The Family Altar Audio Devotionals
Take time to get in the Word of God today…
Day 213
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. (Romans 7:18-21)
102 Paul said then, “With my mind…(‘And I have the mind of Christ,’ you see, he said.) I serve God with my mind, but my flesh (how did he word that there at the last?)—but with the flesh, the law of sin.” What is it? My flesh says tonight, “You are too tired. Your throat is too sore. You are—you’ve been out in the wind today. You shall not go to church tonight.” That’s the law of the flesh. “You just might as well call them up and tell Brother Neville that…Send the questions down and tell him to answer them.” But you see, I promised to do it. See?
103 Now, my mind, on the inside the Holy Spirit said, “You keep your promise.”
But the flesh said, “You’re too tired.” See?
104 Now, the flesh say, “Now, there’s no need, you pretty little thing, you’re the prettiest little thing in school. Now, don’t you pay any attention to that holy roller mother of yours or that fanatic father. See? You’re the best looking girl in school.” “You’re the prettiest boy, the best looking boy, the best built. You are the most popular there is in the city.” You see? That—that…And you yield your members to that, and where do you come out at? The little end of the horn every time. See?
105 Paul said, “My flesh wants to—wants always to yield to that.” Your flesh does too. See? But the law of the Spirit of God in the heart overcomes the flesh and makes the body obey what the heart says do. Hallelujah!
106 Look, then if it will do that for a sinner, then won’t that work for sickness too? The law of the Spirit of God in the heart that knows that “By His stripes we were healed,” they stand with their power and make that sickness in that body obey them, because it’s a devil. There you are. Whew! That’s got cream on it that deep. I tell you. That’s it. See?
107 Now, the law of sin and death works in your flesh, but the law of the Spirit of Life works in your heart. So your heart, your spirit in your heart will make your body obey what it says do. That’s exactly right. Now, that’s what Paul said. Always the flesh, “I’m too tired; I’m unable; I’m not sufficient; I cannot do it.”
I said to—to Loyce or—or Delores, or somebody that’s been talking to me about the Holy Ghost, about something or other like that, I said—said, “What…”
Delores said, “What—what made me feel that way just at the time that I should have felt good?”
108 I said, “The devil. He seen you just ready to receive it. He said, ‘I’ll put a little damper on her: Phew! Fan her a little bit, you know, kinda cool down a little.’ See? But oh, my, that’s when you rise! Claim your God given rights.” That’s what Paul was meaning. See? The… “Always when,” he said, “when I would do good, evil is present.”
59-1223 – “Questions And Answers”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 214
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel. (Joshua 10:12-14)
129 As I preached the other day on A Paradox, when Joshua stopped the sun. Becky back there, said, “Daddy, he couldn’t stop the sun,” said, “the world would stop. He stopped the world.”
130 I said, “He stopped the sun.” God don’t make any mistakes in His Bible.
131 Said, “How could He stop the sun, the sun don’t even run? The sun stands still.”
132 I said, “But that, that missile out there, wasn’t what He was talking about. This sun that was traveling and making it light across the earth, that’s the sun He stopped.”
133 I don’t know what God did, to bring it to pass, but He stopped the sun. The sun was going this way, the sun on the earth, the reflection of the sun. That missile out there, we couldn’t see in a million miles of it, or millions of miles. But the reflection of the sun, that was traveling across the earth, from day to night, that’s what Joshua commanded to stand still; and it stopped. A paradox is something that’s “unbelievable, yet true.” So, that’s unbelievable, but yet true.
134 How can God take a sinner, arrogant, high-tempered, fussy man, and make a saint of God out of him? How can He take a woman that’s so low, till the dogs won’t even turn to her on the street, and make a saint of God out of her? I can’t tell you. But He did it! It’s a paradox. Sure is! All God’s great works are paradox.
61-1231e – “If God Be With Us, Then Where Is All The Miracles?”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 215
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
140 Now, I’ll admit that people study too much, and try to go too far ahead, and try to think too hard, and sometimes have mental breakdowns and things on account of studying about the Lord. You must quit that! You don’t have to do that. The only thing you have to do is fall in love with Him, and just go right on loving Him. Amen. It’s not trying to push into something or make yourself something you’re not, just go ahead and let God use you in the way He wants to. Just yield yourself, commit yourself and walk on, happy, singing, rejoicing. That’s the way.
54-0103M – “Questions And Answers #1”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
166 When I’m out in the missions, my wife writes me a letter. And I love her, and she loves me. And she say, “Dear Bill, tonight I just put the children to bed. I’ve worked today.” I see what she is reading, what she is writing. But, see, I so love her, I can read right between the lines. I know what she’s talking about. She don’t have to tell me. I know, ’cause I can read between the lines.
167 That’s the way it is with God, when not trying to study from some newspaper standpoint, some theological standpoint, but fall in love with Him. Get down and really get Him in your heart, “the love of God shed abroad in their heart by the Holy Ghost,” then go to reading the Bible and you’ll see It coming right out between the lines. See, you know what He is saying. He never said that right out in the Word. Jesus thanked the Father because that He had “hid those things from the eyes of the wise and prudent.” Now, no one else could read my wife’s letters like that, ’cause I love her that way, see, and that’s the way she writes to me. That’s the way God writes to you. It’s between the lines, you read It.
64-0404 – “Jehovah-Jireh #3”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 216
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. (Psalm 60:11-12)
34 Now, down in the South where I go a whole lot, I was on a little vacation the other day down there. A bunch of people, of some good old crackers down there in Florida. We were out fishing, and that’s when Brother Evans was bitten by that rattlesnake. And I never it before in my life: Two miles back, I’d had to pack a hundred and eighty pound man. A big, old ground rattler, worse than your sidewinder any time, struck him in the foot, and his whole leg just paralyzed, trying to help me with about a twelve pound bass, in the weeds were gators and everything laying around.
And he jumped to grab it, and he just screamed and held his leg. I come out and there was two fang holes about like that, blood oozing out of them.
He said, “Brother Branham, my whole side is froze and aching so hard.”
How could I pack him through the swamps, weighed about a hundred and eighty pounds, six foot tall? His brother had been bitten a few months before that, a sinner, went to the hospital in a terrible condition.
And I said, “Oh, Brother Evans, merciful God have… Well, what can I do?”
I remembered the Scripture, what was it? Someone knocking at the door. “I’m the Lord, thy God; I’m a very present help in a time of trouble.” I remembered He said, “They shall tread on the heads of serpents and scorpions, and nothing in no means shall harm them.” I laid my hand over on his foot, him screaming, the tears dripping off of his cheeks like that from pain, I said, “Heavenly Father, I’m knocking at your door. We’re in a state of emergency. Have mercy, O God.”
35 And while we said that, and I quoted the Scripture, I looked over and he was laughing. All pains was gone. We fished the rest of the day. And that night at twelve o’clock, when we were down there getting the pictures, I guess there’s somewhere around there, Gene, getting the tourists all come in to see this great string of bass that the Lord had given us…
And his brother come up and we told the story. And his sinner brother said, “Wait a minute, Welch.” Said, “It’s all right to be religious, but not crazy.” He said, “You know, I laid three months in a hospital and two months after that with a cast on my leg with that, one of them rattler bites.” Said, “You get to medical aid just as quick as you can.”
He said, “Looky here, brother. You might know a lot of things. But you don’t know all things. If my God could deliver me from eleven o’clock this morning to eleven o’clock at night, He can take care of me the rest of the time.”
60-0312 – “Door To The Heart”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 217
Episode Summary:
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. (Romans 9:15-18)
320 Yet, that’s the same thing stands today. Men and women can go to church and have the long face, and—and pious as they can be, and never lie, steal, and try to live their religion as best they can. But, unless they are a believer, they’re lost. So there’s no scratch of legalists in the Bible. Calvinism is…Grace is what God did for you, and works is what you do for God. It’s absolutely separated.
321 If you quit lying, quit smoking, quit stealing, quit committing adultery, quit all, done everything, kept the commandments, and went to church, baptized every Sunday, took the communion, washed the feets of the saints, done everything, healed the sick, and done all these other things, unless you’re born of the Spirit of God, elected, you’re lost. “Not him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that sheweth mercy.”
322 Esau tried his best to become a Christian, and couldn’t do it. The Bible said he wept bitterly, seeking a place to repent, and couldn’t find it. Before he was even born, God condemned him, ’cause He knowed he was a rotten shyster in his heart. God by foreknowledge knew it. He said, “I love Jacob, and I hate Esau.” And Esau looked like the gentleman. He stayed home, taking care of his old blind daddy, fed the cattle, and everything, was a good boy.
323 And Jacob was mama’s boy, little old sissified story-teller. That’s what he was. You have to admit it. The Bible admits, brings it. Run around, doing everything. And—and, mama, hanging around with mama. But, yet, Jacob, with all of his ups and down, and his sissified ways, he still had respect to that birthright. That’s the keynote.
57-0922E – “Hebrews, Chapter Seven #2”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
146 God will not be defeated, no matter what takes place. He will never be defeated. Then, women began to bring men on the earth. And God, through Eternal grace, seen who would be saved, and He called you. “No man can come to Me, except My Father calls him, first.” “Not him that willeth, or him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy.”
