Presuming
62-0610M, Presuming, Bible Tabernacle, Southern Pines, NC, 113 min




Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee this morning for the true love of God that's shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that melts us into one (We are one in Christ.), and for this time of fellowship around the Word we're approaching now again this morning.
We want to thank you for what it's meant to us through this past week, for meeting with our precious dear friends, Your children; and for feeling that fine spirit of love and genuineness in their hearts. And we are so grateful, Lord. Truly the Scripture's right when we're assembled together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Bless all Your servants throughout the land on this sabbath day. May You anoint Your ministers everywhere that's standing in the pulpit. May the sick be healed, the--the lost saved, and those who are prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. May God be honored today because He has let it be a day. In Jesus' Name. Amen. Be seated.

I said, "Now, Brother Parker is a teacher, and what good's my part going to do down there? And you just get cut off, you--you know. It just--just keeps moving, the Holy Spirit, so... And then, the first thing you know, look down about an hour. "It's nearly nine o'clock, I'm sure." It's almost eleven. So you just... Well, we're... just--just love to fellowship around the Word, and so happy.

You know, I come from a Baptist church, and the Baptists believe that when you are--you are baptized with the Holy Spirit when you believe. And they also believe that if you've been in the Christian church, or--or any other church baptizing in the same form of baptism they use, the same ceremony, yet, when you become a Baptist you've got to be rebaptized again. In other words, you're baptized by water into the Baptist fellowship. Well, I'm glad we're baptized by one Spirit into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus. That's the lasting baptism.

He was taking the movie. And he was giving me a testimony. He said that ten years ago his wife, with a cancer up in Pennsylvania... In one of our meetings, one of our first, she was healed of--of cancer. And here he is way down here today--a Brother Roe, I believe he said his name was. And the little bitty fellow standing there, his hair all combed up--cute little fellow... And I said, "Is this your father, or grandfather?"
He said, "No, sir."
I said, "Do you live around here?"
He said, "I'm from Charlotte." It just creeps over some... I know you're from the south. His speech betrayed him. He was a cute little guy, just a little bitty snickle-fritz about this high, you know. They're cute. I love them little fellows.

But there was a group of ministers said, "He's associated with a certain people. He's had them in his church," latter-day rains, and so forth. And we had a meeting booked in Chicago. I said, "But aren't we supposed to be interdenominational?"
Said, "Yeah, but they'd..." The fellow said, "They'd put me out of my church if I let him come in."
I said, "Then we just won't go, if he can't come in." So he--I bypassed Chicago for that cause. And we have been bosom friends all of our lives. Now, if we'd set down and try to discuss Scriptures, we might miss one another half a mile or more, when it comes to Scriptural. But when it comes to brotherly love, we're one. I know he loves God. He believes the same thing about me, and we've had fellowship around.


I've been all tore up for a few days on account of a vision. I hadn't told it right out to the people, and it's kinda disturbed. And I wondered, "What could that be? How can it be?" I took my wife, and we went aside, and I rehearsed back. "Where down the road, did I... Have I missed the place? What has happened?"

And I said... Well, I--I walked... Something to me said, "Take Joseph out in the yard." And I just put my arm around him, walked out into the yard.
We walked down through these big, stately, pine trees. And seemed like that wind blowing through there sings, "There's a land beyond the river..." And I, standing there with my little friend, talking, and a certain thing I was talking to him about... which just he and I to know...
And he said, "But, Brother Branham, where the Lord gave you this Scripture thirty years ago, but did you ever read this below it?" It done something to me. I felt the Holy Spirit just come down all around us.
I said, "Thank you, Joseph." I put my arm around him, walked back to the door, went in, picked up my Bible. It was there just exactly where... Why, I never read but just them first few verses, I don't know. Just for this hour, that's all.
You know Jesus picked up the Scriptures one time, and just read so much of it? Just as much as to be fulfilled then and left the rest of it; 'cause that part pertained to Him in that time, and the next part pertains to Him the second time. I may speak on it tonight, Lord willing.

I--I--I--is--I love God's people, don't you? Just something real about it. Maybe tonight, the Lord willing... I want to go this afternoon to see what He will tell me. What to do? I feel a lot better about it now, I know that. Just caught two or three verses, and I thought, "Oh, my. That's... Why didn't I read that? Why didn't I think about it?" See? But I just never did notice it. Now... 'cause it wasn't time.


Now, anybody that's wanting to be baptized in Christian baptism... Where will that be? At your church? ["No. Be behind my house. There's a lake behind there."]
Oh, there you are. "Here is water. What does hinder us?" All right. All you eunuchs come down and enter into the water. And if you haven't had Christian baptism yet by immersing, you come to Brother Parker Thomas' house, parish this afternoon, and there will be water for the baptismal service. And that's a good time to settle it once forever. That's right. "For he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Is that right?
"Repent every one of you and be baptized into the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." If that isn't true, then I don't know what is true. [Mark 16:16], [Acts 2:38]

Paul come through, and Aquila and Priscilla, tentmaker friends of Paul's, which absolutely... Aquila and Priscilla was the pastor of the church. Aquila was the pastor of the church, the first church at Rome. And when Claudius had excommunicated all Jews, he come back to Palestine. I'd like to talk to the Catholic church on that one. Yes, sir. Where was Peter over there then? All right. Now, he had been excommunicated from Rome, and then brought over into his homeland, 'cause...
Then Aquila and Priscilla then when they went back then the Roman bishops over there that brought in all the dogma. And there's what started your first Catholic church, right there. [Acts 19:1-7]


Aquila and Priscilla had done told them, "We got a little Brother Paul. But when he comes up, he will teach the Word of God to you more plainer." [Acts 19:2]

They said, "We know not whether there be a Holy Ghost."
He said, "Then how was you baptized?"
They said, "Oh, we've been baptized."
"How? Unto what?"
Said, "Unto John's baptism."
He said, "He only baptized unto repentance (The Sacrifice hadn't been killed yet. See?), "not for remission of sin." That's right. Acts 2:38 said, "Repent, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin." See? [Acts 19:2-4], [Acts 2:38]

Said, "We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost."
Said, "What was you baptized?" It must be essential.
And he said, "We have not so much as know whether there be a Holy Ghost."
He said, "How was you baptized?", or "to what?" The original says "to how."
And he said, "Unto John's baptism."
He said, "John verily baptized unto repentance, saying unto the people they should believe on Him that was to come, that is Jesus Christ." And when they heard this, they were rebaptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. Paul laid his hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost come upon them; and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. See? That's right. Oh, that's good Pentecostal doctrine to me. Sure is all right.
So now, if you haven't had Christian baptism, come down this afternoon. [Acts 19:25]

I said, "I'm going to kill a nine foot silver-tipped grizzly. I'm going to kill a caribou that his horns measures exactly forty-two inches from the base up, and he will be laying on a little panoramic. Never been in the country." Told the church. Part of the church is setting here this morning. Is that right, church? Raise up your hand, from the Branham Tabernacle.

