L-1 ...?... Good morning. Christian greetings. God's peace on you. This a grand privilege for me this morning, to be before this group of ministers, to explain, for the hope of life that lays within me. Many times coming on to the...
Past times coming on the island, I have been a speaker for the Full Gospel Christian Businessmen's Fellowship International. I was just brought in as a speaker, but I've always thought that a campaign should be conducted under the auspices of the ministerial association, because it's my thoughts, and my intentions to use the gifts of God, according to the way the Bible predicts for us to use them. It is for the--the uniting together, the believers, bring the fellowship of Christians together. I believe that all Christian churches have saints of God in them. I do not believe we should be divided. Neither do I believe it was Christ's plans for us to be divided. We are to be one. Jesus said, "This will all men know you're My disciples, when you have love one for the other." [John 13:35]

L-2 Speaking of Divine healing, I do not know how it is in this island, but speaking for the rest of the world that I have traveled, Divine healing is needed more for the sick body of Christ, than all our sick bodies put together. (See? The--the sick body of Christ being separated, you know, in divisions, is--the healing of that body is more essential than healing our physical bodies.) [Brother Branham has a conversation with the translator--Ed.] For together we stand, but divided we'll fall. As the song was being sang when I came in, "Onward Christian Soldiers, we are not divided, all one body are we." And that's the way we should stand.
The ministry that the Lord gave me is very odd (Strange.), and for this day, because we have had two thousand years of intellectual teachings of the Scriptures, but the time is drawing close to the coming of the Lord. The promises of God must be fulfilled. And I would like to--to try to explain to you ministers, who are shepherds of the flock, that you might see that it is not something just make-believe; it is a promise of God that must be fulfilled.

L-3 So I think this a great privilege this morning, to have this opportunity to set in this place, to try to bring to you in my own simple way, the revelation that was given to me. I will begin with this: Romans about the 12th chapter it is written: "Gifts and callings are without repentance."
They are given to Go--by God by His knowledge; it's therefore, that's the only way that I can explain this gift. If we will notice, the Scripture teaches Jesus was the Son of God, slain before the foundation of the world. God, by foreknowledge, knew all that ever would be; so therefore, by His great knowledge He could predestinate, and foretell, things that would come. From the garden of Eden, Jesus was the seed of the woman that was to crush the serpent's head. [Romans 11:29], [Genesis 3:15]

L-4 Moses was borned a prophet, not by his own goodness, nor by his desire, but by the wisdom of God, and the foreknowledge of God. He had told Abraham, his seed, would sojourn (would sojourn) in a strange land.
Say, I believe all understand English anyhow looks like. Is there anyone here that cannot understand English? Good. I'd go to some of you, but... [The interpreter says, "Put the sentence longer... "--Ed.] Oh, oh. I see. That's right. [Hebrews 11:23], [Jeremiah 1:5]

L-5 John the Baptist was seen by Isaiah the prophet, seven hundred and twelve years before he was born. John had no way of hisself knowing this, his birth being odd; therefore God knew that he would come.
Jeremiah the prophet, God said He knew him before he was ever conceived in his mother's wombs, and sanctified him, and ordained him a prophet to the nations. Before he was born... See, gifts and callings are without repentance. [Jeremiah 1:5], [Isaiah 40:3-8]

L-6 My people--my people were not religious. Formerly, we were Irish, so we were Catholic in the background. But my father and mother went to no church at all. I was borned up in the mountain cabin, in the mountains of Kentucky. We were very poor.
And the morning when I was born, so my mother tells me, she opened a little door, that didn't have glass, it was just like a window, although it was a door, she opened it back, father did, so that she could see me when I--a--when I was--he put me in her arms. It was early in the morning about five o'clock. The sun had never come up yet, so when they opened up the window, a Light in the form of a--like a bucket or a pillow, come in the window and stood over the little bed where I was born. That is the picture they have in Washington, D. C. today, and all over the world of that same picture. Now, that astonished my people; they knowed nothing about religion, so they didn't know what it was.

L-7 When I was just about two years old, the first vision I ever remember seeing... I was playing in the backyard with my little brother, who could just crawl. And there was a voice came from a bush and said, "You will live near a city called New Albany." It... I was very much frightened, and ran into the house to tell my mother. She didn't know what it meant. But three years later, we moved near a city called New Albany, Indiana.
And then at the age of seven, I was packing water from the barn in a little bucket up to the house. And it was in the fall of the year. (Autumn.) And I set down under the tree to rest just a little while with the buckets in my hand. My father was a very heavy drinker. And I heard a wind blowing. And it was real still everywhere, and I wondered where that sound was coming from. It was a tall tree I was setting under. I stepped back to look around to see where that wind was coming from. And about halfway up the tree, of about the size of a barrel, the leaves were going around, around, around, milling in the tree. And a Voice came from there saying, "Don't you never smoke, or drink, or defile your body in any way; there'll be a work for you to do when you get older. (There'll be a work for you to do.)" It scared me. I dro--dropped my little buckets, ran home real quick, jumped into my mother's arms, screaming.
I said, "There's a man up in that tree." And I--she was very much excited. She went down around the tree, and looked all around to see if there was anybody there. And I was so scared. She called the doctor, and the doctor said, "He's just excited."