147 You say, “Well, I sought God. I sought God.” No, you never. God sought you. That’s the way it was in beginning.
148 It wasn’t Adam saying, “O Father, Father, I’ve sinned. Where are You?”
149 It was Father saying, “O Adam, Adam, where are you?” That’s the nature of man. That’s the strain of man. That’s what he’s made of.
150 “And no man can come to Me except the Father draws him. And all that the Father gives Me…” Hallelujah! “All that come, I’ll give them Eternal Life, and I’ll raise him up at the last day.” What a blessed, what a blessed promise, of a God of Heaven! Where we get to tonight, where, “He swore by Himself.” There’s none greater. You take an oath by someone greater than you. There no one greater, so God took an oath to Himself. We’re getting into it, how He did it and when He did it; and took an oath to Himself, that He would raise us up and make us His Own heritage.
57-0908M – “Hebrews, Chapter Five And Six #1”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 218
And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. (Joshua 14:10-13)
18 Caleb… There was ten of the spies that come back and said, “Oh, it’s impossible for us to do it. Why,” said, “their great places are walled. And they are giants in the land. We nearly looked like grasshoppers to the side of them. Oh, we are a failure; we can’t do it.”
And of course, ten against two, they were outnumbered. But Joshua and Caleb took their stand and said, “We are more than able to do it.”
But before Caleb, or Joshua could speak, Caleb had to still the people first, get them quiet. Stand still. Don’t be running here, and running there, and jumping at this, and jumping at that.
Now, what made Caleb so sure of it when the opposition was so great? It’s according to what you’re looking at. Caleb was looking at the promise of God. The other ten was looking at circumstances. If you go to look at circumstance, or to look what’s around you, you are sure to fail. But you must never look at what’s around you.
19 What if that man setting there looked at the opposition, by his boy there, a cripple in that chair? What if this nice, clean looking man setting back there in the wheelchair looked at the circumstances? What if the lady laying in that chair, leaning back, looked at the circumstances? What if this poor blind woman leaning on a shoulder of another thought of the circumstances? The doctor has tried. He’s failed. He’s a man, like I am, you are. And if you look at that, then you’re going to be a failure to begin with.
But the Christian doesn’t look at circumstances; he looks at the Word and stands still. God said so; that settled it. What if Abraham looked at the circumstances? If the doctor examined your heart… That kills more people than anything else. The doctor examined your heart and said, “You might drop at any time, you got a murmur.” That’s true. If you look at that, then you’re—you’re—you’re defeated to begin with. Look what God said.
20 If the doctor says that… If the little… Like the little boy last night who was a mute, certainly he was born, probably, without any hearing, ways of, at all. But right here on the platform, God gave back the hearing to that boy. I put my hands behind him and snapped my fingers; he turned around, motioned to his little ear. He’s a baby; he doesn’t know how to speak or nothing. I couldn’t get him to open his mouth even, because he had never had any use, but just to eat. And I give him a little piece of chewing gum, thought I could get him to open his mouth that way.
If the mother’s here, just teach the child. Just go on as if it was a finished work and believe it. No matter what anybody else says anything, stand still. God said so. Prayer of faith shall save the sick.
Now, if Caleb would’ve said, “Oh, yes, the opposition is great. We don’t even have implements to fight with. And look at those walls; how could we ever get through the walls? There is ten thousand to—to our hundred. We… they… We’re outnumbered. We’re not war people to begin with. We’re not even a united nation. We’re just a bunch of peasant slaves. We’re not even accepted as a nation.”
21 But one thing Caleb looked at: God said before they ever left Egypt, “I have given you that land.” So Caleb didn’t care what the circumstance looked like. He looked at what God said.
That’s the way you must do tonight. Don’t look at what circumstances is; look what God said. It’s God’s promise that counts.
57-0518 – “Stand Still”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 219
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. (Psalm 63:1-4)
45 That’s the kind of life David said, “That Thy loving kindness is better to me than life. Oh, my heart thirsts after Thee, O Lord. I long to see You in this dry, thirsty land, like I have seen You in Your sanctuary.”
[Blank spot on tape—Ed.]… Climb a high tower, or jump off into a river, or flatten yourself on the street, or take carbolic acid, to end that kind of life. That’s not what David is speaking of. That kind of life has a end, and the end is disastrous. But that kind of life has no good end to it. But then, I just want to ask the audience this question, for a moment: “Then what makes a person do that?”
Now, you take, I went to a party one time, where… It wasn’t a party; it’s where that we had sold lamps, campaign. And they give a little speech. And we went over there to find out at Louisville, Kentucky, and the service company that I worked for, I’d sold more lamps than—than the whole company had, any of the rest of them. So they give a little time over there; we had a little dinner. And then after it was all over, they moved back and—and the—and they had some dancing. Some girls come out to dance. When they did that, my boss said to me, said, “Billy, go stand back there at the door; we going to have a little clean fun.”
I said, “What kind of clean fun?”
Said, “Would you mind stand at the door?” Said, “I know you don’t believe in dancing, but these people are going to dance.”
“Well,” I said, “can’t I wait outside?”
Said, “Suit yourself.”
I said, “All right.” And it’s when I started back, I—little old girl run out like that, and run out on the floor begin to doing the—kind of crazy looking acts, and—and going on, her little old skirt flying around. I thought, “That’s some mother’s girl.” I stood there at the door just a minute and looked out. I thought, “Oh, God. Really a pretty little girl. Isn’t it a shame, make some man a idol, some good preacher, maybe, a—a consolation, or some good workman to come in at nighttime to a little castle, where they’d have the little babies they could pick up, and play, and freely have life right. That’s… Maybe her mother might have been a Christian.”
46 And she started running around, grabbing each man. And she run back to me. And said, “You want to dance?”
I said, “Yes ma’am. I sure do.”
And she said, “Come on.”
Started out in the floor, I said, “Just a minute.” And I held her; she was too little to get away from me. I held by her hand, I said, “There’s one thing that I always make a practice of.” I said, “Before I always do anything, I always pray. Will you pray with me? Bow down.” I held her hand. She couldn’t help it. We broke that thing up there in a few minutes. Sure.
The old jazz band stopped, and they picked up their instruments and left. I said, “Mr. Hanson, you could fire me if you want to.”
He said, “No, Billy, you done the right thing.”
That’s it. That ain’t life. It’s two different conceptions of what life is. One has suicide; the other one has rapture. Oh, rapture Divine. Let that life fall on me. But what makes a person do that? There’s some reason. Why?
60-0304 – “Thirsting For Life”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 220
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: (Romans 11:25-26)
43 Until God is finished with the Gentiles, Israel was blinded. They went off into sin and to transgressions against God, because God blinded their eyes, that we might be grafted in. You get it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] 26th verse now.
And so all Israel shall be saved:…
44 God blinded them purposely for you and I. They cannot see, because God blinded them. And all Israel, true Israel, shall be saved. What did the Angel say? Glory! “To finish the transgression of Israel! I’ve come to tell you that there will come a time when Israel’s transgression will be finished.” God will cut off that wild branch, and graft into that, back, that real branch again.
45 Oh, sometimes it makes my heart jump, see them poor, miserable people cut off out yonder, not knowing where they’re going; and think that God, in His mercy, did that so I could be saved. Blinded their eyes from their own Messiah, shut their ears up that they could not hear Him; yet, looked right at His miracles, and looked right at His miracles and things that He was doing.
46 Matthew, I believe, the 12th chapter, or 8th or 12th chapter, said, “Though Jesus had done so many miracles, yet they could not believe.” Because, God said, “They got eyes and they can’t see, and ears and they can’t hear; unless they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and I would convert them.” But, so that we could have a chance, He pulled the curtain down over His Own children’s eyes, turned His own children away from the table, and turned them off to leanness of Spirit, that He might find…that we might have a chance to live, giving us Life. 26th verse, again.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
47 Yes, He will come to Mount Zion, one of these days. Upon the Mount of Olives, they’ll recognize Him, and all Israel will know it’s Him. The Gentiles will be finished then. That branch that’s been grafted in, God will take from it the fruit that’s been gathered. And that wild branch will be…
61-0730E – “The Sixfold Purpose Of Gabriel’s Visit To Daniel”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 221
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
42 Now, “transforming.” I used to work for a Public Service Company, where we had transformers, and to transform. Now the word is, the word means, in itself, something like…To transform, means “something that’s been changed, something that’s changed from one thing to another.”
43 And as I want to speak, for the next forty-five minutes or an hour, on—on the transforming, I would like to—to use this text. And I—I may say some things, in here, that seems very strange. And as Brother Leo has just said, “Take It and just study over It, a little while.” See, just think of It for a little bit.
44 To be transformed is to be “changed and made something different.”
45 Like a—a tadpole, it’s transformed from a tadpole to a frog. See, once, he looked like a catfish, he swims around, he’s—he’s got a head and his tail, and everything looks just like a—a catfish. Then, after a while, he begins to lose, he loses the tail, and he’s—he’s transformed from one specie to another.
46 I think that’s what Paul must have had in mind, when he said, “Be ye transformed by the—by the renewing.” Let’s see, let me get that right. “And be not conformed,” you know what conformed is.
