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  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:blogger='http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225</id><updated>2024-03-05T10:14:25.879+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Brothers! Let&#39;s Stand in the Gap!! - An intercessory prayer movement by Men of all nations</title><subtitle type='html'>The official page of the international intercessory prayer movement (and Facebook Group) - &quot;BROTHERS STANDING IN THE GAP!&quot;</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default?redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>24</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-2726013293138642644</id><published>2009-07-03T19:21:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2009-07-03T19:23:23.145+01:00</updated><title type='text'>The Complete Man  - *Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose</title><content type='html'>*Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose is a pastor and trustee of The Vine Branch Ministries, Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. In addition to being a successful pastor and businessman, Pastor Bamgbose is also mentor and life coach, having served in various positions at both local and international leves in the Jaycees International.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When we talk about complete men, what are we talking about? Complete Men are everything that men, real men should be. A complete man is a man who is dignified enough to attract others to God. The essence of being complete as a man is to show forth God’s praise. God declares in Isaiah 43:21 that these “people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;G. Wright Doyle, writing in his book, Jesus: The Complete Man writes that as we go in search of the &quot;ideal&quot; man….it is pertinent to ask: “What does it mean to be a real man? One who can command both respect and affection? A complete man is the person who accomplishes worthy goals without ruining others or losing his soul”. Doyle goes further to assert that “we see too many &quot;macho&quot; types who swagger through life with bravado, but with hollow hearts and confused minds. Others are kind and sensitive, but lack the strength to lead with purpose and passion. Far too many men are obsessed with their work, their play, or their pleasures. Meanwhile, the women around them long for someone who is caring, confident, and competent. Where can we find a man who has it all, a well-rounded man who combines all the qualities we look for in a leader and a lover?” The book, JESUS: The Complete Man presents us with such a model. For almost two thousand years, Jesus’ influence has spread around the world. In almost every country, men and women acknowledge him not only as the perfect pattern of human goodness but also as the only saviour from sin and death.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To be a complete man is to be like Jesus in every respect; after all, Jesus told us to imitate him. To be complete is to have purpose, passion and be sensitive, caring, confident and competent. Becoming a complete man is a process that requires diligence and requires the following qualities which can be summarized as Dependence, Devotion and Development&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. A complete man is someone who is not independent on himself or his abilities but is completely dependent on God for everything. Dependency on God may seem like an old fashioned idea in this day and age where we have been taught to be self-conscious and self-reliant. But the ways and ideas of God’s kingdom are different. To be complete in Christ requires absolute dependency on God and His Will. When we are dependent on God’s will we would become complete in Christ.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You are the best you when you can absolutely depend on God’s will; that is when you find your life’s purpose in Christ. This is a very important issue that cannot be ignored in the process of becoming a complete man. Colossians 4:12 says through labouring in prayers we can “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As we read from Colossians 2: 6 – 10 this issue of dependency poignantly comes alive. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from being dependent on God, complete men depend on God’s servants and ministers. God’s servants are His messengers and they can be used as divine vessels to transmit His plans to us. Real men do not act as if they know it all. They realize their need for competent, humble and submissive ministers of God who they know are doing exactly what God tells to do. Submission to authority of a church, rather than demean a man, actually affirm him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No man can be complete without being inter-dependent. Interdependency is an acknowledgement that there is something that everyman needs but does not have; something which the other man has. When the strong man doesn’t have the weak man in partnership, he is not complete.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. Devotion is another attribute of a complete man. A complete man is devoted to God’s word. The scriptures are his backbone. 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says aptly: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the same vein, the writer of Joshua 1:8 had the complete man in mind when he penned these words: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The complete man is also devoted to his call, work or ministry. Though sometimes it would not be easy or gratifying, the man who will become a complete man in this life understands that he can learn and profit from his trials and afflictions as the scriptures enjoins in James 1:2 – 4: “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing”. Faithfulness to his calling or his ministry makes the complete man, a man approved by God. Luke 16:10 -12 “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from being devoted to God’s word, and the ministry God has given to him, a complete man is also devoted to his home, his wife and his children. At home, a complete man is a father, a lover and a friend who understands how to balance his devotion to his family with his affection for God. As good husbands, complete men understand that they must dwell with their wives “with understanding, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”1 Peter 3:7 and in the same vein they “do not provoke (their) children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Success is not complete without a successor. The man who will be complete understands this principle very well and it shows in the way he relates with and disciplines his children. It also reflects on the way he relates with others – people in the church, in the community and in the society at large.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Completeness is a process; it is not destination but a journey. 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. No man is ever content with his state or condition. Every man who desires to be complete always aspires to be better. To be a complete man is to be a man who is constantly in development. A Christian should never be out of tune – mentally, spiritually, physically and even socially. It is of no use to be heavenly conscious but earthly useless. We need to continuously, and constantly develop ourselves to remain relevant to society and to God. We need to be diligent in studying, reading and other exercises. Reading remains one of the good ways to develop both mentally and spiritually. But it requires diligence. 2 Timothy 2:15 says – “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness”. We also need to watch what we eat and how we spend our time, in particular, what we watch on TV. We need to watch our finances too. What are we spending our money on? Do we have the resources for the things that really matters? The whole point is to always be led by the Spirit of God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Completion is a process that never ends for a man. But a man can become complete in Christ, making him an asset to his family, his ministry and the society at large. It is my prayers that God shall make us all complete men (and women) in Jesus name. Amen&lt;br /&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;gwProxy&quot; type=&quot;hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;!--Session data--&gt;&lt;input onclick=&quot;jsCall();&quot; id=&quot;jsProxy&quot; type=&quot;hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;refHTML&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/2726013293138642644/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=2726013293138642644' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2726013293138642644'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2726013293138642644'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/07/complete-man-pastor-muyiwa-bamgbose.html' title='The Complete Man  - *Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-2104994234011949208</id><published>2009-07-03T19:20:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2009-07-03T19:21:19.767+01:00</updated><title type='text'>From Pit To The Peak</title><content type='html'>&quot;And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose&quot; (Rm 8:28).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Joseph was a dreamer, but dream-like potential needs to be tapped,developed and must pass through many processing stages before it can be translated to reality. What a paradox of life when Joseph who was to&lt;br /&gt;become great was disadvantaged as his life was mortgaged by his brothers.&lt;br /&gt;His life was not prized therefore he was sold for a cheap price.A great personality was reduced to a mere nonentity, his garment of many colours was parted, but his beautiful dream could not depart. It is integrity that leads to dignity not the way you dress to impress.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When God determines to do great thing, people that surround you will be blinded...they conspired to slay Joseph. They planned to stop divine purpose but they could only help to develop the stuff in Joseph&lt;br /&gt;for his topmost career. Joseph knew that with God there is no failure; sustainability of grace comes when one learns to maintain his composure in distress,then honour will be attained and retained.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In Egypt as a slave, he was a prosperous young man. He feared God as his master&#39;s wife delighted to blight his dreams. Joseph flee fornication! Many destinies are caged, wasted today because the prime&lt;br /&gt;minister to be have submitted his glory to his master&#39;s wife, prostitutes, girls of his daughters age...etc!. GREAT THINGS ARE ABORTED IF ONE CANNOT ABHOR SIN.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He suffered for righteousness sake, was imprisoned but he was still a prosperous man in the prison; dedicated, diligent, faithful and full of charity. Not only a dreamer but a proficient dream interpreter; right there in prison he was a problem solver. There is ability in disability, creativity in captivity. Where you are is not who you are if only you can have the right attitude. Someone said &quot;this life was not created to be a prison but designed to be a platform for creativity, an expression that is colourful and challenging and upon which you have many interludes and adventures -but always because they bring you joy&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From what happened to Joseph we can see that our enemies are not real detractors but TRACTORS that wheel us to the place of honour. They are caretakers that hold the future secured for us. Pharaoh&#39;s officer that Joseph interpreted dream for, forgot him. Until God remembers you no man can do you good. If this officer had remembered Joseph before pharaoh did what Joseph could have received was state pardon with no benefit but God&#39;s gift in Joseph moved him from personal to national level within the space of 13years. Pharaoh was puzzled by dreams which Joseph was called to interprete; when you carry solution to people&#39;s problem your value will be highly celebrated and appreciated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Joseph gave an astounding recommendation pharaoh was thrilled and made Joseph the prime minister: &quot;each man has his own vocation,the talent is the call&quot;. You cannot become what you are not worth.&quot;The difference between a champion and an average achiever is the ability to accept rejection and failure: the road to success is not without a puncture.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Are you a failure today? nobody to bail you from jail, no way to sail through? Wail not nor derail. Serve God with integrity of heart. He will bring you from pit to the peak. Brace up to face your goal. Power your way into the future, set the pace to blaze a new trail. Learn deep lesson from Joseph. His experience is your advantage.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Remain blessed&lt;br /&gt;BSTIG&lt;input id=&quot;gwProxy&quot; type=&quot;hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;!--Session data--&gt;&lt;input onclick=&quot;jsCall();&quot; id=&quot;jsProxy&quot; type=&quot;hidden&quot;&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;refHTML&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/2104994234011949208/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=2104994234011949208' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2104994234011949208'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2104994234011949208'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/07/from-pit-to-peak.html' title='From Pit To The Peak'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-4276236696974373088</id><published>2009-05-13T04:25:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2009-05-13T04:27:33.739+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Boasting in Weakness</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Boasting in Weakness: A treatise for Church Leaders&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;What does a godly church leader look like? I don’t mean is he old or young, clean shaven or with facial hair, wearing a suit and tie or having an open collar. But: How does he act within the church? What does he think of his own abilities? How does he respond when rebuked?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Last week: we started this discussion by drawing out four principles from 2 Corinthians 10:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;ul style=&quot;margin-top: 0in;&quot; type=&quot;disc&quot;&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s      servant leader shows forbearance, yet administers discipline;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s      servant leader uses spiritual weapons – the Word of God;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s      servant leader aims to build up the body, locally and to the ends of the      earth;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s      servant leader is called by God and commended by God.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Today we consider 2 Corinthians 11, where Paul continues and deepens this discussion. We will see that he contends that your very salvation may depend on the leaders you follow. We will see that the very characteristics Paul condemns are common in many churches today. And we will see that Paul gives us two additional descriptions of church leaders that are exceptionally valuable in today’s church culture.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;This is a long and somewhat complicated passage, so before we draw out principles, let me point out to you the overall flow of Paul’s argument. We’ll go through the text, highlighting the major sections, and making a few comments along the way. Then we’ll draw out three principles from the chapter as a whole.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h4&gt;The Flow of Paul’s Argument&lt;/h4&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Recall the situation. Although Paul planted the church in Corinth, opposition sprang up quickly. Some who called themselves true apostles, who had letters of recommendation from important people, accused Paul of not being an apostle at all. They declared, “He suffers too much – clearly God is not protecting him. And he’s always changing his mind, not following through on plans. Furthermore, he’s so unimpressive as a speaker – he needs to go study rhetoric! He really knows this, because he never even asks for money when he speaks!” &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;&quot;&gt;With that background, consider Paul’s words in verses 1-4:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;We might entitle this section: “Who you listen to matters!” They seemed to listen to Paul initially, but now they are in danger of being led astray, even as Eve was led astray. For these other teachers are indeed preaching a different gospel, a different Jesus, a different Spirit. To follow them is very dangerous – yet the Corinthians are putting up with these false teachers!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;In verses 5 to 15, Paul addresses two of the charges they have made against him: In verses 5 and 6, that he is not a good public speaker, and in verses 7-15, that he never asked for money from them.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Generally I have been using the English Standard Version as our text, but for verse 5 I substituted the New American Standard. For when speaking of “the most eminent apostles”, Paul refers not to his opponents, but to Peter, James, John, and the others. Only with this understanding does the flow of the argument make sense. Paul is therefore saying, “I am not a fancy speaker, but I know the apostolic truth, the true gospel, and &lt;i&gt;I have made this knowledge plain to you&lt;/i&gt;.” Thus he is emphasizing not the fact that he has knowledge, but that, whatever his communication flaws, he has given them this precious truth. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;So Paul is saying, “Rhetoric is unimportant. Truth is important. And I have given you the most important truth in the world: the apostolic truth of the gospel.”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Now for the second charge in 7-15:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God&#39;s gospel to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Paul’s opponents are saying, “He didn’t charge a thing! He didn’t even take up a collection! He himself knows his words aren’t worth anything!”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;How does Paul respond? &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Verse 7: “I did it to exalt you!” &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Verse 9: “I did it so as not to burden you!”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Verse 11: “I did it as evidence of love!”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Verses 12-15: “I continue not charging in order to distinguish myself from the false teachers. They disguise themselves as apostles, just as Satan disguises himself as an angel. Their end is hell.”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;So at this point Paul has said that who you listen to matters, and dealt with two objections:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;            “Paul is not a good public speaker.” He claims he spoke clearly enough to impart to them the true, apostolic knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;            “Paul charges nothing for his services.” He says this was the way he served them, this was the way he showed them love!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Having dealt with these two objections, now Paul says he reluctantly will use their technique of exalting themselves. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord&#39;s authority but as a fool. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of- I am speaking as a fool- I also dare to boast of that. 2 Corinthians 11:16-21&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Here Paul says, “They are very foolish to have a boastful confidence, to be proud of themselves in a worldly way. But please, given that you have foolishly listened to them – even though they are enslaving you! - bear with me as I act foolish like them.”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Having said that he would boast foolishly, in verses 22 and 23a he does so:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one- I am talking like a madman- &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;&quot;&gt;Do you see what Paul is boasting in, and why that is foolish? He first boasts in his &lt;i&gt;ancestry&lt;/i&gt;. He is a Hebrew, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham. But John the Baptist already showed that such boasting was nonsense: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;And do not presume to say to yourselves, &#39;We have Abraham as our father,&#39; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Matthew 3:9&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Ancestry means nothing. God can create descendants of Abraham any time He wishes.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Paul’s second foolish boast is that he is a great servant of Christ – a better servant than they are. Such boasting about who is a better servant, about who as accomplished more, is foolish. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;But when Paul continues writing, he no longer boasts foolishly. For the evidence he provides here does not concern pedigree or personal accomplishment but concerns his failures! Indeed, Paul now boasts of the &lt;i&gt;very suffering&lt;/i&gt; that his opponents have used against him:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one- I am talking like a madman- with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Paul was almost killed, he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked, he was always in danger, he was without sustenance, he was exposed to the elements, he was anxious for the welfare of the churches he planted. He is weak – and, indeed, his whole Christian life began with an act of weakness, his blindness. So he says, “I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” This is in marked contrast to the slick, professional, successful false apostles.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;So this is the overview of Paul’s argument. What principles about church leadership can we draw from this text?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h4&gt;1) God’s servant leaders know they are weak and incompetent on their own&lt;/h4&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Paul knows his weakness. That’s obvious in this text; he has also said this earlier:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;All God’s servants used greatly for His glory across all the ages of church history have known their weakness. Consider these words of William Carey, often called the father of modern missions: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;If after my removal any one should think it worth his while to write my Life, I will give you a criterion by which you may judge of its correctness. If he give me credit for being a plodder he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin-right: 0.5in;&quot;&gt;From John Piper I learned the use of the acronym APTAT every time I speak. Here John’s words on this tool for humility: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 12pt 0.5in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;&quot;A&quot; -I &lt;u&gt;acknowledge&lt;/u&gt; that apart from Christ I can do nothing of eternal value (John 15:5). I &lt;u&gt;acknowledge&lt;/u&gt; with Paul in Romans 7:18, &quot;In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;&quot;P&quot; - I &lt;u&gt;pray&lt;/u&gt;. I &lt;u&gt;pray&lt;/u&gt; with Paul in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 that Christ would make me abound in love. I &lt;u&gt;pray&lt;/u&gt; that grace might reign in my life through righteousness (Romans 5:21). I &lt;u&gt;pray&lt;/u&gt; that God would produce in me the obedience he demands (Hebrews 13:21; 2 Thessalonians 1:11).&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;T&quot; - I &lt;u&gt;trust&lt;/u&gt;. This is the key. . . . The ongoing work of the Spirit to enable us to love as we ought happens only as we trust the promises of God (Galatians 5:6). So by faith I lay hold on a promise like Isaiah 41:10: &quot;Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.&quot; I &lt;u&gt;trust&lt;/u&gt; that as I act it will not be I but the power of Christ in me and me only clinging to him in faith.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt; &quot;A&quot; - I &lt;u&gt;act&lt;/u&gt; in obedience to God&#39;s word. But, O, what a world of difference now between such an act and what Paul calls works of law. The acknowledgment that I am helpless, the prayer for divine enablement, the trust that Christ himself is my help and strength--these transform the act so that it is a fruit of the Spirit not a work of the flesh.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0in 0.5in 0.0001pt;&quot;&gt; &quot;T&quot; - Finally, when the deed is done . . . I &lt;u&gt;thank&lt;/u&gt; God for whatever good may have come of my life (Colossians 1:3-5). I thank him for conquering at least in some measure my selfishness and pride. I give him the glory (1 Peter 4:11).&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s servant leaders know their weakness.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h4&gt;2) God’s servant leaders boast in that weakness; they don’t hide it&lt;/h4&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;In verse 30, Paul says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;What is our natural tendency? To hide our weaknesses! To pretend we are better than we are! To act strong, to pretend we have our act together and know exactly what to do!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;I try to accomplish this in part by not only doing APTAT privately, but expressing my weakness and lack of ability regularly in public prayers prior to preaching. I encourage you to do something similar. This is not false humility. Rather, this is a recognition of the real state of affairs.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;I face this temptation particularly when people outside the church ask me about Desiring God Church. “How’s your church going?” I feel the urge to brag, to say we’ve got our act together, to compare us to other churches. But I try to remember to say,      “God is bringing together a dedicated group of believers.”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;All leaders have weaknesses; sometimes those weaknesses cross the line into sin. When that happens, leaders must be willing to listen to rebuke. Many, many leaders refuse to do this, often arguing that if they publicly acknowledge the sin, it will hurt the church. My friends, we do not advance the cause of Jesus by disregarding His commands! Paul says explicitly, &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;Those [elders] who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. (1 Timothy 5:20 NIV)&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;If you ever believe that I, or any future elder, is guilty of a public sin, seek that elder out: Raise the question. Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe you’re right. In either case, you need to raise the issue with the man concerned. Consider these Proverbs:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;Proverbs 9:8&lt;/span&gt; Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;Proverbs 25:12&lt;/span&gt; Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;Proverbs 12:1&lt;/span&gt; Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s servant leaders know weakness, and boast in it. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h4&gt;3) Your Salvation may depend on whom you follow&lt;/h4&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;&quot;&gt;Look again at verses 2 and 3: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;2 I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Paul draws a parallel between Satan leading Adam and Eve astray in the Garden of Eden and what is happening in Corinth. Adam’s sin led to the fall of mankind. The implication here is that if the Corinthians follow these self-appointed leaders, they could fall similarly. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;In November of 2000, the night before I left to being three months at Bethlehem Baptist, I had a dream that John Piper was a fake. In my dream I arrived in Minneapolis and over the next week discovered that he was really a selfish, self-seeking person. I woke and lay awake in bed, asking, “What if all the supposed God-centeredness of Bethlehem is just a façade? Having turned my back on my career, having left my family to study, what if I find out that this church is all about self-aggrandizement? Even worse – what if he is a fake, and I &lt;i&gt;don’t&lt;/i&gt; find out?” &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;That night, I had to do what we all must do when faced with doubts: remember what we know. Recall to mind those things we know are true. And I had plenty of evidence that John Piper was not self-seeking – so I went back to sleep. And the following months at Bethlehem were wonderful and life-changing.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;But the question is a good one. We &lt;i&gt;should &lt;/i&gt;take great care in choosing the leaders we follow. We should be attuned to warning signs, indicating something may be amiss. Here are three such warning signs, in addition to false doctrine:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;a) Does the leader encourage you to search the Scripture and follow them, or does he demand that you follow him? &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;b) Does the atmosphere within the church encourage Scriptural questions about what is taught, or do members within the church stifle an questions, saying something like, “Don’t disagree with the Lord’s anointed”?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;c) How does the leader respond when confronted with sin? Is he repentant and willing to face the consequences, or does he say something like, “Yes, I’ve sinned, but if you talk about that with anyone else, you’re worse than me!”&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;In the Desiring God Community Church vision and values statement, we say: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoBodyTextIndent3&quot; style=&quot;margin: 12pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;&quot;&gt;Our leaders are not lords. We value leaders who are servants, who are transparent, who are accountable, who are humble, who live a modest lifestyle, and who have a team approach to ministry.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Thus all elders at DGCC will agree that our goal is to get the congregation to search the Scriptures, not to agree with us; to consider carefully any appearance of sin in our lives, and to approach us with any questions; to submit to public rebuke for any public sins. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;So salvation is at stake when you are deciding whom to follow. Choose carefully. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;h4&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h4&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;God’s servant leaders know they are weak and incompetent on their own. God’s servant leaders boast in their weakness, rather than hide it. All God’s people must take care when choosing leaders to follow. Their salvation may depend on that choice.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Ask these questions of yourself: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;ul style=&quot;margin-top: 0in;&quot; type=&quot;disc&quot;&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Who      are you following?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Do you      know and acknowledge your own weakness?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;Are      you pretending that you have everything together, but don’t?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;As believers in Christ, we are free to admit our weaknesses, for our standing before God does not depend on our performance. You don’t need to pretend that all is ok when it is not. Like Paul, you can boast in your weakness – for God is your strength, and he is worth boasting about! As Isaiah write:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;When He strengthens us, we will be strong indeed, to live by His grace and for His glory. May we all live to this end, from the oldest leader to the youngest child.&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;div class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;margin: 5pt 0in; text-align: center;&quot; align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;  &lt;hr align=&quot;center&quot; size=&quot;2&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;   &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;This sermon was preached at Desiring God Community Church in Charlotte, NC on 3/7/04. Scott Hafemann’s &lt;i&gt;The NIV Application Commentary: 2 Corinthians&lt;/i&gt; (Zondervan, 2000) was particularly helpful on the structure of the passage. The John Piper quote is from his sermon of 3/13/83, available at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper83/031383m.htm&quot;&gt;www.soundofgrace.com/piper83/031383m.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;Copyright © 2004, Thomas C. Pinckney. This data file is the sole property of Thomas C. Pinckney. Please feel free to copy it in written form, but only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, posted on the internet, copied for resale or incorporated in any products offered for sale, without the written permission of Thomas C. Pinckney, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;mailto:tpinckney@williams.edu&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;tpinckney@williams.edu&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;, Desiring God Community Church, PO Box 62099, Charlotte, NC 28262&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/4276236696974373088/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=4276236696974373088' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/4276236696974373088'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/4276236696974373088'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/05/boasting-in-weakness.html' title='Boasting in Weakness'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-2899399539586407454</id><published>2009-05-13T04:22:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2009-05-13T04:23:57.014+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Prayer That Fuels Your Attitude By Sam Glenn</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot; class=&quot;style1&quot;&gt;Prayer That Fuels Your Attitude&lt;br /&gt;          &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;By Sam Glenn&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/span&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;I had just spent three hours in the emergency room, yet could not sleep the entire night because I was so filled with God&#39;s joy. A few hours before, life had been as good as it could get. I was on stage speaking to about 13,000 people, and then just like that, I was being rushed to the hospital. I had just walked off the stage, sat on a stool and lost my balance. I fell backward, tried to catch myself, but it was too late. My shoulder had ripped away and my body went into shock. I couldn&#39;t move, and the pain was literally the worst I had ever known. &lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;When your body goes into shock, you lose your sight and your heartbeat gets weak—or at least that was my experience. As we waited for the ambulance to arrive, a woman put her hand on my face and said, &quot;Just rest right here.&quot; It was the most gentle touch I have known in the midst of physical pain. It was the only thing that brought me comfort.