The caribou, laying, looking right down the mountain at me. And that guide said, "Brother Branham, if that caribou's horns measures forty-two inches, I'm going to faint."
I said, "You might as well drop over, because it's going to measure." When he got his measure out, and there it was at the on-the-spot nose, not a 16th over exactly forty-two inches. I said, "Don't you believe?"
A year before that we was back in a place, and he was just a young convert, and he'd heard about the meetings. His wife is a Pentecostal believer. He's a guide: Brother Southwick. He said, "If anybody ever questions that, let them write and ask me." He said, "Let me tell them." Lives way back. That's the land of the midnight sun in the--in the Yukon there. So he...

And so, he kept... Eddie kept telling one of the ministers about the visions, and he said, "Oh, my. If I could just only... If I could get my brother down there..." And he said, "My brother has had epilepsy, my young brother." Said, "He's had epilepsy since he was about three years old. He has four or five fits a day." So I knowed he was--he was praying to God, but I can't make visions come. They just come. That's the grace of God. I--I don't... So we was back there. I prayed for him two or three times, and him not knowing it. We went around the next day. We had about twenty-one head of horses.

And on the road out, we'd turned the horses loose, and these young horses roll with their packs and things. I used to ride a lot, and my father was a rider.
And so we was coming up out of the back a-wrangling. Bud was in front, this Brother Eddie, Brother Bud and I, and another Christian called Chris Berg. And so, Bud was riding on in the front with a bell horse trying to--to lead on; and I was coming in back, Eddie and I, getting these horses out of mesquite. I guess you all know what mesquite is. And they'd get in that, like quicksand.

Them young horses, you can't... They just go any way. They're two or three years old, and just broke. And they're not trail horses at all.

You can have all your fancy hair-trimmed yards, and your big buildings; and all your Miami palm trees lit up, and all you want. But just let me have it the way God sent it, just...?... I just love it like that. Oh, I can just stand at the top of those hills, go hunting, and climb way up at the top of the hills and set there, and just hold up my hands and cry. Look across there; I think, "God, that must be the way you love it. That's the way You must... That's the way You made it. Why does man have to contaminate it, and make it something else, pervert it?"
"Someday," I thought, "Lord, let me walk down Your big, never-ending game trail." I hope I meet all you hunter brothers down along through there, real... where I was looking at. I'm looking forward to that. 'Course you know that's the Indian's prayer.

And I watched that vision for a few minutes, and when it left I seen it was for Bud's brother. I only had one spur. I spurred my little horse, and turned him around. I run up to Eddie real quick. I had a horse run out into some brush there. I said, "Eddie, Eddie, brother."
He said, "What's the matter, Brother Branham? You look white as a sheet."
I said, "I've got THUS SAITH THE LORD."
"What is it? For Bud's brother?"
I said, "Yes." I said, "Keep the horses going." And I spurred my horse, and got across and through the mesquite and things. In about fifteen minutes I was just ahead of the string. I rode beside of Bud, and put my hand over on the back of his saddle, and I said, "Bud."
He said, "Yes, Brother Branham."
I said, "I got THUS SAITH THE LORD."
He said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "Yes, Brother Branham. He's just... he hasn't even received the Holy Ghost as yet." He has now, but he hadn't then. And he said, "I... Yes, that is right."
And I said, "Your brother..." Described him.
He said, "That's exactly right. That's the way he looks."
I said, "Now, this won't work on another person, but it will on your brother." I told him what to do. I said, "You send and get your brother. Bring him up here." It's on the Alaskan highway, lived in an old place where the Americans there, several of them died, putting the road through. And the government had all fell in. And he was guiding. He's got six hundred square miles in there. He's a licensed guide. And so, he said... very primitive, very fine hunting country...

He said, "With all my heart."
He sent and got his brother, brought him up there, and that morning he went to cut trails. His little wife, sweet little Christian, but she... He got violent. He'd get rashal too. So just... He hadn't been out of the house more than about thirty minutes down somewhere, and he fell in one of those fits. Usually the little wife would clear a window, anything, getting away from him. But when she seen him rolling and tumbling, and that devil doing that to him, she happened to remember. And she believed me.
Here she come to him, and straddled him--that little bitty woman on that great big, wide-shouldered man. She straddled him, and jerked that shirt off of him, walked over there to that salamander, tears running down her cheeks. Said, "Dear God, Brother Branham told us to do this. And I throw this in there in the Name of Jesus Christ." He's never had a fit from then on.

I said, "That's THUS SAITH THE LORD."
He said, "Brother Branham, I--I--I'm not doubting your word, brother. How could I doubt your word?" Said, "But look. I can see every speck of the ground and there's nothing. There isn't a bush that high. There's nothing but caribou moss. Where's the bear at?"
I said, "He's Jehovah-jireh. The Lord will provide for Himself." I said, "Did you ever hear the story about the squirrels that time?"
He said, "Eddie told me about it."
And I said, "Well, He's still God. If He says it'll be there..."

He said, "How could I doubt it?"
But said, "Brother Branham, I've lived in these mountains all of my life, and I never seen a silver-tip in my life." Said, "I've seen regular grizzlies, but not a silver-tip. That's the rare type."
I said, "But there's one here." So I picked up the head, the horns of this... We'd take... I had the rifle, and we'd take turns about, coming down, having to walk this way down the hill, that caribou moss. My, it was about three and a half miles right down before you hit timber. And so... See, that's not even bear country; that's caribou.

And when we got within about... We come over a little glacier, and he said, "Think of it, Brother Branham. We're only about a mile to where... I can see with my natural eyes where them horses are standing. And I see every hill. And you're going to kill a nine foot silver-tipped grizzly?"
I said, "That's according to the Word of God that told me about three months ago, and it's never failed." I said, "You're doubting that, Bud."
He said, "Forgive me, Brother Branham. I'm not doubting." Said, "My heart is so... I--I just can't understand it." Said, "Where's the bear at?"
I said, "I don't know. I said, "God's got him sticking around here somewhere."
He said, "Think of it: a bear that I've never seen, and one that God told you..." He said, "That's the same God that told you about my brother."
I said, "Absolutely."
Said, "Brother Branham, put a shell in your gun."
I said, "I'll have time to do that."