…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,…
47 “Renewing of your mind.” The things that you once thought upon, to be precious, lay that aside and be transformed to something else; what you was one time, to what you are now. See?
…by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove…that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
48 Oh, that’s what we all want to know, how to do it. See? We are here, we love Him; He saved us, now we want to know what to do. And were trying to take a little step this morning, to raise up just a little bit higher. Sometimes we have to hit things that…You just hold on for a few…till we see what it comes out to be.
65-1031M – “Power Of Transformation”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 222
Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. (Psalm 66:1-2)
120 Here not long ago, Brother Fred and I, and Brother Tom, a bunch of us went to a noted Baptist church in the city of Tucson, to see if we couldn’t find a little something that would give us maybe a little fresh feeling. And the minister said something another about the people in Egypt, when they left they was eating garlic and so forth, they wanted to go back again and eat that. Said, “That’s something like people of today.”
And, we, everybody said, “Amen!” I never seen such a bunch! The whole church lost the sight of the preacher and looked back to see who it was that said “amen.” Liked to scared them to death. They didn’t know what it was.
When, David said, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Praise Him upon harps! Praise Him with the psaltery! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. And praise ye the Lord!” God rejoices in His people. Let them of the learned, say, “Amen,” when anything is said right.
121 Why not turn from this system and cisterns of the world, to the faithful system of God, which is the artesian well, Jesus Christ? Why don’t you turn to Him, where God is our abundant supply of joy, our abundant supply in praises, our abundant supply in satisfaction? The calmness of my nerves comes from God.
When I’m tore up, I find my satisfaction in Christ, not in a cigarette, not in the things of the world, not in joining some creed; but in finding Him, the promised Word that He said, “If I go away, I’ll come again to receive you.” I find my joy in that. He is my Joy.
64-0726E – “Broken Cisterns”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 223
Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23)
194 Not because you say, “Well, Brother Branham, I—I tell you, I—I—I paid a whole lot to a widow woman one time and give her some money. I—I know I’m saved.” Huh-uh. “I quit smoking, drinking and…” That—that—that never what saved me. No, no. “I got saved because, brother, I felt like shouting.” Nah. That don’t make me saved. I’m saved because I met God’s conditions. That’s it. See? Look. I could quit drinking, smoking, gambling, everything like that, and still not be a Christian. Yes, sir.
Look. I said, not long ago preaching in a Methodist church, I said, “Stealing is not a sin. Lying is not a sin. Committing adultery is not a sin.”
195 I couldn’t get much farther than that, till a little old Methodist mother, sanctified, you know, raised up, she said, “Then, Reverend Branham, what do you call sin?”
196 I said, “That’s not sin. ‘Unbelief’ is sin. That’s the attribute of sin. You do that because you don’t believe.” The rea-…Because you don’t believe on Jesus Christ, that makes you, then you can lie, steal. But when you’re a believer, you don’t do that. See? That’s right. That’s the reason that you do it is because you don’t…
197 Jesus said, “He that heareth My Words and believeth on—believeth on Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life.” You might say you believe, you might try to impersonate a believer, but when you really believe, that settles it. That’s all. Just two things: faith and unbelief. That’s the only two senses that’s left to the supernatural man.
198 The natural man has five senses. The supernatural man, the spirit, has two senses. That’s either faith or unbelief. You have to have one of them. If you’re possessed with one tonight, you’re a Christian. If you’re possessed with the other one, you’re not a Christian.
199 No matter if you never done a evil thing in your life, that you know of, you’re still a sinner, ’cause you’re borned in sin. But it don’t matter what you have done, you might be a prostitute on the street. If you believe in your heart Jesus Christ was the Son of God, repent, and accept Him as your Saviour, you’re a Christian and a believer. That’s right. See? That’s all, one of two things.
200 If you come up here tonight as a believer, you’re going away healed. If you come as an unbeliever, you’re going away the same way you come up. That’s right. Is that right? Just have faith.
54-0306 – “The Unconditional Covenant That God Made With His People”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 224
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. (Psalm 68:18-19)
171 The Old Testament saints has gone into His Presence, paradise done away. And the Old Testament saints ascended up, at His loud voice, when He screamed and give up the ghost; because (why?) the Sacrifice, the propitiation of their sins, that they had waited on, believing that perfect Lamb was coming. They had offered the Sacrifice, the Lamb. And when He died and yielded up the ghost, He screamed with a loud voice, and the Old Testament saints awoke.
Watch the shout and the voice over here, the same thing at His Coming. See?
“Yielded up the ghost.” And when He did, the Sacrifice was perfect, and paradise emptied out. And the Old Testament saints came to the earth again, walked around on earth, and entered in with Him, at His rapture.
172 David said, over there, “Lift up, ye everlasting gates; and be ye lifted up.” “He led captive captive, give gifts unto men,” and the Old Testament saints went in with Him.
173 They said, “Who is this King of righteousness?”
174 “The Lord of Glory, mighty in host.” Mighty host, here they come in, marching. “Jesus led captivity captive,” and here He comes, with the Old Testament saints. And went in the new gates up There, and said, “Lift up, ye everlasting gates; and be ye lifted up; and let the King of Glory come in.”
The voice come from the inside, said, “Who is the King of Glory?”
175 “The Lord mighty in battle.” The gates flew open. “And Jesus, a Conqueror, led captive captive,” them that had believed on Him, and the Word had come to them. There, the Old Testament saints laying in there, waiting, “He led captive captive; ascended on High,” took the Old Testament saints and went in. There is one Rapture, already passed.
176 The next Rapture takes place is (Second Thessalonians) for the Church, the Bride to be resurrected, to be raptured into Glory. “We which are alive and remain,” that’s the bodies left on earth, “will not prevent or hinder them which are asleep. For the trumpet of God shall sound first, and the dead in Christ shall rise.” See? “And we which alive and remain shall caught up together with them.”
65-1204 – “The Rapture”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 225
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. (Psalm 69:8-9)
46 And it hadn’t been but a little while when I got some more orders and come up. And I had a place up there where somebody went up and pushed the wires on a meter and just running it without that, and somebody in there ironing. Why if they’d cut a wire across and twenty-three hundred come through there, it’d kill a woman dead with an iron in her hand. So I had to go up and cut them nips off so they couldn’t put it in straight like that. So I just cutting it off like that, come down, and Doctor Brown was coming down the street. He said, “Hello, Billy.”
And I said, “Hello there, Doctor Brown.” My, he’s a mighty fine man, Methodist preacher.
And he said, “How you doing this morning?”
I said, “Fine, fine.”
He said, “You Baptists are really having a time up there, aren’t you?”
I said, “Oh, yes, sir. We just having…”
He said, “How you get that there crowd you have up there every Sunday night, Billy?”
I said, “I give them pills.”
He said, “What kind of pills?”
I said, “Gos-pills.” See?…?…
And so, “Oh,” he said, “you haven’t lost any of your southern idea.”
I said, “Nope, nope, that’s right.”
47 He said, “You know what, Billy?” He said, “The other day… I’ve got five hundred members to that church down there,” and he said, “I sent out five hundred cards to get those people to pledge that they would come six months out of the year to Sunday school. Within the year they’d register six times in—in—they’d register six months in the year, they’d come.” And said, “You know how many answered?”
I said, “Don’t have any idea, Brother Brown.” Now, he was a nice man, yes, sir, I believe a real true man. And I said… I don’t believe he had the Holy Ghost, no, sir, I don’t. But I mean: I believe what he—what he preached he believed and he was true far as he went. Like the colored man eating watermelon, he said—eat a slice of it, and said, “What about that, Mose?”
He said, “That was good, but they’s some mo’ of it.” And that’s just about the way it is. You see? So that part was all right far as he went, but he didn’t go too far.
So then I said, “How many answered, Brother Brown?”
He said, “Two answered last Sunday.” He said, “What do you think about that?”
I said, “Well, that’s pretty bad, Brother Brown.”
48 I said, “You know what, Brother Brown; I want to tell you a little something happened a while ago.” I said, “I was down in New Albany,” I was in Jeffersonville then. I said, “I was down in New Albany,” (just three miles below), and I said, “I was cutting off the service down there for a person that didn’t pay their bill. I went up and knocked on the door,” and I told him about the girl. And I said, “That girl, she was so carried away, she went across the floor, after speaking to me, and that music had such an effect on her till she went across the floor going ‘Tootlely, tootlely, tootlely,’ and—and throwed a kiss to that Clayton McMichen, ever what his name was on that Greenbrier Patch, or ever what he was going to be out there.” I said, “Do you think that somebody will have to sign a card to get her to go there Saturday night?”
He said, “Well, no.”
I said, “She’d pawn what—them few clothes she had on; she’d get there.” That’s right. “Why?” I said, “Because in her was a dance spirit.” And I said, “Now, Brother Brown, you excuse my ignorance, and don’t think that I’m trying to tell you something, but I want to tell you something right now.” See? I said, “The… If them people loved God like that woman loved dancing, they’d be at the church; you wouldn’t have to sign any card to get them there.” And that’s where it is, brother. The church has lost its zeal, its love for the Gospel, for the power, for the Holy Ghost. It’s lost it. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? then why is the daughter of my people not recovered?”