&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;The next few hours were filled with pain, until they got my arm back into place. But something happened that is so hard to explain. It was like the wind. I can&#39;t explain it, but I feel it and know it was there. I felt the joy of the Lord. I can&#39;t explain the situation and don&#39;t want to rationalize it, but God got my attention. I was humbled, but in the moment, I felt His amazing strength. &lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;The other day, on Chicago Talk Radio, I was asked, &quot;Sam, how does prayer play a role for someone who is going through all these hard times?&quot;&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;My response was: &quot;Here is what I know. God is not so much in the business of changing the circumstance as He is in the business of changing us for the circumstance. When my body wants me to pray, &#39;Lord, take this away,&#39; I have learned to pray, &#39;God, make me bigger and stronger to overcome this.&#39;&quot;&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;Whether you have a great attitude or one that is idle and can&#39;t get above the bar of average, we all need something to add fuel to our outlook. At the end of the day, I have to recharge my cell phone for it to be effective and do what it was meant to do. The same goes for us. As a Christ follower, our attitude needs to be fueled to get through the adversity that we face daily. Every day our attitude will be tested. That is a given, so here are some points to remember to keep your attitude fueled by faith: &lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;1. &quot;Be transformed by the renewing of your mind&quot; (Rom. 12:2).&lt;/b&gt; Renewing your mind involves resting. It requires feeding on God&#39;s Word. God&#39;s Word is living and active, and it can empower your attitude to be joyful no matter what you are going through.&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. You are not a victim; you are just on a journey called &quot;life.&quot;&lt;/b&gt; Nobody wants adversity, but God is greater than whatever you go through. &quot;For Scripture says to Pharaoh, &#39;I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth&#39;&quot; (Rom. 9:17).&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;3. &quot;Do not dwell on the past&quot; (Is. 40:18).&lt;/b&gt; You cannot change the picture behind you, but you can determine the picture you walk toward in front of you.&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. Change what you think about, and you change what comes about. &lt;/b&gt;Create a positive anchor for your attitude. &quot;Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things&quot; (Phil. 4:8).&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;Attitude drives our actions and creates results. The question is, what is fueling your attitude?&lt;/p&gt;          &lt;p class=&quot;style3&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sam Glenn, &quot;The Authority on Attitude,&quot; is a sought-after motivational speaker, author and workplace consultant. He is also the founder of Attitude Digest magazine, a quarterly print publication and online community aimed at inspiring those in the workplace and beyond (see &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.attitudedigest.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.attitudedigest.com&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.samglenn.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.samglenn.com&lt;/a&gt;). Sam got his start speaking for the Billy Graham Evangelical Association more than a decade ago.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/2899399539586407454/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=2899399539586407454' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2899399539586407454'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2899399539586407454'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/05/prayer-that-fuels-your-attitude-by-sam.html' title='Prayer That Fuels Your Attitude By Sam Glenn'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-3962164007724340909</id><published>2009-05-10T19:01:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2009-05-10T19:02:27.206+01:00</updated><title type='text'>The Thought of Him - Toyin Adesokan</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; style=&quot;text-align:center&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;mso-bidi-font-weight: normal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:14.0pt;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;The Thought of Him&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; style=&quot;text-align:center&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;Toyin Adesokan&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; style=&quot;text-align:center&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;I am a man, that is who I am but behind this definition lays many definitions. I am a son, a brother, a friend, a colleague, a husband, a father, a neighbour and a visionary leader.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;All these definitions come with responsibilities sometimes so enormous that I feel my head spin&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;Do not get me wrong, I do enjoy being all these but at times I am weighed down by many of the expectations, some of which does not really make sense to me and yet I am meant to fulfil them.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;These are not all I battle with; as there is also the pressure for me to succeed, to arrive and build an empire for myself. This I find rather challenging. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;I must confess I desire to be always on top of my game; to win medals, plagues, achieve feats and gain recognitions from my generation and those yet unborn, Infact I want my name to be written in gold and to leave my footprints in the sands of time.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;These responsibilities and desires sometimes push me from the very person I know, acknowledge and recognise to be the most important person in my life. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;I tell myself I need to start making more time for Him. I need to make Him my top priority. Yes, I even agree that He should occupy most of my thoughts, above all these other thoughts.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;So I sit here today, I am wondering whether these other men feel this way too. Whether they feel that above all the relationships, above all the expectations, above all the challenges and even above all the personal goals, the thought of Him must get us on our knees to pray, the thought of Him must get us to study His words, the thought of Him must make us treat all the people in our lives with love and respect and the thought of Him must drive us to make godly choices even when all around us dictates otherwise.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:&amp;quot;Tw Cen MT&amp;quot;&quot;&gt;This then is my prayer for the Helmsmen Fellowship, that as the fellowship is being inaugurated today, in the name of Jesus, all men present and those that will join later , will break free from all thoughts that beclouds our minds and allow the thought of God Almighty to be what directs what we do, think and say. So that each of us may boldly say like Solomon that to fear God and obey His commandments, that indeed is the whole duty of man. Amen&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/3962164007724340909/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=3962164007724340909' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3962164007724340909'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3962164007724340909'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/05/thought-of-him-toyin-adesokan.html' title='The Thought of Him - Toyin Adesokan'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-113647863629484854</id><published>2009-05-08T01:47:00.003+01:00</published><updated>2009-05-08T02:14:18.005+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Changes in BSTIG</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;It is with pleasure that i announce the first in the series of appointments for &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Brothers Standing in the Gap! (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_0&quot;&gt;BSTIG&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;!)&lt;/span&gt;. Effective from May 1, 2009, &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Ms &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_1&quot;&gt;Adetutu&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_2&quot;&gt;Audu&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; a journalist with &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;The News&lt;/span&gt;, a leading Nigerian Newspaper would assume the position of  &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Regional Team Leader&lt;/span&gt; overseeing the operations of &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_3&quot;&gt;BSTIG&lt;/span&gt; in South West Nigeria.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;As &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_4&quot;&gt;RTL&lt;/span&gt;, Ms &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_5&quot;&gt;Audu&lt;/span&gt; would oversee the affairs of &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_6&quot;&gt;BSTIG&lt;/span&gt;! in Nigeria which include organizing and coordinating the activities of the movement; working with our members, partners and other ministries; publicizing the activities of the movement and managing media outreaches of the ministry. She will also work in ensuring that the editorial aspects of all contents are suitable for publication. Other responsibilities include keeping a database of all membership, partnership and alliances of the movement.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;As a believer herself, Ms &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_7&quot;&gt;Audu&lt;/span&gt; is eminently qualified to serve in this position. She currently serves in a leadership position in her church and is able to effectively maintain a weekly column in her organisation&#39;s tabloid amongst other things. Her faith in the power of prayer and her  commitment to ministerial excellence are her strongest virtues.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;She needs all our prayers to make a success of this position, which she is taking up as a volunteer without any pecuniary reward or salary. She is absolutely resolute that God is involved in this project and with that conviction, i am asking that we lift her up in prayers to God to imbue her with the wisdom and grace to excel in this assignment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On behalf of all the Men (and Women, of course) of &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_8&quot;&gt;BSTIG&lt;/span&gt;!, please join me in welcoming on board our &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_9&quot;&gt;RTL&lt;/span&gt;, Ms &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_10&quot;&gt;Adetutu&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_11&quot;&gt;Audu&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_12&quot;&gt;Gbenga&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_13&quot;&gt;Shadare&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;blsp-spelling-error&quot; id=&quot;SPELLING_ERROR_14&quot;&gt;BSTIG&lt;/span&gt;! International&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/113647863629484854/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=113647863629484854' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/113647863629484854'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/113647863629484854'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2009/05/changes-in-bstig.html' title='Changes in BSTIG'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-6585958251550306232</id><published>2008-11-22T01:45:00.002+00:00</published><updated>2008-11-22T01:47:05.273+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Healing From Life&#39;s Scars by Jamie Buckingham</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;clear: right;&quot;&gt;This is one of the finest pieces i have ever read. I am glad to share it with you my dear friends.&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy. Gbenga&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&quot;In his book A Few Things I&#39;ve Learned Since I Knew It All, Jerry Cook tells the  story of his open-heart surgery. When he had his heart attack, Jerry was pastor  of a large church in Oregon that believed in and practiced healing. During his  recovery, a woman in his church asked him, &quot;Were you embarrassed to have a heart  attack?&quot;  &lt;p&gt;Jerry replied that he was not embarrassed. But the woman was. She was unable  to handle the totality of life&#39;s experiences--including the fact that pain and  suffering are real.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Later, after he recovered, Jerry had a visit from a man who was fearfully  facing the prospect of his own bypass surgery. &quot;I want to see your scars,&quot; the  man said shyly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;ad_box&quot; style=&quot;float: right; clear: both; padding-top: 10px; margin-top: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script src=&quot;http://this.content.served.by.adshuffle.com/p/kl/46/799/r/12/4/8/ast0k3n/TQOdArH+wds4udsavzL4+w==/view.js&quot; type=&quot;text/javascript&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt; &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://this.content.served.by.adshuffle.com/p/kl/46/799/r/12/4/8/1613507781/v/576460817793034329/pl/2740/b/244457/c/276125/click.html&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;http://this.content.served.by.adshuffle.com/p/kl/46/799/r/12/4/8/1613507781/v/576460817793034329/pl/2740/b/244457/c/276125/view.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;250&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jerry took off his shirt. The man gently traced with his finger the violet  scar that ran vertically down Jerry&#39;s chest.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The man went on, &quot;The doctor says the most painful part of the operation will  be the surgery on my legs. They&#39;re going to take out veins from my calf to use  in the heart bypass. Looking up at Jerry, he asked, &quot;Can I see your legs?&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jerry rolled up his pants. The man got on his knees. Without shame, he put  his hands on Jerry&#39;s legs, touching the scars with his finger. When he rose to  his feet there were tears in his eyes.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Thank you. Now I have hope.&quot; Seeing and touching the scars gave him hope for  survival.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Easter night Jesus appeared to His disciples. They were frightened and  thought He was a ghost.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Look at my hands and my feet,&quot; He said. &quot;Touch Me and see&quot; (Luke 24:39,  NIV).  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thomas was not in the room that night. Later he wanted to see His scars.  Again Jesus obliged: &quot;Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand  and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe&quot; (John 20:27).  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jesus understands our need to see, to touch the scars. When we do we know we  can survive.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sometimes our lives get scarred. And sometimes we&#39;re embarrassed because of  the scars. We think they are ugly--evidence of imperfection.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scars, though, are not evidence of imperfection; they are evidence of  healing. Scars glorify God, who has brought us through.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I remember the afternoon I stood in our kitchen listening to our pregnant and  discouraged daughter talking to her mother. It was Sandy&#39;s first baby, and she  was afraid. In high school she had been president of her class, homecoming  queen, the belle of all the balls. Now she was married, and although still  beautiful, her stomach was expanding far beyond what she thought was possible.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;I&#39;m afraid I&#39;ll just explode,&quot; she told her mother tearfully--reaching out  to hold her huge, awkward tummy.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;No,&quot; Jackie said, &quot;you won&#39;t explode. Your skin just stretches.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Then I&#39;ll go through life with baggy skin,&quot; she wailed.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jackie chuckled: &quot;Everything, including your skin, returns to normal. But  there may be scars.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I stood to one side listening to this remarkable conversation. Marveling in  the miracle of pregnancy and birth. Marveling even more in Jackie&#39;s ability to  put her baby daughter&#39;s fears to rest.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then Jackie did something absolutely wonderful. She reached down and pulled  up her blouse--all the way to her chest. She then pulled down her slacks,  exposing her abdomen. After five children, she&#39;s scarred.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Stretch marks,&quot; she smiled, running her fingers along the little ridges. &quot;I  call them love marks.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reaching out her hand toward Sandy, she said tenderly, &quot;Touch them.&quot;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hesitatingly, Sandy reached out her hand. Gently she let her fingers trace  the scars.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;They look funny,&quot; Jackie said. &quot;But every time I see them I think of  you--and Bonnie and Tim and Robin and Bruce.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Pregnancy has left me scarred. But my love for you makes it all worthwhile.&quot;   &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most Christians are scarred. We&#39;re not proud of the scars, but we&#39;re not  ashamed either. When you&#39;re hurt, I pray God will send someone who will take  your finger and let you trace their scars. Then after your scars are healed--and  praise God they will heal--do the same for someone else. Scars are not  ugly--they are evidence of God&#39;s healing&quot;.  &lt;/p&gt;Jamie Buckingham (1932-1992) wrote a column for  &lt;i&gt;Charisma&lt;/i&gt; from 1979 until his death.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/6585958251550306232/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=6585958251550306232' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6585958251550306232'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6585958251550306232'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/11/healing-from-lifes-scars-by-jamie.html' title='Healing From Life&#39;s Scars by Jamie Buckingham'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-7535769155414984069</id><published>2008-11-22T01:44:00.000+00:00</published><updated>2008-11-22T01:45:05.372+00:00</updated><title type='text'>UPDATE</title><content type='html'>Dear Friends,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You will observe that in the last few weeks there has been complete silence from my end on this platform. Some of my friends called and others got in touch to know what was happening. The truth of the matter is that so many things happened but all things we were working (and indeed worked) together for good to the praise and glory of HIS name!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People were prayed for and got healed. Testimonies continued to abound and many counsellings and deliverance sessions restored joy, hope and peace to many.  God manifested HIS power and glory in unprecedented manner and, we saw, and experienced once again, HIS great benevolence.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The truth of the matter was that in the unfolding cadence of divine love and grace, the attention and commitment that this wonderful movement  required were lacking and after several months it has become needful to move forward with a new structure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We now need volunteers and willing members who would like to serve in some capacities that would aid in the transition of the group into the next phase that the Lord is taking us. God gave us a mandate to be present everywhere in the globe where our members are located. We shall soon be moving ahead to have a major PRAYER DAY - a ONE DAY EVENT in some cities next year. London, Cape Town, Chicago and/or New York and also Lagos are already planned in the year 2009.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To do this would require the support, participation and commitment of many members. I know there are many capable and committed people out there and i would like to receive your expression of interests as well as your ideas in the next coming months. For those who would like to send in their suggestions via email please send your mails to:&lt;br /&gt;brotherinthegap@gmail.com or gbengadare@gmail.com.&lt;br /&gt;My phone numbers would also be available for those who would like to speak with me. In the meantime, i appreciate the support of everyone and look forward to your sustained commitment in the spirit as well as your prayers and love in the days ahead.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God bless you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Gbenga Shadare&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/7535769155414984069/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=7535769155414984069' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/7535769155414984069'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/7535769155414984069'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/11/update.html' title='UPDATE'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-8437378925167155347</id><published>2008-09-16T23:52:00.003+01:00</published><updated>2008-09-16T23:57:31.437+01:00</updated><title type='text'>National Day of Prayer for Nigeria</title><content type='html'>On the 1st of October, Nigeria will be 48. Due to this I was led to start the first Nigeria’s National Day of Prayer (NANDP). The reason for this National Day of Prayer (which will continue every 1st of October), as I was told is for personal repentance, intercession for every sector of the nation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The theme for this first National Day of Prayer is “REVIVE US FOR FLIGHT”. Us here means we as individuals and Nigeria as a whole. What we are going to do is to set at least one hour of our time on the 1st of October to pray for revival. You might want to add fasting to it. We will choose a particular hour to ask for repentance on our part and for Nigeria at large. Also, we will pray for revival in the entire sector of the Nigeria’ government.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Text: I Sam 3:11&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- God is set to change Nigeria from the commonplace to the uncommon and from the ordinary to the extraordinary.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This prayer for revival will not end on the 1st, it will continue throughout the month of October.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is a sacrifice on our own part. We shall all see our prayers come to a reality. We will be praying for revival for a group of seven different things as listed below:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Thursday (Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30): Prayer for the President, the Governors, the local government chairman.&lt;br /&gt;- Friday (Oct 3, 10, 17, 24, 31): Prayer for the Federal Ministries and State Ministries.&lt;br /&gt;- Saturday (Oct 4, 11, 18, 25): Prayer for the Education Sector, Media Sector and the Economy Sector.&lt;br /&gt;- Sunday (Oct 5, 12, 19, 26): Prayer for the Churches in Nigeria, Our Family, Our neighbours, Our Friends, the less privileged, the Orphans etc&lt;br /&gt;- Monday (Oct 6, 13, 20, 27): Prayer for the Agricultural Sector, the Banking Sector and the Oil and Gas Sector.&lt;br /&gt;- Tuesday (Oct 7, 14, 21, 28): Prayer for Science and Technology Sector, Political Sector and the Military Men&lt;br /&gt;- Wednesday (Oct 8, 15, 22, 29): Prayer for the rising of great minds for divine ideas, innovation and creativity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Note: Please search for relevant scriptures to pray with and also get GWG (Green With Green) i.e Nigerian Flag in handy while praying.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;May the good Lord answer our prayers and may He takes us as a nation for flight that what it took so many years for other nations to attain, we will attain and surpass in few years (Amen).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To the greatness of our nation…you are welcome on board&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chief Servant/Steward&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;ADEGBULU Adesoji James&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;‘JesusFreak’&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;www.spiritofjesus.blogspot.&lt;/span&gt;com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;text&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;www.lnsbizsolutions.blogsp&lt;/span&gt;&lt;wbr&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;word_break&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;ot.com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span&gt;www.naijapatriots.ning.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;wbr&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/8437378925167155347/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=8437378925167155347' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8437378925167155347'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8437378925167155347'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/09/national-day-of-prayer-for-nigeria.html' title='National Day of Prayer for Nigeria'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-8146519024266523546</id><published>2008-09-15T11:52:00.003+01:00</published><updated>2008-09-15T12:17:28.904+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Global Day of Prayer for Peace!</title><content type='html'>Beloved, we are just weeks away from a powerful moment, when millions of Christians in every nation across the planet will join in faith and unity to pray together on the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. Literally, in every corner of the planet, churches are preparing to stand in agreement with Psalm 122, and with one another in hope, praying for God&#39;s presence and peace to flood the streets of &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_7&quot;&gt;Jerusalem&lt;/span&gt;, and minister peace to all of her inhabitants, Jew and Arab alike. The &lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_8&quot;&gt;First Sunday&lt;/span&gt; of October, &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_9&quot;&gt;October 5th&lt;/span&gt;, has been designated as the Global Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem by well over 1,000 global Christian leaders. Leaders of influence including &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_10&quot;&gt;Jack Hayford&lt;/span&gt;, Paul Cedar, Dick Eastman, T.D. Jakes, &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_11&quot;&gt;Kay Arthur&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_12&quot;&gt;Myles Munroe&lt;/span&gt;, Jane&lt;br /&gt;Hansen Hoyt, John Hagee, &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_13&quot;&gt;Ravi Zacharias&lt;/span&gt;, Michael W. Smith, &lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_14&quot;&gt;Chuck Pierce&lt;/span&gt;, Sunday Adelaja, and &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_15&quot;&gt;Joyce Meyer&lt;/span&gt; are just a handful of those all around the world who are in unity calling for focused, united prayer on this day. In order for this day to be effective we NEED to ACT together in unity. Please agree to make a difference today by doing three simple things:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Make sure your &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: medium none; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_16&quot;&gt;local church&lt;/span&gt; is participating &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_17&quot;&gt;on October&lt;/span&gt; 5th. The &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_18&quot;&gt;Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem&lt;/span&gt; is NOT a single location event but rather a worldwide celebration day when &lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_19&quot;&gt;LOCAL CHURCHES&lt;/span&gt; remember to pray for Jerusalem in their Sunday services. Although there will be a Jerusalem Celebration of this day carried live on GOD TV around the world, the real thrust of the initiative is on the local church level. Please BE SURE that your church is participating! There are resources such as posters and prayer cards for your local church that are available at  &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.daytopray.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_20&quot;&gt;www.daytopray.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. Please forward this email to as many believing Christians as you can. If you will simply take a moment right now and forward this on to your close friends and prayer partners, we can literally sound a global trumpet to bring clear focus and awareness to this urgent prayer effort. It really, really will make a difference if you will take five minutes and  forward this email. Sign the &quot;Call to Prayer Resolution&quot;. Thousands of Christian leaders around the world have signed this document, calling for global prayer for Jerusalem, and all her inhabitants. Add your voice to this growing number today, click here to sign the &quot;Call to Prayer Resolution&quot;. The Jerusalem Celebration of the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem will be carried live into 192 nations on GOD TV. If you are in &lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_21&quot;&gt;Israel&lt;/span&gt; please plan to join us for this celebration. If you cannot be in Israel, GOD TV will be broadcasting this event internationally, LIVE on October 5th. The broadcast schedule will be available closer to the event date. Also, please consider having your church link with the Jerusalem celebration of the DPPJ by viewing the event on GOD TV! Go to &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.god.tv/&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_22&quot;&gt;www.god.tv&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; for more information. We thank you for putting action to your prayers and taking part in seeing God&#39;s purposes for Zion unfold in this hour of history! If you have any questions or need further information regarding the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem, please contact our DPPJ office at &lt;span style=&quot;border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;&quot; class=&quot;yshortcuts&quot; id=&quot;lw_1221474362_23&quot;&gt;1-800-51WINGS&lt;/span&gt; or visit www.daytopray.com.  May the Lord&#39;s Shalom rest over each of you, Robert Stearns Co-Chairman, Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem Dr. Jack Hayford Co-Chairman, Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem&lt;br /&gt;P.S. If you have not yet done so, please make sure to add your name with the leaders around the world who have signed the &quot;Call To Prayer Resolution.&quot; You can also click on your nation, state or city to get in touch with the local coordinators in your area to find out about what is happening with the DPPJ in your region.&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/8146519024266523546/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=8146519024266523546' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8146519024266523546'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8146519024266523546'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/09/global-day-of-prayer-for-peace.html' title='Global Day of Prayer for Peace!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-1254011118755771439</id><published>2008-08-09T04:17:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2008-08-09T04:25:00.944+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Living a Prayer - Driven Life</title><content type='html'>&lt;b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;I was really challenged by an article i read by Valerie Lowe on her blog today: Front Online in which she extolled her mothers undying passion for prayer. In her words she had written: &quot;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;My mom turned 70 years old the other day. I don&#39;t know what images come to your mind when you think of a person in her 70s, but if you think of someone who is frail, slow moving and wrinkled as a Chinese shar-pei puppy, think again.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;My mom works out at the local YMCA and scurries after her great-grandson, Wesley Adam, when she baby-sits him. Her skin is as smooth as a porcelain doll. Sure, she has one or two age lines, but she&#39;s been married to the same man for 50 years and has raised her eight children to love God.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;But if my mother were writing this blog, she would tell you that the secret to looking and feeling great can&#39;t be found in some age-defying beauty cream. She would tell you to pray—all day!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;My mother constantly prays. It doesn&#39;t matter if she&#39;s at the mall or at a cheerleading competition with her granddaughter, she prays. No, she doesn&#39;t make a spectacle of herself; she describes her prayer life as an internal, ongoing conversation with God.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;When I was a young child, I would poke my head up during family prayer wondering when it would end because I wanted to go play. But as a Christian, I now understand my mother&#39;s motivation to pray. She&#39;s developed the discipline, commitment and devotion to God to do it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;As believers we have a spiritual mandate to pray and not let up. The Bible tells us in 1 Thess. 5:17 to &quot;pray without ceasing&quot; (NKJV), but we hesitate to follow this mandate because we want to see immediate results. When I hear people talk about how difficult it is for them to pray, it makes me think they would rather endure the pain of a root canal than slip to their knees. But it doesn&#39;t have to be that way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Just start talking to God wherever you are. Ask Him to speak to you. Tell Him to use you for His glory. Find out what He wants you to pray about. Tell Him how much you love Him, and then worship Him. Before you know it, you&#39;ll look forward to your conversations with the Father.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;But don&#39;t put Him off any longer. Start praying right away&quot;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Honestly,  I am tremendously challenged by this testimony and God-willing, from today, i am committing myself to this goal: &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;to make prayer a lifestyle!&lt;/span&gt; God and the host of heaven would make this possible in my life and in the life of every partner/member of BSITG! in Jesus mighty name.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Would you, dear reader, consider making this pledge too?  &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ul class=&quot;actionspro&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.new.facebook.com/edittopic.php?uid=37073396672&amp;amp;topic=4826&amp;amp;action=4&amp;amp;reply_to=15255&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.new.facebook.com/edittopic.php?uid=37073396672&amp;amp;topic=4826&amp;amp;action=256&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/1254011118755771439/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=1254011118755771439' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/1254011118755771439'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/1254011118755771439'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/08/living-prayer-driven-life.html' title='Living a Prayer - Driven Life'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-3570186502244098517</id><published>2008-07-20T05:30:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-12-08T23:43:09.039+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Understanding Spiritual Warfare Series - A Primer on Spirtual Warfare by Charles Buntin.