L-8 Then two--about two weeks from then, I was playing marbles with my brother, and Something come upon me, and I looked down at the river. And I saw a great bridge span the river, and I watched sixteen men drop off of it and lose their lives. When It left me, I ran in to my mother and I told her. "Oh," she said, "honey, you was dreaming." But I wasn't. But she wrote it down. And twenty-two years from that day, the Municipal Bridge spanned the river at the same place, and sixteen men lost their life on it.
It just kept coming all the time, like that. Later, I become converted. What all that He had did--all the--the Holy Spirit has done would make many, many books. So I'll just have to touch the spots now, that you'd under--so that you'll understand.
Then when I was converted, I joined the Baptist church, started preaching the Gospel, right away. The Lord blessed greatly, and I had my first revival, a two weeks revival, five hundred came to the Lord. I taken them down at the river to baptize them. And while they was around ten thousand on the bank, watching... It was real dry, no rain for two or three weeks. People were praying for rain. And when I was baptizing the seventeenth convert, I heard a Voice, said, "Look up." It scared me. I was just a young boy.
The girl that I later married, was taking pictures on the bank. I heard It again; said, "Look up." And I was afraid to look up. Everyone on the bank was wondering what I was hesitating about. All--many peoples up and down the banks of the river... Newspaper photographers... And then It said again, "Look up." And I looked up, and as I looked up, here come that Light coming down. People begin fainting, falling, and a Voice came that shook all around the place there, said, "As John, the Baptist, was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, the message that is given you will be a forerunning of the second coming of Christ." Not that I would be a forerunner, but the message was the forerunning. I know no more than anyone else. It's the Christ we're speaking of. Then I--them visions started coming to me more than ever.

L-9 Now, that newspaper went on to Associated Press. It went all the way into Canada, and all through... We have the clippings of it yet. Said, "A mystic Light appears over a local Baptist minister while..."
And then, when those visions begin to come, I guess I've seen tens of thousands. But not one time has it ever been wrong. It's always right. You could go to my country, or write to the city where I live, among the--the--the officers or mayor of the city, to the ministerial association, never one time has it the vision ever been wrong, just perfect each time. But I was afraid to tell the people.
Now, here's something I want to ask first: How many in here is spirit filled people? Raise up your hand. I can tell you so that you'll understand, surely, the strange thing about it, that when I would come near... Or--or I'll take one night when I was going through a carnival ground, you know, a show. There was a young lady by a tent, a fortune-teller. And my mother had always told me that fortune-tellers, spiritualists, was of the devil. And she's right.
And this little fortune-teller, a young lady, seventeen or eighteen years old. She said, "Say, you, come here." And I walked over to her. She said, "Did you know you were borned under a sign?"
It scared me. I said, "I want nothing to do with that." and walked away.

L-10 Later, I become the state game warden of Indiana. (Conservation officer.) And one day on a--going up on the bus, there was a great crowd, and I had--we had to stand up. And I felt a strange feeling. I was always sensitive to spirits, especially when I'd meet one of those people. I'd feel that real funny feeling. And I begin to feel that, and I looked around; and there was a strong woman looking right at me. She said, "I'd like to speak to you."
I said, "What do you want?" I never did like women, but not--not you sisters, I--I mean, He told me not to defile myself. And it made me have a complex.
And so then, because all my associates would be sinners in that day. And there's a great story there that I could tell. Being offered whiskey, and immoral, and how the Holy Spirit come down, makes me stand back from it. It wasn't me. See? I would have did it. It was God taking care of that gift. It must go forth.

L-11 One day, I started to take my own life, and the gun wouldn't even go off. Then I turned it and shot it. It was God taking care of the gift. When he'd... Just like Moses, he couldn't run away from it; God will find you. Wherever you are, He will find you.
So this woman--I said, "What would you want?"
She said, "Sir, did you know you were borned under a--a sign?"
Quickly, that scared me. I said, "I don't know nothing about that, and I don't want to know nothing about it."
She said, "Haven't you never talked to preachers?"
I said, "I have no use for them. I--I don't go around where any of that's at." I said, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I don't want to hear anything you have to say."
She said, "Sir, that's not a gentleman."
And I turned to her again, I said, "How did you know that?"
She said, "When you got on the bus, I seen it." She said, "I work in the White House." She said, "I'm on my way now to Chicago to see my son, who is a minister." She said, "I'm an astronomer." She said, "Did you know who... When God does anything, the first thing He does is to declare it in heaven, before He declares it on the earth?"
I said, "I know nothing about it." And I turned around again. It kindy made me feel bad, because there's many people on the bus, and me an officer. And so I thought that wasn't gentleman like. So she called me--kept calling me. And I turned around again; I said, "What's that got to do with me?"
And she said, "When Jesus Christ was born, or before he was born, wise men came from the east." She said, "What is a wise man?"
I said, "I have no idea."
She said, "They're astronomers that watch the heavens, and before God does anything on earth, He declares it in the heavens."
And she said... I--I said, "I don't know nothing of it."
She said, "But when God gives a gift, He declares it in the heavens."
I--I said, "I know nothing about it."
And she said, "You were borned under that sign." And she said, "What if I tell you when you were born, would--would you believe me?"
I said, "Lady, you can't read my mind. I won't believe it."
And she said, "You were born on April the 6th, 1909, at five o'clock in the morning." She said, "That's when certain stars," she said, "crossed or something." (Or astronomy.)
And I said, "I don't know nothing about it, and care less."
So she said, "You may pass it by," but said, "if you would respect it, it would shake the world."
I said, "Tell this young sailor here, when he was born."
She said, "I couldn't do it."
So then I was almost to my place where I was going to get off. My righteous indignation all up, my face all red, shaking, scared, I was glad to get off that bus.