61-0218 – “Balm In Gilead”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 226
The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. (Joshua 20:1-3)
66 Now, in the Old Testament, God seeing, in some of this trouble, was accidentally done. So, if you’re innocent, and not guilty, God makes a way for you.
67 Now, if a man killed a man, just deliberately, premeditated, he was lost. He could not come to this place. But if he did it accidentally, he didn’t mean to do it, then there was a city of refuge. One was at Ramoth-Gilead. And four places, I think, Joshua placed these cities of refuge.
68 Now, now, the people could come to this city of refuge if accidentally he done something wrong. He didn’t mean to. He would come to the city of refuge, and go to the gate. The gatekeeper would ask him why he coming, what was his idea of coming. Then his case was pleaded. And when his case was pleaded at the gate, and the man be found innocent, he did it not wilfully, then the man was taken into the city, as a place of refuge. Then the enemy could not get him.
And if he lied and done wrong, and come into the city of refuge, though he was holding to the altar horns, his enemy had the privilege and right to drag him from that altar and kill him, yes, sir, because he was guilty, premeditated, and he had to be punished.
69 Now, there was something went with that. Course, that man would be nervous, my, maybe, a dozen men behind you. Somewhere, every rock, every hill, every bush, the enemy, somebody was standing ready for him. He was nervous. And then when he once got into the city, he could let off the pressure. He was safe. He was all right, ’cause there was a provided place made for him. God’s provided way for that innocent man, not to be slain, but could be exempted from the slaying, because he did it accidentally, now, if he didn’t mean to do it.
70 Now, if he meant to do it, well, he—he had to stand the circumstances. But there’s no chance for him if he did it wilfully.
71 And there’s two classes of people today. May I say this. There is men and women in the world today, Brother Ruddell, that really don’t want to do these things they’re doing. There’s men and women in the world today, that don’t want to sin. I feel sorry for them. They don’t want to do anything wrong, but they do it. They’re drove to it. Now, there’s a place for that person that wants to do right. There’s a place to let off that pressure. It’s true. But there’s some that doesn’t care.
62-0513e – “Letting Off The Pressure”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 227
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. (Psalm 71:1-3)
74 The Word of God, there’s no way around. Fortified, all way around, everywhere, “THUS SAITH THE LORD. THUS SAITH THE LORD.” Your walking, your talking, your business, your associating, and everything, put the Word of God first.
75 Say, “I believe I’ll go tonight, and this little dance just won’t hurt anybody.” Could you take THUS SAITH THE LORD with you? See? See? “I believe if I could pull this little deal, oh, it’s just a little bit shady.” But could you say THUS SAITH THE LORD with it? See?
76 Always take Him first, keep fortified, for He is our fortress, its strain.
77 But do you know you have to ignore, before…In order to believe the devil’s lie, you have to ignore and deny God’s Truth, first, before you can believe the devil’s lie. You ever think of that? You have to deny the Truth, first, before you could believe a lie. Right. Have to deny It!
78 Eve got from behind It, and lost the battle. As soon as Eve…Satan was standing out there, shooting his targets. She said, “But the Lord said…” And then he shot again. She said, “But the Lord said…” So then he shot again, another way. “But the Lord said…”
79 But Satan raised up back there, said, “But wait just a minute. If the Lord did say That, let me just tell you something. You see, you’re not wise like God. You don’t know right from wrong. But if…Listen. Wouldn’t you love to be wise like God?”
80 “Why,” Eve said, “yes, I—I—I—I believe I would.” Maybe something like that. “I believe I would like to just know all the wisdom of God. I’d like to know what’s right and wrong. I don’t know it.”
“Well, I’ll tell you.”
Now, she said, “But, but, the Lord said…”
81 “Well, but, surely, you know He’s a good God. He won’t do that.” See?
82 Right there she broke the hole through, so he could shoot. Right there she made the wrong stop, right there, stopped a little bit.
83 Now let me say something of you Christians down here. Don’t you never stop one second for the devil. Don’t stop to reason It out. When you start to reason It, the devil comes right in. You cannot reason God. You cannot understand God. You’ve got to just believe God. See? I can’t explain God. Nobody can. I can’t explain many things. But, the only thing, I just believe It, because He said so. Now, there’s none of us can explain It. Don’t try to explain It.
84 Don’t get with these unbelievers who say, “Well, now look, your pastor out there, Junior, I hear him pray for the sick. Now you’re all crazy down there. There’s no such a thing as Divine healing.”
85 Say, “All right, there isn’t for you, then. You’re an unbeliever.” And just walk right on. See? It’s just for believers. See? Don’t…
86 “Well, you all say you got the Holy Ghost. There’s no such a thing as the Holy Ghost.”
Say, “It isn’t for you, then. It is for me.” Just go on. See? See?
87 Don’t reason. Don’t try to reason It. It hasn’t got no reasonings. You just believe It. You don’t reason a thing. Because, remember, the only way that you can accept God is by faith, not by reasons, not by understanding, not able to explain. You don’t explain nothing. You believe Something. Not what you feel. Jesus never said, “Did you feel It?” He said, “Did you believe It?” That’s right. You just believe what God said. I can’t explain to you how they…How could a…The greatest miracle that I could think of, is a man who…
88 Just like, take a pig, and tell that pig, “You know, you’re no more a pig. You’re a lamb,” and he becomes a lamb. See? That would be hard to believe.
89 Well, it’s the same thing takes place when you become converted from a sinner to a Christian. See? It changes your own opinions. It changes your own will. It changes everything that’s in you. And it brings you into another life, and gives you another Spirit, that bears forth another record. See? Then your old life has to die, and the new one has to be born again. And then, see, you’re no more the creature you was, at all. That’s when you become behind the Blood, fortified with the Word. Don’t try to explain nothing, just believe it and go on. “Lord, I believe. Saviour, raise my faith in Thee, till it can move a mountain.” See? “Lord, I believe, for all my doubts are buried in the Fountain.”
90 What if Abraham had been asked, the doctors had come, said, “Abraham, you’re a hundred years old. Your wife is ninety. How you going to have a baby?”
91 Now, Abraham say, “Well, now, I’ll tell you, it’s like this. You see, there’s going to be a time that we’re going to drink a certain thing, and this is going to do this. And this kind of change is going…” Abraham couldn’t explain that.
92 Abraham would have said something like, “I don’t know. I don’t know no more about it than you know. The only thing that I’m resting on, is, He said we would have it. And I’m looking for it.” That’s it. Yes, sir.
93 Now, that’s all it takes. Just take It, believe It. “God said so.” And that—that settles the whole thing, because God said It.
94 Now, we find out, Eve losing the battle, she got from behind the Word, raised up on top of the trench and say, “You don’t say so? Is that the Truth?” She’s lost, right there.
95 “Well, you know, we don’t teach That over at our church. We believe in what He said here.”
96 “Yeah, but, listen, dear, you know better than That. Your own common sense would tell you that That’s not right. Why, I heard them people just cry and cry. What they crying about? See? Now, own common sense would show you that they’re just worked up. They’re emotional. See?” If you stop to listen to that, you’ve lost the battle.
97 If they say, “Oh, now, wait a minute. Your doctor said that, that you had TB. And it’s—it’s in an advanced stage. There’s no way for ever you get over that TB. The doctor said there wasn’t. Now, don’t common sense say that?” Well, if you’re going to rely upon reasonings, you might as well make ready to die.
98 But if you’re going to what the Lord gave, the promise, and you can believe It, It changes the whole program.
99 Now, the same way It changes, is the same way It changed for me down there. See? I just believe It. Don’t know how It done, but there was a new creature come. I used to, I’d shun church. I…
100 A guy told me, when I used to box, we was…I was fighting my fifteenth professional fight, down here at—at Evansville, Indiana. And Howard McClain, many of you New Albany people knew him there. And we was walking up the street. And Howard was a welterweight, and I was a bantam weight. I was fighting Billy Frick from Huntington, West Virginia. Had on a blue suit, like this. In them days, I had a little hair. And I was walking up the street. We’d eat supper about three o’clock, get ready for the fight that night. We was going in then to rest, and then have our hands wrapped. And Howard said to me, said, “You know what, Bill?”
I said, “What?”
Said, “You look like a little Baptist preacher.”
101 And he could have called me anything. I never…I turned around. I said, “Now, wait a minute, Howard. Now, you laugh when you say that.” [Brother Branham and congregation laugh—Ed.] Me, about that high, but I was ready to climb right on him. I wanted nothing to do with no preacher.
102 And now the greatest compliment that he could have give me, oh, when somebody said, “Brother Branham, you look like a preacher.”
I say, “Praise God!” See? See?
103 What’s the matter? I died. And I’m a new creature. How did I do it? I took His Word. “Brother Branham, what kind of medicine, what formula did you take?” I didn’t take any. “How did He do it?” I don’t know. But, anyhow, I believed It. I never took nothing. I just believed It. And He raised me up from what I was, a sinner, to a Christian. He did it because I took His Word. He’ll do the same thing by sickness. He’ll do the same thing by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He’ll do the same thing by any promise He give.