</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVgvb8XOV4kpe6U5uRrH-W6EsAx-JJQOhKf3ONOMYj2hxYlQ7K98JCTx9eHsSR04U3iV6v2fdhBIZPJgml9YQl6vFM3PduxXd-g6U5yQop1v7gc35Ozb-mlCKQLgWrE5eg6P0YZkgMPw/s1600-h/spiritualwarfare.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVgvb8XOV4kpe6U5uRrH-W6EsAx-JJQOhKf3ONOMYj2hxYlQ7K98JCTx9eHsSR04U3iV6v2fdhBIZPJgml9YQl6vFM3PduxXd-g6U5yQop1v7gc35Ozb-mlCKQLgWrE5eg6P0YZkgMPw/s320/spiritualwarfare.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224947743096331458&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dear Friends,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I have promised to start a series on &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Understanding Spiritual Warfare&lt;/span&gt;. And today i am starting; and, whilst researching this subject i found so many materials and for a basic understanding of what Spiritual Warfare is all about, i am recommending this beautiful piece by Charles Buntin who is a retired military officer and an ordained Baptist Minister.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition to a doctorate,Dr Buntin has masters and bachelors degrees in History and International Relations.He is also an accomplished biblical teacher and scholar. You will find this very illuminating, i promise.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God bless you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;                                                         Gbenga Shadare&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;The Holy War--A Spiritual Warfare Primer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By: Charles T. Buntin , M.S., M.A.R.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ephesians 6:10-13 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (NIV)&lt;br /&gt;Whether you are a new believer or an experienced saint, you may not realize something very important--you are a soldier in an ongoing war. This is not the philosophical “struggle between good and evil,” but is part of an ancient rebellion between the forces of Satan and the Almighty God. This is not a battle between equals--there is no comparison between the power and knowledge of the Almighty and the relatively weak opposition that is doomed to fail. In a sense, there is no real struggle, for the battle is progressing according to God’s plan, and God wins in the end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;The Forces Involved&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is an unseen world--there are spiritual forces that we cannot see, but they affect our world and wage constant battle in and around human society. On the one side are Satan and his demon forces. Satan was originally the high point of God’s creation--he was the chief of God’s heavenly beings, and was a creature of beauty and praise to God. However, he became jealous, desired to become God, and rebelled against the Almighty. Originally his demons were angels--God’s special messengers, whose purpose was to glorify Him and minister to His people. However, a portion of the angels (the Bible says one-third--Rev 12) rebelled against God under the leadership of Satan, and became what we know now as demons. Satan and his demons have powers that seem awesome to humans. The goal of the demonic forces is to harass, attack, and corrupt Christians, prevent conversions, and dishonor God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the other side of the eternal conflict are God and the Holy Angels. The Angels are perfect, sinless, and also very powerful.. They are ministering spirits that carry out God’s plan, and who work for the benefit of God’s people. Their goal is the carrying out of the great commission, and the saving of God’s people. The people of God, born-again believers, are part of this angelic army, as well as being protected by its hosts.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Two Current Problems&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Currently, there are two extreme viewpoints about the Holy War, with a small middle ground in between. On one side are those who, because of a fear of anything even remotely charismatic, either ignore the Holy War, totally reject our having any role in it, or adopt a strange kind of mystic agnosticism about it. They admit such a thing exists, but are unwilling to go past that admission to a study of it or taking part in it. On the other side are those (mainly in the charismatic camp) who either adopt a mystical approach that is unbiblical, or who go ‘way out of bounds and see a demon under every tree--like the McCarthyites of the 1950’s saw a communist behind every bush. The Truth about Spiritual Warfare is in between these two extremes. We will look at six area that may help us understand the Holy War: (1) There is a war; (2) the battle is the Lord’s; (3) our part in the battle; (4) our weapons described; (5) the problem of speculation and superstition; (6) the solution--study, believe and obey God’s Word.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;The Holy War&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There is a war going on. It began with a rebellion in heaven (Isa 14:12; Rev 12:7-9), and has had many skirmishes (Dan. 10:12-13, for example). The Bible lets us know some things about the method of the enemy (1 Pet 5:8; Job 1:8-12, etc.), and we are graciously given some glances of the armies of the LORD (Josh 5:13-15; 2 Kings 6). However, the Bible does not explain the Holy War in detail; the rules of engagement are not carefully drawn up for our understanding, and we are given only a few insights as to the specific composition of the armies involved. Most of the war remains hidden from our sight. Unlike the doctrines of salvation, the Deity of Christ, or the other doctrines that are vital and basic to the faith, we are given no minute details on the nature of the war or its players.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Whose Battle is It?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Battle is the LORD’s--it is God’s battle, not ours. As with any military campaign among the nations of man, the commander determines the course of the battle, assigns the duties, and conducts any conversations that take place with the enemy. With God’s army, the Commander does even more. He Himself bears the sword in battle (Josh 5:13-15; Ex 15:3). He personally commands a vast army of heavenly hosts that is at His beck and call (Matt 26:52), and He often tells us, His earthly army, to merely stand and watch while He does the work (2 Chr 20:15; 1 Sam 17:47; Ex 14:11-14; Deut 1:30; 3:22; 20:4; Josh 10:14, 22; 23:3, 10). Just as the Old Testament battles were God’s, so with gospel salvation and evangelization. He gives us a charge to evangelize the world, but His power insures its success (Matt 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Rev 17:14) “The Battle is the LORD’s”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;What is Our Part?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Though the battles of the Holy War are mainly fought out of our sight, we do have a part in them. Our part, however, is not mystical, magical, exalted, or highly visible, and it is not flashy or earth shattering. We are told to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil (James 4:7; 1 Pet 5:8-9); we are to cast down imaginations and strongholds in the minds and hearts of people and bring every thought into obedience to the gospel (2 Cor 10:4-6). We are to take the Word of God to all the world (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Thess. 1:8) and continually study to show ourselves approved by God (2 Tim 2:15). This is how Christians war! We are not to war with voodoo-like incantations, or prayers of “claiming” or “dominance,” nor are we to war with human philosophy (1 Cor 2:1-6)--we are to war with the pure Word of God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We fight the good fight with the gospel!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2 Corinthians 10:4 -6 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. (NIV)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The verses above are among the most misapplied in the Bible. Often, preachers will quote them as justification for some kind of mystical, semi-magical powers to deal with demonic forces. These preachers tell us we are to “claim dominion,” and “declare our dominance,” and make real or imagined demons flee from us. While it is true that believers have authority over the other world, if they are in the will of God, and if they are following God’s directions, the normal way of conducting spiritual warfare is not direct confrontation with evil spirits.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Furthermore, we are never instructed to claim power over demonic forces and demand they depart, etc., as the normal “procedure” is in “deliverance” ministries. While the Bible relates instances of confrontation between our Lord and the demonic, we must realize that He was and is totally distinct from us in power, authority, and ability--He always knew God the Father’s will for His life, because He was God as well. As Appendix 1 told us, He retained all His power and authority while on earth. Indeed, there were several instances when demon forces were terrified by His very presence, because they knew who He was. There were also some confrontations between the apostles and the demonic, but they were relatively few and far between, and confrontations of that nature should only be attempted by pure-living and mature believers after much prayer and fasting. This type of direct confrontation was so rare that there are really few instructions on it in the Bible. The primary and ordinary type of spiritual warfare that should be part of everyday life for a believer, however, is described fully in the Bible, and that is the type of warfare that many ignore.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;What Are Our Weapons&lt;/span&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As the apostle says plainly in 2 Corinthians 10, quoted above, our weapons are those that demolish arguments, imaginations, and strongholds of error, and capture the thoughts of people to bring them into captivity. As we said before, our weapons have to do with the gospel. We have to put on “the full armor of God,” as we read in Ephesians 6:10-13 at the head of this Appendix.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is this armor?&lt;br /&gt;Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (NIV)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The first weapon is the belt, or harness of Truth. Truth is the first mentioned, because it is the most vital, it is the basis for everything else. Even if we really possess righteousness and salvation, even if our faith is great, we will be a poor soldier without truth. Just as the Roman soldier’s belt or harness held all of his implements of warfare together; it is truth that gives us the framework within which to work. In the end times, those who love shows, spectacle, and signs and wonders will be lost--those who love and cherish the Truth will be saved.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (NIV)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The next piece is the Breastplate, the armor that protects the heart and vital parts of the soldier. For the Christian, this breastplate is righteousness, which is ours only by the finished work of Christ (Rom 3:21-4:25; Phil. 3:1-10). If we seek to go to war in our own righteousness, we are leaving a vital defensive link of our armor behind. On our feet is the “preparation of the gospel of peace.” In the Bible, stumblings are often mentioned in the walk of believers. If we have so learned the Gospel that its peace dominates us (Phil. 4:1-9), then our feet will not suffer injury on the battlefield of the Holy War.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our shield is the shield of Faith. Notice that Faith is not an offensive weapon--we do not use faith to claim victory or to declare dominance. Faith is defensive--when the enemy accuses us, when fiery darts are hurled at us, we prevail over the attack by our faith in Christ. When all seems lost, we “ walk by faith, not by sight.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our helmet is salvation. Our head cannot be crushed in the battle, because the impenetrable helmet of salvation protects us. If we are truly God’s children, we cannot perish in this battle (John 10:26-29; Rom 8:31-39). Such are the defensive weapons of our armor.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The two offensive weapons are the Sword of the Word of God, and the weapon that John Bunyan called “All-Prayer.” Just as Truth holds the whole of the armor together, and the Truth of the gospel protects our feet, the Truth of the Word of God casts down imaginations and overthrows strongholds in the hearts and minds of people. All-Prayer reminds us that the battle belongs to God--through it, we stay in contact with headquarters, and we can call for “air and artillery support,” from the Commander-In-Chief Himself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This was not a complete rendition of all that you need to know about Spiritual Warfare, but it is a good start. The Suggested Reading Section below will help you find more help in this area. Remember, you ARE a soldier in God’s Army.&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/3570186502244098517/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=3570186502244098517' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3570186502244098517'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3570186502244098517'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/understanding-spiritual-warfare-series.html' title='Understanding Spiritual Warfare Series - A Primer on Spirtual Warfare by Charles Buntin.'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNVgvb8XOV4kpe6U5uRrH-W6EsAx-JJQOhKf3ONOMYj2hxYlQ7K98JCTx9eHsSR04U3iV6v2fdhBIZPJgml9YQl6vFM3PduxXd-g6U5yQop1v7gc35Ozb-mlCKQLgWrE5eg6P0YZkgMPw/s72-c/spiritualwarfare.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-3038019545409630872</id><published>2008-07-19T04:06:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-19T04:06:44.135+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Prayer Points for this week ending - 19th July, 2008</title><content type='html'>Dear Members,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the prayer points for the week. We shall be praying these prayers till next weekend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, we shall also be lifting up other needs as they arise.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;May you be strengthened and showered with grace as you stand in the gap. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the prayer points!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Let us lift the youths of England(United Kingdom) who have become embroiled in gangsterism and in particular, lets pray against the increasing number of knife crimes and the deaths associated with it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2. We should pray against demonic strongholds that the enemy has constructed to keep these knife crimes on the increase and we should destroy the spirit of violence behind the crimes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3. Lets us pray the our sons should be as plants grown up in their youths and our daughters should polished after the similitudes of the palace. That the allure of gangsterism would lose its appeal to youths.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.That there shall no more be violence on our streets and that government functionaries and politicians would embrace the righteous solutions that the Holy Spirit would inspire to bring the scourge to an end.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5. Let us also pray that families that have been ravaged by these crimes - whose kids or loved ones have fallen victims be comforted. And also, that God would strengthen the families wherein the youths - the perpetrators of these crimes come from - so that they would be effective and not dysfunctional families.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6. That God would make homes and families really strong in the place of discipline, love, prayers, sound training and instruction of children, and that divorce and the ills afflicting homes which in turn is causing kids and youths to be reared in single parent homes or in homes that are dysfunctional be stopped.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;7. Lets pray for the restoration of good family values in many homes across England, Wales, Scotland and North Ireland in the mighty name of Jesus.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;8.We should also pray that God would raise more role models in our homes, and society that would be standard bearers of righteousness and beacons of integrity in the mighty name of Jesus.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;9.We should pray, also,  that righteousness would exalt this Nation - United Kingdom, in the mighty name of Jesus..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;10.Finally, we should pray that the fear of the Lord should be the Treasure of the youths, and their parents in particular in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To God be the glory. Halleluyah!! Amen.&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/3038019545409630872/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=3038019545409630872' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3038019545409630872'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/3038019545409630872'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/prayer-points-for-this-week-ending-19th.html' title='Prayer Points for this week ending - 19th July, 2008'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-7002558358883510384</id><published>2008-07-18T15:19:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-18T15:19:52.420+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Hope - All About it!</title><content type='html'>&lt;center&gt;        &lt;h1&gt;All About Hope&lt;/h1&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;h2&gt;Who Has What Hope?&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;br /&gt;      &lt;/center&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;!--Enter Teaching Here--&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;left&quot;&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As we study the Bible we learn that God who cannot lie Tit.1:2, keeps His promises and will do all for Israel and their fathers as He declared. Israel is to be a “great and mighty nation”, a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation” dwelling safely in their land under Messiah&#39;s rule. Israel&#39;s hope and the hope of those blessed with faithful Abraham, is the earth. Resurrection is the doorway for most of Israel to receive their God given promises. Hebs.11:13. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many members of the Body of Christ will need resurrection as well. Resurrection is the same for all, a rising up out of sleep but it is not the doorway to the same destination. This one thing is clear, whether we are Israel going to the earthly aspect of the Kingdom, or the Body of Christ destined to the heavenly aspect of the Kingdom, our present bodies are only temporary; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.&lt;br /&gt;1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,&lt;br /&gt;1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.&lt;br /&gt;1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.&lt;br /&gt;1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;All of God&#39;s children will be either changed or resurrected to enter into the inheritance God has promised them. Hope is directed at the inheritance in view. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;All hope is made possible through the Saviour and His finished work, but not all hopes are the same. It could be said that Abraham&#39;s hope was the Lord but He is our hope as well. All will be raised or changed to be with the Lord Jesus, but not all will be with Him in the same part of God&#39;s Kingdom. God&#39;s Kingdom stretches from the heights of heaven to the earth beneath. Contrary to popular belief, not all of God&#39;s children are going to the same place. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; When the apostle Paul was invited by Agrippa to speak for himself, Paul said this: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt; Act 26:1-3  …..wherefore I beseech thee (Agrippa) to hear me patiently.&lt;br /&gt;Act 26:4-5  My manner of life from my youth, . . . that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.&lt;br /&gt;Act 26:6  And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:&lt;br /&gt;Act 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope&#39;s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.&lt;br /&gt;Act 26:8  Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;This passage shows us that hope is linked with promises made by God and in this case, promises made to Israel&#39;s fathers. Paul mentions resurrection as the doorway for many to that hope. Hope is an earnest expectation that God will do all he has promised. In Acts 26 the promises of God were made to Israel&#39;s fathers, not us. During Acts Paul was looking for the hope of Israel to be realized (Acts 28:20), and one of the clearest passages he wrote concerning the hope of that time is found here; &lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:10  And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:11  And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.&lt;br /&gt;Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt; This is a very important passage. Before Israel was placed to one side at the close of the book of Acts, before Ephesians was written, Paul tells the Roman saints that the hope before them was all Old Testament based and on the earth. Paul turns to a few Old Testament passage in Romans 15 but here is just one he brings forth. Isaiah 11 speaks of Israel&#39;s returning Messiah at which time the Gentiles will be blessed through and with them. This is one confirmed by the Lord Jesus (Gen.12:3, Matt.8:11 et.al.); &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;Isa 11:1  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:5  And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice&#39; den.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.&lt;br /&gt;Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt; Notice, this prophecy is about the Lord Jesus and His return and destruction of the “wicked” one (2Thess.2:8). Notice, it is about man&#39;s dominion over the animals restored and about the “Lord&#39;s holy mountain”. This has nothing to do with us. It is a prophecy promising Messiah&#39;s reign when the Nations or Gentiles will be blessed on the earth. This is the hope anticipated in Romans. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Romans, Paul writes about the great gospel of righteousness by faith in the Lord Jesus without the deeds of the Law, but the hope before him and his readers at that time was the Kingdom of Heaven upon the earth. The Kingdom of Heaven does not mean the kingdom in heaven; it means the kingdom of, or from, or having its origin in heaven. The Kingdom God will set up under his Son who is also the Son of David. (2 Samuel 7:12-13). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the last chapter of the book of Acts, Paul calls the chief of the Jews together. Acts 28 does not record Paul&#39;s fellowship with the believers in Rome. Paul proclaims the following things to the Israelites who had not accepted the Lord Jesus as their messiah; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;Act 28:20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you , and to speak with you : because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.&lt;br /&gt;Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.&lt;br /&gt;Act 28:24  And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.&lt;br /&gt;Act 28:25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt; This is the final record of the witness to Israel concerning their Messiah. These Israelites of the dispersion refused to believe and so they were “let go”. The Greek word for “let go”, is “ápoluo” which means “to set free”, to dismiss”, “to send away”, “to release of debt” but it is also is also used of divorce; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mat 1:19 But Joseph, her husband to be, being just, and not willing to make her a public example, he purposed to put her away secretly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At Acts 28 Israel was “let go”. At Acts 28, the promises God made with them were also set aside until a future day. God will resume his purposes with Israel but for today God has declared a new set of conditions with a new hope. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We live in the dispensation of the grace of God and our hope today is not found in the OT. The hope for today came by Christ through the human agency of Paul and Paul alone. Here is the hope found in Ephesians. Remember, Ephesians was written after Romans; after Israel were put aside at the end of Acts. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; First of all Paul tells the Ephesians that they did have a previous hope in the Lord; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Eph 1:12 for us to be to the praise of His glory, the ones who had previously trusted (previously hoped) in Christ; LITV (E-Sword). &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Then Paul prays for the Ephesians but before he does he acknowledges their faith and love; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt; Eph 1:15  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,&lt;br /&gt;Eph 1:16  Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;&lt;br /&gt;Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:&lt;br /&gt;Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,&lt;br /&gt;Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt; Notice Paul&#39;s prayer is not that they will understand righteousness by faith through grace which truth had not changed. No! Paul wanted them to know the new hope which God had brought in. The hope they held before had been set aside with Israel. There are four things we should not miss in this prayer; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;That they would be given by God a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ”.  &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;That they would know the hope of His calling.  &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;That they would know the riches of the glory of His inheritance.  &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;That they would know the surpassing greatness of his power toward us. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt; Hope, power and inheritance are all linked together. To describe the power in us, Paul begins by describing the results of the power in Christ as follows; &lt;table cellpadding=&quot;5&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cols=&quot;2&quot; height=&quot;100%&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;li&gt; Christ was raised from the dead, Eph 1:19. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt; Christ was seated at God&#39;s right hand, Eph 1:20. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Christ is seated at God&#39;s right hand “in the heavenlies”, or as another version reads “in the heavenly places”. Notice, Christ is “far above all” heavenly beings so he is not seated among them but above them. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Christ is given a new title of corporate relationship. Our Lord Christ is now the Head of the church which is His Body. Eph.1:22-23. &lt;p&gt;What incredible power God worked in his Son, and Paul goes on to show this same resurrecting and raising power has been worked in us, the ones believing with similar wonderful results: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; We, the members of Christ&#39;s body, have been quickened, that means made alive. Eph 2:1,5. Our raising from the dead comes later. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; We, the members of Christ&#39;s body, have been raised up together. Eph. 2:6 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; We, the members of Christ&#39;s body, have been seated together. Eph.2:6. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We, the members of Christ&#39;s body, have been seated together in the heavenlies, or heavenly places, the same place in which our Lord Christ currently dwells. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Notice this is all in and through Christ. We are not so blessed by anything we have done or will do. This is God&#39;s promise to us, and so far as God is concerned, He has already seated us there. All we can say to this is a faithful, believing “Amen”! &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is our hope, that one day, the promise God has given us in Christ will be a wonderful reality. One glorious day we will be seated in the heavenlies. This inheritance is not on the earth, far from it. This inheritance is in front of God&#39;s face where Christ is seated. Isaiah, Moses and all other OT prophets knew nothing of this hope, it can only be found in those writings of Paul written after Israel were put to one side. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; The apostle Paul instructs us to test the things that differ;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;Phi 1:9  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;&lt;br /&gt;Phi 1:10 That ye may approve (dokimazo to test) things that are excellent (diaphero differ); that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here are two hopes as different as black and white. The hope of Romans written during the Acts period, and the hope of Ephesians, written after Israel were set aside. Both from the hand of our Apostle but we do not have any option here; we cannot pick and chose. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The hope before believers today is the later one of Ephesians. To mix these two hopes is to create confusion; to inject Ephesians&#39; dispensational truth back into Romans is not distinguishing between things that differ. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Please search and see if these things are so and may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ grant unto each of you the wise and revealing spirit in the knowledge of Christ concerning this glorious hope. &lt;!--End of Content Section--&gt;  &lt;!--Article Comment Mailto:--&gt;       &lt;/p&gt;&lt;center&gt;       &lt;a href=&quot;mailto:Teachings@Believer.com?subject=Same%20Hope%20from%20the%20RSS%20Teaching%20Section&amp;amp;body=Please%20tell%20us%20your%20thoughts%20about%20the%20teaching%20you%20just%20read.&quot;&gt;Your Thoughts About This Teaching&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;      &lt;/center&gt;  &lt;!--Trailer--&gt;       &lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believer.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;Visit Believer.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believer.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;      &lt;/a&gt;        &lt;hr width=&quot;35%&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believer.com/&quot;&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.believer.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:+1;&quot;&gt;Study to shew thyself approved&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;      &lt;span style=&quot;color: ;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:+1;&quot;&gt;unto God...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;      &lt;span style=&quot;color: ;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:+1;&quot;&gt;2 Timothy 2:15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/7002558358883510384/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=7002558358883510384' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/7002558358883510384'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/7002558358883510384'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/hope-all-about-it.html' title='Hope - All About it!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-1805688486804037408</id><published>2008-07-18T04:00:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-18T04:01:29.296+01:00</updated><title type='text'>BROTHERS!!! LET US ARISE &amp; PRAY!!!</title><content type='html'>Dear Brothers Standing in the Gap!,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! The place of unity for men of faith is the place of prayer!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God has always been faithful in answering the prayers of millions of people and He has not stopped.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lately, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, i was encouraged to set up a Facebook Prayer Movement - &quot;Brothers Standing in the Gap!&quot;, and the response has been overwhelming!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The truth is that i have been humbled and overwhelmed by the many goodwill messages and the encouraging words from people i have not even met in person yet. And of course, God is already answering prayers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Friends, whatever your creed, race or colour, please feel free to join this group which has been destined as one of the vehicles of change and transformation in our world. Our goal is simple: Praying Until Something Happens in our homes, families, communities, schools, societies, nations and everywhere where the glory of the Lord is shining. We believe that our God is a prayer - loving and answering God and He has not failed and would not fail.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If His people who are called by His name would humble themselves and pray, and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, then of a truth, God will hear from heaven and will forgive our sins and will heal our lands! This was true several years centuries ago and its still true today.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Shall we pray?&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/1805688486804037408/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=1805688486804037408' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/1805688486804037408'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/1805688486804037408'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/brothers-let-us-arise-pray.html' title='BROTHERS!!! LET US ARISE &amp; PRAY!!!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-2382259068466622783</id><published>2008-07-17T20:19:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T20:22:25.898+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Of National Sins &amp; Miseries - John Wesley! (I find this message as relevant today as it was way back in 1775).</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;National Sins and Miseries&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;   &lt;!---------------------------&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;by John Wesley (12th November 1775)&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;&lt;i&gt;Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: But these sheep, what have they done?&lt;/i&gt;&quot; - 2 Sam. 24:17&lt;/b&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;(For the benefit of the Widows and Orphans of the Soldiers who lately fell, near Boston, in New-England.){For the benefit of the parents and families of the victims of knife crimes, the war in Iraq and other senseless crime in the UK and around the world today - 2008 - Gbenga Shadare}&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;The chapter begins, &quot;And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.