I said, "Bud..." And I said, "He will be there. Don't you worry." And I looked. I said, "Bud, what is that standing right up there, about two miles up, top of the mountain?"
He throwed the glasses on, said, "Brother Branham, looks like a milk cow." He said, "It's a grizzly bear, so help me. And look at that white grizzle a-blowing in that sun setting this afternoon. He's a silver-tip. I never seen it before."
I said, "What are we waiting on?"
He said, "I believe if you'd just shoot him from here; it's two miles away; you will get him."
I said, "But Bud, according to the vision, I was just right close to him."

I said, "I've killed many bears, but never a silver-tip."
And he said, "They're the most vicious of all." Said, "They don't know dying."
I said, "No bear does."
So he said, "But the Lord gave you that one, didn't He?"
I said, "Oh, yeah."

I said, "The vision said we was right up on him."
So we went over another little coulee, and come up. And when we did, there, my. Just setting about two hundred and fifty yards there; I could see his big, yellow teeth mashing down like that. He looked like a big hay stack, eighteen inches between the ears. And he was a mammoth: foot about that wide, and claws, you know, and just setting there. Oh, he looked pretty, and mean.
So Bud said, "humph." He said, "Brother Branham, I tell you where to shoot him."
I said, "Yes, brother."
He said, "The back. You see?" Said, "Then they can't get up then. You see?"
I said, "But the vision said shoot him in the heart."
He said, "Then you'd better do it that way."
First shot got him. And as we come down, he said, "Brother Branham..." We was packing them horns, didn't have a measure. He said, "Them horns look about ninety."
I said, "No, they're just forty-two." He said... And I told Eddie, I said, "Now, watch. The little boy's going to put his hands right there and measure."
And when we got down to where the packs was... We couldn't bring the bear. We had to go back the next day. And you can't get a bear... Whew. You can't get a horse near a grizzly bear. You know that. The smell of it, and he's gone. We tore up two or three strings trying to get him out. And so then, all we had was panniers laying all over everything, the pack saddles, and they were scattered. Them horses was scared to death of the grizzly, the smell of them.

I pulled back to Eddie, I said, "Eddie, watch the boy put his hands around the bottom of the horns, like I told you before we got here." So he goes down, gets out the tape out of--his little measure. The little boy come around, put his hands on it.
Eddie said, "Praise be to..." Just exactly. Raised right up like that. He just turned white in the face. He said, "Brother Branham, looky here. Not one-sixteenth over, exactly forty-two inches on the dot." Jesus never fails. He said, "Brother Branham, where am I going to be a year from today?"
I said, "Now, Bud, you're just a young convert to Christ. I don't know where you're going to be." I said, "I can only say just as He tells me. That's what I'll say, and that's all I know. And I don't know..."

There's a whole lot to that. But I just happened to think, I'm supposed to be teaching Sunday school. See? Oh, friends. You all see these little visions around here? No wonder you minister brothers sometimes get suspicious. "Well, it might be mental telepathy. It might be psychology." Show me somewhere else it's going on. What about these great psychologists, telepathists? They guess. It sometimes happens, sometimes it never. And it's this, that, or the other. But God's perfect and never fails.

I love Him, I love Him (glory),
Because He first loved me;
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
I seen some--one man that went with me. I just didn't notice him being there. You know it's Brother Fred Sothmann. He's setting there, and he went to Dawson with me. Is that right, Brother Fred?...?... I drawed the picture on my windshield just exactly how (Is that right?), before it happened. Oh, that's happened... How many knows, that travels along (to the strangers here)? Go along the road, and the Lord will say different things that's going to happen, and it'll be just exactly that way, all down. Sure.Because He first loved me;
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
[Brother Branham begins humming "I Love Him"--Ed.]
Don't you love Him? Just sing it.
Because He first loved me;
And purchased my salvation
On...
And purchased my salvation
On...

"What is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou would visit him?" Surely, Lord, we have nothing that we can offer, because it was given to us at the beginning. We could not be here if it wasn't for You. And to think that the grace of God come down into our midst in this last days... And God, the great Creator, has made Hisself known to us by forgiving our sins, and appearing before us in such marvelous ways, as He promised it would be in the evening time. The evening Lights are shining. Grant it, Father, that we'll fellowship around Thy Word now. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. [Psalms 8:4]

Numbers 14... I said that because I might make a mistake. I--I... See, I don't know what He's going to do. Some... Why, He might get something here in a few minutes, the Holy Spirit might come into this. I'm looking for something to happen. I don't know. So if I don't know, then I'm just going to say "if He is willing," See? Yes, sir.


And Moses said, Wherefore now do you trespass the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper.
Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye may be... smitten before your enemies.
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.
But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
And the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. [Numbers 14:41-45]
Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye may be... smitten before your enemies.
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.
But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
And the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites that dwelt in the hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah. [Numbers 14:41-45]
Now, for just a--to draw a little lesson out of here this morning just to talk... Now, I believe that we are here to--in a Sunday School to be taught: to learn. And if we can go back and find out in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, how people were blessed of God, and how that they were cursed of God, and see what God respected and required, then we'll have some idea of how to maintain the blessings of God. Do you think so?

Now, we want to find out... Me say it again now, take our time for these few minutes we have. Now, we've got to go back, and if we can see what God desired, what He required, what He cursed, what He blessed, then let's take them for examples.
I believe in Hebrews the 11th chapter; no, the 12th chapter--said, "Seeing that we are compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every sin, or every weight, and the sin that so easily beset us, that we might run with patience the race that's set before us." [Hebrews 12:1]

You know what Jackson's last words was, that great southern general? I join with you rebels in thanksgiving to God for a general like Jackson. He's never been compared anywhere in any other general, as--so far as I'm concerned. He was a great man of God. And Jackson said when he was dying... He was fixing to cross the river. He said, "We'll soon cross the river. Then we'll set under the tree and rest." That's right.

"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
With partings leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time. (I like that.)
Footprints, that perhaps another,
While sailing over life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
In seeing, shall take heart again."
We can make our lives sublime,
With partings leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time. (I like that.)
Footprints, that perhaps another,
While sailing over life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
In seeing, shall take heart again."

So Moody... Paul had a sense of humor. He and Brother Bosworth, and all of them, were just bosom friends. Billy Sunday... Brother Bosworth had a meeting up there with--one time in Chicago, Rader Tabernacle. And so, Billy Sunday had been there three weeks, and he'd preached out all of his sermons. And Paul had been there about two years, and he was preach on. So Billy said to Paul, he said, "Paul, when do you ever run out of sermons?"
He said, "When I get a kink in the hose...?..."