104 But, see, what, what’s my subject? The conflict. The conflict. Satan tries to get you to reason about It, and don’t you do it.
105 But after you become a Christian, then you are fortified by the Word and any promise in the Word. Whew! Didn’t know I was going to say that. See? You are, when you become a Christian, you’re placed behind the Word of God. See? Now, there’s your fortress, safety. Oh, my! Every promise in That is yours. Only thing you have to do is just reach and get it, and go right on with it. “How you know it’s going to work?” I don’t know how it’s going to work. “Explain to me.” I don’t know. Only thing I know, that, God gave His children the best attack that they could have, and the best thing to attack with, ’cause He knows the working of the enemy.
62-0531 – “The Conflict Between God And Satan”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 228
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)
24 Why, I seen a little woman many times that was so bashful they couldn’t talk to an insurance agent that come to the door with their head bowed so timid. After once receiving God, could stand in the midst of a church and give a testimony that’d shake the shingles off of the top of the house almost. She’s been somewhere. She’s… Something’s happened. See? Notice how God calls.
Then sometimes God does things in the most ridiculous way to the human eye. Did you ever think of that how God takes the foolish things and could confound the wise, how He takes the things that you’d say was silly, turn right back around and confound the mighty and wise. Look, friends, since Moses… Just for a moment. Off our subject, but it’s… I can only speak as I feel it.
25 Moses had been trained as a military man and had been brought up with all the—the knowledge of the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s daughter’s son who was a heir to the throne, and then in his knowing also, besides that that he had a Divine call… And when he tried to act upon his education and upon his ability, what happened? W—he slew a Egyptian, looked this a way and that way.
Now, a man of God don’t have to look and see whether anybody is looking or not. A man of God looks this way and that way; not this way and that way. See? So Moses right there give it away. He was to liberate the children of Israel, but he was out of God’s program. And the church is God’s instrument of the earth to liberate the sick and the afflicted, but they’re out of the program by their homemade theology and not the Bible and the Holy Spirit.
26 Now, Moses after God had give him forty years more of teaching. Eighty years old: could you imagine how ridiculous to the carnal mind this would be? Here was Moses in the Presence of the burning bush was better equipped in five minutes in the Presence of God, than eighty years of schooling had give him. Amen. I hope that don’t hurt, but I hope it really sinks in. See?
In the Presence of God five minutes gave him more knowledge of God and better equipped him, than eighty years of schooling. Brother, we don’t need so much theology. We need kneeology today…?… That’s true. Five minutes in the Presence of the burning bush. Eighty years he’d shunned: forty years on the desert running. And five minutes in the Presence of God at the burning bush he was ready to go. There you are.
27 And notice here he comes. An old man eighty years old, whiskers plumb down to his belt line with a stick in his hand, his wife setting straddle of a mule with a kid on each hip, the winds a blowing. Said, “Where you going, Moses?”
“I’m going down to Egypt to take over.” A one-man invasion. Why the carnal mind would said, “Crazy.” Egypt had the whole world whipped down at that time with tens of thousands of horsemens and chariots. Be like one man say, “I’m going to take over Russia.” More…?… But here he goes. Could you imagine? Oh, here comes Moses, them little old thin, wrinkled arms, an old crooked stick in his hand beating the ground, dragging this little mule and his wife, setting on there with a child on each hip, just a singing the praises of God. Some said, “Moses, where you going?”
“Going down to Egypt to take over.” Why? He wasn’t scared. He didn’t learn that by some theology. He didn’t learn that by some book reading, but he had been in the Presence of the burning bush. That was the difference, and the thing of it was, he did it. Not what he said, but he went and done it. He went down and took over, and destroyed Egypt, a one man invasion, but he had been in the Presence of God.
56-1208 – “Abraham”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 229
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
54 How much different it was from Paul. Paul said, “I never come to you with wisdom of men, enticing words, that your faith would be built upon the wisdom of men, but I come to you with the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost, that your faith could be built in God.” Amen. Today they want to make an educational school out of it: reading, writing and arithmetic.
When I got to Africa amongst my colored brethren, what did they know? Reading, writing, and arithmetic, they had no business for that. That’s the reason when they seen a real true moving, God come into the midst of the people, thirty thousand accepted Christ at one altar call: Durban, South Africa. The book gives it there. See? That’s right.
Bombay, India, there’s probably five hundred thousand people that attended the meeting. Hard to tell how many come at one time. It’s not reading, writing, and arithmetic. You don’t get men to God with that. It’s the Gospel. The Gospel never come by word only, but through the power and manifestations of the Holy Ghost. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. These signs shall follow them that believe.” Takes more than just teaching a word; it takes a manifestation of that word to make these signs follow (That’s right.), God manifesting Himself.
55 Somebody said, “Well, I want you do this, want you do that?” Well, brother, I would rather be out there making a mistake trying to do something right than I would be trying to rob people from the last hope that they have. I make a mistake… I prayed for hundreds of people that never got well. But I’d rather be showing them people a God, and a Bible, and a Christ that does heal than to try to rob them from the last chance they have of ever being well.
Say you love humanity and keep those things from them, be like giving, trying to give milk to a dying baby and take it away from him. It’s not right. There’s something wrong. Reason they do it is by hybrid, because they accept it their church will put them out for it. Right, hybrid… Yes, the Word… And don’t mix the Word with nothing.
61-0411 – “But It Wasn’t So From The Beginning”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 230
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14-15)
82 And God gives you your choice. “Choose you this day who you shall serve.” In the garden of Eden there was a tree of—of knowledge, and a Tree of Life. Man was given the privilege to choose either one he desired. And so is it today. You’re given your privilege, as free moral agents, to choose whatever you want to choose.
83 My advice to you, is, don’t look at the modern things around you, and the popularity and the glamour that you could be. But choose, rather, by faith, Him that give the promise that some day He will come and will righten all wrongs, and will give you Eternal Life, and raise you up. No matter if you take the despised way with the Lord’s few, make that choice. If there is troubles in the hand, if there is troubles in the land, if there’s troubles in the church, if there’s troubles in the home, no matter where it is, make your choice, “By faith, I’ll serve God. I’ll humble my heart in His Presence. I’ll take the way with God’s children. I see them despised and rejected, and drove out and made fun of, but I’ll still take my post of duty. I’ll stay right by. And when they cry, I’ll cry with them. And when there is sorrow, I shall sorrow with them. The way they live, I’ll live.”
84 Like Naomi said…Or, Ruth said to Naomi, “Your ways be my ways. My ways be your ways. Where you live, I’ll live. Where you go, I’ll go. The God that you serve will be my God.” Take that choice, though it pulls the very skin off of your conscience, of thinking that you’re somebody. Skin yourself down and take your way with the Lord’s despised few, and stay loyal on the field of service and at the post of duty.
85 Lot looked around. He said, “I got a choice.” And he looked towards Sodom. He saw the good grassy fields were better than what Abraham saw, and where Abraham was. He saw the opportunities to graze his cattle, to have fatter and better cattle.
86 I hope I’m not hurting anyone’s feeling. But that’s been the stand of too many preachers, to compromise with the Gospel, thinking that they get more money out of it. [Brother Branham claps his hands three times—Ed.] A meal ticket! I’d rather live in the barren land, eat, drink from a branch, and eat soda crackers, than to compromise upon the conviction of my faith in the Word of the living God. I’ll take my way.
58-0720m – “By Faith, Moses”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 231
Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:1-2)
23 And they had the Holy Ghost, friends. The Angel… We’re… it’s not a worship of Angels. It’s God sending His ministering Spirit in the Church to minister to the people. There’s no flesh can glory before God. If anybody could’ve gloried, it would’ve been Jesus. But He said, “It’s not Me that doeth the works; it’s My Father that dwelleth in Me; He doeth the works.” Is that right?
They said, “We believe God.”
He said, “If you believe God, believe also in Me.”
Now, when the Angel came to your servant here, he said, “If you’ll get the people to believe you.” Now, there’s the hard thing. “If you’ll get the people to believe you…” How many believes God? All of you, don’t you? You believe Christ, you believe the Holy Ghost.
24 Now, that’s not the question tonight. I’m glad you do that. That makes you a Christian. But that is not what I’m trying to get to you—you now. I get to that when make my altar call. You must believe Them first. If you’re not in connection with Them, you’ll never know this.
But as much as you believe in Them, you still got to believe that I’m telling you the truth, and what I say is the truth.
Jesus was the… He was… His hands was bound and tied to any miracle, or anything, any kind of a miracle, because the people did not believe Him.
And the very people that believed God killed Him. Is that right? No matter how much they believed in God… They were very religious, orthodox. Very religious. And they believed God. But to believe Him, oh, no. Uh-uh. See? That was too much. Ma… A Man? They couldn’t believe no Man. They could believe God.
25 And tonight, so many people can believe God. Sure. You believe Christ, you believe the Holy Ghost, and so forth. But when a man comes to you and tells something, that’s hard to believe. “I don’t know whether I can believe you or not, friend.” That’s where it’s at. See there?