&quot; &quot;&lt;i&gt;Again;&lt;/i&gt;&quot; -- it had been kindled against them but a few years before; in consequence of which &quot;there had been a famine in the land three years, year after year,&quot; (2 Sam. 21:1,) till David inquired of the Lord, and was taught the way of appeasing it. We are not informed, in what particular manner Israel had now offended God; by what particular cause his anger was kindled, but barely with the effect. &quot;He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.&quot; &quot;&lt;i&gt;He,&lt;/i&gt;&quot; -- not God! Beware how you impute this to the fountain of love and holiness! It was not God, but Satan, who thus moved David. So the parallel Scripture expressly declares: &quot;And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.&quot; (1 Chron. 21:1.) Satan stood before God, to accuse David and Israel, and to beg God&#39;s permission to tempt David. Standing is properly the accuser&#39;s posture before the tribunals of men; and therefore the Scripture, which uses to speak of the things of God after the manner of men, represents Satan as appearing in this posture before the tribunal of God. &quot;And David said to Joab, and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.&quot; (2 Sam. 23:2.) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;It does not clearly appear wherein the sin of thus numbering the people consisted. There is no express prohibition of it in any of the Scriptures which were then extant. Yet we read, &quot;The king&#39;s word was abominable to Joab,&quot; (2 Sam. 23:6,) who was not a man of the tenderest conscience, so that he expostulated with David before he obeyed. &quot;Joab answered, Why doth my lord require this thing?&quot; &quot;Why will he be a cause of trespass&quot; -- of punishment or calamity, -- &quot;to Israel?&quot; God frequently punishes a people for the sins of their rulers, because they are generally partakers of their sins, in one kind or other. And the righteous Judge takes this occasion of punishing them for all their sins. In this, Joab was right; for after they were numbered, it is said, &quot;And God was displeased with this thing.&quot; Yea, &quot;David&#39;s heart smote him, and he said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant.&quot; (2 Sam. 24:10). Did not the sin lie in the motive on which the thing was done? Did he not do it in the pride of his heart? Probably out of a principle of vanity and ostentation; glorying not in God, but in the number of his people. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In the sequel we find that even Joab was for once a true prophet: David was a cause of trespass, of punishment, to Israel. His sin, added to all the sins of the people, filled up the measure of their iniquities. So &quot;the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning,&quot; wherein Gad the prophet gave David his choice of war, famine, or pestilence, &quot;unto the evening of the third day. And there died of the people from Dan unto Beersheba, seventy thousand men.&quot; (2 Sam. 24:15.) &quot;And when David saw the angel that smote the people,&quot; -- who appeared in the form of a man with a drawn sword in his hand, to convince him the more fully, that this plague was immediately from God, -- &quot;he said, Lo, I have sinned, I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Is there not in several respects, a remarkable resemblance between the case of Israel and our own? General wickedness then occasioned a general visitation; and does not the same cause now produce the same effect? We likewise have sinned, and we are punished; and perhaps these are only the beginning of sorrows. Perhaps the angel is now stretching out his hand over England to destroy it. O that the Lord would at length say to him that destroyeth, &quot;It is enough; stay now thine hand!&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;That vice is the parent of misery, few deny; it is confirmed by the general suffrage of all ages. But we seldom bring this home to ourselves; when we speak of sin as the cause of misery, we usually mean, the sin of other people, and suppose &lt;i&gt;we&lt;/i&gt; suffer, because &lt;i&gt;they&lt;/i&gt; sin. But need we go so far? Are not our own vices sufficient to account for all our sufferings? Let us fairly and impartially consider this; let us examine our own hearts and lives. We all suffer: and we have all sinned. But will it not be most profitable for us, to consider every one his own sins, as bringing sufferings both on himself and others; to say, &quot;Lo, I have sinned, I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;I.&lt;/b&gt; Let us inquire, First, what they suffer; and, afterwards, What is the cause of these sufferings? That the people suffer, none can deny; -- that they are afflicted in a more than ordinary manner. Thousands and tens of thousands are at this day deeply afflicted through want of business. It is true that this want is in some measure removed in some large and opulent towns. But it is also true, that this is far, very far, from being the general case of the kingdom. Nothing is more sure than that thousands of people in the west of England, throughout Cornwall in particular, in the north, and even in the midland counties, are totally unemployed. Hence those who formerly wanted nothing, are now in want of all things. They are so far from the plenty they once enjoyed that they are in the most deplorable distress, deprived not only of the conveniences, but most of the necessaries of life. I have seen not a few of these wretched creatures, within little more than an hundred miles of London, standing in the streets with pale looks, hollow eyes, and meager limbs; or creeping up and down like walking shadows. I have known families, who a few years ago lived in an easy, genteel manner, reduced to just as much raiment as they had on, and as much food as they could gather in the field. To this one or other of them repaired once a day, to pick up the turnips which the cattle had left; which they boiled, if they could get a few sticks, or otherwise ate them raw. Such is the want of food to which many of our countrymen are at this day reduced by want of business! &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Grievous enough is this calamity, which multitudes every day suffer. But I do not know whether many more do not labour under a still more grievous calamity. It is a great affliction to be deprived of bread; but it is a still greater to be deprived of our senses. And this is the case with thousands upon thousands of our countrymen at this day. Wide-spread poverty (though not in so high a degree) I have seen several years ago. But so widespread a lunacy I never saw, nor, I believe the oldest man alive. Thousands of plain, honest people throughout the land are driven utterly out of their senses, by means of the poison which is so diligently spread through every city and town in the kingdom. They are screaming out for liberty while they have it in their hands, while they actually possess it; and to so great an extent, that the like is not known in any other nation under heaven; whether we mean civil liberty, a liberty of enjoying all our legal property, -- or religious liberty, a liberty of worshipping God according to the dictates of our own conscience. Therefore all those who are either passionately or dolefully crying out, &quot;Bondage! Slavery!&quot; while there is no more danger of any such thing, than there is of the sky falling upon their head, are utterly distracted; their reason is gone; their intellects are quite confounded. Indeed, many of these have lately recovered their senses; yet are there multitudes still remaining, who are in this respect as perfectly mad as any of the inhabitants of Bedlam. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Let not anyone think, this is but a small calamity which has fallen upon our land. If you saw, as I have seen, in every county, city, town, men who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper, mad with party-zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet neighbours, ready to tear out one another&#39;s throats, and to plunge their swords into each other&#39;s bowels; if you had heard men who once feared God and honoured the king, now breathing out the bitterest invectives against him, and just ripe, should any occasion offer, for treason and rebellion; you would not then judge this to be a little evil, a matter of small moment, but one of the heaviest judgments which God can permit to fall upon a guilty land. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Such is the condition of Englishmen at home. And is it any better abroad? I fear not. From those who are now upon the spot, I learn that in our colonies also many are causing the people to drink largely of the same deadly wine; thousands of whom are thereby inflamed more and more, till their heads are utterly turned, and they are mad to all intents and purposes. Reason is lost in rage; its small still voice is drowned by popular clamour. Wisdom is fallen in the streets. And where is the place of understanding? It is hardly to be found in these provinces. Here is &lt;i&gt;slavery,&lt;/i&gt; real slavery indeed, most properly so called. For the regular, legal, constitutional form of government is no more. Here is real, not imaginary, bondage: Not the shadow of English liberty is left. Not only no &lt;i&gt;liberty of the press&lt;/i&gt; is allowed, -- none dare print a page, or a line, unless it be exactly conformable to the sentiments of our lords, the people, -- but &lt;i&gt;no liberty of speech.&lt;/i&gt; Their &lt;i&gt;tongue is&lt;/i&gt; not &lt;i&gt;their own.&lt;/i&gt; None must dare to utter one word, either in favour of King George, or in disfavour of the idol they have set up, -- the new, illegal, unconstitutional government, utterly unknown to us and to our forefathers. Here is no &lt;i&gt;religious liberty;&lt;/i&gt; no liberty of conscience for them that &quot;honour the king,&quot; and whom, consequently, a sense of duty prompts them to defend from the vile calumnies continually vented against him. Here is no &lt;i&gt;civil liberty;&lt;/i&gt; no enjoying the fruit of their labour, any further than the populace pleases. A man has no security for his trade, his house, his property, unless he will swim with the stream. Nay, he has no security for his life, if his popular neighbour has a mind to cut his throat: For there is no law; and no legal magistrate to take cognizance of offences. There is the gulf of tyranny, -- of arbitrary power on one hand, and of anarchy on the other. And, as if all this were not misery enough, see likewise the fell monster, war! But who can describe the complicated misery which is contained in this? Hark! the cannons roar! A pitchy cloud covers the face of the sky. Noise, confusion, terror, reign over all! Dying groans are on every side. The bodies of men are pierced, torn, hewed in pieces; their blood is poured on the earth like water! Their souls take their flight into the eternal world; perhaps into everlasting misery. The ministers of grace turn away from the horrid scene; the ministers of vengeance triumph. Such already has been the face of things in that once happy land where peace and plenty, even while banished from great part of Europe, smiled for near an hundred years. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And what is it which drags on these poor victims into the field of blood? It is a great phantom, which stalks before them, which they are taught to call, &lt;i&gt;liberty!&lt;/i&gt; It is this &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;                Which breathes into their hearts stern love of war,&lt;br /&gt;               And thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Real liberty, meantime, is trampled underfoot, and is lost in anarchy and confusion. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;But which of these warriors all the while considered the wife of his youth, that is now left a disconsolate widow, -- perhaps with none that careth for her; perhaps deprived of her only comfort and support, and not having where to lay her head? Who considered his helpless children, now desolate orphans, -- it may be, crying for bread, while their mother has nothing left to give them but her sorrows and her tears? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;II.&lt;/b&gt; And yet &quot;these sheep, what have they done,&quot; although all this is come upon them? &quot;Suppose ye that they are sinners above other men, because they suffer such things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.&quot; It therefore behoves us to consider our own sins; -- the cause of all our sufferings. It behoves each of us to say, &quot;Lo, I have sinned; I have done wickedly.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;The time would fail, should I attempt to enumerate all the ways wherein we have sinned; but in general, this is certain: -- &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;                The rich, the poor, the high, the low,&lt;br /&gt;                       Have wander&#39;d from his mild command;&lt;br /&gt;               The floods of wickedness o&#39;erflow,&lt;br /&gt;                       And deluge all the guilty land:&lt;br /&gt;               People and Priest lie drown&#39;d in sin,&lt;br /&gt;                       And Tophet yawns to take them in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;How innumerable are the violations of justice among us! Who does not adopt the old maxim, _Si possis, recte; si non, quocunque modo rem:_ &quot;If you can get money honestly, do; but, however, get money?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Where is mercy to be found, if it would stand in opposition to interest? How few will scruple, for a valuable consideration, to oppress the widow or fatherless? And where shall we find truth? Deceit and fraud go not out of our streets. Who is it that speaks the truth from his heart? Whose words are the picture of his thoughts? Where is he that has &quot;put away all lying,&quot; that never speaks what he does not mean? Who is ashamed of this? Indeed it was once said, and even by a statesman, &quot;All other vices have had their patrons; but lying is so base, so abominable a vice, that never was anyone found yet who dared openly to plead for it.&quot; Would one imagine this writer lived in a Court? yea, and that in the present century? Did not he himself, then, as well as all his brother-statesmen, plead for a trade of deliberate lying? Did he not plead for the innocence, yea, and the necessity, of employing &lt;i&gt;spies?&lt;/i&gt; -- the vilest race of liars under the sun? Yet who ever scrupled using them, but Lord Clarendon? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;O truth, whither art thou fled? How few have any acquaintance with thee! Do not we continually tell lies for the nonce, without gaining thereby either profit or pleasure? Is not even our common language replete with falsehood? Above a hundred years ago the poet complained, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;                        It never was good day&lt;br /&gt;               Since lowly fawning was called compliment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;What would he have said had he lived a century later, when that art was brought to perfection? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Perhaps there is one palpable evidence of this which is not usually attended to. If you blame a man in many other respects, he is not much affronted. But if you say he is a liar, he will not bear it; he takes fire at once. Why is this? Because a man can bear to be blamed when he is conscious of his own innocence. But if you say he is a liar, you touch a sore spot: he is guilty, and therefore cannot bear it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Is there a character more despicable than even that of a liar? Perhaps there is; even that of an epicure. And are we not a generation of epicures? Is not our &lt;i&gt;belly&lt;/i&gt; our &lt;i&gt;god?&lt;/i&gt; Are not eating and drinking our chief delight, our highest happiness? Is it not the main study (I fear, the only study) of many honourable men to enlarge the pleasure of tasting? When was luxury (not in food only, but in dress, furniture, equipage) carried to such an height in Great Britain ever since it was a nation? We have lately extended the British empire almost over the globe. We have carried our laurels into Africa, into Asia, into the burning and the frozen climes of America. And what have we brought thence? All the elegance of vice which either the eastern or western world could afford. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Luxury is constantly the parent of sloth. Every glutton will, in due time, be a drone. The more of meat and drink he devours, the less taste will he have for labour. This degeneracy of the Britons from their temperate, active forefathers, was taken notice of in the last century. But if Mr. Herbert then said, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;                O England, full of sin, but most of sloth!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;what would he have said now? Observe the difference between the last and the present century, only in a single instance: In the last, the Parliament used to meet _hora quinta, ante meridiem,_ &quot;at five in the morning!&quot; Could these Britons look out of their graves, what would they think of the present generation? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Permit me to touch on one article more, wherein, indeed, we excel all the nations upon earth. Not one nation under the canopy of heaven can vie with the English in profaneness. Such a total neglect, such an utter contempt of God, is nowhere else to be found. In no other streets, except in Ireland, can you hear on every side, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;                The horrid oath, the direful curse,&lt;br /&gt;               That latest weaponof the wretch&#39;s war,&lt;br /&gt;               And blasphemy, sad comrade of despair!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Now let each of us lay his hand upon his heart and say, &quot;`Lord, is it I?&#39; Have I added to this flood of unrighteousness and ungodliness, and thereby to the misery of my countrymen? Am not I guilty in any of the preceding respects? And do not &lt;i&gt;they&lt;/i&gt; suffer because &lt;i&gt;I&lt;/i&gt; have sinned?&quot; If we have any tenderness of heart, any bowels of mercies, any sympathy with the afflicted, let us pursue this thought till we are deeply sensible of &lt;i&gt;our&lt;/i&gt; sins, as one great cause of &lt;i&gt;their&lt;/i&gt; sufferings. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;But now the plague is begun, and has already made such ravages both in England and America, what can &lt;i&gt;we&lt;/i&gt; do, in order that it may be stayed? How shall we stand &quot;between the living and the dead?&quot; Is there any better way to turn aside the anger of God, than that prescribed by St. James: &quot;Purge your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded?&quot; First. &quot;Purge your hands.&quot; Immediately put away the evil of your doings. Instantly flee from sin, from every evil word and work, as from the face of a serpent. &quot;Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth;&quot; no uncharitable, no unprofitable, conversation. Let no guile be found in your mouth: Speak to every man the truth from your heart. Renounce every way of acting, however gainful, which is contrary either to justice or mercy. Do to everyone as, in parallel circumstances, you would wish he should do unto you. Be sober, temperate, active; and in every word and work, labour to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man. Next, through the almighty grace of Him that loved you, and gave himself for you, &quot;purify your hearts by faith.&quot; Be no longer double-minded, halting between earth and heaven, striving to serve God and mammon. Purify your hearts from pride, -- humbling yourselves under the mighty hand of God; from all party-zeal, anger, resentment, bitterness, which now, especially, will easily beset you; from all prejudice, bigotry, narrowness of spirit; from impetuosity, and impatience of contradiction; from love of dispute, and from every degree of an unmerciful or implacable temper. Instead of this &lt;i&gt;earthly, devilish wisdom,&lt;/i&gt; let &quot;the wisdom from above&quot; sink deep into your hearts; that &quot;wisdom&quot; which &quot;is first pure,&quot; then &quot;peaceable, easy to be entreated,&quot; -- convinced, persuaded, or appeased, -- &quot;full of mercy and good fruits; without partiality,&quot; -- embracing all men; &quot;without hypocrisy,&quot; genuine and unfeigned. Now, if ever, &quot;putting away with all malice, all clamour,&quot; (railing,) &quot;and evil-speaking: Be ye kind one to another,&quot; to all your brethren and countrymen, -- &quot;tender-hearted&quot; to all that are in distress; &quot;forgiving one another, even as God for Christ&#39;s sake hath forgiven you.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And &quot;now let my counsel be acceptable to&quot; you, to every one of you present before God. &quot;Break off thy sins by repentance, and thy iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility,&quot; --of what degree of it still remains among us. Show mercy more especially to the poor widows, to the helpless orphans, of your countrymen who are now numbered among the dead, who fell among the slain in a distant land. Who knoweth but the Lord will yet be entreated, will calm the madness of the people, will quench the flames of contention, and breathe into all the spirit of love, unity, and concord? Then brother shall not lift up sword against brother, neither shall they know war any more. Then shall plenty and peace flourish in our land, and all the inhabitants of it be thankful for the innumerable blessings which they enjoy, and shall &quot;fear God, and honour the king.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;  &lt;!---------------------------&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/2382259068466622783/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=2382259068466622783' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2382259068466622783'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2382259068466622783'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/of-national-sins-miseries-john-wesley-i.html' title='Of National Sins &amp; Miseries - John Wesley! (I find this message as relevant today as it was way back in 1775).'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-4578750115154884468</id><published>2008-07-17T20:16:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T20:17:57.333+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Faith is the Substance - William Branham!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;Faith Is The Substance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;     &lt;!---------------------------&gt;    &lt;table align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;190&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;table bg border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;  &lt;td width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;    &lt;table bg border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;4&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; bg valign=&quot;middle&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;    &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:-1;color:#ffffff;&quot;&gt;  &lt;span class=&quot;sermoninfohead&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sermon details&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;sermoninfo&quot; bg valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; style=&quot;color:#ffffcc;&quot;&gt;    &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;  &lt;span class=&quot;printhidden&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org:8080/ramgen/archives/wmb/47-0412.rm&quot; title=&quot;RealAudio streaming sermon&quot;&gt;Listen&lt;/a&gt; to this tape&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/archives/wmb/47-0412.rm&quot; title=&quot;RealAudio sermon&quot;&gt;Save&lt;/a&gt; (download) this tape (in Real Audio format)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/archives/wmb/47-0412.mp3&quot; title=&quot;MP3 sermon&quot;&gt;Save&lt;/a&gt; (download) this tape as an MP3 file&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;This Message by Brother William Marrion Branham   called &lt;b&gt;Faith Is The Substance&lt;/b&gt;   was delivered on Saturday, 12th April 1947 at the Oakland Municipal Auditorium in Oakland, California, U.S.A.&lt;br /&gt; The tape, number 47-0412,    is 1 hour and 18 minutes, and consists of 1 cassette.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;This text was taken from the 1999 Infobase, provided by&lt;br /&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.branham.org/&quot; target=&quot;_top&quot; title=&quot;VOGR&quot;&gt;Voice Of God Recordings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; P.O. Box 950, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131 U.S.A.&lt;br /&gt; Phone (812) 256-1177&lt;br /&gt; Fax (812) 256-6187&lt;br /&gt; Many thanks to Br. Neil Halava and his team for their hard work.  &lt;span class=&quot;printhidden&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The tape in RealAudio and MP3 (as linked above) is supplied by&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/&quot; target=&quot;_top&quot; title=&quot;All the tapes in RealAudio and MP3&quot;&gt;Cloverdale Bibleway&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;    &lt;!--br clear=all--&gt;&lt;!---------------------------&gt;        &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;    &lt;!---------------------------&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; They&#39;re getting some new gadgets for recording.&lt;br /&gt;We&#39;re hardly know each night where we&#39;re going to be at. That&#39;s just I think the--about the third move in the last four nights. So we got another move, I think, tomorrow night. So that&#39;s what makes it awfully bad, just kind of shifting around from place to place, then you&#39;ll hardly... It&#39;s just like a new place every night, and--and makes it very hard.&lt;br /&gt;I trust that some time when I come back again to Oakland, why, maybe we can get something like the auditorium here for a week or two. That&#39;s when we can have a real revival and a real meeting. Don&#39;t you believe that? Yes, I believe we could too.&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s just our schedule has been so irregular. Well, I would say this: we&#39;re just a night or two here and then a hundred miles farther. Just about the time we get the thing, the people settled down to where they can begin to see the supernatural moving of God, then it&#39;s they break up the meeting, go somewhere else two, three, four hundred miles farther and start again, and just when the people are becoming into the revival stage where they can be healed and many things can be done… &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So I think, after I get back now from Canada, well, before we go to Mexico or anywhere, I think we&#39;ll just make the revival places, stay about a month at a time in a place, or something like that, so we can just really get the people... When they can stay long enough till some of the people that&#39;s prayed for, will be--begin to come in, and reports coming in, getting well, getting well like that, and testimonies going...&lt;br /&gt;Like in my own home town at Jeffersonville, Indiana. Why, it&#39;s nothing there. My, just as soon we come into town, hundreds of people flock from everywhere, &#39;cause they have--they are... You&#39;re settled down to one place; you&#39;re not on the move like this. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then, friends, this is just about six months I&#39;ve been going day and night almost.&lt;br /&gt;Today I had a wonderful day alone with God. No one was there but just the Lord and I. And I get myself more settled down when I get alone. Now, I&#39;ve got five more meetings before I have any rest coming up: five more meetings. And then in the month of May, I&#39;m to take a complete month, going up into the Rocky Mountains where, my, alone there when you kinda look like get... I like to be alone with God. That&#39;s the way to--that I find Him so dear to me. And then coming back then to start into Canada... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we do not have much time. What time you have to close the auditorium? Eleven o&#39;clock? Eleven o&#39;clock, I think they said is closing of the auditorium.&lt;br /&gt;So I wish to speak to you tonight just for--just take a little bit of time and teach the Word of faith, and that you might know how to approach God.&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s many of these great and deep subjects that people claim that they know much about. And when it comes down to the final showdown, they know very little of it. Now, that&#39;s true. And we&#39;re going to find out a few of those things tonight.&lt;br /&gt;And by the way, day after tomorrow night at the other auditorium, I&#39;m to give a little sketch of my life story; that is, if you&#39;d like to hear it. Would you like to hear it? Let&#39;s see your hands. That&#39;s--that&#39;s just fine. Have you announced where the auditorium is? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... that you will get a reasonable idea, because I want you to be healed. That&#39;s what I&#39;m here for. I... This is a great sacrifice for me to be here, friends. I have a home, a family. And I&#39;m new; I&#39;m just a--a baby in the work. This is just a few months since the gift of healing came to me.&lt;br /&gt;I don&#39;t have--I don&#39;t...?... own my home. I just live in two rooms in a little &quot;L&quot; cottage. My wife packs water for somewhat, almost a half a city block, packs it back out of the house again. I&#39;ve been offered wonderful homes in different cities where they tell me, &quot;I&#39;ll build you a home worth five thousand dollars, just give it to you.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Friends, it isn&#39;t money with me. I--I&#39;m--I wished I never even had to think about it. And that&#39;s the reason that many of you send, you offer me your gifts; I--I don&#39;t take them. Because it&#39;s not your--your finance; I want your confidence. I--I&#39;m here for your healing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And as I was saying about the little home, wife and two children, I would--I&#39;d love to be with them tonight. Just about now, it&#39;s eleven o&#39;clock, that faithful little one&#39;s on her knees praying for me now. She knows it&#39;s just about time to start in the service. Lovely old mother, she&#39;s praying for me. The little boy, that his mother died when he was just two years old, he&#39;s praying for me. And somehow when I come into the pulpit, I just feel that their prayers will be answered. And I know He&#39;s near.&lt;br /&gt;You don&#39;t know how I&#39;d like to see them tonight. When I left them at the plane, coming, a few months ago they were holding onto my coat and crying. The doctor in my church told me that I wouldn&#39;t live but about a year longer: said at the rate I was going that I would drop some night in a heart attack in the pulpit. And my little boy is afraid of that, so he&#39;s just crying, saying, &quot;Daddy, don&#39;t go.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But there&#39;s something calls out to the sick and suffering. And friends, I can only help you if you believe me. That&#39;s the only way that I can ever do anything for you.&lt;br /&gt;And I would love to be there tonight. You don&#39;t know how I would like... Many of you know what it is to be away from home, don&#39;t you? But I... It&#39;s... I say it&#39;s just a little shack. But it doesn&#39;t take a big house to make a home. It&#39;s the character on the inside that makes a home. And I&#39;m thankful for a home.&lt;br /&gt;So God bless you. And you pray for me, and I&#39;ll tell you more about it the day after tomorrow night. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, tonight, friends, if you will, keep the little fellows just as patient as you can, and you be the same. And give me your undivided attention just for a few moments. And I&#39;ll try to explain to you, the best of my knowledge, the reason I&#39;m here tonight, and how that you must approach God to receive your healing.&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;ve suffered much, and I know what it is to be sick. And I--I want to help you. And I can if you&#39;ll just believe.&lt;br /&gt;I wish to take this opportunity, just now... I have so many things on my mind and tired and weary. But I want to thank the minister; I just forget his name, of who let us have this auditorium tonight, I think, give away his services: Reverend Jack Walker. If he&#39;s in the audience, Brother Walker, may God bless you my brother, you and your... make you... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; ... Father, we&#39;re so thankful for this, another opportunity tonight to stand before Your lovely people to speak to them concerning the day and the hour that we&#39;re living, just before the coming of Thy beloved Son to take away a Church, a called-out people that&#39;s Blood washed, born the second time, and are ready to go meet a holy God: a way bridged for them by the Blood of the holy Christ of God.&lt;br /&gt;Bless us tonight together as we wait for Thy Divine Presence. And may the Angel that Thou did send into the room that night to speak to Thy servant, and the reason of being here tonight, may He stand on the pulpit by Thy humble servant tonight and confirm every word that&#39;s spoke. And may great signs and wonders follow.&lt;br /&gt;Bless the minister, Father, Brother Walker, who gave us the auditorium tonight. He and his, may they be blessed. Make him successful in Thy ministry, a fruitful branch. And may he have many trophies to lay at Your feet at that great day. Bless the minister that sponsored this program here in this city, Brother Moss, all the other ministers, the coworkers. O God, may their churches be flames of fire, testimonies for the glory of God in this last evil days that we&#39;re living in the shadows just before the coming of the just One.&lt;br /&gt;Oh, speak tonight, Father, in a great way to the people. And may there be faith, and may the Holy Spirit tip His wings across this auditorium tonight. And may virtue come in such a way, that many, many great miraculous healings may be done, that His fame may be spread forth through all the regions up and down this western coast of this hemisphere. For we ask it in His Name and for His glory. Amen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-11&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, friends, as I say, we&#39;re shifted about so many times. I guess many of you here never even heard how the gift of Divine healing come. But only thing I want you to do tonight is to believe me. If you will believe, you shall see God&#39;s glory; I&#39;m sure. The success has not been as I hoped it would be in the last few nights, though cripples, afflictions, deaf, dumb, lame... But it&#39;s very slow, it seems to be, since we&#39;ve hit the west coast.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Charles Fuller was speaking to me when we was down at Long Beach, and he told me, said, &quot;Brother Branham,&quot; said, &quot;the reason,&quot; said, &quot;this west coast here has everything under the name of Divine healing.&quot; Said, &quot;They have Blue Flame worshippers, Father Divine worship and all, everything under the name of Divine healing.&quot; Said, &quot;It&#39;s such a stumbling block.&quot; Well, that... That may be so, friends; I do not know; but that does not counteract God&#39;s power to heal. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-12&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... of worship and the Healer Divine. And now, no man can do a miracle in His Name that can speak light of Him. That&#39;s what He said. So if anybody is getting people healed, I&#39;m thankful for it. But I truly believe with all my heart as we go into the subject tonight that you, maybe, if God will just help us, that you&#39;ll get the vision and see what really the day and time that we&#39;re living. And then you&#39;ll see and believe. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-13&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; May God help us as I read some of the Scriptures now. Over in the book of Hebrews the 11th chapter, we will begin and read the first three verses. Listen very closely, because my words is just the words of a mortal. They will fail. But God&#39;s Word will never fail. It&#39;s always true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;For by it the elders obtained a good report.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were... made of things which do appear.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained a witness... he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it... being dead yet spake.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-14&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; PA system&#39;s a little bit loud... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; All right. Now, I think that may be just a little--little better: kind of causes a rebound from... All right.&lt;br /&gt;Now, I wish to take my text out of the 3rd chap--or the 3rd verse, rather, and the last--one of the last phases, &quot;God testifying of His gifts.&quot; And now, for my subject, it&#39;s found in the 1st chapter, the 1st verse, rather (Pardon me.), the 1st verse, &quot;Faith Is The Substance Of Things Hoped For, The Evidence Of Things Not Seen.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; This day that we&#39;re living in, it&#39;s such a day of unsettled peace and unsettled rest everywhere. People are running to-and-fro seeking whatever they may seek. Most anybody can get a following. No matter what they teach or think, somebody will listen to them. And it&#39;s a day that the prophets spoke of.&lt;br /&gt;People, when they&#39;re hungry, they&#39;ll eat from anywhere. If children and people are starving, they&#39;ll eat from a garbage can, that once eat from a nice table. But if they are hungry, they&#39;ll eat somewhere. So I think real true ministers of the Gospel ought to be up and going, ought to be giving the people the right things: meat in due season. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-16&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, this subject of mine of... As I have testified to you that I am not a preacher, I just merely have the gift of Divine healing, which I humbly say, it comes from God. I had nothing to do with it coming. I was--it was foreordained of God years and years ago. I had nothing to do... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... earth that brought it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-17&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; This is the keynote to the Scriptures. Faith, he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.&lt;br /&gt;This world was made by faith. Things were shaped in existence by faith. God just seen that dew drop hanging out there in the air, that whatever you want to call it, and He just spake, and said, &quot;Let there be light.&quot; And there was light. And then He brought the land forth and dried it off and so forth. That was all done by an act of faith with God. The whole world is made by faith.&lt;br /&gt;You&#39;re here tonight by faith. Many of you told your employer you&#39;d be back tomorrow to work. How do you know you will? You told your wife, &quot;I&#39;ll be home after service.&quot; How do you know you will? You told the person maybe to come, a cab, to pick you up at eleven o&#39;clock. How do you know you&#39;ll be here? You may be in eternity before eleven o&#39;clock tonight. See? But it&#39;s all by faith. Everything&#39;s by faith. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-18&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, so many people speak of this subject, faith, and know so little of it. Now, listen friends; I--I love you and I want you to see this. There&#39;s so many people speaks of faith doesn&#39;t know one principle of faith. Now, you&#39;re together, and I--we may never all meet again this side of eternity. But I... If I had a place where we could be together, and I could gradually bring the thing up to where you&#39;d be able to see it plainer than what you will now, because many of you are going to think... And you&#39;re--probably many will get the wrong impression of me tonight. When I&#39;m trying my best to get this to you, and you&#39;ll think it&#39;s self-exaltation. But it is not, my lovely friends. It&#39;s for your benefit if I can just get you to see what--what God has done for you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-19&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, some--many people come through the line, and they say, &quot;Oh, I have faith to be healed.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And, friends, when they pass by, I know they haven&#39;t enough faith to cure a toothache. That&#39;s right. And some of them coming through with cancer, and say, &quot;I have faith to be healed,&quot; they do not have faith.&lt;br /&gt;My Scripture lesson tonight said, &quot;Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.&quot; See, it&#39;s a substance. It&#39;s something direct, something that you really have, not something that you imagine, something that you think you have; but it&#39;s some direct positive act that you have. You see what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-20&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, here not long ago... I&#39;ll give you a little story of someone who came so you can see what faith is. Faith is a gift of itself. You may have a portion of it, but there is a gift of faith.&lt;br /&gt;Just like, some of you people anoint the sick and pray for them and you have a result. That isn&#39;t a gift of healing; that is a portion of faith. But that isn&#39;t a direct gift of healing; for there&#39;s only one direct gift of healing; there&#39;s only one direct gift of faith; there&#39;s only one direct gift of--of miracles and so forth. There was in the Scripture, the apostles had it. And many--they done mighty works of... Philip and all of them... But that was one gift of healing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-21&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Like when we leave the city, as many people say... I&#39;ve noticed in some places after I left some of them, maybe fifteen or twenty say, &quot;The Lord gave me the gift of healing.&quot; Well, God bless their hearts.&lt;br /&gt;Some of them say, &quot;Brother Branham, will you lay your hands on me that I can get the gift of healing.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I wished I could. I&#39;d have every one of you pass right down this line here tonight. And I&#39;d say there wouldn&#39;t be a sick person left in Oakland in a few weeks from now. That&#39;s right. But it&#39;s not mine to give. It&#39;s... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-22&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &quot;Faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.&quot; Let&#39;s take that part of the Scripture, &quot;the substance of things hoped for.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s three things: hope, charity, and faith. Is that right? Now, hope is one element; faith is another element; and charity is another element. Charity is love.&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;ve seen many people come by, lovely people, real Christians, but didn&#39;t have enough faith to be healed, and some sinner pass by and has the faith to be healed. See?&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s another element altogether. It&#39;s not how well you serve God; it&#39;s a--an element that you possess yourself. Now, I want you to see this because it&#39;s for your benefit. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-23&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Here a few weeks ago, a few months ago it was, I was home for just a few nights. And my, there&#39;s about three hundred people had gathered in the home and around the yards that day, and about two o&#39;clock in the morning the wife got me into bed. And while I was just laying across the bed, my, my legs were cramping and hurting...&lt;br /&gt;I was laying down there, and I heard a machine drive up out front. And I said, &quot;Oh, my, there&#39;s someone coming.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;Well, listen, I&#39;ll go to the door.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And while she was on her road to the door I went to sleep.&lt;br /&gt;And I could hear someone saying, &quot;Well, the baby has been sick for a long time.&quot; And a little baby was crying till it didn&#39;t even sound like it was human, something like, you that&#39;s reading in my little book, &quot;The Heavenly Vision&quot;... How many has read it in--in the audience, let&#39;s see, &quot;Heavenly Vision&quot;? You see, something on that order.&lt;br /&gt;The little bitty fellow, it was about eight, ten weeks old. And it was--it had never stopped crying. And the mother said, &quot;Well, I&#39;ve--I... We&#39;ve traveled all day and all night to get here.&quot; Said, &quot;We seen where he--Brother Branham was to be home and we brought the baby.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-24&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; My, the poor little thing, I couldn&#39;t sleep. And I went out there and prayed for the little baby. And I set down, and there in the chair just a moment, was talking to the mother. They&#39;d come from way up in northern Ohio. And while we were setting there, friends, the little fellow ceased to cry. It&#39;d been crying day and night now. Oh, that&#39;s worth more to me than all the money in the world.&lt;br /&gt;And there, I looked over, and the mother started crying, great big tears dripping off on the little blanket, the old dad setting there with a pair of overalls on, probably spent a good portion of his living to come, come over and put his arm around me, said, &quot;I love you, Brother Branham.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;My, some of the best hearts that ever beat is under an old blue shirt. That&#39;s right. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-25&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; It ain&#39;t the way you dress; it&#39;s what&#39;s on the inside of you. (That&#39;s right.) And there, I knew he meant that. That wasn&#39;t hypocrisy. He meant that from his heart; he loved me. And I looked at the little baby, and the mother, when I went in the other room she was... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; it just smiling at us. And, friends, that&#39;s worth every bit of it, isn&#39;t it? That&#39;s right. That&#39;s worth all of it. And then they said... My wife said, &quot;Well, I&#39;ll fix you coffee or something for you if you wish.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And they said, &quot;Well, we&#39;ll just wait a little while.&lt;br /&gt;And my wife said, &quot;Well, now...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I&#39;ll tell you what,&quot; I said, &quot;I&#39;ll lay down on this chair, and you let the mother and them go to bed and sleep for a little bit.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-26&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And so we put them in a bed, and I was setting in a chair to try to rest till daylight. And just then another car drove up and a young man come up to the door. And he said, &quot;Brother Branham?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Yes.&quot; I was trying to get awake.&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;I know you&#39;re very sleepy.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Yes.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Said, he told me, said, &quot;I&#39;m from Morengo, Indiana.&quot; He said, &quot;My little sister is dying with appendicitis; she&#39;s to be operated on this morning.&quot; Said, &quot;Will you come to her?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Well, that... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... and in my old jalopy Ford, that&#39;s waiting for me over at Houston, all the side of it&#39;s beat out with my knees, where I&#39;d hit my knees like that trying to stay awake while I would go and pray for the sick people. I&#39;ve left one meeting, going to the other one. And get out into the field with my hand out the door of the car, saying, &quot;God bless you, God bless you,&quot; sound asleep.&lt;br /&gt;I never will forget one day coming from Houston, I... There was... I&#39;d hear a car blowing, and I knew I was on the wrong side of the road, only I couldn&#39;t get awake. You see?&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;d set there fifteen days and nights praying for the sick people and seeing wonderful things. But, oh, my, friends, if my life will be short, maybe somebody else can stay because of my going. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-27&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And this man said, young fellow, he said, &quot;My little sister...&quot; He told me he belonged to a church. I will not call the name here, because it&#39;s not expedient; and I don&#39;t criticize anybody&#39;s religion. And anyhow, this church is my arch enemy. They claim that there&#39;s no such a thing as Divine healing and so forth.&lt;br /&gt;And I was at my church, the Milltown Baptist church, where I went to hold a revival. Many of you seen in the little book called, &quot;Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday And Forever.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;A little girl in there that weighed forty-seven pounds, twenty-seven years old, weighed forty-seven pounds, by the name of Georgie Carter, with tubercular; and she belonged to this same church. And she said the people through the neighborhood said, &quot;Let...&quot; She&#39;d been on her back now for nine years and six months. And said, &quot;Let her get well and we&#39;ll believe it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;But, my friends, she&#39;s my piano player in the Milltown Baptist church tonight. But do they believe? No, even one raised from the dead, they don&#39;t believe in it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-28&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And by the way, a man that laid in the morgue, pronounced dead by three doctors when I went in to where he&#39;s at, he&#39;s driving a Pennsylvania locomotive tonight, and still they don&#39;t believe. That&#39;s true. That is true. They won&#39;t believe.&lt;br /&gt;The hour is here where people&#39;s eyes are so blinded with the cares of the world and the other cares, till they don&#39;t even see God. He&#39;s right in their midst many times and they pass by like it was in the days of Christ, and they missed seeing Him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-29&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, this lady--or this man, rather, he said, &quot;Will you go?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Yes, sir.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Maybe I&#39;d better take you.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;No, I&#39;ll try to stay awake.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And the wife started crying; she said, &quot;Now, honey, you&#39;ll fall asleep somewhere.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;No, I&#39;ll be all right, sweetheart.&quot; And I got in my old car and started trailing down. I said, &quot;I&#39;ll watch him.&quot; Going down I was pinching my--and biting my fingers, and I&#39;d take spit and wipe my eyes and everything else, trying to keep awake. I know that sounds very unsanitary, but I--I was doing anything to try to get to the child. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-30&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And we drove about eight miles through an old road way up into the rural district, and there lay a young girl something about eight--seventeen or eighteen years old. And she was lying there in a terrible condition. When I walked into the room, she was real nervous, and she said, &quot;Oh, and you&#39;re Brother Branham?&quot; She said...&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Do you believe sister?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Oh, yes, I believe.&quot; Said, &quot;I--I--I believe.&quot; Said, &quot;I don&#39;t care what my church says.&quot; She belonged to the same church that this Georgie Carter did. Said, &quot;I don&#39;t care what my church says. I believe. I believe.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And so they, the man, the father come, met me and shook my hand. And he--he took me around to the bed. He said, &quot;Sir,&quot; said, &quot;she&#39;s going to be operated on this morning.&quot; And said, &quot;She&#39;s... We&#39;re afraid she can&#39;t make the trip.&quot; Said, &quot;We got to take her all the way to New Albany, Indiana.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;That was about nearly forty miles to the first hospital. And she had about eight miles through rural, just, oh, my, just a fence row, coming down like that where wagons would travel almost to come down. And well, I--I assisted and helped in operations and... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-31&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; ... and it was... I knew that that child could not go to the hospital. She would die before she got there. There may be medical doctors setting present now, usually there is doctors come to listen in on the service. And her side had swollen up and was turning red, the appendix were ruptured and were ready to burst at any time.&lt;br /&gt;Now, many time I&#39;ve went in with Doctor Adair, the doctor of our city, one that comes to my church. And we had the operation and cut the--the incision open. And when they&#39;d burst on the table, and--and sometimes take the bowels out and spray them off and wash them out, and keep them from peritonitis from setting in, and cut it a kind of V-shape and put a tube in there to drain. Sometimes they&#39;d get well.&lt;br /&gt;But that child couldn&#39;t... That appendix would&#39;ve bursted and she&#39;d a had thirty miles or more yet to drive. And she would&#39;ve died before she got there. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-32&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, friends, the girl was looking to me, and she said, &quot;Oh, Brother Branham, you think I&#39;ll live?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;I believe you will.&quot; But she said... I said, &quot;Now, do you believe?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Oh, yes, yes, I believe. Sure, I don&#39;t care what my church says. I--I believe. Georgie Carter got well.&quot; Said, &quot;I&#39;ll get well too. I&#39;m scared of the operation,&quot; (See?), just like that.&lt;br /&gt;Some of the neighbors had gathered in. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-33&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, look, here&#39;s where I want to get to you people now on this. The girl thought she believed, just like many of you come down this line tonight. You think you believe, but she did not believe.&lt;br /&gt;Now, many of you have female trouble, and maybe it&#39;s just something another that--maybe a ulcered stomach. And you--you have to take your... You can have a little time.&lt;br /&gt;But that girl, that had to be a emergency. Her life was at stake. Something had to be done. So I said, &quot;Sister, I do not mean to hurt your feelings, but you--you do not believe.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, it&#39;s just like the brother says here, when you have your head up, no matter where you are in the building... I don&#39;t say this, friends, you remember, I&#39;m telling you this just for your good. It&#39;s not I, but God. I know when you got your head up; I feel it. Whether you&#39;re behind me, where you are... Like one last night setting with her head up behind me. I knew it all the time. And so, that&#39;s between God and the individual. You see? I can&#39;t help that. They--they hinder the people. Many times things are hindered. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-34&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So then this girl, she said, &quot;Oh, I believe, I believe, Brother Branham.&quot; Well, she thought she believed.&lt;br /&gt;Now, look, she had hope. But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;Now, I said, &quot;Sister, an ordinary case,&quot; I said, &quot;I could have a little time and let you have time, maybe to take about that much faith and go out with it. But you&#39;ve got to have immediate attention, right now. For I&#39;m going to be honest with you. You&#39;ll not live to see the hospital.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, the parents didn&#39;t appreciate that very much at that time. But I&#39;d rather be honest with you, let you know the truth... Wouldn&#39;t you rather I&#39;d be honest with you? And remember, friends, I&#39;m not wrestling with flesh and blood; it&#39;s spiritual power. I must be honest before Almighty God. See? And because I realize the danger of my own life, and not only mine, but yours. And so she said she would--she believed, but she did not.&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Well,&quot; I said, &quot;now, look.&quot; Now, I want you to notice this, and I want you to be real careful now and take up every word so you can divide it, of a little something that God permitted there. And I&#39;ll see if you&#39;ve got faith. I said, &quot;Sister, you do not have faith.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Oh, Reverend Branham, I have faith to believe anything.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-35&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... If you have faith, I want to ask you and show you, rather, that--that you do not have faith. Now, listen and catch every word of it. Hanging in the room from a chandelier was a string, and on the end of that string was a little bracelet, and it had... It was a white bracelet with little red sets in it where a child probably been playing with it, you know, swinging it in the room. Maybe some of you have your own babies to be pacified that way, swinging something around like that to play with it, to amuse them. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-36&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I seen that little bracelet hanging down. It was... I said to the young lady; I said, &quot;How far are you away from that bracelet?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Prob--approximately fifteen feet.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Now, all you other adults here, all you people, just turn your backs right around to me.&quot; I said, &quot;Now, there&#39;s nothing going to be done to hurt anyone. I just got to speak to this girl, because she&#39;s got to catch the idea now.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And that&#39;s the reason I&#39;m getting into these things with you tonight. We got two more nights, and something&#39;s got to be done. You see? Now, I don&#39;t want you to go away and say anything wrong about this, because you might have to answer at judgment for it. And so I said, &quot;Something has to be done immediately.&quot; And I said, &quot;Now, you parents, you just turn your back.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And some of the neighbors was setting up with her, and they all turned their backs to me and turned their chairs around.&lt;br /&gt;I said to the young lady; I said, &quot;Now, you tell me you&#39;ve got faith to believe for all things.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;I have, sir.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;How long has it been since you&#39;ve eaten?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;About three days,&quot; said, &quot;I can&#39;t even keep water on my stomach.&quot; And you know what appendix is and fever on her also. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-37&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I said, &quot;Now, if you believe with all your heart, and you prove to me now that you&#39;ve got faith... Now, you look right directly at that bracelet,&quot; and it hanging there in mid-air, &quot;and you make that bracelet swing around and around in the room. Then you make it swing back and forth in the room, and then stop it, and I&#39;ll believe you have faith.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Oh, Brother Branham,&quot; said, &quot;my, why ask me something like that?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I wanted to see if you had faith.&quot; I said, &quot;Jesus said, &#39;All things are possible if you believe.&#39;&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-38&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, that&#39;s just pure faith, friends. Magicians use it many times to play pranks and so forth, burst glasses and things. It will, if you believe. But I&#39;m trying to base your--the thought on faith so you know what I&#39;m talking of. And I want you to set still now so you&#39;ll catch this. Wake yourself up, so when I get through with it you&#39;ll know what it&#39;s all about. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-39&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then she said, &quot;Why, Brother Branham, no one could do that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Oh, yes, anyone can that believes.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;Well, I don&#39;t believe that anyone could do that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I thought you said you believed for all things.&quot; See how she was caught right there. I said, &quot;You said you believed all things. I want you to prove it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;I don&#39;t believe there&#39;s anyone can do that; that&#39;s material, Brother Branham.&quot; She said, &quot;Could you do it?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Yes, ma&#39;am.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;Well, could I see it done?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;If you desire.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;I desire.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-40&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then of course, putting my mind on it, and having her to watch that and not me. As many times in a meeting, I&#39;ll take any cross-eyed child you&#39;ve got in this meeting, you bring it up here without even praying for it, and just let me look at it straight in the eyes like that, I&#39;ll make its eyes come straight. But when I turn my head... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-41&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I used it for an illustration. She went back, she thought she wasn&#39;t going to get back through the line, taking two or three days before she got back. But when she come that time, she said, &quot;Brother Branham, you told me to get back in line.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s hundreds of people piling everywhere, standing in the... way early in the morning, coming in soaking wet from out there, coming in to be prayed for. And then when God healed her eyes there, both eyes come straight and she was normal, went out rejoicing. You see? That&#39;s the difference from your faith and the faith of God... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-42&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, then of course, fastening my eyes to that bracelet, which you can yourself, if you won&#39;t doubt it in your heart, and it started moving around. And then it moved back and forth, around, crossways, and stopped it.&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Brother Branham,&quot; she said, &quot;that&#39;s spiritualism.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I--I thought maybe you&#39;d say something like that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;My, isn&#39;t it strange how people that profess they know God, and know so little about Him. Isn&#39;t that right?&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;You know, we belong to the Church of Christ.&quot; Excuse me, I didn&#39;t mean to say that. Excuse me, Church of Christ people, I didn&#39;t mean to say that. See? Anyhow, said, &quot;We speak where the Bible speaks and silent where the Bible&#39;s silent.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;You know, you have that slogan. I&#39;ve questioned that a few times.&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;All right.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;There&#39;s no such a thing can be showed in the Bible of anything like that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I--I thought that&#39;s what you would say.&quot; I said, &quot;Sure, that&#39;s in the Bible.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And she said, &quot;Well, I never... I don&#39;t believe it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;All right,&quot; I said, &quot;You don&#39;t believe it?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;No, you show me where that&#39;s at in the Bible.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-43&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I said, &quot;One day Jesus passed by a tree, He wanted to find some fruit on it. There was no fruit on it. He put a curse on it, and the tree begin to wilt. And when they passed by at noon the tree was wilting down. Peter remarked and said how quick the tree was wilted. He said, &#39;If you would say in your heart for this tree to be plucked up and cast into the sea and wouldn&#39;t doubt it, it would obey you.&#39;&quot; Did He say it? And I said, &quot;He said, &#39;If you&#39;d say to this mountain, &#39;Be moved,&#39; and doubt it not in your heart, by and by it would come to pass.&#39;&quot; Did He say it? Sure He did. I said, &quot;I know your unbelieving pastor, trying to justify his unbelief, said that was a mountain of sin. I--I went to school myself. He was kneeling by Mount Olives. It was Mount of Olives. If you&#39;d say in your heart for it to be moved and don&#39;t doubt it...&quot; I said, &quot;How much more faith?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And He said, &quot;If you had faith, size of a mustard seed...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Now, if the faith the size of a mustard seed would move that mountain, how much more smaller faith would you have to have just to move that bracelet?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-44&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You see what I mean? Now, I&#39;ve often wondered why He said mustard seed. I might drop this thought. Mustard seed is the smallest among all seed. That&#39;s right. But there isn&#39;t nothing will mix with mustard seed. It&#39;s all mustard. You can&#39;t mix it with kale or nothing and make it grow. It&#39;s all mustard. If you&#39;ve got that much faith, all faith, not mixed up with something else, ask what you will; it&#39;ll be given to you. But it can&#39;t be wavering; its got to be genuine mustard, if you know what I&#39;m speaking of. All right, and I said, &quot;How much more would it take?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Why,&quot; she said, &quot;Looky here, I want to ask you something.&quot; She said, &quot;Did God move that or did the devil move that?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Neither one moved that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Then how in the world did it move?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I moved it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;Well, you&#39;re fifteen feet or better away from it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;No, its my faith that moved it.&quot; See? If you ask anything and don&#39;t doubt it... See what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-45&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch in record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... faith, but you&#39;re a free moral agent; you&#39;re a human being. You can resent it in your heart, and I couldn&#39;t touch you if you had to. Jesus could not do many mighty works because of why? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Congregation says, &quot;Unbelief.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Correctly. See how little people know about--how little people know about faith? It&#39;s amazing, friends, to find out how little people know about it. They talk so much of it and yet know so little of it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-91&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Friends, they just fall from side to side. Oh, how I wish you could, you--I know you do. God bless your hearts. I just got confidence to believe you have.&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s all sing now, while the band plays and all, &quot;Only Believe.&quot; Everyone now, lift your voices highly. Come on now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Only believe, Only believe&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;All things are possible,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; (That&#39;s all right, I&#39;ll back under the shadow in behind the microphone...?... I just get right on through here.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Only believe&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;All things are possible&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Only...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-92&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Just a moment now. You believe God is in our midst tonight? Do you believe it? You believe that He&#39;s sent to you people who&#39;s cried for deliverance? You believe He sent healing to you? You believe it with all your hearts? Then let&#39;s sing this with our hands over our hearts saying...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Lord, I believe, Lord, I believe&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;All things are possible, Lord I believe,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Lord I believe, Oh, Lord, I believe,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;All things are...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-93&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... hour has come. We believe that You&#39;re soon coming. Thou has sent Thy gift to glorify Thy holy Child. He&#39;s stretching forth His holy hand to heal by the agency of His church. Help the people tonight here. While the music is playing sweetly and softly, may the people believe. Father, if I&#39;ve said anything wrong, forgive me. I pray that You&#39;ll let the people understand that this is the time that You have testified. And may they know that Thy servant didn&#39;t come because of my desire; it was Your will that I should come, Father. And may they lay every skeptic mind aside, every skeptical thought and come tonight and be healed. For we ask this in Jesus&#39; Name and for His glory. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Now, you laid aside every skeptical thought? Have you done forgot all about your skeptic idea? You&#39;re going to come be healed tonight? Do you believe it? Say &quot;Amen&quot; all that... God bless you, friends. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-94&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, they&#39;re going to take a picture. And I&#39;ll tell you what happens to these pictures. I hang them in my room. Every night when I&#39;m home, I pray for them. How many wants me to pray for you when I look at this picture? God bless your heart.&lt;br /&gt;Now, be sure not to miss tomorrow night&#39;s service, and the next night, my life&#39;s story, the next night I want you to hear. And God bless you now while we stand reverently for a moment; they&#39;re going to take the picture. Now, the photographer will tell you what to do. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Photographer speaks: &quot;If you folks would be seated now, please.--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; If that balcony would stand, it&#39;d be so much better, make a much better... Isn&#39;t that right, photographer, if they&#39;d stand it&#39;d make a much nicer picture? Especially in the balcony, is that right? Shows a better picture... All right, the balcony stand. They want the balconies to stand, all around. That&#39;s fine....?... in the presence of the...?...