L-12 Later on, when I became a minister, and I begin to--them visions was more than ever then. Many things that it said. Then my Baptist brethren, they told me, when we met in conferences like this, and I explained it to them. They said to me, "Billy, don't listen to that. That's of the devil. That's the devil trying to get you."
Oh, my, it'd make me shake. I--I was scared. I don't want nothing to do with the devil. So one night--or one afternoon, I just coming in from work. I was going around the house a taking off my belt, gun belt, so--so I could wash my hands for my lunch. I was going back to turn some fish loose for--for the conservation. Wife had dinner ready, and as I started around the house, all of a sudden, here that came again. And I said to my wife, "Go, call the office, and tell them that I will not be working this afternoon, or I won't--I don't know when I'll work again." I said, "Honey, I can't go through life like this. I'm a slave. If them brethren are right... If those brethren are right, the ministers, the devil is trying to take my life. And I'm a minister, pastor of this Tabernacle, and then the devil is after me. I've got to get rid of it. And I will never preach again or neither will I ever go to the pulpit until I can get rid of that."

L-13 So I went to a little cabin, where I fish, way in the wilderness, and I prayed all afternoon. Reading this same Bible... And I'd went to... When it got dark... Many times, I'd go there and pray for days at a time. And I'd got down on my knees when it gotten dark, and I couldn't read no more, because the little cabin's way back in the mountains. Used to be a trapper's cabin, you know, furs things.
Then when I prayed... I prayed quite a long time till about two o'clock in the night. And I'd sit down in a chair, something like this. And I had my head down, and I felt real strange. And I--was--face was real from crying, and I raised up my hands; I said, "Oh Lord, never let that happen again. I love You. Jesus is my Saviour. I love Him. Let no evil can take be over." I said, "How can I help it, Lord. It'll take Your power to take it away from me. I want to have nothing to do with the devil. I love Jesus, and Him I want to serve."
Just then, a Light come on the floor. I looked at the Light. It begin to spread out, and I looked up above, and here was this Light milling around. Just about this big around, kind of a yellowish green, emerald, and it was like the...?... It growed wider and wider. I heard Someone walking; coming up from my side, to my right side, came a Man walking. He had on a white garment, bare-footed, kind of dark complected, hair down long, huge Man, great big arms, folded like this. And he started walking to me. I was so scared, I--I was biting my finger, biting my finger. I thought I had went to sleep.

L-14 Now, you might think that would make you laugh, but you stand in that place once, you'd feel the same way. That was not a vision. Surely, I know what a vision is. This was no vision. The Man was there, just the same as I'm here. And He was looking at me. Now, couldn't--didn't back all my church...?... Looking back, and He looked right down at me, and He said, "Do not fear." And as soon he said that, I knew it was the same Voice that had spoke to me since I was a little boy. I never seen Him before, but it was His Voice. It was deep, and He said, "Do not fear, I have been sent from God to tell you that you're peculiar birth and life..."
No one understood me. My ministerial brothers didn't understand me. My father and mother didn't understand me. My girlfriends, my boyfriends... They don't yet. Neither do I understand myself. I can't make it out. I don't want to be different. I want to be like someone else. But you can only be what God makes you. He's the Potter; we're the clay.

L-15 And I--I listened to Him. And He said, "This was all to indicate that you were born to pray for sick people." Well, what did I know about praying for sick people? I was just a local Baptist pastor. And I looked at Him again; He was very kind. Seemed like the fear begin to leave, and I said, "Sir, I am uneducated, and I could not do such things as You have ask--or You have told me to do."
Because He had just said, "That you'll go to all the world, and you'll be praying for kings, potentates, monarchs." And how could I do that, when I was just a grammar school education. See? I had never received the Holy Ghost as yet. I was a local Baptist pastor. These things are strange to me. And I knowed nothing about them.
Then I looked--I looked up again to speak to Him, and I said, "Sir, I--I could not do that."
And He said, "As Moses was sent with two gifts to prove to the people to a vindicate that he had been sent of God, you are given two gifts."
And I--I said, "Sir, I--I could not go. Moses had one sign with his hand." Yeah.
He said, "Now, you'll do the--you take your hand and lay it onto the people. Don't think of what you're going to say, and It'll call what they have. Then if you--if you'll be real reverent, humble, (That's the reason I don't take money, or get anything big.)" He said, "it'll come to pass that you'll know the very secret of the people's heart." And said then, "If they won't believe the first sign, they will believe the second. And it'll come to pass, if you'll be sincere, it'll keep growing greater and greater." [Exodus 4:1-9]

L-16 So it was strange to me, and I said, "Sir, I am here because that when I go among my brethren, I see those visions. And my ministerial brethren tells me that that's of the devil, and I'm here that God will never let it happen to me again."
Quickly, He walked in front of me, asked me to stand up. And I stood up, and He said to me, "Knowest thou not the Scriptures?"
And I said, "Well, the ministers doesn't know--doesn't--doesn't agree with this. If this is--would be of God, why wouldn't they have it?"
He said, "It is the day now for this, this is the hour."
I said, "Why was it that the--the--the--the demon powers of spiritualism knowed it."
Then He said, "In the days of our Lord..." That's the reason I knew that that wasn't the Lord because He said, "Our Lord." (Our Lord.) He regarded our Lord as His Lord. He was an Angel, a Man, a Messenger. And He said, "When in the days of our Lord, when the ministers, the priest were in the temple, arguing what kind of clothes they should wear, at the same time, this--the Magis, astronomers, was on their way worshipping the Lord Jesus. They knew him, and the clergy didn't know Him." He said, "It was the devil (the devil) that said, 'We know You, Who You are, the Holy One of God.' But the priest said, 'He is the devil.' The devil said, 'He's the Son of God.' The ministers said, 'He's the devil.'" [Acts 17:5-6], [Matthew 12:22-28], [Luke 11:14-23]