That’s the reason God can’t… That’s the reason your pastor sometimes, when your pastor comes to you. The reason he can’t help you, you’ve got to have faith in your pastor. You’ve got to believe that he’s a man of God, sent of God to do these things for Him.
50-0110 – “Moses”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 232
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)
73 And then when he did that, that Voice said, “Now you must be more sincere than what you are, to do this.” Then it left me, and I was standing in the room.
74 A few moments, I heard a clock go off, and my wife had got… getting up. The children, you know how it is, I guess, at your house, one, “What am I going to wear today, mama? Where, where are my books? And what did I do?” You know. You, just like any home, you can’t hear yourself think, hardly, for all of them trying to get ready at once.
75 And—and so I slipped off into the den room, and I got down on my knees, and I said, “Lord Jesus, I don’t know these things. And what must I do? And the children will be calling me to take them to school in a few moments. What must I do?” And I looked around, and my Bible was laying there, and I said, “Lord, if You will forgive me…” I do not believe in just opening up the Scripture, and taking something out of the Bible and saying that, but, there is times that when God can comfort you by such a thing. And I said, “Lord, in this case of emergency right now, before Your Spirit leaves me. And I—I don’t know what to do. The kids will be an hour yet, before they’ll be gone. Would You just show me? If that was something You’re trying to get to me, Heavenly Father, then let me know.”
76 And I took this Bible and just pulled it open like that, and my thumb was laying at First Corinthians, the 5th chapter, the 8th verse, when something reads something like this. “When you come…” I was planning on taking a fast, to the Lord. I told Him I would go out and fast. Said, “When you come to this feast…” Which, a fast in the body is a feast with the Lord. We know that. “So when you come to this feast, don’t come with the old leaven or the leaven of malice, and so forth; but come with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” just exactly what He had told me in the vision. “Come…” God is my solemn Judge. “Come with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,” that is the Word. Then I seen what He meant. As He…
61-1210 – “Paradox”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 233
And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel. (Judges 3:31)
59 I see old Shamgar standing out there. He had put in his… all these… He said… Not very much wrote about him in the Bible but what was wrote is enough. He was standing out there. Had his barns all fixed up and everything was just going fine. And he was standing there looking and thought, “Well, now maybe every year them Philistines has come. Maybe they won’t come this year. And I see my family is all starving, and they look so poor and thin. But now…”
And while he was standing there, he heard a noise. He raised open the window and looked coming down the road. Here come six hundred armed Philistines. There goes his crops. Spear and armor. The big old heavyish feet there with the armor on. “Tromp, tromp, tromp,” trained man, warriors from birth, spears in their hands, swords hanging on their sides. Six hundred, “Coming up, Shamgar. You had a nice crop this year. We’re glad you worked for us.” Here they come up like that. That’s the way the devil does: take away everything you got if he can. That’s him.
60 Shamgar looked at him and thought, “Oh, here it goes again.” He stood there and he thought, “Well…” Looked down at his poor little old wife, her little sunk-in face, maybe, and his little children. Their little sleeves were ragged. Their clothes were gone. His poor wife was starved to death. “What will the winter be this time.” There it is.
“Now, all the… year after year they’ve come. And here they are coming again. I’m just… We just about starved last year. Now, they’ll take what I got now. What will I do? Just what gleanings I can get out of the field.” He stood there; he thought, “Here. Here they come, closer and closer.” Tromp, tromp, tromp, these Philistines.
61 After a while, they was… You don’t believe in getting angry, then let the righteous indignation rise. He begin to get—feel it coming up on him. He said, “Here, I’m a Jew. I’m circumcised. I’ve got a right, for this land belongs to us.” And I tell you, he wasn’t a warrior; he couldn’t wait till he learned how to fight. He was a farmer, he wasn’t a fighter. But he knowed that he had—the promise of God was with him. And he was circumcised.
And if every man here tonight would realize that the things that you got, divine health and everything else, God gave it to you at Calvary. Every borned-again man is circumcised by the Holy Ghost. You have a right for every redemptive blessing. Let the devil rob you out of none of it.
Shamgar didn’t have no sword. He didn’t know nothing about it if he had one. He didn’t have a shield. But he—if he’d a shield, he wouldn’t know how to use it. But he reached up and got a ox goad. That’s an old stick that’s got a brass lump on the end of it, they beat the ox through the corral with it. And he jumped out of that window out there in the middle of that road against six hundred armed Philistines, and killed every one of them. Hallelujah!
53-0612 – “Palmerworm, Locust, Cankerworm, Caterpillar”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 234
But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. (1 Corinthians 7:12-13)
116 Now, stay in love with her and let her see Jesus in you. You do that. See? You just go on. Some…I give a little illustration this morning about a person that…One time this little woman had—had received the Holy Ghost. She was a very sweet little person. They…She said…Well, she’d had a hard life, and her husband was an alcoholic. And so, she just kept on; she bore with him. He says, “You want to go to church, Honey, take off!” But now, he went down to the saloon, down at the old Brown Derby, down here. Going on. So they hung out down there all the time, used to be Bonifers. Many of you old-timers here remember when Bonifer had there on the corner of…It’s called Brown Derby now, I believe it is.
117 So, hanging around down there, and the first thing you know, one night come up a question about church and about Christians. One of the old drunks setting there said, “There ain’t no such a thing as Christians anymore. And there is no such a thing. All this bunch of hypocrites,” said, “you see them out here smoking, drinking, doing the same thing that we do, and,” said, “call themselves Christians. There is no such.”
118 This one drunk raised up and said, “Just a minute! There’s one that I know about.”
Said, “Who is it?”
Said, “It’s my wife.” See? She’d become salty. He was catching it all the time.
He said, “I bet if she was put to a squeeze…”
He said, “No, she’s still a Christian; I’ll prove it to you.” Said, “I tell you what let’s do; let’s go up home, and I’ll show you whether she’s a Christian or not.” Said, “Let’s go up home, and now, let’s really be drunk. We’re going to act like we’re really drunk.” Knocked at the door, come in staggering over everything and—and… “Why don’t you set around this way,” and everything. And she set them all a chair and (his guests, you know)—and tried to make them just as welcome as could be. Said, “I want you to fix us some supper.” And so they…She went out and fixed some. Said, “We want ham and eggs.” He knowed they had it, so they fixed the ham and eggs. When he got there at the table, he looked at them like that, picked up his plate, and slammed the stuff on the floor, said, “You know, I don’t like my eggs like that. Come on boys let’s get out of here anyhow,” like that—like that.
119 They went out and set down like that, you know. And she come out; she said, “Dear, I’m—I’m sorry I didn’t get them fixed; I’ll fix some more for you.”
120 “Oh, nonsense, you knowed I didn’t want them that way in the first place,” just carrying on like that. They went out there, and set down, and act like they was drunk. They heard her in there kind of snubbing to herself, singing real low voice:
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
There’s a cross for every one,
And there’s a cross for me.
This consecrated cross I’ll bear,
Till death shall set me free.
One drunk looked at the other one, said, “She’s a Christian; she’s got it!” And that little woman led her husband, plus these others to Christ that night. See? Why? See? Just be real sweet. Just remember, He knows all about it.
64-0830m – “Questions And Answers #3”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 235
Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves. (Judges 5:1-2)
30 If it be so pleasing to God, I wish to take a text there, upon, I believe the…about the 14th verse, where It said, If God Be With Us, Then Where Is All The Miracles?
Now, we are all acquainted with the Judges, of Israel.
31 And how that they had done the Israelites; the Philistines, the Midianites, the Amorites, and all the different ones had come in like locusts and just eat up what they had, and take it out, and go on. But, did you notice, they could not do that until Israel first fell away from God.
32 The devil can’t set a foot on you, to hurt you, until first you get away from God. You must first remember that. Check when anything happens, see if you are in the Faith, or not, see that if you’re right up to place with God; then, remember, the devil can do you no harm, you’re in Christ.
33 And this place here, we had just left the…A few years before this, had been the prophetess, Deborah; and Barak. And how that she had prophesied and told them what to do, and it was just exactly right; Barak, the great warrior; and how that they made a song, of the triumph over the enemy. But as soon as they got out of the twist, right straight back into the rut they went again.
34 If that isn’t the picture of the church today! Just as soon as it gets out of one twist, right into another one it goes. But time had come for action. And that’s the same now, the time has come for action. The time had come, when playing church had come to a halt, with God. There’s no more playing church. We must get down to business. And I trust that that same God will place this upon the heart of the people tonight, that it’s time for a halt of playing church, playing religious, playing righteous, and now it’s time for action.
35 As I was speaking this morning upon the subject of what the new Birth was, and how we come to it, surely that still sinks in your heart. Now the time has come to act upon what you know to be the Truth. You cannot act with faith until first you know what you’re doing. You’ve got to first know what you are doing, before you can have faith to do it.
36 Someone said to me one time, a noted doctor, was talking about a miracle that had happened among…a sick person. And he said to me, “Preacher, don’t you believe, if you told them people to go out and touch a tree or a post, the same thing would take place?”