But when he was dying out there, Moody Bible School had sent down a quartet. They was standing there with the shades all down in the hospital, singing, "Nearer My God to Thee."
Paul raised up and said, "Hey, who's dying, me or you?" Said, "Raise them shades, and sing me some good, Gosp--snappy Gospel songs." Amen. So they begin to sing,
Down at the cross where my Saviour died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried;
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Oh, glory to His Name.
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried;
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Oh, glory to His Name.
He said, "Where is Luke?" That's his brother. Many of you knew Luke, he just recently. Luke and Paul were two brothers that stayed together, something like Billy, my son, and I.

He said, "Yes, Paul."
He said, "Think of it. In five minutes from now I'll be standing in the Presence of Jesus Christ, clothed in His righteousness."
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
With partings leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
We can make our lives sublime,
With partings leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
Let me go like that. Let me go with that testimony, like Moody had. Let me go with the testimony like Paul had. "I've fought a good fight; I've finished the course. Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory." [II Timothy 4:7]

Now, that's something that the church must not do. You--you're not sure of yourself if you're just presuming, for you're just taking it for granted. Now, we have... Each year we pass a holiday. The... I'm sorry to say this, but it shows though. The average American Christian, so-called...

They're presuming that that's the right way to do it. They feel that that's the way to forget your sins: just drink it out. You don't realize you're only heaping more sins. But they presume that that's the American way to do it. And that may be true. But it isn't the Bible way of doing it. But they presume that that's all right.

And I tell you, when I come in that night, well, there was Miss America. We're... Oh, terrible... And whiskey bottles all over everything... And I went on up to the room. I got off, and I looked at that little fellow. There was a couple of people got off, men, holding one another, a club.
Then when I... the little elevator... I said, "My goodness. Whew."
He said, "Oh, they're having a real time."
I said, "They sure look it."
So we went up to the door, and opened the door, and we got out of the elevator, and started down. And there was two young women, both of them wearing wedding bands, pretty little women, just with their underneath garment on, standing up at the end of the hall. And they had a whiskey bottle in their hand. And as they started down through there, trying to hold one another, eyes glassy, starey, and their manicure on their lips had run down, and that black stuff. And them women, putting that ring around here, looked like a monkey, not a human being, like that...?... And all that stuff, and that big water-head haircut, you know... You are pretty. Don't make yourself look like a prehistoric animal. See?...?...the way God made you.

And as they got close, standing there with just a little underneath garment, 'course that's more than some of them wear, and then they had this bottle. One of them give one a drink, and this other one taken a big drink out of this bottle of whiskey. And she pulled up this little skirt as high as she could, and kicked her feet way up in the air, hollered "Whoopie." She said, "This is living it up. This is life."

And I said, "I beg your pardon. That's not life; that's death."
So she looked around, said, "You want a drink out of my bottle?"
I caught her by the hand. I said, "I'm a Gospel preacher. I'm an American too. But I'm ashamed of you." And the other one started to run, and I caught her by the other hand. I said, "Do you women go to church?" And it seemed to sober them a little.
Held the bottle down, said, "Yes, sir." One of them was a Sunday school teacher.
And I said, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself to call yourself a Christian?"
I tried to hold them, and they was pulling, and jerking, and jumping like that. And down the hall they went. One of them fell and sprawled over the floor, and the other one tried to pick her up feet first, and... The awfullest sight you ever seen. I thought, "God, how can You look upon such?"

I believe it was Calvin... No, it was John Smith. I'm not sure now, the man. But one day in his mission, one of the early great saints of the last two or three hundred years (I forget who it was.)... I believe it was a Methodist. John Smith it might've been. But however, they was standing at the door, and down the street come a drunk. He fell in the gutter. And there was a man passed by said, "John, there's one of your converts."
He said, "Yep. That's right. If he was the Lord's, he wouldn't be there." That's right. So that's it.
If you're converted to a creed, if you're converted to an organization, if you're converted to a church, you'll do those things. But when you become a convert of Christ, you are borned again, and you're dead to those things, and alive... But people go right on presuming it's all right to do that, venturing out without authority.

Now, they get that because they're taught that in their school, presuming that that's right. But it's wrong. Heavens and earth will pass away, but God's Word will not. And He said, "Let every man's word be a lie and Mine the truth," but they presume that that's all right. [Revelation 22:18-19], [Mark 13:31], [Romans 3:4]

"Oh, he's classical; he's educated," presuming that's all right. We don't need that: preaching denominational doctrine presuming that's all right. And people go join that thing, presuming that's all right. That's all they have to do, just presume. "Well, I'm a church member."

She said, "I am an American. Doesn't that settle it?"
I said, "Not with me, it doesn't." I said, "I asked you if you was a Christian, not a hitchhiker, no, no, but a borned again Christian." She thought because she was an American that settled it. See?

Why, she was shocked. She said, "I give you to understand; I burn a candle every night," presuming that's all they have to do.
Them's honest-hearted people. They're men and women, and they--in their heart they--they--they want to serve God. Those monks go into monasteries, ministers go to seminaries. They get degrees of psychology, how to bow before the people, and how to be, and the psychological effect it has on the people, presuming that that's all they have to do.
Even in some of our great denominations, Pentecostals... Now, I ain't talking about Methodists, and Baptists. I'm talking about Pentecostals.
Here not long ago they got some issues. Each one pulled off to himself with little issues, presuming that's what they ought to have done. That's what they ought not have done. Stay together, all of you. Don't take your issues out like that. Bring it in here and pray it out. You can have your issue and still love your brother, all right. But when you lose respect and fellowship with your brother, your issue's killed you. Right.

"I'm a Methodist."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I'm Presbyterian." Then they join that.
And now, you say, "Are you a believer?"
"I'm Pentecost."
Let me straighten that out for you. There is no such a thing as Pentecostal organization. Pentecost is an experience, not an organization. Catholics has got it. Baptists have it. Presbyterians have it. Anybody can have it. It's an experience, not... You can't organize it. You've got your organization; you've got away from Pentecost then. They never did organize. God never did have an organization, never one time.

Women, you know, I love you, my sister. You know that. I don't stand to hurt you; I love you. But what am I going to do there at that day, when I know the Bible teaches what the women to do? And then, I know it to be the truth. And then, if the watchman sits on the wall and sees the enemy among the people, and don't warn them, God said, "I'll require the blood at the watchman's hand."
When pastors let you cut your hair off, and say that that's right, that pastor is telling you something that's wrong. When he lets you dress in immodest clothes, and tell you that--that that's all right, that's wrong. And it's not... You--you're pretty.