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The prayer line follows, but Brother Branham steps away from the microphone and it is not all fully understandable, and the text which follows is not complete--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-95&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; by this he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gift. Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for Thy testimony now, testifying of that which Thou has done through our lovely Jesus. May the Angel that spoke to me that night in the room be near Thy servant&#39;s side at this time to confirm the Word with many signs and wonders following. We realize that Satan is...?... And may many people be healed tonight, and may their faith be lifted up at this time to believe the testimony. And may they be healed of all manner of diseases. Make every spirit subject to Thy servant; for the glory of God we ask it in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-96&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now...?... God&#39;s will is to make her well...?... just before the...?... tormenting...?... sister. I adjure thee by Jesus...?...&lt;br /&gt;Almighty God, I pray that You&#39;ll bless our sister who is suffering and may she at this...?... realize that it&#39;s...?... people Thou will testify of Thy gift. Come out of her, thou demon, in the Name Jesus Christ.&lt;br /&gt;Now, how can you...?... You believe God&#39;s told you...?... You believe with all your heart, sister? Dear God, it&#39;s impossible for her not to be healed, and she says she believes with all of her heart. And You told me if I&#39;d get the people to believe me, that You have sent for this purpose and would be sincere in prayer, that no disease could stand before the prayer. O God, more than eleven states have I testified of Thy gift. And now, I pray, Father, that You&#39;d grant...?... our sister may she be numbered with those that have faith. Come out of her, thou...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-97&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... Heavenly Father, I&#39;m thinking of overseas how You worked with these lovely saints...?... How that You...?... humble himself to believe God... And I pray that You would bless, our dear brother, as he near...?... He&#39;s in need...?... Please, O God, have mercy upon him. Come out of him, thou demon, in the Name Jesus Christ...?... Do you believe now with all heart?...?...&lt;br /&gt;Come...?... That&#39;s that the truth. You want be well, don&#39;t you? You believe that God hears Brother Branham&#39;s prayer? All right.&lt;br /&gt;Heavenly Father, as this lovely little girl is...?... little blues eyes looking up towards the...?... and smiling...?... faith to believe that she&#39;s going to receive that which she&#39;s asked for. And this vibration...?... Be merciful to her, Father. Thou demon, come out of her in the Name of Jesus Christ.&lt;br /&gt;...?... my heart...?... Our heavenly Father, be merciful, a lovely little girl is suffering tonight, and Thou are here to make... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-98&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You believe...?... Heavenly Father, be merciful to our sister who&#39;s suffering...?... Thou knowest all...?... Oh...?... to realize that almighty God has...?... Lord, and He&#39;s testifying of His...?... Thou demon...?... to leave her...?... in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Dear God...?... I believe what they...?... I pray, Father, tonight for my dear brother who&#39;s suffering, Satan&#39;s trying to take his life. Bless him, dear God...?... Come out of him, thou demon, in the Name of Jesus Christ...?... up in the balconies, keep your head down, please. That left him and then went right back on him again. And I knew there&#39;s someone had their head up. Don&#39;t do that...?...&lt;br /&gt;Now, just a moment...?... Bow your head and believe with all your heart.&lt;br /&gt;Heavenly Father, Thou hast promised...?... to heal the people. I feel that the great messenger, the healing Angel of God standing near the pulpit at this time. Therefore with all the faith that Thou has...?... because my brother&#39;s in...?... how this demon who&#39;s come to send him to a premature grave. Come out of him and...?... in the Name Jesus Christ...?... Every vibration stopped in my hand...?... Go, God bless you with...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-99&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The words are difficult to understand--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... If it was it would be vibrating...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Go, and believe, my brother...?... all things now?...?... I can see...?... just now. I see you...?... The Bible plainly said...?... if you believe, for all things are possible if you believe...?... Nineteen hundred years has passed; He ascended on high, and He give gifts to men, and now God is still testifying of His gift. Therefore in obedience to that was commissioned...?... I rebuke this demon; come out of him in the Name of Jesus Christ...?...&lt;br /&gt;Maybe I&#39;ll give the audience a rest. Raise your head up. If some of you would like to see... How many&#39;s heard me explain what vibrations were...?... let&#39;s your hands. How many in here understands about how the gift come, the vibration over my hand, let&#39;s see your hand. You all see what it is...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-100&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The words are difficult to understand--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... just this man...?... See those...?... I thought I was...?... this vibration here. See? But it&#39;s...?... Now, every one bow your head and pray...?... Now remember, this can go from one to another, so be sure to keep your head down...?...&lt;br /&gt;Heavenly Father, be merciful, God, to our beloved sister, who has a right, Father, tonight to be healed; she&#39;s come to claim her God-given privilege of being healed by the Saviour Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, Father, give Thy servant faith. May I be able to climb up just now, up into that...?... that faith...?... And now in the Name Jesus Christ I rebuke you, Satan, to leave her...?...&lt;br /&gt;Please don&#39;t raise your heads, friends. Now, it&#39;s hindering the lady. This is very--must be a cancer instead of female trouble, because it&#39;s very, very provoked. Now, keep your head down...?... You believe with all your...?... You believe with all of your heart that I&#39;m able to do this through Jesus Christ. You believe that all you have to do is simply believe?...?... there&#39;s heads up somewhere, friend. Keep your heads down...?...&lt;br /&gt;Dear, heavenly Father, be merciful to our... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-101&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So if there&#39;s anything happens on the...?... like that, now, what would be if you had a...?... You see? I just wonder sometimes. I&#39;d like to your houses, but I...?... back there some person dying wanting me to come on a airplane, charter a...?... One woman calling from over in...?... Missouri, said, hanging on the phone and knelt down at the--by the phone crying, begging me to pray...?... to be over the phone like that, not to hang up for her...?... Wanted to charter a plane to come plumb back into Missouri where a little baby was dying...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?...&lt;br /&gt;My, it&#39;s pathetic, but what can--what can a person do? It&#39;d make you lose your mind to think...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... things like that coming from everywhere.&lt;br /&gt;I was talking to my wife and she just said it&#39;s masses of people and every thing, oh, my. Fifteen hundred letters come in from people in ten days&#39; time to my...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-102&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, this little girl is blind, no vibration in her hand. She&#39;s crippled, and &#39;course that don&#39;t make a vibration, just a germ disease. Now, I&#39;ll just have to believe...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I believe God will heal her...?... You believe it? Now, remember, I tell...?... I don&#39;t want...?... you...?... God will speak to us...?... nights I&#39;ve got to say to the church maybe give a few testimonies of things.&lt;br /&gt;Now, you keep your head down, and I&#39;ll ask God with all my heart that... Remember I&#39;m not healer; it&#39;s God.&lt;br /&gt;Little girl, you love Jesus, don&#39;t you, dear? Well, I&#39;m going to ask Jesus to let you have your sight again, make you walk...?... Dear Jesus, the...?... son, send Your Divine blessings upon the little girl, and these eyes that are now blind, may they see again; may this body that&#39;s now crippled be whole again. I pray, Father, that You&#39;ll grant it in the Name of Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ. Can..?... see those lights...?... See that? Now, look out there...?... Now, look up towards me...?... See up there? See that? See that shadow over here?&lt;br /&gt;All right, you can raise your head, audience. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... lens and everything was perfectly just covered over with like...?... But there&#39;s enough shrinkage... When anything dies it shrinks. Is that right? There&#39;s enough shrinkage on the child&#39;s eyes until she can see the lights in the room and can tell my hand before her face...?... Look up this way. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-103&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The record is unclear--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;...?... Let&#39;s all say, &quot;Praise the Lord.&quot;...?... Oh, my...?... Now, we&#39;re going to put her testimony she can see in the paper so you can see. What&#39;s her name, sister? Ronna Mae Promise. Watch it in the paper...?...&lt;br /&gt;Your cancer&#39;s...?... All right. How many believes now? God bless your heart...?...&lt;br /&gt;Now, here&#39;s a deaf mute. There&#39;s got a vibration...?... in his hand. All right. Bow your heads, every one. Now, here&#39;s the vibration. This I can tell which way it...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... put your sign on it...?... have to be faith, just my own faith to believe it. Now, I want you to bow your head everywhere.&lt;br /&gt;How many in this audience believes that I&#39;m able to do this through Jesus Christ, will you raise your hand? All right. All right, if there&#39;s that many to believe, you shall see the glory of God. Bow your head everywhere. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-104&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Someone says he never told Brother Branham what the man&#39;s problem was--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You don&#39;t have to tell us, friend. It&#39;s known. There&#39;s no secrets with God; and He reveals His secrets to His servants. You have seen things that&#39;s been done, even habits and things. There was a person passed a few moments ago had a habit. When I looked at the person, I didn&#39;t want to call it out. Venereal diseases or habits, I don&#39;t have to do that. You understand, &#39;less you want me to. If you ask me, if want to know... Of course as soon as you did, I felt that vibration...?... plugs in his ears.&lt;br /&gt;Now, bow your head, every one; be real lovely and quiet and just be reverent and you shall see God&#39;s glory. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-105&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Heavenly Father, oh, have to run right into this city and right out. And seemingly it&#39;s...?... about the time we get the people to a place where they beginning to believe and things are being done, then we have leave again. I pray that You&#39;ll maybe see fit to send us back this way again.&lt;br /&gt;And now, standing here before me, this man is standing here, and Satan has plugged up his ears to make him walk before a vehicle or something sometime and be killed on his feet, oh, trying to do this harm to this poor brother, but we&#39;re here to make him whole, Father.&lt;br /&gt;And now, I have spoke to the people tonight concerning Your visitation of the Angel of God. And may You confirm it now before their eyes for this faith line will have to start... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-106&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The following portion was on a previously recorded tape with this sermon--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At this time we&#39;re going to have a trumpet solo by my good friend, Brother F. F. Bosworth: Brother Bosworth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth gives a solo--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My, that was very fine, Brother Bosworth. We certainly appreciated that. And I wonder, while you&#39;re kind of tuning up there, if we could have a little chorus of &quot;Down At The Cross.&quot; It&#39;s kind of a favorite to me. I wonder if you would play it. All right, Brother Bosworth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth plays &quot;Down At The Cross.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My, that sound like old revival times, a long time ago. Say, we&#39;re really enjoying ourself here in this little visit here with Brother and Sister McAnally tonight. I wonder, Brother Hooper, if you&#39;ve got a word you&#39;d just like to say something in the microphone now. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Hooper says a few words--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yes, sir. Brother McAnally is next the best hog hunter in the country. He&#39;s the best when I&#39;m gone.&lt;br /&gt;All right. I want to have a word from the wife here. All right, honey, what you going to say?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Sister Meda Branham says, &quot;Certainly glad for the privilege I have of being in Arizona, and glad for the privilege I have to meet friends like Brother and Sister McAnally.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brother Bosworth, what do you think about Arizona and these people here?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth says a few words--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother McAnally comments on hog hunting--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth gives another solo--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brother Mac, everything that you done for us since we been down here on this trip. And I trust to Almighty God that someday, we can be back together again. God bless you, brother. I&#39;ve always wanted to hear your wife&#39;s voice. Sister McAnally, may I be many miles away, but when you play this, think of me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Sister McAnally says a few words--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay, well thanks, Sister McAnally. That was very, very fine. Oh, she&#39;s just a little timid woman. I kinda like that though. Brother Bosworth, you got another one on that old trumpet there? We just--we just like to hear another one for Brother Mac and them. God bless you, brother. All right, Brother Bosworth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth gives another solo--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fine, Brother Bosworth. Thanks a whole lot. Brother Hooper, you got another word to say? Nothing to say? Honey, oh, my. Mac, tell us something right quick over this microphone, will you?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother McAnally says a few more words about hunting--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Okay, fine. You want a word to say, Brother Bosworth? Say something else.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Bosworth speaks for a minute and a half--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-46&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then she said, &quot;Well, do you mean to tell me then... What part does that play with God, that part there?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Now, look, there was an Angel came down into the room and told me that way back, back &#39;fore I was born, was foreordained to have a gift of Divine healing. And He came and told me in the room one night that God had sent the gift, and it was a gift of Divine healing for the people. And if I could get the people to believe me (believe me), and would be sincere when I prayed, that nothing would stand before the prayer.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Therefore, speaking face to face with this supernatural Being, I believe it with all my heart. And if I can get you to believe me with all your heart, that&#39;s what moves God, and then you&#39;re healed. Your faith has saved you.&quot; You see what I mean? Your faith to believe has saved you. Not what you worked up and thought in your mind, but what you really know, the very evidence of things not seen. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;Then the girl said, &quot;Brother Branham, I truly know that there&#39;s something above where I have ever reached.&quot; She said, &quot;I&#39;ll try with all my heart, and God have mercy on me.&quot; She said, &quot;Let me believe.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I took a hold of her hand then. There was a vibration pouring from that ruptured appendix, had prayer for her and it stopped immediately. I said, &quot;God bless you, sister. Your faith now has saved you.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-47&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; A few moments later I was setting in the chair, and I went to sleep. Sun was coming up; I had to rest just a little before returning home, &#39;cause I was afraid I&#39;d break up somewhere on the road, have a wreck. And I was setting there; they called the ambulance, told them there was no need. When I was--was waken up by one of the family, why, the girl was out of bed and had eat a pint of ice cream. And the--she&#39;s never had a knife from that day to this. She was standing on the porch and waved good bye. She said, &quot;Good bye, Brother Branham.&quot; Her testimony appeared in the &quot;Herald of Truth&quot; not long ago. Mrs. Edith Wright, at--at Milltown, or Depaw, Indiana, that was her there--there. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-48&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; All right. Now, you see what faith is. It&#39;s something... Now look friends; I know that all of you are, at least know this: This body is controlled by five senses. Is that right? All right, its got five senses is everything that controls this human body. Now, listen real close, and give me your attention now. The sense, five senses, is this right? See, taste, feel, smell, hear, is that right? Them five senses control the entire human body. Is that true? See, taste, feel, smell, and hear. Now, there&#39;s none of them that declare faith. Faith is the sixth sense, known to some people as you want to as mental telepathy or--or whatever you want or wish to call it, many of the call it names, but to me its faith. And that is in and above all five senses of the human body. You see what I mean? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... great...&lt;br /&gt;Faith is the only direct and positive sense, and it&#39;s the sixth sense. Faith is more than sight. Faith is more than feeling. You do not feel faith. You don&#39;t taste faith. You don&#39;t smell faith. You don&#39;t see faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-49&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Here, see this Bible? Now, I want that Bible. Now, I&#39;m looking at it. Now, I want it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things I do not see. See what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;Here, in my pocket, I think there&#39;s an old Barlow knife I&#39;ve carried for years. Now, I do not see that knife. I do not feel that knife. I do not taste that knife. I do not smell that knife. But I know that knife is in there. How do you know? Because I believe it&#39;s in there. Now, if it is not in there, faith will put it in there, if it&#39;s not there.&lt;br /&gt;That chokes you, I know. But--but that&#39;s true. If you believe, all things are possible. You&#39;re afraid to take God, friends. You&#39;re scared. Now, I might&#39;ve left that knife laying on the dresser where I changed clothes awhile ago. But just as sure if that knife is on the dresser right now, if I believe it with all my heart, it&#39;ll be in my pocket. That chokes you. But God is able to put it there if you believe it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-50&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Here, I want to show you something. Come here, Reverend Kidson. Is this Sister Marse? Would you stand up just a moment?&lt;br /&gt;I want to show you something, friends. Just stand right here. And you don&#39;t mind, that&#39;s not making a--a public show for you, sister, but it&#39;s for the glory of God.&lt;br /&gt;Now, look friends, I want to show you something. I believe there&#39;s a--a woman standing in front of me. Could you tell me I&#39;m wrong? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Kidson replies, &quot;You don&#39;t...&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; But... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[You don&#39;t hear any woman?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, I don&#39;t hear any woman. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t feel any woman?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. Don&#39;t know how I know there&#39;s one there? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t taste any woman?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;How can you tell there&#39;s a woman there?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Because the sense of sight tells me I see a woman. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Hum, well, are you sure?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I&#39;m positive there&#39;s a woman standing there. Do you believe that I&#39;m right? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Yes.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Audience, you think I am right? Now, is it possible I could be wrong? Yes. Every one of us may be blinded of our eyes. That might be a vision. Remember the five sense of the body is not so direct. Faith is positive. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-51&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, I know there&#39;s a woman standing there though, because that the sense of sight tells me there&#39;s a woman standing there. You see what I mean? Now, you think you could argue me down, tell me there&#39;s no woman standing there. Then you try it one time. You try to tell me I&#39;m not looking at a woman standing before me. You think you could out argue me? No, sir, because I know this sense of sight is direct, and I&#39;m looking at that woman, and I know she&#39;s standing there. Yet the only thing that I know is the sense of sight. Now, I want you to notice. Now, I&#39;m going to close my eyes. Now, I feeled a woman&#39;s hand. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-52&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I can tell its a woman. She has a woman&#39;s hat on. She has a woman&#39;s hair; it&#39;s a woman&#39;s hand. I know it&#39;s a woman, because I feel her. You think you could out argue me? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;No.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Huh? That&#39;s directly; I know it, that that was a woman. I&#39;ve got my back turned to her, but yet I know it&#39;s a woman. See? Because the sense of feeling tells me there&#39;s a woman there. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;Now, sight told me there&#39;s one there now. I don&#39;t feel her. That&#39;s the sense of sight. I know she&#39;s standing there, because I&#39;m looking at her. I close my eyes. I know she&#39;s standing there now, because--not because I see her; because I feel her hand. I know she&#39;s standing there. I don&#39;t see her, but yet I feel her. The sense of feeling declares there&#39;s a woman standing there. See what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-53&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence (See?), direct positive, just the same as my sight is positive, same as my feeling&#39;s positive... It&#39;s the evidence of things not seen, just as positive as that is. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;So many people try to work theirself up and say, &quot;Oh, I--I got faith.&quot; But, friends, it&#39;s not there. If it was, it would react. See? You know what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-54&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, look... Thank you, Sister Marse and God bless you.&lt;br /&gt;Now, look. Now, I seen the woman; my sense of sight said she was there. Then I knew she was there by the sense of sight. I closed my eyes; I didn&#39;t have sight. Then I felt her, and the sense of feeling said she was there. The sense of feeling was just as direct as the sense of sight, because it was a direct evidence.&lt;br /&gt;Now, faith is a direct evidence of things not seen, felt, taste, smelled, or heard. Now, look here. I&#39;m going to close my eyes now. Watch. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-55&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; That was orange juice. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Kidson says, &quot;You don&#39;t see any oranges.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t hear any oranges.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t feel any oranges.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t smell any oranges.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;What makes you think that is orange?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Because I tasted it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Are you positive?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I&#39;m positive that was orange juice. That would not have been lemon; it would not have been grape. It would not have been grapefruit. That was orange juice, because the sense of taste. I--I didn&#39;t smell it; I didn&#39;t hear it; I didn&#39;t feel it; I didn&#39;t see it; but yet the sense of taste told me that was orange juice. You think I&#39;m right? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You&#39;re right.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sure it is. Why, the sense of taste proved that it was orange juice. Now, no matter how much you tell me it was water; I know it&#39;s orange juice. I tasted it. See? You could taste it too. And if you&#39;ve got a sense of taste, you would know it the same. And if you&#39;ve got faith you&#39;ll know the same thing I&#39;m talking about. Now, watch here again, now watch here.&lt;br /&gt;I smell perfume. That&#39;s perfume. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Kidson says, &quot;You can&#39;t see any.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I don&#39;t see any perfume. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t hear any.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I don&#39;t hear any perfume. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t taste any.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I don&#39;t taste it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t feel any.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I don&#39;t feel it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;What makes you think that&#39;s perfume?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &#39;Cause I smell it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Amen.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; That&#39;s right. The sense of smell tells me that was perfume before my nose. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Scratch on the record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... me? Try it. All right, know that was perfume. I didn&#39;t see it, did I? Did I see it? I had my eyes closed. Did I taste it? No, I didn&#39;t have it in my mouth. Did I feel it? Never had my hands about it, nor nothing else. How did I know it then? Did I hear it? No, I smelled it, and it was a direct evidence that that was perfume. I know it. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record.--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-56&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Kidson says, &quot;...don&#39;t feel any music.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You don&#39;t taste any music.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; No, sir. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Well, what makes you think that&#39;s music?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I hear it, and I know it&#39;s music. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;Are you sure about that?&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; I&#39;m positive. The lady&#39;s playing &quot;Only Believe.&quot; You think I&#39;m right? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[&quot;You&#39;re right.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Try to argue me out of it. I don&#39;t see it. I don&#39;t taste it. I don&#39;t feel it. I don&#39;t smell it. But I hear it. Was I positive? Do I know that I&#39;m right? Why? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-57&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, there is the five senses of the body. Now, they&#39;re positive, aren&#39;t they? You know when they happen. You know. Now, you&#39;re looking at a audience. You know you&#39;re looking at me.&lt;br /&gt;Well, then friends, faith... Here it is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It&#39;s positive. You know it. There&#39;s no need of anybody telling you anything more about it. It&#39;s just as much declared as any of these other five senses of the body. You know what I mean? How many has a general understanding now of what I mean? Let&#39;s see your hands. See, see? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-58&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; It ain&#39;t what you try to make yourself believe. Now, for instance, I try to make myself believe I&#39;m hearing music. I--I wouldn&#39;t do it. May I make myself believe I&#39;m smelling perfume. It&#39;s just not there. I&#39;ve got to absolutely do it. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;And faith is that positive. It is an act of positive. You know it. Oh, my, I hope you see it, what I mean. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-59&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; See, it&#39;s the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You don&#39;t see it. You don&#39;t taste it. Somebody say, &quot;I don&#39;t feel any better.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Well, what&#39;s the matter? Why don&#39;t you feel any better? If you have your faith, according to your faith be it unto you. Is that right? See?&lt;br /&gt;No matter how you feel, you&#39;re healed anyhow. No matter what you see, you&#39;re healed anyhow. See what I mean? It is a... You know it. There&#39;s nothing can take it out of your heart. You know it. It&#39;s just positive act right there. Oh, my.&lt;br /&gt;If you could only see it, friends, something would take place. If you could only know what I&#39;m talking about, something would react right now. See? It&#39;s a positive. It&#39;s right there, just as positive as these other five senses. These are of the natural man. Faith is of God. The natural man can be wrong, but God cannot be wrong. Oh, my. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-60&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Why, it would make us go to shouting. Think of it. And people tell me they got faith and say they can&#39;t believe in Divine healing? Friends, if you don&#39;t believe in Divine healings, you&#39;re lost. That&#39;s right. How you going to, if you can&#39;t have faith enough for God to patch up this body to glorify Him in, how much more you going to have faith to believe that God will take this old mortal and make immortality out of it to take it up. That&#39;s a direct Divine healing. Oh, my, there&#39;s going to be some awful disappointments at the day of judgment, at the resurrection. That&#39;s right. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-61&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Faith... We&#39;ve got to get in such a place till we be translated like Enoch was. That&#39;s right. Faith, testimony, that it pleased God. Did not Enoch... Our following Scripture said that Enoch had a testimony by faith that he pleased God. Is that right? And the Bible said, &quot;Without faith it&#39;s impossible to please God.&quot; So you&#39;ve got to have the same kind of faith that you believe, and know. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record.--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-62&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; A gift of healing, not a gift of miracles, though many miracles are performed right along with it. But it&#39;s a gift of healing; the people get well. They go out, prayed for, they come back. And my, they&#39;re healed. Wait till I leave the city, friends. After I&#39;m gone a long time you&#39;ll hear the people coming to your churches and saying, &quot;Well, that cancer, it&#39;s gone.&quot; &quot;That--that deafness I had, why, I--I hear now.&quot; &quot;My affliction, why, it just left me.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-63&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; It&#39;s just the simplicity of... It&#39;s nothing you can work yourself up to. It&#39;s no excitement. I notice people come in line, just get to shaking themselves, and saying, &quot;Oh, God, hallelujah. Amen. Glory to God.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t do that. You interfere with faith there. You interfere with God. Come up reverently and just lay your hand up and believe. That&#39;s all. Faith, you don&#39;t work yourself up to it. Faith is something that&#39;s already in your heart. You just come and believe. You see what I mean?&lt;br /&gt;Oh, friends, my, I love you. I wouldn&#39;t talk to you so straight if I didn&#39;t love you. But I love you too well to see you get by without this. You see? You--you must understand. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-64&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now look, now to my text right quick so we can hurry up. God testified of Abel&#39;s gift. God always testifies of His gifts. Is that right?&lt;br /&gt;Now, I want you to notice, when the children of Israel were in bondage four hundred and twenty years down in Egypt, carried down there by Joseph when they went down... By and by there raised up a Jo--or a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph. And then the people got in bondage. And they had to make straw houses and bricks and things out of straw and stubbles. And then they begin to cry to God for a deliverer. Is that right? And they cried and cried. And God foreordained a deliverer (Is that right?), Moses. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-65&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And when Moses came to the age of maturity, he went out and seen two Egyptians mistreating a Hebrew, and he slew the Egyptians and buried them. And the next day when he met the Hebrews striving among one another, &quot;Why,&quot; they said, &quot;will you kill us as you did the Egyptian?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, look, be quiet people. Moses, the very deliverer, God&#39;s gift to the people, they did not understand him. You see what I mean? They did not understand Moses. And Moses thought, surely, that they would understand that he was their gift to deliver them. But they did not understand.&lt;br /&gt;And now, friends, don&#39;t get me wrong. May I say this with reverence in my heart, knowing that I&#39;m an eternity bound person that&#39;ll stand before judgment someday.