37 I said, “No, sir.” I said, “Because you cannot have faith, in touching a tree or a post.”
38 Faith is not that loose. It’s got to be based upon some noted fact. You’ve got to know something about what you are having faith in, before you can have faith in it. So we first must know how and what, what God’s desire is, what God’s plan is, and how to approach God by that plan. And then we can walk up boldly to the Throne of Grace, and plead what the plan is promised us.
39 Now, they had been playing church. Just soon as they got out of one twist…God delivered them. Then, instead of really going on and serving God, seeing His mighty hand, they twisted right back out into the things of the world again. And so the time had come, when, God called a halt. And it must be that way.
40 And I think it’s time to call a halt now. We have twisted the Word of God, to fit every organization there is in the world. Every plan that every man has schemed to do. We twisted the Word to make It this way, and twisted the Word to make It that way, and twisted It some other way to make It to fit a plan. But the time has come, to halt, stop your playing church. The time has come when people says, “If you can just get enough Spirit, to dance in the Spirit; if you can get enough, to see lights before your eyes; or a sensation to run down your back, or some quiver, some shake, some emotion; you’ve got It!” You’ve got something; but, I wouldn’t say just what you had, till I seen what kind of fruit it growed.
41 As we went through it, this morning, you can’t expect a baby to be born a man. It’s got to grow to it. And we grow in Christ, to the full stature. Something…Not somebody get converted tonight, and tomorrow go to preach the Gospel. We grow up into manhood, into the stature of Christ.
42 Now, we find that when God’s people gets in trouble, God always sends them a prophet with the true Word, to bring them out. It’s never a time that God’s people ever gets in trouble, unless God sends them His Word. And His Word, as we had this morning, come to the prophets. And how you test it, is to find out whether it is according to the Word. If it’s according to the Word, then God’s Word becomes alive.
43 Now many might say, “This is the prophet of our church.” “This is the prophet of our church.” And two of them, contrary, one to the other one, something has got to be wrong.
44 We all must speak the same thing. Then we must speak, not contrary, but exactly with this Word. That’s how a true prophet is tested, whether he has got the Word. The Bible said, “If their testimony is not according to the law and prophets, there is no Light in them.” That’s right. It’s got to be according to the Word.
61-1231e – “If God Be With Us, Then Where Is All The Miracles?”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 236
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (Judges 6:12-13)
60 And Gideon asked that question. What a Scriptural man that was! That’s the kind of man that God comes to, somebody who knows. Gideon said, “If God is with us, if You are the Messenger, then where is the miracles that the prophet told us about?” He knowed, everywhere God went, His miracles followed Him. He knowed that wherever God would be, miracles would be there.
61 And how can you expect God, today, to work in amongst people who doesn’t even believe in miracles? How can it be?
62 And He called him “the mighty man of valour.” Said, “Now, by this, you’re going to deliver Israel.”
63 Now, that looked like a man sitting there, and it was a Man. And he looked at Him, and he said, “Nay, my Lord, if God is with us, then why is all this trouble upon us? And where is the miracles that we are told about? Where is the things that God used to do?”
64 Now there is a good way to trust whether the messenger is right, or not. If he has a form of godliness, he will deny that Power to do those miracles. If he is a messenger from God, he’ll not only speak of it, but he’ll have it; to produce it, and to show that the God that he talks about is with him and in him.
65 He said, “If God was with us, where is all of His mighty miracles? Cause, we understand…” Listen how Scriptural, Gideon was. In otherwise, he said, “If…We understand that God is a great God of mighty workings. He’s a great God of miracles. And if He is for us, and if He is with us, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, where can I see His miracles? Where can I see this God in action? Where is He at, if He is for us?”
66 The mighty man of valour could refer back to the old Word, and know It’s right, because he knowed this, that, God is a supernatural Being. And wherever a supernatural Being is, He’ll do supernatural signs, because the supernatural is in Him. You just can’t get out of it.
67 How can you stand in the face of wind, without having wind blowing? How can you get in water, without being wet? Water is wet. That’s the chemical of it. It’s wet! And when you get in water, you’re going to get wet. Right!
68 And when you get in the Presence of God, the supernatural, there is going to be supernatural signs and supernatural workings of a supernatural God.
61-1231e – “If God Be With Us, Then Where Is All The Miracles?”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 237
For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:9-14)
161. Would it be wrong to use tithes on church building funds?
176 Well now, here—here’s a touchy little thing for the church now. No, correctly tithes is to go to the minister. That’s right! In the Bible they had a box they’d set at the door in the Old Testament when the—building. This box was a fund where the people put in there for the repairing…You’ve read it many times in the Old Testament. They kept up the buildings and things like that…All the repairs on the building was taken care out of that fund. But a tenth of that went—a tenth of the tithings—all the tithings went to their priests, their pastors. Yes, tithings are to go for nothing else.
177 I know people take their tithes and give them to a widow woman. That’s wrong. If you’ve got anything to give the widow woman, give her, but don’t give her God’s money. That’s not yours in the first place. That’s God’s!
178 If you sent me downtown to get a loaf of bread, and you give me twenty-five cents to get the loaf of bread, and I met somebody on the street wanted it…something else, and I’d give him the twenty-five cents, see, I give them your money. If they asked me for something, let them get it over here in this pocket and give them my money; but this is your money. And a tenth of it is the Lord’s. And Levi, the priesthood, lived by the tenth.
179 The tenth is to be a tithing that’s to be brought into the storehouse with a promise of God to bless it. And a proof, He said, “If you don’t believe it, come and prove Me and see if I won’t do it.” See? That’s right!
180 The tithings goes into the church for the pastor and so forth like that to live on. And then the—the—the building funds and things like that is a separate fund altogether. Now, that—that is Scriptural.
61-1015m – “Questions And Answers”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 238
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. (Ezekiel 28:14-17)
78 It was Satan’s ambition to be worshiped like God. He took two-thirds, two-thirds of the stars of Heaven. Ascended hisself above those stars, and preached to them, and deceived two-thirds of them. You see it? All right. Notice, that’s his ambition.
And now he is ready, with his careful selected, educated bride by his own knowledge, see, all painted up in his deceit, of big buildings and big denominations, and paints of knowledge and theology, and smart and intellectual, and educated, to deceive the whole world, and become a “god.” That’s what he’s done. All heading up into the person of the antichrist, which is already crowned “the vicar of God,” by his worldly-loving, scientific bride, all dressed up in pomp of intellectual, religious education. She is made religious like him, and by his own interpretation of the Word of God as he did Eve, and as his son Cain did.
Now you said, “Satan’s son?”
79 Show me one place in the Bible that Cain was ever called Adam’s son. The Bible said he was “the son of that evil one,” serpent’s seed. No, the cover has been took off now, brother. The pyramid has been opened, as the revelation showed.
80 Notice what he will do, his thoughts. He thought God dwelled in worldly beauty. He did that in Heaven. Sin never begin in the garden of Eden; it begin in Heaven, when Lucifer, the son of the morning, exalted himself in beauty, and wanted a more beautiful kingdom than that of Michael. And he thought that God dwelt in beauty.
81 And notice Cain. He didn’t want no blood sacrifice. He come down and offered the fruit, or—or the fields of beauty upon his altar. Very religious, done everything, that, just exactly like Abel done; offered a sacrifice, fell down before God in worship, obedient in every way, but without the revelation of the Word.
And the Word was, from the beginning, God’s plan. But God revealed, by revelation, the very thing that He vindicated and punctuated that that was right. Not religion, not an altar, not belonging to church, not making a sacrifice, not being sincere; but by the revelation of the Word of God. God revealing to him what that it…
65-0801m – “The God Of This Evil Age”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 239
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
53 The other night, was so amazed. A little woman come up to the platform. That big three-hundred-thousand-dollar place there, and she had a little make-up stuff on her face. She stood there and she started trembling. I said, “You’re a Lutheran,” by the Holy Spirit.
She said, “Yes, sir.”
54 And I said, “You’re here to be prayed for. And the reason you’re walking the way you are, both knees had been broke.” I said, “That was caused by a car accident, and a car that you were driving in, four years ago.”
She said, “That’s true.”
55 I said, “Your doctor is a little, short fellow, bald-headed and wears glasses.”
Said, “That’s right.”
56 And I said, “He is doctoring because of in the—the knees, the bone has become tubercular, and even the flesh is a rottening around the bone.”
She said, “That is right.”
And she says, “Is there a hope for me?”
57 I said, “That depends on your approach to the Lord Jesus.” I said…
She said, “Can you help me?”
58 I said, “No, ma’am. No one can help you now. But you have to help yourself to God’s provided blessings for you.”
And she said, “I now believe with all my heart.”
59 I said, “The Lord healed you, sister. It’s THUS SAITH THE LORD. You’re healed.”
60 She said, “Mr. Branham, I haven’t been able to kneel,” she said, “for four years.” While weeping, standing there, rubbing her hands. And a great audience of people weeping, watching her; Lutherans, Presbyterians. And I said, “Why don’t you go down to the altar and kneel down?”
61 She said, “Let me kneel right here, right where I’m healed.” She had never moved from her steps, but she knew she was healed. Something took place. See? She knew it. There wasn’t any guessing about it.
I said, “Kneel down.”
