praying for the sick, it was very fine. But when I begin to tell you the Truth of the Word, then it's different. You ought to know. Every Message has been that way.

L-253 Jesus was wonderful when He went in the church and healed the people, and everything. But when He set down one day, and say, "I and My Father are one," oh, that, that did it. "Lest you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, you have no Life in you." He didn't explain It. He wanted to see who would stand by Him. Right. [John 6:53], [John 10:30]

L-254 What do you think, a--a crowd with doctors and things, say, "That Man is a... Why, He's a vampire. Eat His flesh and drink His Blood?" He never explained It. He never explained It. [John 6:54]

L-255 But, still, that Word was holding, to those apostles. They didn't care. They didn't understand It. They believed It, anyhow. See? They knowed, 'cause they had seen the works of God, and they knowed it was. He said, "They are they that testify of Me." [John 5:39]

L-256 Here's a man, woman setting right here, got her hand up. Now, you can call me a fanatic, if you wish to; but that same Pillar of Fire, that led the children of Israel through the wilderness, is right over that woman.

L-257 Now, remember, Jesus said, "A little while and the world seeth Me no more, yet you shall see Me. I come from God. I go to God," after His death, burial. He told the Jews. He said, "I..." [John 16:16]

L-258 He was that Rock that was in the wilderness. He was that Pillar of Fire, "I AM THAT I AM." Who was "I AM"? That Pillar of Fire in that burning bush. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] And He was made flesh and dwelt among us. Said, "I come from God, and return to God, in order to return in the form of the Holy Ghost." [I Corinthians 10:4], [Psalms 78:15]

L-259 And here He is, with us today, scientific pictures taken of It. Here He is, to prove more than any scientific picture, anything. He's here, to prove it, for It's Him. "I the Son of man will be revealed in this day." Now, there He is. I'm looking right at It. [Luke 17:30]

L-260 You say, "Do you see It?" John saw It, too, but the rest of them didn't.

L-261 Look, to prove it now. That woman is a stranger to me. I've never see her--her, in my life. But she's got something wrong with one of her limbs that she's praying about. Is... That's right, lady. You had an operation on it. That's your husband setting next to you. You're not from here. You're from California. Your name is Roland. Your stomach trouble is ended, too, sir. You had stomach trouble. Didn't you? Well, it's all gone. Your leg is healed.
"In that day the Son of man..."

L-262 Here, setting right back through here, there's a man. He's a colored man, something wrong with his eyes. He's a... Yes. He, his work he does, he does something about a car, polishes cars, car waxer. Right. Your eyes are going bad. You've just believed, haven't you? Some real strange thing happened to you. Your first name is Fred. That's right. Your last name is Conn. That's right. You believe now? Your eyes ain't going to bother you no more then. I never seen the man before, in my life.

L-263 The man right back behind there, he's not from here, either. From California. Got a bad back, Mr. Owens. That's you. The Lord Jesus make you well. I never seen the man, in my life, know nothing about him. I'm just following that Light as It goes.

L-264 "If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe."

L-265 Little fellow setting here, got a hernia, is wearing glasses and a gray suit. Fred, God heals you if you believe it. Will you accept it? All right. I never seen him, in my life.

L-266 Mrs. Holden, setting over there from him, suffering with eye trouble. I don't know the woman, never seen her in my life, but that's true. See? "If you can believe."

L-267 What's you crying for, sis? You got a nervous breakdown, bronchitis, heart trouble. You believe that God will make you well? Setting on the end of the seat there. If you believe, with all your heart, Jesus Christ will make you well. All that nervousness will go from you, you feel like you're back in your right condition. The Devil is lying to you. You accept it? Now raise up your hand, say, "I'll accept it, then." Okay. It's all over.

L-268 What? This church is going through a birth pain. Won't you make your choice now in His Presence? I've showed you exactly the Word, what He said He would do.

L-269 Combing through this building, ask anyone that's ever been struck, or talked to, or whatever it was, and see if I ever seen them, knowed them, or anything about them. You think a man could do that? That's totally impossible for that to happen.

L-270 Well, what is It? The Son of man. "The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, discerning of the spirit, the secrets of the hearts." Just exactly like It was when It was made flesh here on earth, in the Son of God, now It's being revealed by the Son of God as He's come to call a Bride out of that system. "Come out of it. Be separated, saith God. Touch not their unclean things, and God will receive you." [Hebrews 4:12], [II Corinthians 6:17]

L-271 Are you ready to surrender your whole life to God? If you are, stand up to your feet, say, "I will, by God's grace, accept It right now, for everything that's in me."

L-272 Hallelujah! Praise be to God! You believe Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Then just raise your hands and pray with me.

L-273 Confess your wrong. Birth pains! It's hard to die, but die right now. Die, come out of your own unbelief. Come out of it. This is the Word of God made manifest, just as It was when Jesus come on the earth. It's Jesus Christ again among you, proven. [James 5:16]

L-274 Abraham received a son immediately, the promised son, after that taken place.

L-275 And Jesus is coming again. That's His Spirit. He's so close to the earth, so close to coming, that He's ready to receive you, if you're ready to receive Him.
Now raise up your hands and pray with me.

L-276 Lord God, let all the priests hold on to the altars. Let the people cry out. May the Pillar of Fire and the Pillar of Cloud move into the people today and sober them, Lord, to the realization of the Presence of the living and mighty God. Grant it, Lord. Receive them. I pray this prayer for each one of them, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

L-277 Fill each one with the Holy Ghost, who doesn't have the Holy Ghost. Lord, may the revival of this campaign, this meeting, break right now into a great, powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May the sick be healed, the blind see, the cripples walk. May the manifestation of the living God be brought into the presence of the people, as it has been this afternoon, and may the people receive it. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I ask it.

L-278 Raise your hands now and give Him praise, and receive what you asked for.