But the female is dainty, pretty. There's where Satan lays, right there. That's where he chose in Eden, that's where he got to in Eden; that's what he's used ever since. You tell me any nation in history, some of you school kids... In a fall of a nation, as soon as motherhood was broke and womanhood, that nation's backbone was broke.
Talk about morals in our country, I got a piece out of the paper on the Associated Press, that when our boys went overseas, that four out of every six was divorced by their wife that stayed home before they were over there six months. And there was more illegitimate children born in the State of New York during--in one year before the war, than there was soldiers killed in the entire four years of war: presuming that's all right.

And any man will let his wife get out on the street in them shorts and things like that, it shows how much man's in him. Let his wife set there and smoke a cigarette before him, and know that that thing... What's his children going to be?
Don't worry about communism whipping us. We've done whipped ourselves. It's our own rotten morals. And where did it start from? Because the Gospel was let down at the pulpit, where it began: sissified preachers, with not enough real baptizing of the Holy Spirit in their soul to stand and tell the Word of God. Don't spank the child for juvenile delinquency; spank the parents. It's parent delinquency. They let them get by with it. [Matthew 5:28]

Amos, in his day, that fearless prophet of God, he walked up there to Samaria. He looked over that city, and he seen all the corruption was in it. He said, "The very God that you claim that you love will destroy you." He seen the corruption of it.
They were presuming they were all right. They had their priests, their synagogues. They thought, "Just as long as I'm a Jew, circumcised, that's all I need to be." They claimed that they served God. They--they... What had they done? They'd taken the fashions of the outside nations. They had made an alliance with them. And they thought as long as they had favor with the outside nations, well, that's all they had to do. They made alliance; they stripped their women; they walked through the street; they burlesqued, and everything else.
And that old prophet standing there... And his eyes narrowed over his beard. The tourists come from all over the world around to see this great Samaria, but that prophet seen it through a different eye.


But do you realize... The Catholic nun doesn't realize that the system is sending her in there. And you don't realize the spirit of the day that's making you do those things. You presume it's all right, but it isn't. See?
Now, look. Jesus said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart." Now, you go out dressed like that, them shorts on, and dressed all sexy, and everything. Sure, you're pretty. But God didn't make you like that. Satan is making a bait out of you, and you don't know it. [Matthew 5:28]

Don't be like the rest of the world. You Pentecostal women, your organization's what invited in, and made themselves an organization. And they're trying to compare their congregation with a well-dressed, groomed, and the best dressed people. That's the devil. Don't you believe that. They're presuming it's all right, but it isn't. God said not to do it. Go ahead, preach it, join. They think it's all right, just presuming. [Matthew 5:28]

A fellow had been sprinkled not long ago. And he said... I baptized him in, and so another man got after me about it. He said, "Well, he was already baptized."
I said, "No, he wasn't. He was sprinkled. Baptizing, 'baptizo' means cover up, bury." And I said, "I baptized him."
And he said, "Brother Branham, you're radical."
I said, "Maybe I am, but it's for the right cause." And I said, "I'm zealous of God and His Word. I'm zealous of His church."

Now, here's what happened. I said, "I baptized him over."
He said, "Brother Branham, do you really think it makes a difference?"
I said, "It did to Paul. He said, 'Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?' They said, 'We know not whether there be one.' He said, 'Unto what was you baptized?' Said. 'Unto John.' Said, 'That was only to--unto repentance, not remission of sins.' They were baptized over again."

Now, you see, you--you don't presume. You got... It's got to be the truth. Stay with it. But just presuming, they...
You hear it so much today, I say again, about God being a good God. There was a teen-age boy said not long ago said, "You know, the Lord just loves me so well He just lets me do anything." My.
Friends, He is a good God. I'll admit that. But He's a God of justice. He's a God that requires justice. How can He be just and--and disobey His own laws? How can He defile His own holy law? If He's just, He has to stick by what He said. If He will require this of you, and you don't come to that point... If He isn't just, then why didn't He let Eve get by with that one little misconstrue of the Word? [Galatians 1:8]

Who can get any more gentler, and more what they call love than the Christian Science? That's their whole wrap-up, is love. That's not real love. They even deny Jesus being Divine, deny the death, the birth, the--the virgin birth, deny His Blood; and just talk about love.
Could you imagine me, having a little boy saying, "Oh, honey, you just go ahead. If you want to drink that liquor, you little six-year-old boy, go ahead. Daddy won't stop you. I love you too much. Oh, honey, if you want to take my shotgun with two shells in it, and the hammer's back, go ahead. I love you too much to stop you." That ain't love.

"I love you too much, honey, to stop you. You want to do that, I know it. Daddy loves you too well to stop you. Go on out there and get killed." A real daddy will shuck the hide off of him.
That's what's the matter today. You're trying to preach the Gospel with soft gloves on, presuming it's all right. What the church needs today is to be shuck down. Come back to the Gospel. You're presuming it's all right. "I'm a Pentecostal, I'm this, that, or the other. That's all right." It's not all right, not according to the Word. Got to come to the Word.
"Such a good God." They don't presume that He's a God of justice. He's a God that must keep His Word.

"And we come up here to the Red Sea. Here come Pharaoh. God just opened up the Red Sea by His mighty power, and we marched through the Red Sea. God loved us so well He turned, said, 'Look around at your enemy. I'll drown them behind you.' Glory to God. Not only that, but He sent us Angel's food, fell out of heaven every night."
And that prophet said, and the Word of God was with the prophet, he said, "Don't you go up there. And if you do, God won't be with you." Huh. But they presumed they'd go anyhow. "God's too good. He will, you know, won't do nothing to us. God's with us, so what do we care?" [Numbers 14:41-45]

Moses said, "If you go up there, I'm not going with you. And the Amalekites and Canaanites are up there." I'm going to tell you; sin lays beyond the boundaries of God's Word. To disbelieve one iota of It, God will let you set there.
Oh, I... Such a job, such a terrible thing. I love people. Why do I have to do this?
Join... Just go on like the rest of them. "Just as long as I belong to church, what difference does it make?" It does make a difference.
The old prophet told Israel the same thing. He said, "Did I ever tell you anything in the Name of the Lord but what come to pass?"
They said, "No. All you said, Samuel, it all come to pass."
Said, "Did I ever go out and take up offerings among you to build big buildings," and so on...?...
"No, you never did do that, Samuel."
"Well," said, "then listen to me. You don't want to act like the rest of the nations. God is your King."