&lt;br /&gt;Thousands of people are missing their gift. See? They can&#39;t understand it. And they&#39;ll look and say, &quot;Oh, he&#39;s just a man.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s true. Was it God or Moses that delivered the people? It was God in Moses. See? They cried for the deliverer. And when God sent the deliverer to them, they failed to see it, because it was by a man. But it wasn&#39;t a man; it was God in the man. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-66&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &quot;... that dwelleth in Me. He&#39;s the One that doeth the works.&quot; You see? But He was God&#39;s Gift to the world. God gave Him for you and I. Aren&#39;t you happy about it? Look, God gave Him.&lt;br /&gt;Well now, the people that believed that God give Him, they can be saved. But those who do not believe it, they can&#39;t be saved. Is that right?&lt;br /&gt;And there&#39;s no other way at all to enter the Kingdom, only by Him. Is that right? Well now, if you believe it, you can be saved. But if you don&#39;t believe it, you can&#39;t be saved, because He is God&#39;s Gift.&lt;br /&gt;Look, the Scriptures say, &quot;No man... We know that God was with Christ, for no man could do the works that He done except God be with Him.&quot; Is that right?&lt;br /&gt;Then what was it? God was testifying that that was His only begotten Son. Is that right? God testified that; He said: &quot;This is My Son.&quot; He said, &quot;If you don&#39;t believe Me, believe for the very work&#39;s sake.&quot; Is that right? He said, &quot;The man testifies of himself,&quot; you know how the Scriptures read, &quot;but if--if he testify and that what he says is not true, then believe Me not. But if I testify and that what I say is true, My Father will testify of it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And if I tell you about a gift of Divine healing and God doesn&#39;t testify of it, leave it go; it&#39;s wrong. But if God testifies of it, believe it&#39;s God&#39;s gift to you. That&#39;s right. You see what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-67&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I hate to have to bring this out like this, friends, but I&#39;m trusting you&#39;re getting between the lines of it. Now, notice. See, it&#39;s God&#39;s gift. After Jesus, when He went away... He was taken up. Many people came to Jesus that never got healed. He prayed for many who never had no results of it, because they didn&#39;t believe. They didn&#39;t believe that He was God&#39;s Son. They said, &quot;Why, He makes Hisself God. He forgives sins on earth: blasphemy.&quot; Don&#39;t you see?&lt;br /&gt;They said about Elijah. They said the same thing about Moses. &quot;Why, we would that we had died down in Egypt, than be brought out here to starve in the wilderness.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;See, God&#39;s messenger has always been rejected. You know what I&#39;m talking of, don&#39;t you? I hope you do, friends. God bless your hearts. I--I want you to see it, friends. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-68&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, then they were in need of a Saviour. God sent Christ to the world for a Saviour.&lt;br /&gt;Then after Jesus going away, many of the beloved people of God were sick and afflicted. God gave Peter the gift of Divine healing. Now, it--the people got healed because God testified through Peter of the gift of Divine healing just like he testified through Elijah as a prophet, through Moses as a deliverer, through Christ as a Son. He testified through Peter as a healer. Did he do it? And the people got the idea. And they even got such a mob of people, that Peter couldn&#39;t pray for each one of them, and they knew that this apostle was God&#39;s gift to them. And he never shook their hands and said, &quot;God bless you.&quot; They took the people on the outside of the building and laid them down on the street that even his shadow would pass over them and they would be healed. Is that right? Why? Because they knew that Peter was the gift of healing sent from God to the people. Oh, I hope you see it, friends, look. You see, it was God&#39;s gift. What now, I want to ask you, was it Peter done the healing? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-69&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; God is not in material things. God is in men. The Holy Ghost never fell on organizations; it fell on men. And so many people today say, &quot;They don&#39;t belong to my faith.&quot; Well, if you&#39;re the faith of Christ, it&#39;s all the same. God doesn&#39;t care about... Your organization don&#39;t mean that to Him. And the peoples got theirself to a place it&#39;s just a big organized world. And it--that&#39;s the reason I&#39;d rather have it in a auditorium.&lt;br /&gt;If it&#39;s in a--a Oneness church, the Trinity won&#39;t come. If it&#39;s a Trinity&#39;s church, the Oneness won&#39;t come. If it&#39;s in a Methodist church, the Baptists won&#39;t come. If it&#39;s in a Baptist church, the Methodists won&#39;t come. One body... One person said, &quot;Should we be baptized over now in order to come, be prayed for?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Mercy, that&#39;s as pagan as we ever had it. That&#39;s right. No. For by one Spirit we&#39;re all baptized into one body (That&#39;s right.), regardless of who you are and where you are. That&#39;s right. So it don&#39;t make any difference what organization you are. You don&#39;t have to belong to the Baptist church, or the Methodist church, or the Pentecost, or whatever it is. You have to have faith in God. That&#39;s right.&lt;br /&gt;Now, and frankly, you don&#39;t have to belong to no church. But if you get healed and go sin again, it&#39;ll come back on you again worse than it was in the first place. You go somewhere then to church and serve God. God don&#39;t heal you for the devil&#39;s glory. He heals you for His glory. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-70&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, look: how the people fail. Now, Moses felt, I&#39;d imagine how he felt. He just hated to come right out and tell the people, because he thought it&#39;d be self-exaltation. He thought the people&#39;d say, &quot;Now, look at that man.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;We&#39;ve had a lot of that in the world today. We&#39;ve had a lot of people come through say, &quot;God done this and He done that.&quot; But God didn&#39;t bear record of it. But if God bears record, He will respect His gift. Is that right? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-71&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Yes, sir, God honored the gift of--of Abel. He honored the gift of Moses. And Moses thought the people would understand. But they did not understand.&lt;br /&gt;And today, surely, looks like a person wouldn&#39;t have to come down any closer than what you are right now to know what I&#39;m speaking of. All right, but it goes over the majority&#39;s head. And, friends, I love you, and I want to see you get well.&lt;br /&gt;Now, when they called for a deliverer, God sent the deliverer, and they failed to see it. Moses was God&#39;s gift to Israel. You believe it? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-72&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; On down, Elijah the prophet, they were God&#39;s gift. Many of them raised up false prophets. Right in the days of Elijah there raised up false prophets, but God testified of the prophecy of Elijah. If it&#39;s of God, God will testify of it. And there was Elijah, and he was God&#39;s gift to Israel. You believe it?&lt;br /&gt;He was even Ahab&#39;s pastor. He was Jezebel&#39;s pastor. She didn&#39;t want to admit that he was her pastor, but he was the man who told her where she was living. That&#39;s right. He was her pastor. She hated him, but yet he was God&#39;s provided gift for her down there to let her know her sins; and she failed to see him. You know what I&#39;m speaking of? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-73&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Along come Jesus. And Jesus... Listen. Jesus was God&#39;s gift to Israel, to the world. Is that right? Jesus was God&#39;s gift. &quot;God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.&quot; You believe it? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it wasn&#39;t the apostles. Do you think Moses was the--the deliverer because it was Moses, his wits and his intelligence? Why, he said he was a man of slow speech. It was God in Moses, a gift to the people. It was God in Christ. He said, &quot;It&#39;s not Me; it&#39;s My Father that dwelleth in Me.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s the reason Martha said, &quot;Lord...&quot; (last night&#39;s sermon) Said, &quot;I know that Thou art the Christ, the--the Son of God that should come into the world.&quot; She believed it. And there the people believed on Him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-74&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And look at Peter when he was walking by, why, he was a mortal. He was born of sinful flesh just like I or you. That&#39;s right. But the people had need of a healer, so they sent--God sent Peter to do that specific work. John was love. Peter didn&#39;t have the love in his heart that John had. John was God&#39;s agency of love. You see?&lt;br /&gt;Look here, when He taken Peter, James, and John, hope, faith, and charity... Don&#39;t you see? Those gifted people, them three, the hope, faith, and charity...&lt;br /&gt;Hope was in James; he was the one that set the church in order. Faith was in Peter. And charity was in John. Hope, faith, and charity, it was God&#39;s representatives on the earth.&lt;br /&gt;And the people laid in Peter&#39;s shadow and were healed. Oh, friends. Oh, my. Don&#39;t think I&#39;m yelling at you, friends. You might think I&#39;m excited, but I&#39;m not. I&#39;m trying to get my point to you close enough so you&#39;ll see what I&#39;m talking about. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-75&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, Pentecost people has been praying for the last thirty or forty years for a gift of healing.&lt;br /&gt;We&#39;re living in the days when we&#39;ve got the best medical science we ever had. We got the best hospitals we ever had. We got the best doctors we ever had. We got the best drugs we ever practiced with. And we got more sickness than we ever had.&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s thousands and hundreds of thousands of precious saints of God suffering tonight. And they are crying and crying and cried for years for God to restore the gift of Divine healing to the church. And when God moved the orbits thirty-seven years ago, and foreordained it and sent it, many hundreds of people are passing by without recognizing it, friends. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-76&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, it&#39;s brought to pass. I hate to say this. God have mercy. Look, friends, down through the rest of the country, over in Phoenix, over in Houston, over in San Antonio, down in Arkansas, down across the country, thousands are being healed, coming through there, of all kinds of sickness and diseases. Oakland, know your day. Someday, I shall meet you before the judgment bar of God, and you&#39;ll know I testified to you the God Almighty&#39;s truth. You cried for it. What? If you, just as you respect it as you believe it, God will testify of His gifts. That&#39;s right. He did for Abel. He did for Elijah. He did for Moses. He did for Peter. He did for Paul. He did for all, and He will do it yet today.&lt;br /&gt;When Pentecost first fell and the baptism of the Holy Spirit first begin to fall, the people said, &quot;It&#39;s Fanaticism.&quot; But God testified of it, that He was so. That&#39;s why I&#39;m with you tonight, because I know its the hand of God. Many of them went off into isms with it, but there&#39;s a genuine Pentecostal article. God has testified of it. That&#39;s true. And the same thing He&#39;s done tonight in another manner. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record.--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-77&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I was going into the drug store. And when I went in, I noticed some fellow looking at me kind of strangely. I went on in the store, and I come back out, and I had the bottle cap. And I never forgot about him. And I was still had my uniform on.&lt;br /&gt;And he put his... The man put his hand on my shoulder, and he looked at me; he said, &quot;Sir,&quot; said, &quot;I seen you was an officer.&quot; Said, &quot;I thought I&#39;d ask you a question.&quot; Said, &quot;You may think I&#39;m kind of crazy.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;What&#39;s the matter, sir?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;I live in Paducah, Kentucky.&quot; He said, &quot;I&#39;ve been failing in health for about two years.&quot; He said, &quot;Last week I had a peculiar dream.&quot; He said, &quot;I dreamed that I should come to Jeffersonville, Indiana, to get somebody by the name of Branham to pray for me.&quot; Said, &quot;You know whether there&#39;s any Branhams live here or not?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;My, you don&#39;t know how I felt. I thought, &quot;Oh, God&#39;s testifying.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Yes, sir.&quot; I said, &quot;I know there&#39;s Branhams lives here.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;You know, is there anybody prays for the sick?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I&#39;m the one.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He just looked at me like that, and tears begin to roll down his cheeks. He just took me by the hand. I took him by the hand, took off my hat, laid my hat and gun down in my hat, knelt down on the side of the street and begin praying for him right there on the street.&lt;br /&gt;When I raised up there was mothers standing, holding the little children back, and men with their hats off like that, waiting for the prayer.&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s been many things done in Jeffersonville, and they knew what was going on. And when we raised up, there they all were standing there with their heads down listening to the prayer.&lt;br /&gt;I raised up. And the brother, he put his arms around me, commenced to patting me like that. I&#39;ve never seen him from this day to that. God healed him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-78&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I was standing down at Houston, Texas, Reverend Kidson&#39;s meetings. And one morning standing there, oh, my, how I was thinking, praying. There was, we was having day service. And there was just hundreds of people coming in the line, being healed.&lt;br /&gt;And all at once there was a lady that ran in. Oh, the building was about as long as this auditorium, main floor here. And the lady run into the back. She had a little boy in her arms, and she set down. And she was real restless. And the prayer line about four in abreast was coming by like this.&lt;br /&gt;And she raised up; she said, &quot;Just a minute, just a minute.&quot; And everyone stopped.&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;I don&#39;t like to stop that prayer line, but I want to tell you...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She was real nervous and shaky, kind of excited. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-79&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; She said, &quot;I live over on the west side of Houston.&quot; Now, Houston&#39;s a pretty good size city, several miles across it, and we were on the east side. She said, &quot;This morning my neighbor, the mother of this little child,&quot; said, &quot;her father was an old Methodist preacher.&quot; Said, &quot;He&#39;s been dead twenty years.&quot; And said, &quot;Before he died, he used to go around preaching and saying someday God would give the gift back to the church for the Gentiles before the ending of the Gentile dispensation, like He did for the Jews.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And said, &quot;His baby daughter, this is her baby.&quot; Said, &quot;She&#39;s kind of weakly.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And said, &quot;This morning after cleaning up her house, she&#39;d set her dust mop up and was lying down across the foot of the bed and was resting.&quot; And said, &quot;All at once she had a dream. She seen a big black cloud rising.&quot; And said, &quot;Coming down out of that cloud, begin to move back.&quot; And said, &quot;There come her dead father. And he said, &#39;Rise and take the child and go to the Houston Gospel Tabernacle. The gift of Divine healing is there.&#39;&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Well, she just thought it was just a dream: never heard of the Houston Gospel Tabernacle. So she just laying there a little while and went to sleep again, and she dreamed it the second time. The big black cloud come. Her dead father come walking right down out of the cloud. She said, &quot;Well, that&#39;s strange; I dreamed of dad the second time.&quot; Said, &quot;He said, take the baby.&quot; Well, she got up and got her drink, stirred around the house a little bit and went back and lied--was lying down again. And when she went back, she dreamed it the third time. The big black cloud come. And her... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-80&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; They called the recorder&#39;s office to see if there was, just what was to the dream. I don&#39;t believe in all dreams now. So then, called, but he said, &quot;Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And then she--she called the recorders office, and he said, &quot;Yes, there&#39;s a Houston Gospel Tabernacle way over on the west side, on sixty-seventh street.&quot; And he said, &quot;East sixty-seventh street.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And the lady, the mother, so weak she could not... Now, the child was--had infantile paralysis, his little legs was crippled. And she could not bring the child.&lt;br /&gt;But she had the neighbor, and the neighbor kept changing busses and cars until she got over and got off of a car just about two blocks from the church. And there was an officer standing there. And she said to him, &quot;Do you know where the Houston Gospel Tabernacle is?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Said, &quot;Yes, ma&#39;am. Right up there where that crowd of people is standing there in the street,&quot; said, &quot;They&#39;re having a healing service.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-81&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Well, the poor thing was so weak when she got there, she, you imagine how she felt, walked right in there and seen that. And she told me. I said, &quot;Bring me the baby.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, my, you know what happened, don&#39;t you? Sure. And I thought, even though the people, the Angels of heaven know about it. God will testify of it. His works will be declared, regardless of what people think about it. That&#39;s right. It&#39;s true, friends. God bless your heart. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-82&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Here at Camden, Arkansas, with Brother Adams. I guess one of the Brother Adams&#39; are here tonight? And at his place, he was pulling me out; we had thousands attended the service. And they were pulling me out of the service one day. And I kept hearing somebody hollering, &quot;Have mercy, have mercy. Oh, where you at, Reverend?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I turned around, Brother Adams said, &quot;You can&#39;t stop.&quot; It was a colored man, you know.&lt;br /&gt;Yet even in Arkansas if you even shake the hands of a colored man they&#39;ll put you in jail. So there they are, such law they have there. You can talk to him, but don&#39;t put your hands on him.&lt;br /&gt;Now, that&#39;s not right. That&#39;s not. He&#39;s a human just as good as I am, or you are, or anybody else. That&#39;s exactly right. I don&#39;t know what you think about that, but I want to unload my soul about it. That&#39;s right. Sure. I&#39;m for Abraham Lincoln, and that&#39;s all right. And look... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-83&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; There this poor colored man standing there, hollering, &quot;Oh Reverend.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Brother Adams said, &quot;Come on, Brother Branham.&quot; Said, &quot;My, look at that crowd,&quot; said, &quot;they press about you.&quot; And they pulled me out of the crowd. They don&#39;t mean to be harsh, but they try to take, &#39;Cause, friends, sometimes you get around, they tramp you to death almost. And they just pull you. I love them. God bless their hearts.&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;d like to stand right there and touch every one of them and pray for them till I just, and breath will leave out of my body.&lt;br /&gt;Last night when I left the building, they had to lay me out in the car almost. Even my heart and everything, just shaking and jumping, like that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-84&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You don&#39;t realize the strain of holding them demons when they come out, and they&#39;re in the room. And you&#39;re responsible. What if something happens in the building? Why, they&#39;d lock you up in jail, and they&#39;d break the meeting for good. Is that, see what you mean? You don&#39;t know the responsibility of that. And here then, and so tired anyhow after six months of going. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-85&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then I--I said, &quot;Wait a minute.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And he was just a crying, poor fellow. He had his hat in his hand, gray headed. He was saying, &quot;Reverend, Reverend.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;His wife said, &quot;You&#39;s can&#39;t get to him, honey. You&#39;s can&#39;t get to him.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Wait a minute. Just a minute.&quot; And so I looked around, and I looked at him. I said, &quot;What&#39;s the matter, sir?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And Brother Adams and the other man taken me back up where he was at. And I said, &quot;What&#39;s the matter?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Reverend, Reverend.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;See, he was holding me like that. Said, &quot;Reverend.&quot; Putting his hand over on me.&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Yes?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-86&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; He said, &quot;Just a minute, Reverend.&quot; He said, &quot;I&#39;s come a long ways to come here.&quot; He said, &quot;Night before last,&quot; said, &quot;my old mammy, she&#39;s been dead about twenty years almost.&quot; And said, &quot;She was a Christian woman. And I&#39;s been blind for better than twelve years.&quot; He said, &quot;And last night, or night before last, I dreamed... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; That God had sent His gift of Divine healing, and it was at Camden, Arkansas, and for me not to let you get by.&quot; Said, &quot;Reverend, please don&#39;t pass me by.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;You think I could pass him? I don&#39;t care who he was. It&#39;s God. I don&#39;t care how much they&#39;d put you in jail. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-87&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then standing there by that poor old fellow, take a hold of his hands. His eyes had been blowed out by an explosion. Taking a hold of his hands and was praying for him, his wife crying, the tears rolling down off her coat, like that. She&#39;s standing there.&lt;br /&gt;After I got through praying, he just--his eyes, he looked so amazed. He&#39;d look around; he begin to bat his eyes; he said, &quot;Honey, ain&#39;t that an automobile setting right there?&quot; And it was our car that we were setting in. Tears rolling down his eyes, out of his eyes, he begin to raise his hands and rejoice.&lt;br /&gt;Oh, brother, God will testify of His gifts. Heavens and earth might pass, but God&#39;s going to move. There&#39;s going to be somebody that&#39;s going to receive it (Yes, sir.), if you&#39;ll come and respect what God has done for you. That&#39;s right. God will testify of His gift. It&#39;s right now time to get started. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-88&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Listen, not long ago I was in, was over in Illinois. And listen, while we&#39;re talking of the colored; this come on my mind. There was... I was in a big coliseum. Many of you know where I&#39;m speaking of. And there looking around and seeing different things, I seen an old colored man with a little ring of white hair around his head; he come along like this, looking. And after while he come to a---a certain thing. He stopped. He took off his hat. He held it behind him. He bowed his head. And I seen he was saying a prayer.&lt;br /&gt;And I walked up to him after he got through praying; I said, &quot;Sir,&quot; I said, &quot;I&#39;m a minister.&quot; I said, &quot;I seen you praying. What was so startling about the box?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He looked up at me, his poor old wrinkle hardened cheeks, and tears rolling off the sides of his cheeks. He said, &quot;Rev... Parson,&quot; he said, &quot;just look over there.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I raised up and looked over there, and it looked like a little old dress laying there. I said, &quot;I only see a dress.&quot; And that&#39;s what many people just see, the natural signs. I said, &quot;I only see the dress.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;You notice that kind of a circle in it, parson?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Yes, sir.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Feel right here on my side. Said, &quot;There is marks of a slave belt. That&#39;s the blood of Abraham Lincoln.&quot; Said, &quot;The blood of Abraham Lincoln took the slave belt off of me. Why shouldn&#39;t I take my hat off and say a prayer?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-89&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I think tonight, if a colored man, for the freedom and his right, could take his hat off to the blood of Abraham Lincoln, what ought you Christians to do to the Blood of Jesus Christ. See? Oh, friends, I expected to have more faith in Oakland and L. A. too.&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;ll tell you the people that received it not long ago, was the Spanish people at Arizona. They caught the idea right quick. They knew it was God&#39;s gift to them. They come right on the platform. And I&#39;d see them dear old Spanish mothers faint and fall and pulled out of line before they could get to me. They believed it.&lt;br /&gt;One of them come, she even had a dream that she... She couldn&#39;t even speak English. And she seen that supernatural Being standing. (You got the letter here, have you?) Many... Why? God will testify of His gift. Is that right? Oh, friends, you know what I&#39;m speaking of. Do you understand now what I&#39;m speaking of? Faith, believe it. Come, it isn&#39;t the man; its God in the man. You know what I&#39;m meaning. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;E-90&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[End of record--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... please, O God, may people come tonight just like they did in the days of the apostles. May they come realizing that this is the apostolic time for them. This is the hour that what they have asked for is now present: the Holy Ghost in the form of healing for their bodies. Grant it, dear God. May many people be healed tonight. Have mercy, Father.&lt;br /&gt;And may everyone that comes tonight, come like they did when they passed by Your humble servant, Simon Peter. And they were laid in his shadow and were made every whit whole, because they recognized God in the man. May they recognize God like they did in Moses. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. May they recognize God tonight in His people. Grant it, dear Father. Have mercy now and bless every one of them.&lt;br /&gt;And, dear God, at this time I pray for my little church at home that just had services tonight, crying, begging for me to come home. O God, people gathering in from different parts of the country... Take care of my little orphan boy, won&#39;t You, dear God.&lt;br /&gt;Oh, I&#39;m out here striving, trying my best, dear God, to obey what I was told to do. And may the people see, Father, what a sacrifice it is, and what You&#39;ve done for the people. And may they recognize this day and many be healed, and get well of their diseases and testify through this city. For we ask it in the lovely Name of Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son. Amen.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/4578750115154884468/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=4578750115154884468' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/4578750115154884468'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/4578750115154884468'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/faith-is-substance-william-branham.html' title='Faith is the Substance - William Branham!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-5887351826274938779</id><published>2008-07-17T19:56:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T19:58:10.397+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Does God Ever Change His Mind! - Bill Branham</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;     &lt;!---------------------------&gt;    &lt;table align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;190&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;table bg border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;1&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;  &lt;td width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;    &lt;table bg border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;4&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td align=&quot;left&quot; bg valign=&quot;middle&quot; style=&quot;color:#990000;&quot;&gt;    &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:-1;color:#ffffff;&quot;&gt;  &lt;span class=&quot;sermoninfohead&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sermon details&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;sermoninfo&quot; bg valign=&quot;top&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; style=&quot;color:#ffffcc;&quot;&gt;    &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;  &lt;span class=&quot;printhidden&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org:8080/ramgen/archives/wmb/65-0418E.rm&quot; title=&quot;RealAudio streaming sermon&quot;&gt;Listen&lt;/a&gt; to this tape&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/archives/wmb/65-0418E.rm&quot; title=&quot;RealAudio sermon&quot;&gt;Save&lt;/a&gt; (download) this tape (in Real Audio format)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/archives/wmb/65-0418E.mp3&quot; title=&quot;MP3 sermon&quot;&gt;Save&lt;/a&gt; (download) this tape as an MP3 file&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;This Message by Brother William Marrion Branham   called &lt;b&gt;Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word?&lt;/b&gt;   was delivered on Sunday evening, 18th April 1965 at the Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.&lt;br /&gt; The tape, number 65-0418E,    is 2 hours and 8 minutes, and consists of 2 cassettes. This message is available in book format (Volume 5, Number 9R).  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;This text was taken from the 1999 Infobase, provided by&lt;br /&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.branham.org/&quot; target=&quot;_top&quot; title=&quot;VOGR&quot;&gt;Voice Of God Recordings&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; P.O. Box 950, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131 U.S.A.&lt;br /&gt; Phone (812) 256-1177&lt;br /&gt; Fax (812) 256-6187&lt;br /&gt; Many thanks to Br. Neil Halava and his team for their hard work.  &lt;span class=&quot;printhidden&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;The tape in RealAudio and MP3 (as linked above) is supplied by&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bibleway.org/&quot; target=&quot;_top&quot; title=&quot;All the tapes in RealAudio and MP3&quot;&gt;Cloverdale Bibleway&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;    &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;  &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;    &lt;!--br clear=all--&gt;&lt;!---------------------------&gt;        &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;    &lt;!---------------------------&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Let us bow our heads. Dear Lord Jesus, we are assembled again in Your Name with great expectation for the outpouring of the Quickening power of God to bring us into recognition of our position and place and our responsibility as being a called people, separated from the world, dedicated to God. Grant, Lord, tonight that the blessings of God will guide us and direct us in the things we do or say, that it might bring honor and glory to Your Name. Amen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I&#39;m happy to be back in the church tonight and to be with you dear people. And I know it&#39;s warm; I just called my wife; I think it&#39;s ninety something there, ninety-five or ninety-six or something, and it&#39;s a--quite a bit warmer than it is here. So I&#39;m getting used to the warm weather now. So... But I&#39;m so glad to be here at the Tabernacle at this wonderful Easter time.&lt;br /&gt;And I can&#39;t say that I apologize for that long, long message this morning, but I--it was--I didn&#39;t want--want to wear out your patience and then come at it again tonight. But I--I wanted to--to get that message to you that you are a part of this resurrection. See? And don&#39;t worry about it no more (See?); just rejoice over it. There is nothing nowhere can separate you from it, nothing; eternally secured in the Kingdom of God. When God has stamped His Seal upon you, you&#39;re to the end of the destination. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; When the government puts a seal upon a package, the railroad puts a seal on a door, that car cannot be tampered with until it reached its destination. When God puts His Seal upon a man (and the Seal is the Holy Spirit), when He seals a man like that, he&#39;s gone to his eternal destination. And never no more can he ever, ever go back any more; &#39;cause remember, Ephesians 4:30 says, &quot;Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed for all times.&quot; You see? You&#39;re sealed forever; you are sealed eternally into the Kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit. Now, think of that. Then you... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; The devil will punch at you, and he&#39;ll say everything to you and accuse you, and--and try to make you think that you&#39;re not, but don&#39;t you listen to him.&lt;br /&gt;Now, you know you&#39;ve passed from death unto Life; you know the things that you once loved, you don&#39;t love no more. You know that you have believed every Word of God; you seen God working right among us without--infallible proofs that He is the great I AM. You&#39;ve notice that ever what has been said in His Name, never has one thing been prophesied in His Name but what happened just exactly the way it did, even to science, newspaper, picture, cameras, writers; everything else has to recognize it. See? Regardless of whether they want to or not, God makes them do it anyhow (See?), to make it known. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, being a little group... Remember, it&#39;s not a big group that He comes for: &quot;Fear not, little flock; it&#39;s your Father&#39;s good will...