L-17 Then the scare begin to leave me. What doubted Paul, Paul and Silas, when they were at a place preaching, the--the priest said, "These men turn the world upside down, they're no good."
But a little fortune-teller said, "These are men of God, that tell us the way of life." Who was--who was right?
It's a great deal that way today, and that is true. Then the Bible become a new Book. I could--I could see it.
Today, we are so intellectual upon our denominational and so much for our little groups, we pass over a great Spiritual... But a devil possessed person...?..., they are in contact with spirits. Many times they cannot--they can see it before the intellectual can see it, because he turns away all spiritual things. I'm not talking of you ministers. Thank God, that there's some that can believe and see. Blessed are your eyes who can see, and ears that can hear, for God has did this. Jesus said, "No man can come to Me, unless My Father draws him first. My sheep hear My voice; strangers they will not follow." [Acts 17:5-6], [Matthew 13:16], [Luke 10:23], [John 6:37, 44, 65], [Acts 16:16-18]

L-18 Now, later on... I will hurry. It just then, I was sent out praying for the sick. Have--have we got time? Just--just...?... I will just give you the first thing taken place afterwards. They--then I'll hurry. Then I... (You didn't say that.) [Brother Branham laughs--Ed.] All right. I was called on a sick case about two days later in St. Louis, Missouri. I didn't have a coat to wear. Someone gave me a coat to wear over. And I went over to a man that had a little girl that had Saint Vitus' dance. All the doc--all--a--St. Louis is the head of medical association. And they--and many doctors had been trying to cure this child. She was the daughter of a famous minister. How he ever knowed about this, I don't know yet today.
I went to the home. The little girl was like an animal, scratching her face, chewing on her tongue, shaking all over. So I went in, knelt down with many other Christians, offered prayer, started out, and the Holy Spirit said, "Wait here until you have orders." Oh, praise the Lord. "Wait, here."
I ask the reverend if he would let... Let's go down to his church. We'll go for his church, had prayer, go back to the house. All day passed, all night.

L-19 The next day, I was waiting, and I was setting in his car. And as I looked across the hood of the car, I saw a vision coming in. I waited to see what He would say. After I had the vision, I got out of the car, went to the house, and I said to the old--to the minister, "Sir, I have THUS SAITH THE LORD, bring in your father. And we went to the bed, I said to the lady, the minister's wife, "Two days ago, you were down in the city, you bought a little white vessel." (Little crock, or a vessel, you know, like a little bucket.) "It has never had water in it. It's located in your pantry beneath the sink. (Sink)"
She said, "That is true."
"Go get it. Put water in it, get a white cloth and bring it here, and ask nothing. Just do as I say."
And I told the minister to stand with me, at the foot of the bed, the minister on the right, his father on the left, the mother standing by the side of the child. The little fellow couldn't even make hardly noise any more; it was so far gone. I said, "Take the little rag, squeeze the water from it. And when I start with a model prayer, 'Our Father Who art in heaven,' wipe the rag across its face. Don't let your hand leave its face. When I get to the middle of prayer, this--'give us the day, our daily bread,' let the handkerchief be about the middle of the child. And when I say, 'Amen,' let the hand go across the feet. And we started. That was exactly what I'd seen in the vision. And she started with the rag coming down, and when I said, 'Amen,' then she took her hand off. I said, 'Great God of heaven, Who met me out there in the cabin, sent His Angel to declare this, I speak for that child's life; let the child live."
And the little girl jumped up in the floor. I took her by the hand, with the doctor standing in the next room, we walked out of the house down to the soda fountain, and had a malted milk together. Three nights later the Keel Auditorium that seats nineteen thousand, was packed out. It went from there around the world.

L-20 Now, books could be written, but I want to bring this, close now.
My minister brethren, fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, co-workers together in Christ Jesus, I want to speak to you, as believers and as shepherds of the flock. If I have said anything that would give-- would impress you, that would cause you to believe that this was something to make something out of me, please forgive me. I did it, not knowing.
We're at the end time, and Jesus promised these things at the end time.
Now, let me just speak one Scripture to you, which studying it through the Scriptures... I have studied through the...?... There is many places I could refer to. We know that Jesus said, "All Scripture must be fulfilled." That is true. None of it can fail. "Heavens and earth will fail, but My Word shall never fail."

L-21 Listen to this in Luke, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." See? At the coming of the Son of Man... Now, let's watch close...?...
Abraham... There's always three classes of people on earth: believers, make-believers, and unbelievers. Now, watch him. "As it was in the days of Sodom..." Now, there was a unbelieving nation called, Sodom, very si--very bad. And they had some believers down there, the church natural, Lot, his people. [Luke 17:29-30]

L-22 Now, Abraham represents--represents, means, church spiritual. He had separated himself from the unbelievers, and the make-believers, a very beautiful picture of the church today. The word "church" means "the called out." That's what the church is today: a called out.
Now, it come time for the end time, then there was three Men came and met Abraham. Two--all three of them were--two of them were Angels, but they looked like men, dust on their clothes, dirt on their feet. Abraham said, "Come, set under the oak. Wash Your feet. I'll bring You a piece of bread, then You may go on." See? Abraham was looking for something. That's what the church, the believer, is today, watching--watching for something. He knew the time was growing close.
Just like Noah, watching Enoch. When Enoch went up, Noah knowed that the storm was close. [Genesis 18:1-18], [Genesis 13:1-13], [Genesis 4:24]