62 And for the first time in four years, with both knees broke and all calloused over, made over, the bones together; that woman, like a young woman, knelt on her knees with the tears streaming from her cheeks, raised up her hands to God. Well, just raised right up from there, just as easy, like a little girl, and tipped off the platform. What was it? God had to make a way for that.
63 Now, He sent doctors, that’s right. And doctors are fine, and they had done all they could do. But God had made a way. That’s it. See? After the doctor had failed, in his way, God’s way is so much higher than our way. What a wonderful thing!
56-0304 – “Making A Way”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
Day 240
If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:27-31)
12 A few days ago I was sitting, talking to my loyal little friend here in the city, a medical doctor, Sam Adair. And he said, “How are you doing, Bill?”
13 And I said, “Oh, pretty fair, I suppose, Doc.” I said; “Yourself?”
14 And he said, “Oh, a lot of patients.” Said, “I had fifteen examinations this afternoon.”
15 I said, “Well, that’s good as long as it’s just examinations and finding nothing wrong.” I said, “You know, the…” We got talking about back when we were boys. And I said, “Well, Doc, I don’t know just how long I’m going to be around. We’re both in our fifties.”
And he said, “That’s true, Bill.”
16 And I said, “But all these years, about thirty-one years of ministry now, I have kept my heart prepared for that hour when He comes. So it doesn’t matter when He comes.”
So he said, “That is true.”
I said, “The greatest thrill I have is living for others.”
17 And he said, “That’s what life is, makes life real, is when you…not what you can do or accomplish for yourself, but what you can do for others.”
18 See, that’s when you’re really living. And if there happens to be someone among us who has never did that, tried to live for somebody else, give that a try, and just see how much more life holds for you when you will not live for what you can get yourself out of life but what you can give someone else in life. And you’ll find that it’s more blessed than riches or anything of…that can be thought of. Is what you can do for someone else to make life’s burdens…Which, life in itself is a burden. And it will make it a little lighter for someone else. You just don’t know the joy unless you’ve tried it once, to do something for someone else.
19 And then that brings me to thinking of thirty-one years (will be soon) of ministry for the Lord. And I guess every man thinks of sometime when he has to come to his last service and come to his last hour, and look back down the path and see what has been accomplished, see what’s went on, “Have you did anything?” And if…I have just said, it’s what you do for others that counts.
61-0611 – “Revelation, Chapter Five #1”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 241
Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. (1 Corinthians 11:4-7,13-16)
125 And then, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let me go over there. And It spoke to her and told her that I was near the place and wanted to come. And last night in a vision, saw the woman coming, and told what was wrong with her; and she was healed in my room a while ago. See? Is that right, Brother Junior? That’s right. Just a while ago. See? God wouldn’t let me go over there for the thing wasn’t ready yet. See? He brought me right down to the place and confirmed it right there, to show it wasn’t a man, It was God. See?
Now. She said, “Brother Branham, my husband wants me to have long hair.”
126 I said, “God wants the same thing.” That’s right, for the women is supposed to have long hair. That’s their covering.
127 I know we ladies today, or you ladies, rather, wear hats. You say that’s your covering. That’s wrong. The Bible said a woman’s covering is her hair. And if she cuts her hair it’s a common thing for her to pray. That right? That’s Scripture. See? So now, women are supposed to wear long hair, regardless of what you want to think about it; that’s what’s THUS SAITH THE LORD. You just show me any place…
128 You say, “Well, my hair’s long. See, it’s down to my shoulders.” That was short hair. “Christ…” You said, “Christ had long hair.” No, He never. Christ had shoulder length hair, so they say. They—they just pull it around this way and cut it off, shoulder length hair. Look at the Greek word on that in there, and you’ll find out.
129 Feminish hair…A man shouldn’t have long hair, ’cause it’s feminish, way down long like this. But He just cut it off here at His shoulders, where they cut it off, around His head, just bob it off like that. That was short hair.
130 So, ladies with hair to their shoulder, it’s still short hair. Now, I don’t say that would send you to hell or take you to Heaven. That don’t have nothing to do with it. But the order of the Church is for women to have long hair. That’s right; that’s right. And to enter the church…And—and not to have anything to do in the affairs, the social affairs—or not to—I mean the business affairs in the church. And she’s to be obedient, and reverent, and so forth like that, because she was the one, the Bible said, that brought the first fall. And that’s right; that’s right. Now, right quick. I hope that didn’t hurt.
54-0103e – “Questions And Answers #2”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 242
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:23-27)
23 This precious brother, a very dear brother, he came and he said, “I never—I never did take it, Brother Branham, I don’t understand what it is.” Said, “I been taught the other side.”
24 I said, “But remember, we will admit that Saint Paul set it in order in the early Christian Church. They went from church…from house to house, broke the bread with singleness of heart, and so forth. Now,” I said, “he did put it in the Church. Galatians 1:8, he said, ‘If an angel from Heaven comes and says anything else, let it be accursed,’ you see, see, the same one that had them to be rebaptized again from the baptism of John, to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ.”
25 You see, there are three things that we must—three things that we must do as symbols: the Lord’s supper, feet-washing, water baptism. See? There’s…
26 You say, “Well, the…” Now, the Salvation Army takes it from the point, “The dying thief, when he died, he wasn’t baptized, yet Jesus said he would be in Heaven.” That’s exactly the truth. That’s exact. But, you see, he—he—he only recognized Jesus right there in the hour he was dying. See? That’s the only—that’s the only opportunity he had. He—he was a thief, he was away, he was out. And he, as soon as he seen that Light, he recognized It, “Lord, remember me!” And Jesus…That was true.
27 But to you and I who know that we should be baptized, and refuse to do it, then that’ll be between you and God. Same thing in communion!
28 Now, when we take this communion, it isn’t just the thing say, “I’m coming up here and going to eat some bread, and I’ll believe I’m a Christian.” But, if you noticed, the Bible said, “He that eateth and drinketh unworthily shall be guilty of the Blood and the Body of the Lord.” See? You’ve got to live a life that—that…before the people, that…and before God and the people, that shows that you are—that you are sincere.
29 Now, just a moment longer. Now, in the Old Testament when the sacrifice was made a—a statute or an ordinance. And so is water baptism an ordinance; so is feet-washing an ordinance; so is the Lord’s supper an ordinance. “Blessed is he that does all of His ordinance, keeps all of His statutes, all of His commandments, that he might have a right to enter into the Tree of Life.”
65-1212 – “Communion”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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Day 243
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. (1 Corinthians 12:1-3)
72 “I believe in Jesus; don’t believe in the Holy Ghost in this day, not like they had It back there.” That shows He isn’t there.
73 The Holy Spirit will bear record of every Word It spoke. He is not a liar. He’s not afraid of nobody or no organization. He don’t have to take down for nobody. He speaks, and then He stays with it.
If the high, and polluted, and educated, or as we’d call it, plutocrats, if they don’t want to receive It, “God is able of these stones to rise children to Abraham.” He’ll take gangsters, and bootleggers, and everything else, and rise it up. God can do it, and He is doing it. “God is able of these stones to rise children to Abraham.” Somebody is going to do it, ’cause He’s God.
74 “If ye abide in Me, and My Words in you, ask what you will,” because you’re asking His Word, and His Word is Life. Speak it. If God said it, and you’re sure He said it, the Holy Ghost bears record that Word is right, then, there you are, brother. Speak it; there it is. “Say to this mountain, ‘Be moved.’ Don’t doubt in your heart, but believe that what you said will come to pass.” [Brother Branham claps his hands together three times—Ed.] Not you that speaketh, but the Father that dwelleth in you; He doeth the talking. It’s not you talking to that mountain, it’s the Father that’s in you, speaking to that mountain. It has to move. “All heavens and earth will pass away,” He said, “but My Spirit shall not…or My Word shall not pass away.” Certainly, It cannot pass away. Father!
75 Now, “The works that I do.” God is in His Church, to continue His works. That’s why He sent the Holy Ghost. Now, He knowed that. He, He knowed it wouldn’t be, it couldn’t be done that way, so with by otherwise, so He had to send. The Father sent the Son, put all that’s in the fon-…Son in you. And the same works that He did, the same very works now that Jesus did, you will do also, the Church.
Wouldn’t you like to do the works of God? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Jesus said, “If you want to do the works of God, believe on Me.” How you believe on Him? You can’t do it till you got the Holy Ghost.
76 Cause, no man can say He is the Son of God; you’re saying what somebody else said. “The Bible said that He’s the Son of God; I believe the Bible.” All right. “The Bible says He’s the Son of God; I believe the Bible. The pastor says He’s the Son of God; I believe the pastor. Mama says He’s the Son of God; I believe mama. My friend says He’s the Son of God; I believe my friend.”
But the only way that I can say He’s the Son of God, is when the Holy Ghost comes in and bears record of Himself, then I know He’s the Son of God. [Brother Branham knocked on the pulpit four times—Ed.] “No man can call Jesus ‘Christ,’ only by the Holy Ghost.”
77 Huh! No man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus accursed, or say He was something that day and something else today. That makes Him weak and faltery. No, sir.
He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Any true spirit will bear record of that. All right.
59-1217 – “What Was The Holy Ghost Given For?”
Rev. William Marrion Branham
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