Now, listen. Stay with the Word, for the Message of the last day has to... The messenger and the Message has to be according to the end time, "restoring the faith of the children back to the faith of the fathers."
Didn't Jude say over there they've already... Said earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints? Just ninety-six years they'd--AD ninety-six, I believe it was--they'd had already gotten away from it. Did not they come in and begin become a thought, then a doctrine, and then it become a issue of the Nicolaitanes? [Malachi 4:6]

What did the first thing they do? Made an organization. In there they put... And for hundreds of hundreds of years it was a persecution that all that wouldn't bow to that was pulled asunder, burnt, persecuted. Then along come Luther. That tree started to growing. When it did, they organized it. God cut the branch off, and it withered and died. Like Jesus said, He pruned it.
Up come the Wesley, another branch coming out on it. What did they do? Organize. God pruned it and cut it off. Along come the third Message. Just exactly the way the church begin, that Bride Tree at the beginning, it started out.
Who come first? John, preaching justification, repentance. Who come next? Jesus Christ. "Sanctify them, Father, through the truth, thy Word," which was Himself... is the truth, sanctification. What was the next? The baptism of the Holy Ghost. "I send the promise of My Father upon you," and the Bride Tree started growing. [John 17:17]

Here it start up in the days of Luther and organized. God pruned it, as He said He would do (John 15). Up come the Wesley. Fine. Got a nice branch started out. What did they do? Organize it after Wesley's death. They cut it off. Up come the Pentecostals, bringing forth the signs of the fruit. What'd they do? Organize it. She's cut off. "But I will restore, saith the Lord." He's going to do it.
What's the matter with these great revivals? Now, let's be sensible. We've had what we've called a revival, but what did we hatch out of it? Members. Why? Why, brethren? The Bible said in Hebrews 6, "The rain cometh oft upon the earth to dress it, water it, prepare it for which it's to be, the fruit. But the thorns and thistles which is nigh unto rejection will be burned." [Hebrews 6:7-8], [John 15:1-8]

And you people that's scared of communism, I want you to show me one place in the Bible where communism will rule the world. Well, I'll tell you the Bible says that Romanism will rule the world. Exactly right. Where does the feet go out in the... That prophet who seen all the Gentile kingdom come right down at the end, it didn't go communism; it went Romanism. Exactly.
Here we are in these days, people presuming, joining right into that thing, say, "That's all right, that's... Sure I belong to church. Oh, yes. I'm So-and-so." See?

But way back there, that predestinated Word of God, it stayed there all the time because God spoke it. "I will restore it." He will do it, no matter how many organizations and things He has to prune off. There'll be a church without spot or wrinkle, "For I will restore, saith the Lord." It's got to what? All the years that the cankerworm's eaten, all the years that the caterpillar's eaten, all the years that the denominations and suckers and things on the tree took its fruit away, took its vines away, took its bark away, took the life out of it.
But "I will restore, for the root and offspring of David to get...?... I will restore saith the Lord." What is it? He said so. He predestinated it. His Word lays here. Therefore, look. Just exactly the way He done it the first time... He took John, justification. Jesus sanctified the church with His own Blood, and then the Holy Ghost came. [Joel 2:25-28]

But there was a stump, 'cause Joel said, "I will restore that predestinated root." Hallelujah. And all them names that was before the foundation of the world predestinated, "All that the Father has given Me will come to Me." Yes, sir. "All that He foreknew He called. All that He calls He justifies, and those that He justified, He has glorified." [John 6:37], [Joel 1:4]

Why did we get a bunch of denominations this time out of this revival? We sowed denomination seed. What we need today... Brother, you can say what you want to about it, we need the Gospel, pure, holy, unadulterated Word of God, sown. And when this Light comes out it'll bring forth that church, God's predestinated. Amen. Don't presume about nothing. Take God's Word and move right on. He promised He'd be here. He's here. Amen. I'd better stop. [Ephesians 1:5], [Joel 2:25-28]

What about all these creeds and things that's made up amongst men? God never does deal with a group. He deals with an individual. A group has different ideas. Show me one time He ever did it. He deals with a individual. Dealing with you, He deals with me, He deals with the next man. That's right. It's an individual affair. [Revelation 22:18-19]

That right there shows that you're not there. If that was... If you was in Christ, you'd hold to His Word regardless of what anybody said, if you had to stand by yourself you'd stand by it, 'cause it's the Spirit of God in you vindicating His Word.
Not one word of it'll ever pass till it's fulfilled, so precious, and so darling. It's just like God. He don't judge it by a church. He don't judge the world by an organization. He judges the church by His, or, judges the world by His Word, like He did Eve and Adam. The way God starts, He cannot finish another way. He's got to finish the same way He started. If He didn't, He done wrong at the first place. See?

No, no, brother. You've crossed the separating line. He presumed he just had as much strength as... Said, "I'll just stretch myself. Oh, whew. Now, I'm just as good a man as I ever was." But he found that his strength was gone.
That's what we did when the revival started about fourteen years ago. Pentecostal found out she couldn't stretch herself no more, because she'd organized in little groups, and hated one another, sowed that discord amongst brethren. And the revival struck it, and the evening Light come in. But what did she do? She couldn't do nothing, because she'd organized. She's lost her strength, her brotherly love, the fruits of the Spirit. [Numbers 14:41-45], [Galatians 5:22-25]

Achan thought when he took the wedge, "Oh, it won't be noticed."
Oh, that there preacher said to me, "Oh, Brother Branham, does it make any difference whether it's this way, or that way?" Sure it makes a difference. That's the very lie that Satan told Eve. It does make a difference. "Well, as long as the rest of them does it..."
I don't care who does it, or who doesn't do it. I don't want to do it anyhow. I'm not presuming that that's all right just 'cause the rest of them does it. God requires this, and this is what I've got to have. If the rest of them don't come, I can only say it and just keep on going: no presuming nothing about it.

Achan said, "It won't be noticed. It don't make any difference." But it did make a difference. That one little wedge upset the whole program of God.
"Just be baptized any way. It don't make any difference. Just as long as you're a member of the church, it doesn't hurt." That's what's upset the revival. That's what's the matter. We've got a bunch of denominations, instead of having saints. We've got joiners, decision makers. What good is a stone without a mason to cut it, and shape it, and knock the corners off of it? When you see a sculptor standing, working on a stone, it don't look like very much. But he's got in his mind what he's trying to make. So he rolled the stone up there for a purpose and he's got to shave it, and cut it, and hone it. [Acts 2:37-38]

The Egyptians, they saw Israel, circumcised, cross the Dead Sea. They presumed that they were just as good a men as they were. They went behind them and drowned in it. They presumed it was all right. (I got to hurry.)
Noah's time, they presumed if it come a flood like Noah said it would do, well, the only thing they'd do, jump in their own boat. But there was only one boat that was God-constructed.