L-23 And when Abraham set Them down, he went around to the tent, and said, "Sarah, knead some bread and make some cakes on the hearth." He went out and got a calf and had it slain. And he come back out, brought the meat. Meat, bread, and milk, and set it before them; They eat.
Could you imagine, One of them was God. Now I know you di--might disagree with that. I'd like to ask you brothers, did not Abraham call Him Elohim? That's the Almighty God.
Someone said to me not long ago, when I was speaking that, you said--he said, "Brother Branham, do you believe that that was God?"
I said, "Yes, sir. The Bible said so."
He said, "How did God come in that flesh?"
The human body is made of sixteen elements of the earth: That's petroleum, cosmic light, calcium and... God, the Creator, just grabbed a handful of it, breathed into it, said, "Come here, Gabriel." Step into it.' Got another one, [Brother Branham blows--Ed.] "Come here, Michael." And grabbed a handful, stepped into it Himself. He's the Creator. He can do anything He wants to." [Genesis 18:1-18]

L-24 My wife said to me the other day, "Billy..." I--I'd got a haircut here sometime ago, and a barber put carbolic acid on my hair, and it all come out. And she said, "Billy, you're almost bald-headed."
But I said, "I haven't lost a one of them."
She said, "Where are they at?"
I said, "You tell me where they was 'fore I got them." Where--they was nothing just petroleum, and cosmic lights, and then they were mine...?... And wherever they was before I got them, they're there waiting for me.
Jesus said, "Hairs of your head is numbered. I'll raise them up in the last days. All the Father's given Me, will come to Me, and I'll raise him up the last days." [John 6:37, 44, 65], [Matthew 10:30], [Luke 12:24]

L-25 I'm so glad that we know a God, though I drown in this ocean, though my body rots away, yet my God knows every element that's in here. He will speak someday [Brother Branham makes a blowing sound.--Ed.], and I'll appear. Hallelujah.

L-26 That's what He did there. He was standing there; He eat the flesh of a calf, drank the milk from the cow, eat bread. Then the two preachers, the Angels, modern Billy Graham, Oral Roberts. Preachers... They had a message for the world. So they looked toward Sodom. They went down there, not much miracles done, but they blinded the people. Preaching the Gospel does blind the people. That's what the Bible says.
Let's look at this one that was sent to the church called out, the elect, Abraham's church. He said to Abraham... Now remember, He was a Stranger, "Abraham, where is your wife, Sarah?" How did He know he had a wife? How'd He know her name was Sarah?
Now, watch what the Scripture says. The Scripture said, "She is in the tent behind You."
And He said, "I will not keep a secret from Abraham. I'm going to visit you according to time of life."
And Sarah, she smiled in herself, say, "Me being old, and--and my lord, Abraham, being old too, have pleasures together again?"
Now, the Angel, this Man was in flesh, He said, "Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she laugh?"
Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah--in days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." The Gospel will be preached to the intellects, with a modern Billy Graham and so forth. But the Church spiritual, will receive a Messenger, the Angel of the Lord, and will do the same things as it was before Sodom. Why? The world's to burn this time. Sodom burned. When He referred to Noah, did--did you notice what He said? "As it was there, eating, drinking, marrying..." The--the morals of the world... But here was the spiritual sign to the world. Watch when Jesus came, how did He make Hisself known to be Messiah? He could discern the thoughts of their hearts. Now, men and brethren, isn't that true? Isn't that the Scripture? [Genesis 18:1-18]

L-27 How did... When He told Peter, Simon, "Your name is Simon, and your father is Jonas."... They were looking for the--the Scriptures to be fulfilled. That in... When the Messiah come, He'd be a God Prophet. Now, the Jews had got away from that spiritual part, like too many of us has done today. They were looking for a great one to come, go riding down out of the heavens, rule all the world, and they failed to see it.
Nathanael was seen under the tree, fifteen miles away, by Jesus. When they called Jesus, Beelzebub, they never said it with their lips. The--the Bible said, "He perceived their thoughts." Knew... Knowing their thoughts... He told the woman at the well, "Go get your husband. Come here." [John 1:40-51]
Said, "I have none."
Said, "You've had five."
Now, she didn't call Him a devil. She said, "Sir, we, the Samaritans, we know..." See, where... "We know that when the Messiah cometh, He will do these things." See? She was trained right. "So You must be His Prophet."
He said, "I am He."
Watch her message to the city. "Come, see a Man that told me the things that I done. Isn't this the sign of the prophet, isn't this the sign of the Messiah? Isn't this the very Messiah?" You understand?
Jesus said... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... "will know Me no more--will see Me no more. But ye shall see Me, for I ('I' is a personal pronoun), I'll be with you, even in you, to the end of the world."
The Bible said, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." [John 4:1-30], [Matthew 28:20], [John 16:16]

L-28 Now, just one more moment. Now, listen real close. All of us know that the Angel that appeared to Moses, was Christ. It was the Angel of the covenant. You believe that? The Angel of the covenant. He followed Israel in a Pillar of Fire. And then when Jesus was on earth, He said, "Before..." They told Him... They was angry with Him because He said He saw Abraham's day. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." That was that same Pillar of Fire that was in the bush, "I AM." [John 8:58]
Now, He's said, Jesus, "I come from God, and I'll return to God." Do you believe that? Scripture says that? After His death, burial, and resurrection, persecution set upon the church. [John 13:3]
Paul, on his road to Damascus with orders in his pocket to arrest all the Pentecostal people, and on his road down a Light smote him, and he fell to the ground. And he looked up, and the Pillar of Fire was before him, a great Light, saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?"
He said, "Who are You?"
And you'll bear me record...?... Paul was a powerful, intellectual preacher, set under Gamaliel, a mighty man, but that isn't what counts. He looked at this Angel, this Light, this Pillar of Fire, "Who are You, Lord?"
He said, "I'm Jesus." He had returned back to God. "I came from God; I go to God." [Acts 9:1-8]

L-29 Now, I want to ask you, if you went out here to take fruit off of a orange tree, the orange tree will bear oranges. Papaya tree will bear papayas. Why? The life that's in that tree, will bring forth the fruits, just like the life that's in it. Is that right?
Now, let us look. This Angel of the Lord, they took the picture of It many, many times. (Many times.) And it hangs in Washington, D. C. under a copyright in the religious hall of art, as the only supernatural Being was ever photographed. At Houston, Texas (Houston, Texas), one of my Baptist brethren raised up and wanted to debate with me about Divine healing. I just ignored it. God never sent me to fuss... pray for His children...
And then, the next day he put a big piece in the paper, and he said, "It shows what he's made out of; he's afraid to face the Word."
Doctor Bosworth, which was one--one of my associates, eighty years old then. Many--many of you's heard of Doctor Bosworth, a very godly man. He come put his arm around me, and he said, "Brother Branham, would you stand for that?"
I said, "Brother Bosworth, no matter what you would do, Jesus said, 'No man can come to Me, until My Father draws him first. And all My Father has given Me, will come to Me.' Did not they say in the Scripture, 'They could not believe. They had eyes, couldn't see, ears and couldn't hear.' Though Jesus had done many miracles... I'm sure you understand."
And he said, "But Brother Branham, we are obligated to the public as men of honor, as ministers, to defend that Word."
I said, "You may be obligated. I'm obligated to God to carry a commission."
He said, "Would you let me do it?"
I said, "It would only make an argument."
He said, "Please, let me do it."
I looked at him, eighty years old. He reminded me of Caleb to go up to take the city. I said, "If you promise me that you won't argue..."
He said, "I promise." [John 6:37, 44, 65]

L-30 Oh, my. That's just what the paper wanted: great big headlines, Ecclesiastical Fur Will Fly."
So then, the next day they set the debate in the Sam Houston Coliseum. Thirty thousand people gathered.
Listen, we may be divided today. But listen to this, one of these days we'll be one. God will see to that, if communism... It's something that has to force us together.
The churches was at one another's throats there, the different churches. But when that come in the paper (in the paper), we--we had everything in common then. Them that believed in Divine healing, train loads come in. Planes flew in. They come from everywhere. Why? A principle, what we all believed in was standing at stake.
That night, I would not go down. I stayed in the hotel. All at once, something said, "Go down."
I put on my overcoat, four policemen, 'cause we was having great meetings, they got from the front of me, and back of me. And I walked in with my coat up, like way in balcony 30.

L-31 And while I was setting up there, all the ministers, about five hundred, all around... And then, the Dr. Best, which was the debator, he said, "Let Mr. Bosworth have first."
Mr. Bosworth said; he said, "I have six hundred statements concerning Christ's attitude towards the sick. I will place these to Mr. Best. If he can take one of them and disprove it by the Word of God, I'll turn the debate to him." He wouldn't do it. He said, "Then I'll ask Mr. Best (Mr. Best), the Baptist preacher, I'll ask him one question. If he will answer me, yes or no, just say, 'yes or no,' then I'll turn the rest of it over to him."
Mr. Best said, "Ask on."
The moderator give him release. He said, "Was the redemptive Names of Jehovah, the seven compound redemptive Names of Jehovah applied to Jesus, yes or no?" That settled it. Now, did they get that? [Brother in congregation ask Brother Branham to explain it again--Ed.] You get that? See? Yeah, see? Let--let me get it. He wants me to get it again, so they'd be sure. I--I don't know who's here.
"Was the redemptive Names, the--the seven compound redemptive Names of Jehovah applied to Jesus, yes or no?" Say, "Yes or no." He couldn't say it. If he said, "Yes." He was Jehovah-jireh, the Lord's provided Sacrifice. And if He was Jehovah-jireh, then He also--also Jehovah-rapha.
Now, listen, I want these ministers to catch this. You understand what I mean? See? Jehovah-jireh. (You see, you know, he said.) Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-rapha... One... All right...?... you know it. Okay. [Genesis 22:14], [Exodus 15:26], [Exodus 17:15], [Judges 6:24], [Psalms 23:1], [Jeremiah 23:6], [Ezekiel 48:35], [Acts 2:36], [Hebrews 13:8], [Isaiah 53:5]

L-32 Now, if he said, that He wasn't Jehovah-jireh, if He wasn't Jehovah-jireh, then He also... If He wasn't... If He was Jehovah-jireh, then He had to be Jehovah-rapha. You can't separate them (See?), can't separate them. So if He isn't Jehovah our Healer, He isn't Jehovah our Saviour. That settled it. He couldn't answer. They could not answer it. (Get it? All right. Now, you see he could not deny one, and accept the other, because they're inseparable. So if He's still Jehovah the Saviour, then He was the Son of God, and if He is, then He's Jehovah the Healer, the same yesterday, today, and forever.)
Oh, he become angry, the Baptist minister. And he kept jumping up-and-down, and he said, "Let me up there." And he preached on the resurrection. He didn't believe the miracles that Jesus performed. He played--put it off in a millennium. And he preached a Campbellite sermon. I'm a Baptist. I know what Baptist believe. But he was in such a fix, he couldn't get out of it. He--he--There was nothing could be said. Then he kept saying... He walked over to a minister and smacked him with his hand, in his mouth, and they had to pull him off of the minister. [Isaiah 53:5]