Noah constructed that boat out of a certain kind of wood (wish we had time to go into it, but we don't), how he took that shittim wood. Did you ever see it? It's lighter than balsam. Why, if anybody'd see a man trying to build a boat out of that kind of wood, they'd say he's crazy. Why? It's the lightest wood. You throw--you can throw shittim wood out there in the water, it'd go "sh, whew," sink right there. [Genesis 6:8-14]

Said, "Take shittim wood." It's just--just--just as light, like a sponge. But now, notice. After he got all that shittim wood destructed, constructed rather, He said, "Go and take pitch, and soak it up." Oh, how did they get pitch in them days? They took another kind of tree, pine tree, and they beat it, and beat it until the pitch run out of it.
What's it a type of, the timber God's got today? Empty out all your old fanatic stuff; empty out all your organizations; get real light and just lay before God. Then He beat One of us. "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity." He was beat, and wounded, and bruised at Calvary, that His Spirit might pour into you when you have nothing. [Isaiah 53:5], [Genesis 6:8-14]

That's the way a Christian is. He empties himself. "I don't want to know what anybody... I want to know... Lord, I want to know You. I want You, Your will, Your Life." Then God just... You just soak up in Christ.
Well, then what was it? It actually would not be shittim wood any more; it would be pine. It's not you no more; it's the Spirit in you. See? Oh, my. God-constructed. So many prophets today, telling so many different things, gets the people confused. Don't presume. Just watch His vindicated promise. Let's see. [Genesis 6:8-14]


God took him out in the wilderness, alone, and schooled him out there. For He said, "John, they'll be having all kinds of things, and getting you to believe all kinds of unscriptural things. But here it'll be, John. 'Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on, He's the One that'll baptize.'" [John 1:33]

You don't have to worry, wonder. God's done said what to look for. Evening fruits, evening Light. He said in the last days it'd be... The devil would send his ministers in angels of light, trying to bring you something new, something more popular, something more educated.
Don't you believe it. That's what Eve done and got in trouble. Stay with the Word. Amen. Don't presume; take God's Word. Eve presumed it was all right. "God's a good God. You know He wouldn't... Surely the Lord will not do this, or do that." But God had promised it. God had to do it. It was God's duty to do it. Now, don't presume; just believe. [John 1:33], [John 14:12]

Nathanael didn't have to presume, not at all, when He told him. He knowed--he knowed what Deuteronomy 18:22 said. So He said, "Thou art an Israelite indeed: no guile."
He said, "When did You know me? When did You ever see me?"
He said, "Before Philip called you." He didn't have to presume.
He said, "Rabbi, Rabbi, Teacher. Although the schools are making fun of Your teaching, they're turning You out on account of Your teaching, but Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You're the King of Israel." He didn't presume; he had a Scriptural evidence of it. That's what the Messiah would do. He didn't presume.
That poor, little, old, dirty, stinking, prostitute, maybe all the organizations in the country maybe had excommunicated her. But she didn't see anything in them to begin with. When she'd see something real, she'd take it. So she seen an ordinary Jew setting over there; she thought. Looked like an ordinary man, He didn't have His collar all turned around, great big turban, Dr. Reverend Holy Father. He was just a man, just like the rest of the men. Sat, leaned back there, probably a little bit gray. He was only thirty-something years old, but the Bible said... You know, He looked fifty. Did you know that? [John 1:47-49]

He said, "Before Abraham was I AM."
"Now, we know you got a devil." See, they're blind.
He said, "You blind Pharisees, blind leading the blind." See? That's it.
Now, we see Him setting there. That little woman said to Him, she said, "Well, you want to... You Jews, you want to argue religion." That was the custom of the day, like today. "You Jews saying it's over here, and down here, and all so-and-so; and we say..."
He said, "Go, get your husband, come here."
She said, "I don't have any husband."
Said, "That's right. You've got five; the one you're living with now is not yours." [John 8:57-58], [Matthew 15:14], [John 4:16-18]

She said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet. We know the Messiah's coming. We're looking for Him. And when He comes, He will tell us these kind of things."
He said, "I'm he."
She said, "That's good enough for me."
No presuming. She didn't come in, say, "Say, you Doctors of Divinity, I would like to take you all in a Scriptural argument." She said, "I'm presuming nothing. Come, see a Man that's told me the things I've done. Isn't this the very Christ?" That's it. She didn't have to presume, venture out without authority. She had authority. She had Scriptural authority to believe it.
"Oh, woman, you don't know. You don't belong to our school. You don't belong to any of these organizations."
She said, "I don't care what you say. I know what THUS SAITH THE LORD is. They said He will be a prophet, and there He is." Amen. She had Scriptural authority. She didn't presume.
"What school did this come from?"
"It come from the Bible." That's right. Oh, sure. [John 4:19, 25-26]

Matthew goes over, and says to Peter, "Peter, I want to ask you something. Did not our Lord tell us to wait up here, come up, and He was going to send the promise of the Father upon us?"
"Oh, sure. Yeah." Peter said, "That's right. What do you think, Mark?"
Mark, "Oh, sure. He said that. Yep. He said He was going to do it."
"Well, brethren, we've been up here nine days. You know, the other day I had a funny feeling. You know, I just kinda believe that... Don't you think that we ought not to wait any longer? I presume we've already got it, 'cause He told us to wait here. Well, here... I believe... We've done been here nine days. So I suppose we might as well go on with our ministry. I presume we've already got it, because we obeyed Him."