L-33 And then when they did that, they was afraid of a riot, so then the police moved up. And then--and then he said this: "Let me see that healer perform. Bring forth the healer. Let me see him do it."
Brother Bosworth said, "Brother Branham don't claim to heal people." He said...
Brother Bosworth had spotted me. He said, "I know he's here, but he wouldn't argue with people." But he said, "If--if--if he wants to come and dismiss the audience, all right." Said... Because Mr. Best, had already lost the debate, the moderators had taken the debate from him, a hundred percent and give it over to the--Mr. Best--Mr. Best--Mr. Bosworth. He couldn't answer his questions. And these were men was not interested in no one, no certain religion. They were swore under oath.

L-34 So then, I said to... Then my brother Howard was setting near me and my wife. (My brother Howard, and my wife.) And--and so I started to raise up, and Howard, my brother, he said, "Set down."
I said, "I'm setting down."
And just a moment I heard something, just like those leaves that day in that tree, making a noise going whew, whew [Brother Branham makes a noise like wind blowing--Ed.] and I looked up, and He was there. Said, "Stand on your feet."
God's great in battle. You should see Him. You ought to see Him in Africa, India, wherever He's challenged to a showdown. Seen Him drop and paralyzed, and witch doctors stand and couldn't move. He's God.
So I--I got up. And my wife said to my brother, "Look at his face. Let him alone."
Many ushers put a line all the way down. The poor people, mothers with little babies trying to touch you. Killed, it hurt... I have children too. They thought that maybe that would help them.

L-35 I come to the platform. I walked over to Mr. Best, shook his hand. I said, "How do you do, Mr. Best."
He said, "Mr. Branham, as a man--as a--as a man, I admire you. But as doctrine, I don't believe you're right."
I said, "That's just the way I feel too." So then, I said, "I'm surprised, Brother Best, that you would make the remark that you did, when you said, 'Let the healer come forth and perform. Let--let him do something, let me see it.'" I said, "Brother Best, don't you understand, that's the same spirit was on the Pharisees? 'If Thou be the Son of God, come down off the cross.' They put a rag around His head--around His face, Jesus, and hit Him on the head with stick, and said, 'If you be the--a prophet, tell us who hit you?' Don't you see, Brother Best, that's the spirit of the devil? Was not it the devil, that said to Jesus, 'If Thou be the Son of God, make bread out of these stones? Perform a miracle, let me see.' God don't do things like that. He doesn't mind the devil." And I said, "You trying take the only hope..."
And he said, "Baptist don't believe such stuff as that." Said, "There's only one class of people that believe that, and that's a bunch of holy-rollers." [Matthew 4:1-10], [Luke 4:1-4]

L-36 I said, "Dr. Best, I beg your pardon. I'm a Baptist myself." And I said, "I would like to show you something." I said, "There's at least three hundred Baptist ministers, pastors of this city; I'm going to ask that people in this city, members of them Baptist churches can show by a doctor's statement, that they've been healed by Jesus Christ in these last eight days that I've been here, and can come here at this platform, bringing their doctor to prove their healing, stand on your feet." And three hundred stood up. I said, "It isn't the people; it's blind leaders." I said, "Sir..."
He said...
I said, "Sir, I cannot heal people." I said, "Do you believe your ministry's inspired?"
And he said, "Yes."
I said, "This is inspired." I said, "I--I--I do not heal people, but if what my--if what I have said is in question, about the Holy Spirit, Him being the Healer," I said, "I will not be able to come against you. You're just out of college and smart. And I have no education, but I have Someone that's confirming what I say." I said, "If my word's in question," then I said, "it's God's Word in question. For I'm just saying what He promised." Thank God that God will take care of His own Word.
And about that time, here He come, circling down. People begin fainting, and they won't let them take pictures while I'm in prayer. And the--Mr. Best had hired a photographer to take six pictures of him.

L-37 Now, here's the remark he made: "I'm going over there and take that old man, old man Bosworth, and I'm going to skin him, and take his hide, and tack it on my study door for a commemoration of Divine healing in this day."
Now, right there showed the man wasn't right in his heart. And we just after--before the meeting, he turned Mr. Bosworth like this, and he took his fist and put it under his nose, said, "Now, take my picture." And then he took his hands like this, and said, "Now, take my picture." And they got six of those pictures just like it, for his--to show his debate in his magazine.
Brother Bosworth just stood humbly, let him take the pictures.

L-38 And then when this Angel came down, that photographer had that great machine set, and he shot the picture. And when He come down, people screaming, I said, "I will have to speak no more. He speaks in my place." I went out. The policeman helped me to the car.
The photographers taking the pictures, and went over... One of them was a Jew; the other one was Catholic, the two photographers working for the Douglas Studios in Houston, Texas. And they're a member of the association, and they went in--they went into the studio, and they said, "We'd better get these glossies out for Mr. Best; he wants them tomorrow."
The Jew, Mr. Ayers, went upstairs and laid down. And the other man went in and put the pictures in the acids, come back was smoking a cigarette, and he begin to think, he said, "You know, if that man was only Catholic, he could be true." Said, "Maybe he is." Says, "Because his parents behind him (my people before me) were Catholic, and that man could have been right. But he can't be right and be a protestant." He goes in... And the day before he'd wrote an awful article in the paper about me, and then he went in and pulled the pictures out of the acid. One, two, three, four, five, six, none of them took. God wouldn't permit a picture to be taken of him shaking his fist under that sainted old man's face. And he pulled out the seventh, and there was the Angel on the picture. He had a heart attack and fell.