It's always the leaders that gets the people out of the will of God. It was Korah. Not... It was Korah, that uninspired leader, that said, "Hey, Moses tries to think he's the only holy man. Why, we've got as much holy men here; we've got groups out here. Didn't God put the spirit of prophecy upon all these people? Took it off of Moses and put it on here. So we'll just listen to this group. Moses thinks he's something."
God told Moses, "Separate yourself from him. I'll--I'll sink him and his group, his whole organization." Right. Moses was God's leader. Moses was vindicated to be that leader; all didn't listen to him perished.
Jesus was God's Leader. The Holy Ghost is His Leader. And all that don't obey the Holy Ghost, Who wrote this Bible, will perish. Amen. [Numbers 16:16-22]

No. They didn't do that. They knowed that Isaiah 28:11 said, "Precept must be upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Hold fast to that what's good. For with stammering lips and other tongues will I speak to this people. And this is the sabbath keeping, the rest that cause the weary..."
They knowed that Scripture must be applied no matter how long they waited, or what they did. They wasn't presuming nothing. They was waiting for the Scripture to be fulfilled.
They knowed that Joel said... Listen at Peter jumped right out there--and a few minutes later... Then the very next day he preached on Joel. Joel said, "And it shall come to pass (Joel 2:28) in the last days that I'll pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Upon My handmaids and maidservants will I pour out My Spirit. I'll show signs in the heaven above, and wonders in the earth below, fire and pillars of smoke, and vapor. It shall come to pass before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." [Isaiah 28:9-13], [Joel 2:28]

Today, we just take the creed, a sensation, a little smoke or fire, or some little sensation. Somebody say, "Glory to God. We got it. Hallelujah. See oil in my hand? Look up here." Oh, goodness. Look at your head, what kind of a shape it is in. I didn't say that to be smart. Excuse me. Forgive me. I didn't mean... I oughtn't to have said that. Something said to me, "Don't you say it." Let it alone. "If the blind leads the blind, they'll fall in the ditch." , [Matthew 15:14]

"You don't believe then in speaking in tongues?" Sure, I believe it. That's not it. I'm a missionary. I've seen them drink blood out of a human skull, and speak in tongues, and call on the devil. Certainly. Oh, yeah. My mother... We just buried her recently. She was a half Indian. I've been in the camps, and watched the witch doctors speak in tongues, and lay a pencil down, and it raise up and write in unknown tongues. Certainly. Don't tell me that's it. Oh, no. Mercy, goodness.
Some of the people that speak in tongues claim they got the Holy Ghost, and deny half of His Word, and sometimes all of His power. The Holy Ghost will bear record of His Word. How can the Holy Ghost tell you to do something, then turn back around, say, "Well, it's all right. Just go ahead and do this other." Won't do it. He didn't do that with Eve. He didn't do it at the beginning. If He done it now and didn't do it then, then He's unjust, because of all this suffering, when we'd have been here anyhow.

But that predestinated Word of God laying out yonder will bring that predestinated one. When He speaks, he will come from the earth to the glory yonder. Hallelujah. No wonder Job, "I know my Redeemer liveth. Last days He will stand on the earth. Though the skin worms destroy this body, he will speak and I'll answer. He will call, and I'll answer him." Sure. Amen. (Where can I stop?) [Job 19:25-26]

"Don't make any difference." It does.
"Well, I do this. It don't make any difference whether I dress this way or that." The Bible says it does. "It don't make any difference whether I do this, or that." The Bible says it does. There you are. Better leave it off. Let the teachers say that then. All right. [Acts 19:2]

You got blood in your hand? You might have that, and then turn around, and deny the Word of God, and say you got the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost will say "Amen" to every Word, 'cause It wrote the Word. It is the Word. Sure. Stop presuming. Wait till all that temper, sin, and things is gone away from you, so God can fill you up.

That's what the people thinks today. "Oh, we're going to have a revival. We want to see a revival in our age. All... You all make your confessions. We want--we want more stones. We want this, that, or the other. We--we want decisions to be made."
What is it? How you going to have a revival upon that, when you're sowing Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian seed, and denying the Seed of God, the Word? Jesus said the Word is a Seed, the Bible. God's Word is the Seed. How you going to bring forth a Bible church with a denominational seed? [Exodus 3:6-7]

Say, "I shouted, Brother Branham. I danced in the Spirit. I spoke in tongues." I believe in those things too. But what kind of a fruit is it bearing? "By their fruits you shall know them." The fruit of the Spirit is the Word of God manifesting itself: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, patience, faith. Faith in what? The Word. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word. Got to do it. Sure. [Matthew 7:16]

"I am the God of Abraham. I'm the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (called him his prince name, renamed him). I have heard the cries of my people. I've seen their afflictions by the taskmasters. I remember My promised Word." Hallelujah. There you are. Glory. He still remembers His promised Word. "I will restore, saith the Lord, all that the denominational bugs, and crickets, and palmerworms and cankerworms and caterpillars has eat up--all their denominational isms and creeds and things that they've eat up. I remember My Word, and I'm come down amidst the people. I will restore, saith the Lord." [Exodus 3:6-7]

Don't presume it's all right because you had a sensation. Take inventory of ourself this morning. Look around and see what we believe. See if we... If God said a certain thing if we'd tally with it. "Well," you say, "I'll be put out of my church if I did this or did that." Well, which is more to you? Your God or your church? Don't presume without an experience.
Someone said to me not long ago, said, "Brother Branham, don't you believe in purgatory?
I said, "Sure."
"Oh, I see you're Catholic."
I said, "Yeah." "Catholic" means "universal." I'm a great Pentecostal Catholic of the original church.

That's a lie. Notice. The church never begin at Rome. I'll sanction with the man: let the church go back where it started from: Pentecost. Glory. Go back to where you started from. That's the right...?... for He's going to restore it. Sure, your denominations are going back to Rome where they come from. But hallelujah. God's going to restore Pentecost, back to the faith of the--of the fathers. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His Blood has washed away each stain.
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His Blood has washed away each stain.
Each stain of unbelief. Sitting together in heavenly places the Holy Spirit through a person wouldn't harm you for nothing. How could I harm God's children? But yield yourself and see the Word come forth. It's the Circumciser, cuts to the heart, knows exactly what you're thinking of, and produces it right through the same vessels. Amen.
I will praise Him, I will praise Him,
Praise the Lamb for unbelievers slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His Blood has washed away each stain.
Praise the Lamb for unbelievers slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His Blood has washed away each stain.

But you know what? According to God, I've got under my holding this morning--this morning, in His sight a greater than that. I've got the purchase of His Blood. That's what He shed His Blood for, to purchase you. How much the hand that can I see sin begin creeping in and--and contaminate. Oh, no, no, I can't do it. I've got to shove them things away. Cut it away. This is it. Stay with the Word, brother. You love Him?

I believe that God's going to have a church, and believe you're part of that church. And I love you with godly love. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will let that Word be interpreted in the Spirit that it was meant for, as it goes out to you.
Now, I give you your pastor. Now, if you can, you come back tonight, and be with us again tonight. Be at the baptism this afternoon over at brother's house. Come here, Brother Parker. Excuse me for calling your first name, but they said Peter, James, John, so forth. God bless you, Brother Parker.