L-39 Two or three days later, the negative was flown to Washington D. C. that night, at eleven o'clock, and brought back. And George J. Lacy, the head of the FBI on fingerprint and documents was flown there to take a test of this picture, to see if it was something had been painted on there, a double exposure, or something wrong. After three days he called us in. There was about two hundred people, writers of magazines, different papers, and he stood up, and he said, "Whose name is Branham?"
I said, "Mine."
Said, "Come here." He's kind of red-headed...?... hair on his face, and he said, "Stand here."
Said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Mr. Branham, I've been one of your critics. I've said that that was psychology, but listen Reverend Branham, the mechanical eye of that camera won't take psychology. The Light struck the lens." He said, "You're going to... He said, "The light struck the lens." He said, "Someday, this picture will be sold on the ten cent stores (you know). But said, "Not while you're living, because God wouldn't permit that." But said, "After you're gone, the church will realize the day that they passed through." Said, "It's always been that way." He said, "Myself, I'm Catholic." He said, "But I remember the history of Joan of Arc, how that they--she saw visions, and my church burnt her to a stake as a witch. But after she was dead a long time, we found out that her--she was a saint. It was too late." He said, "It was the same thing down through the Scriptures." He said, "Someday you'll die."
I said, "Praise God, I'm ready."
And he said, "Forgive me for being your critic," and he handed me the negative.
I said, "It's not mine. It belongs to the studio."
He said, "Mr. Branham, that--that negative is worth tens of thousands of dollars." Said, "It's the only time that a supernatural Being was ever scientifically photographed."
Now, I said, "I would not take it. Upon your statement, if Jesus loved me enough to come down and have His picture taken with me for the first time in all the world's history, who am I to sell His picture to make money from it?"
But in the copyright so that no one can sell it, without your statement... He said, "I'll gladly write my statement." And he wrote it, signed it. The Douglas Studio's taken it.

L-40 Brethren and sisters, we're men and women, got to die, but the Spirit of God that's among us, is the same God that met Moses in the wilderness, was in Jesus Christ on earth, because the life of It proves It's the same Spirit. It's doing the same thing. It's a promise of Christ. Wha--oh, how... There's just no place to stop.
Look, there was two... There's only three na--nationalities of people in the world, three classes (Listen close, and I'll close.): Ham, Shem, and Japheth. The whole human race, this side of the flood, came from them. You believe that? The countries we lived in changed our colors, black, white, brown, yellow, whatever color. That has nothing to do with it. We come from them three children. That's Jew, Gentile, and Samaritans.
Did you notice Peter had the keys to the Kingdom? On the day of Pentecost he opened it to the Jews. Philip preached to the Samaritans. Only the Holy Ghost had come on none of them. He sent up and got Peter, laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came. At the house of Cornelius, the Gentile, Peter, while he yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them. And there It went. The three people, three races... There was two... The--the Samaritan, you know the history, they're half--half Jew and Gentile. [Acts 10:44-48]

L-41 Now, when the Samaritans and the Jews was looking for a Messiah, not the Gentile. We were heathen, not looking... We wasn't looking for any Messiah. But when He come at the close of their dispensation, see how He made Hisself know? "You are Simon. Your father is Jonas." I--perceiving their thoughts... Philip, Natha--Nathanael, "I saw you when you were under the tree."
"Thou art the Son of God."
The big Jew, priest, "He's a fortune-teller."
Jesus said, "I'll forgive you for that. You speak against the Son of man, but over in the age of the Gentile, when the Holy Ghost comes to do the same thing, one word against It will never be forgiven in this world or the world to come."
Don't you see the rejection of Christ? That's the reason there's an atomic bomb waiting yonder, waiting to destroy the world. They're rejecting Christ, just like the Jews did. [John 1:45-50]

L-42 Now look, then He went to the Samaritans; He said, "I have need to go by Samaria." Why? They were looking for a Messiah, a Messiah. He manifested Himself the same way to the Samaritans that He did to the Jews. They believed Him.
Now, the prophet said, "There'll be a day, that it'll neither be night or day. But in the evening it shall be light."
We... The sun shined on the Eastern people. It rises on the East. Then geographically it crosses the earth. Same--the same--the same sun that rises in the east, sets in the west. The Eastern people saw it, believed it, some condemned it, in the east, the Jews. Civilization has moved westward. Now, the east and west is together. We've had a day, a day like this, dismal, a little Light, enough to make a organization, put your name on a book, and to believe Christ as your Saviour. There's been that much Light. But the prophet said, "In the evening it shall be Light."
The same Son, the same Holy Spirit, that come into Christ, and done the same thing that you see doing now. People and brother, search the Scriptures. Search your history. It's never been from that day until this day. We're in the evening time. How many know the Lord is at hand? And God is revealing to the Gentiles, that his Messiah still lives, the same. It's got the same nature, doing the same work, prove that He's the same...?... They didn't kill Him and put Him in the grave. He rose again, and He lives forevermore, not the I was, the I AM, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. [Zechariah 14:7]