&quot; See?&lt;br /&gt;I want to leave a word with you, shocking, just before we have a ordination of a minister. And this is very shocking, but just that you might know. Now, I ain&#39;t saying that this is exact to number, but I&#39;d like to leave this with you.&lt;br /&gt;I don&#39;t know whether any people&#39;s in here has ever seen hybreeding of cattle (which I don&#39;t believe in it), but I&#39;ve watched it done. And I&#39;ve seen them take the sperm of the male, just enough could be touched on a little metal, like a little toothpick, and lay it upon a piece of marble and turn those glasses which magnify it a, I don&#39;t know how many times, until that sperm... Where you could see nothing with the natural eye, any ordinary glass, but when it&#39;s magnified hundred or hundred and fifty times, you can see in that one little drop of sperm maybe fifty to a hundred little germs a-bouncing around. Also, in the female comes as many eggs in a--in the sperm. Now, when they are--are brought together... Now, the first two that meets and connects... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; There&#39;s only one out of that million is going to live. Did you ever think of that? They are the same germ and the same egg, both of them just alike, but there&#39;s only one going to live. And that&#39;s not determined which one beats there first, because sometime the egg way back in the back, and the germ might be up in the middle of the sperm, and they&#39;ll crawl over one another. It takes an Intelligence to know whether it&#39;s going to be boy or girl, red-headed, black-headed, or whatmore. It&#39;s a election of God; it can be nothing else: election.&lt;br /&gt;Even in the natural birth is election, whether it&#39;s going to be boy or girl, or whatever it&#39;s going to be. And when that little germ wiggles into this little egg, and the little tails drop off, it starts the baby&#39;s spine of whatever it&#39;s after, animal, baby, or whatever it is. And the rest of those million germs--a million eggs, a million germs, and only one lives. All the same, but God chooses by election what&#39;s going to live, and the rest of them perish: one out of a million. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;12&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; When Israel left Egypt, they all believed in one prophet&#39;s message. They seen the signs of God by Moses; every one of them saw them. And they each one come out of Egypt, and walked through the Red Sea, and was baptized unto Moses. Each one saw the power of God strike him when he sang in the Spirit and when Miriam beat the tambourine, run up and down the coast. Each one of them every night eat fresh heavenly manna out of the skies. Each of those drank from that spiritual Rock that was smitten. And there was two million people left Egypt. How many made the promised land? Two, one out of a million. Where they all at? Jesus said they perished. &quot;Your fathers eat manna in the wilderness for the space of thirty years, and I say unto you, that they are all dead.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;13&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, there&#39;s about five hundred million Christians in the world tonight, counting Catholic, Protestant, and all. If Jesus should come in that rapture, according to what I&#39;ve just said, there would be five hundred missing in the world tonight in the rapture. And they probably is that every day, counting all the lands, that&#39;s never accounted for. So it could be at any time. See?&lt;br /&gt;Oh, Christians, let us buckle on the armor of God. Let us do all that we know how to serve Him, love Him, and wait for that great time. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, there&#39;s not going to be a great millions and multitudes come out of a generation and march in. There--there can&#39;t be. Now, remember, each day ends a generation, each day. &quot;As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man, wherein eight souls was saved by water.&quot; But each day ends a forty year period for somebody, for some. See? And each day so many is sealed away in the Kingdom. One day the last day will arrive. Let us be sure now, while we are in our right mind, and in the church, and amongst the people where the Holy Spirit so has identified Hisself with us, let&#39;s be sure that everything&#39;s all right and stays all right before Him.&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t you stop; don&#39;t rest day and night until that Quickening Power has brought you from the things of the world into the Kingdom of God. And you that truly are brought into the Kingdom of God, and quickened by the Spirit of God, how happy, with tears of joy we should be on our knees day and night thanking God for what He&#39;s done. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;17&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Tonight we have a little change in the service. We have a fine brother here, Brother Capps. He come to us from the Nazarene church, and I think that is right, Brother Capps? He&#39;s wishing tonight to be ordained by us, by laying on hands.&lt;br /&gt;We do not have papers to give out to anyone, yet we&#39;re recognized as... We could have papers, but we believe that a true ordained minister, his papers is in heaven. See? And he--he has the rights to preach the Bible as long as God identifies his life with the Bible. We believe that&#39;s his credentials.&lt;br /&gt;And now, Brother Capps has been ordained officially in the--the Nazarene church, but tonight he wants the elders and so forth to lay hands upon him for ordination to carry this Message. What a gallant thing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;20&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I have--I have heard the reports ever since I been in Tucson, and such wonderful reports of Brother Capps here in his assistance to our gracious Brother Neville, who&#39;s holding the candle of Light just as gallantly as these two men can hold. We have laid hands on Brother Neville but not upon Brother Capps. And I want those who are ministers, Brother Jackson and them, if they&#39;re here, and Brother Ruddell and the elders of the church here, if they&#39;ll come up here just for a few minutes now and a--laying hands on Brother Capps. And they...&lt;br /&gt;Now, we find in the Bible that that&#39;s the way they did it; they lay hands upon them and set them apart then. And that&#39;s the way they did Timothy. Said, &quot;By this gift that was in thee from the grandmother Lois...&quot; They&#39;d noticed it, that there was a gift in the man that come to him by the presbyters by laying on of hands. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;22&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, latter day brethren--latter day rain brethren got though--that mixed up. They thought they give him a gift by doing that. No, the gift was already in him, and they just laid their hands upon him as a sanction that they believed that God had already put the gift in him; and they sanctioned it by laying on of hands.&lt;br /&gt;And these men here in this church that I believe that&#39;s possessed in their soul was this Quickening Power, if you brothers will come up just now, Brother Ruddell and all the rest of you that&#39;s here in the church, and the elders and sister churches around to lay hands upon Brother Capps, that he might be ordained by our sanction before this audience and sent out to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus wherever God may call him. He becomes--he&#39;s already one of us by birth. He&#39;s one of us because he&#39;s believed the Message. He&#39;s one of us because that--that he stands for the Truth of the Word. And we want Brother Capps to be officially ordained before you by the laying on of hands, that he&#39;s one of us. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham gives directions to the ministers--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Okay, Brother Ruddell, Brother Capps, Brother Neville... Brother Junior Jackson, any of them other ministers here? I don&#39;t know just how many there is. I don&#39;t... I guess they got their own services tonight, so come right up here, Brother Capps. Now, where&#39;s Brother Hunter and them from New York? I got... Brother Anthony, I guess they have gone back. Any of you others that&#39;s here that&#39;s with us, why, we&#39;d be glad for you to come here and stand with us now as a recognition that we believe Brother Capps to be... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;23&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; How many of you here know Brother Capps, raise your hand. All right, put your hands down. How many believe he&#39;s a servant of God, raise your hands. We love him as our brother.&lt;br /&gt;Now, this is not exactly a correct way of what we would call ordination, but I want this audience... I couldn&#39;t sing this song, but I want you to help me try it, that...&lt;br /&gt;One day a prophet went down to the altar in the temple, and while he was there at the temple... He had been a good man, but he&#39;d just been laying upon the arms of Uzziah the king, and he was a--he was a good man. But yet one day at the temple he saw something when he fell into a vision that he&#39;d never saw before. He saw Angels with wings, flying back and forth through the building, crying, &quot;Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.&quot; (Come on Brother...?... See?) &quot;Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!&quot; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham speaks to Brother Ben--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Ben... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;26&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And when he did, the post of the temple moved out, and he said, &quot;Woe is me, for I&#39;m a man of unclean lips.&quot; In the Presence of God he recognized that even though being a prophet, he&#39;d been wrong. He said, &quot;I&#39;m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among people with unclean lips.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And one of the Angels flew, and took a coal of fire, and touched his lips, and said, &quot;Prophesy, son of man.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Would you give us a chord on that, sister, if you will. How many knows this song? Let&#39;s... one verse. All right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;When the coal of fire had touched the prophet,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Making him as pure, as pure can be;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;When the voice of God said, &quot;Who&#39;ll go for us?&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Then he answered, &quot;Here am I, send me!&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, and I&#39;ll be quick to answer Thee.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, and I will answer, &quot;Lord, send me.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Millions now in sin and shame are dying;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Listen to their sad and bitter cry;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Hasten, brother, hasten to their rescue;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Quickly answer, &quot;Master, here am I.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Speak, and I&#39;ll be quick to answer Thee.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, my Lord, speak, my Lord,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Speak, and I will answer, &quot;Lord send me.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Let the elders walk around now and lay hands upon Brother Capps. Let&#39;s all bow our heads. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;28&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear God, the temple post has moved again. And as seeing the Spirit of the quickening Life working in our brother, I pray, God, as he feels this from above that says that he must go... We lay hands upon him as Your elders, Lord, and give to him the right-hand of fellowship, and lay our hands upon him, and pass the blessings of God upon him, that You&#39;ll anoint his lips, his thinking, his entire being, and may he take this Message of the Gospel to every crack and corner that You&#39;ll call him to. Grant it, Lord. We give You our brother as a servant of Yours in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Preach the Word, my young brother. Be in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering in doctrine. God bless you...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;30&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Ben Bryant speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Have you? I didn&#39;t know you hadn&#39;t.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Ben here has come to us. I think he&#39;s been preaching for some time. Yet, he hasn&#39;t been officially (I thought he had; that&#39;s the reason I called him up.) ordained or hands laid on him here.&lt;br /&gt;Now, Brother Ben&#39;s wife is here somewhere, and she is a dear person. She was a woman preacher. And when she and our brother were married, and he brought her to the tabernacle, when she seen and heard the Word, yet a fine little lady with a fine personality, but when she seen that it was wrong for the women to do that, she laid aside; and it seemed to fall upon her husband. That&#39;s correctly; that&#39;s apostolic. That&#39;s the way it should be.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Ben takes the tapes, as I understand, with his wife. They go into the out-of-the-way places, way back into the mountains, into the jungles, and they play these tapes and comment on the tapes. Many times they&#39;re run out, cast out, throwed out. We expect that, for all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;33&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; How many here knows Brother Ben? How many believes him to be God&#39;s servant, worthy of this blessing that we&#39;ll ask of God for him? See, he&#39;s not a stranger; he&#39;s been with us for years and years. I know him as a man of humility. He&#39;s like me; he makes many mistakes. We all do that. But what I like about Brother Ben, he&#39;s willing to crawl on his knees to make it right. When he heard the other day on &quot;Marriage and Divorce&quot;... He and his wife was ready to separate, because that he loves her, and she loves him, but they want to cope with the Word of God. Whatever the Word said, that&#39;s what they wanted. I pray that God will bless Ben and his wife to His service. Let&#39;s lay our hands upon the brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;34&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear God, we lay our hands upon our Brother Ben by a sign that we love him and we believe, Lord, that he is willing to do a work for You, to be sent out with these tapes, to play them among some mountain people in the way-away places where probably many of us would never get, but yet the Message must go to all the world. We pray that You&#39;ll bless our brother, and give to him Your Spirit, and may It come upon him and guide him and direct him and his wife to those places where maybe that one soul is way out there... And the doors cannot close until that one sheep is brought in. Thou art not satisfied with ninety and nine, the--every name that&#39;s on the Book must be brought in. Help them, Lord, as we lay hands upon him as associating him with us as our brother. And our help, prayer for him, will go with him; and we pray that You&#39;ll bless him, Lord, wherever he goes. In Jesus&#39; Name. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Bless you, Brother Ben. The right-hand of fellowship we can give you as minister brothers. God bless you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;35&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; John Martin--Earl. How many knows Earl Martin? How many believes him to be a servant of Christ? He comes to us from a--I believe the--originally from a Pentecostal group, and now I think he pastors and does a independent work.&lt;br /&gt;I&#39;ve knowed Earl to be a real servant of Christ. I&#39;ll never forget one act--many has been, but one act with Earl. I remember one night they called him when I was in Dallas, Texas--or I--I believe... No, it was a... Beaumont, Texas--is right, sister. And they--they... His baby was laying, dying, and they thought it was already dead. It wasn&#39;t breathing no more. And Earl made his way around to my room, as a daddy, bending shoulders, stooped down before me as I was in bed, rolled out, and he put his arms around me and said, &quot;Brother, I believe you are God&#39;s prophet. I&#39;ve always believed that. If you&#39;ll just say the word, though my baby is dead, yet shall it live.&quot; And his baby come back to life and living. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;37&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You believe he&#39;s worthy of the right-hand of fellowship of these believers? Let us pray, brothers, as we lay hands on him.&lt;br /&gt;Gracious heavenly Father, we lay hands again on our Brother Martin. We send him, Lord, to the utmost parts that Thou has ordained that he should go, wherever it is, many or few, byways, highways, hedges, wherever it is, Lord. May Your blessings be with him. We lay our hands upon him as we bid him Your speed and give him our blessings, that the Spirit that&#39;s upon us, Lord, may go with him, and will guide him and direct him to the lost souls out in the hedges and highways. We send him in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you, Brother Martin. Go now; the Lord be with you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;39&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; For the same purpose? Richard is your name. How many know Richard Blair? How many believe him to be a servant of God? He comes from the--the group of the United Pentecostal church. And Brother--Brother Blair, I remember a great calling of his. I remember the time where Brother Blair would not--didn&#39;t want to believe me, because that there was a spirit working with him, telling him that I was false. And while he was setting right in the meeting, the Holy Spirit turned around and called it out. And he was just about ready for a--a breakdown, and that&#39;s what got him in that shape. And I remember his lovely wife calling me one day; she said, &quot;Brother Branham, I believe Richard is going to die.&quot; And she had, I believe, a scarf. She went and laid it on him as I asked her and prayed; here he is.&lt;br /&gt;A little baby had been in an accident, or--his boy--in an accident, that they didn&#39;t give much hope for it, with a concussion of the brain, and with prayer, even by the phone, the baby was made well. Do you believe Brother Blair is a true witness of Christ? You pray that your blessings go with him. Brethren, lay your hands on him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;41&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear God, to identify our gracious and noble brother, Your servant, that has even come from his own group to walk in Light. Father, we pray that You&#39;ll bless our Brother Blair, as we send him with our blessings and our sanction by our hands upon him to wherever You may call him, Lord, to whatever work it may be. May Your Spirit go with Brother Blair. Guide him and direct him to the lost and dying of this world, that he may help find that lost sheep, that he might bring it back to the fold. Wherever it might be, whatever You have for him, Lord, we just ask that Your Spirit guide him and direct him throughout his life&#39;s journey. We are his brethren. In giving him the right-hand of fellowship, we ask You to go with him in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;The right-hand of fellowship... God bless you, Brother Blair. We are with you one hundred percent, pray for you and will do anything we can to help you. God bless you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;42&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham has conversation with Brother Anthon--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; What say? Who are you? Merlin Anthon. In the church. Anybody know Brother Merlin Anthon? He&#39;s new to me. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The Brother speaks again to Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Oh, yes. Pardon me, brother. From the Salvation Army. That&#39;s right. I remember him. Sure I know him now. I just... His face didn&#39;t look familiar to me just--same at this time. How many knows him to be a man of God? How many believes that--that God is working with him, raise your hand. Will you pray for him?&lt;br /&gt;Now, Brother, we know that you come in from a great group of people, Salvation Army; they&#39;re a great people. But--and--but the Salvation Army does do a great work out on the street. We can say nothing against the Nazarene, the Pentecostal church, or the Salvation Army, or any of them; they are our brethren. But you see, we believe that we are carriers of a great Message for this very hour that we&#39;re living in. You want to do that with us? Let us bow our heads while we lay our hands on our brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;44&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear heavenly Father, You are the One that does the calling; You are the One that quickens the Word so that they can believe. And we lay our hands upon our precious brother as a sanction that we believe that You&#39;re with him and will help him. We send our blessings with him, Lord, that we who believe that we&#39;ve passed from death unto Life and now hold Quickening Power in our hearts. By the grace of God we lay hands upon our brother and send him with our blessing that You&#39;ll lead him and guide him and direct him to every crevice of the earth, Lord, that You have ordained for him to go. May Your Spirit go with him and give him health, strength, and success in his ministry, for we send him in Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;God bless you, brother. That&#39;s the right-hand of fellowship. You brothers shake hands with these brethren like that so that you... All right, the Lord bless you all. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;46&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[A brother speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; You... Whatever you wish in your eyes to be...?... Now, what&#39;s your name? Brother Correll. This is Brother Correll from Cincinnati. Anybody know Brother Correll, raise your... Being from Cincinnati, I doubt it. And anybody know... He says that he was with a group, and the group wanted to ordain women ministers. He couldn&#39;t stand it, and he had to break away from it. That&#39;s exactly how I broke away from the Missionary Baptists. Dr. Roy E. Davis, how many ever heard him? Sure, you did. He wanted to ordain some women preachers, and I said, &quot;No, sir. As an elder,&quot; I said, &quot;I cannot do that conscientiously; it&#39;s against the Word of God.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I don&#39;t know you, Brother Correll, but upon the basis of your testimony and that truth that you stand for... We have nothing against those women; they are sisters; we love them, but we believe that they got their place; in that they must stay. And we believe that they are darling to a man, a helpmate, and by no means... We think they&#39;re the greatest gift outside of salvation that God ever give a man. But she&#39;s got no place in the pulpit according to the Word of God. Upon that basis and your faith in God, we lay hands on you as fellowship to come go with us. Let us lay our hands. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;48&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Our dear heavenly Father, this young man, I can just about know how he feels, him being pushed out because of the real truth...?... that man shall live not by bread alone, but by every Word. So we lay hands on him now, placing our blessings upon him. May Your Spirit lead him, guide him, and direct him throughout life&#39;s journey to wherever You may send him. Let him know that we are praying for him, and will be a help to him and support him as long as he will stand for the Truth. Grant it, Lord. We send him in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;God bless you, Brother Correll...?... Our hands laid on the different ones. All of you give kind of the right-hands of fellowship...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;49&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Brother Ruddell, here has never officially been ordained here at the church. Can... How many knows Brother Ruddell? We all know him. How many knows he&#39;s a man of God?&lt;br /&gt;Dear heavenly Father. We as Your elders lay hand upon this brother who has moved through deep muddy waters... He&#39;s seen his congregation fallen off. He&#39;s seen everything take place naturally...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[We are unable to distinguish Brother Branham&#39;s voice from that other minister&#39;s praying--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; We lay our hands upon him and pass our blessings to him...?... Anoint him, Lord, mightily. Send him to every crevice of the earth...?... Send him in Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Ruddell, you&#39;ve always got a right-hand of fellowship. I know Brother Ruddell. Seems like--like my own boy. His daddy, and I, mother have knowed one another so long. And I know Brother Ruddell to be a servant of God. I serve with Him. God bless you, Brother Ruddell. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;51&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Who are you, brother? Brother Martin. You know him, Brother Martin? What&#39;s your name? &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The brother tells his name--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Brother McCommas. I guess there&#39;s no one here knows him, but he is a... Yes, this man here knows him, Brother Tyler. And he comes to be--have hands laid upon him that he&#39;ll be a carrier of the Gospel. Brother McCommas... Where are you from, Brother McCommas? Rockford, Illinois. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The brother speaks to Brother Branham about the healing of his wife--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Oh, is that right? From Tucson. Oh, I remember the call now. Praise the Lord. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Martin speaks to Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Your sister. And she&#39;s here now, was prayed for her the other night from Tucson by telephone. Paralyzed, she was paralyzed a few nights ago, and she is here now. No wonder he wants to take the Message. Let us lay hands upon the brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;52&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear God, I lay hands with these others, upon Your servant and give to him the right-hand of fellowship, praying that the blessings of God will...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham cannot be heard above the others in the background--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Guide him and direct him. In Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen. The right-hand of fellowship, my brother...?... God be with you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;53&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Yes, Brother? All right, sir. I believe this is Brother Darius. This man is Brother Darius. Where you from, brother? Black Rock, Arkansas. Brother... knows him. Someone else, I believe, here said... Brother Brewer. I believe I met this morning, they&#39;re... Sister Vayle, I guess, Brother Vayle and them who know him, and know him to be a man of God, a servant of God... Wonderful.&lt;br /&gt;Well now, my dear brother, to be a carrier of the Message, we want you to know that we&#39;ll stand behind you, do everything that we can. We&#39;ll be praying for you, that you also will carry this Message to the utmost parts of wherever God has ordained you to go. Let us lay our hands on our Brother Darius.&lt;br /&gt;Dear God, we lay our hands upon our brother, give him the right-hand of fellowship, and send him in the Name of Jesus Christ...?... You&#39;ll anoint his...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Unable to distinguish Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... give him the right-hand of...?... Your Spirit go with him and guide him and direct him, in Name of Jesus Christ. God bless you, brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;55&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, I believe... Brother Anthony... Many of you know Brother Anthony. He&#39;s been here with us a long time. I know him to be a servant of Christ myself. I believe he&#39;s a dedicated young man. He&#39;s never officially had hands laid on him. He didn&#39;t know this was coming, friends. See? But right now is good as any. So we&#39;re going to lay hands on Brother Anthony, just give him the right-hand of fellowship. God has to do the ordaining. This is just to let him know and you know that we believe this brother, and we love him, and he&#39;s one of us in the Message. And we want him to have God&#39;s blessings, and that&#39;s what we ask on him. Let&#39;s pray as we lay our hands on brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;56&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Dear God, this humble little Italian servant of Yours, Lord, comes tonight to have hands laid upon him and the right-hand of fellowship officially extended to him by the church outward, Lord, Your great power send this young boy to the parts of the earth that would send him, that You&#39;d call him to. May he go and deliver them people from drinking and sin and meanness and to serve You, Lord, all the days of his life. May You lead him, guide him; may our blessing be with him as we send him. In Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen. God bless you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;57&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Oh, I don&#39;t know. We&#39;re on a telephone hookup; fifty cents a minute. Was there somebody else here was want... Step up here and call your names, who you are, brethren, just through the microphone, right up here. Just tell them... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[The following men state their names: Pat Tyler, Claude Boggess, Dale Potter, James Humes, Earl Horner--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Is that them? Come up, brethren... These men, do you believe this Message to be the Truth from God&#39;s bless...?... You believe that with all your heart? And you are desirous and think if we lay hands upon you? We want you to know that we are with you and will do anything that we can do to help you. And now, I want you brethren, so that I can lay hands on them to, to step right up here now, and let&#39;s all bow our heads as we lay hands on them.&lt;br /&gt;Dear God, here&#39;s a group of men; I lay my hands upon each of them in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. And may You Who have called them as ministers, may they...?... Lord, for Your...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Unable to distinguish Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; We give to them the right-hand of fellowship, pray Your blessings to be with them, Lord, and bless them...?... of the earth...?... May they work and serve You in the capacity that You call...?... May they be gallant, real servants...?... Grant it, Lord. We ask it in Jesus Christ&#39;s Name...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;58&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; God bless you each, brethren. God bless you; God bless you, brother; God bless you; God bless you, Brother...?... Lord be with you, each one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Bless be the tie that binds&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Our hearts in Christian love;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;The fellowship of kindred mind&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Is like to that above.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Isn&#39;t He wonderful? Just think now of how many ministers is here tonight to have hands laid upon them.&lt;br /&gt;I didn&#39;t know that we were on this telephone hookup. If the people out there will forgive me for that, I didn&#39;t know it. See? I just didn&#39;t know they was going to hook this little message up tonight, but we are... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;61&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we&#39;ll read the Word and pray and get straight into this message that I feel that the Holy Spirit would have me to bring to you tonight.&lt;br /&gt;And now, while we are turning back in the--for the text (I&#39;ll announce it in a moment.)... Let&#39;s turn to Numbers the 22nd chapter, verse 31: Numbers 22:31, for a text.&lt;br /&gt;While you&#39;re turning, if you&#39;d like to read--read it or mark it, I want you all to remember me now, until I get to see you again, I hope, sometime this summer, the Lord willing. And if anything happens I don&#39;t get to go overseas, I&#39;ll be back; but we are now believing that how all this has worked around, that the Holy Spirit is going to send us now on a way that He has chosen for Himself to send us. That&#39;s the way we want to do it. The Lord bless. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;64&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Father, we&#39;re about to read Your Word. Will You bless It and anoint It to our understanding, we ask in Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;The Book of Numbers the 22nd chapter and the 31st verse:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;And the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Now, in the reading of this, to build a context around it, I want to take the subject, &quot;Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s quite a text, and it&#39;s a great truth that we ought to understand. Can God say anything and then say, &quot;I&#39;m sorry I said it&quot;? Can God take His Word back after He&#39;s said It? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;68&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, in this statement here, the reason I chose this statement was because it&#39;s one of the statements of the Bible that a reader, trying to see--or try to say that God does change His mind, this would be more like that He changed His mind than any place in the Bible I know of; because He told Balaam one thing and then told him another. And now, many people has tried to make Balaam just a, oh, a soothsayer or something. But Balaam was not a soothsayer; he was a prophet of the Lord.&lt;br /&gt;Now, we&#39;ll kinda get the outline of the message first. Israel was in their journey from--going to Palestine, coming from Egypt. And the Lord was with them, and they were... Every enemy that had raised up before Israel was moved out of the way, for God said He would send hornets before them and would drive out the enemy as long as they walked in obedience to His command. The job was never too big. The Amalekites, the giants of the day, meant nothing to Israel, though they were small men in statue; but they were walking in THUS SAITH THE LORD. So no matter what the opposition was, God always seen that His words of promise never failed Israel. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;70&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And Israel of the Old Testament is a type of the Bride of the New Testament, coming up out of the--the world, marching on the road to Canaan--or the Canaan that we go to, the millennium.&lt;br /&gt;Now, now, we notice Moab here is a type of the church. And Moab... They had just slew some kings and had routed the enemy, killed off everything, possessed the land, and moved up by Moab. Now, Moab was by no means a heathen nation. Moab was a nation that served the same God that Israel served. And the land of Moab was originally started with Lot&#39;s son by his own daughter. And he, being the founder of this nation, and had organized and celebrities and so forth, and made a great nation out of it, and they had multiplied and went on...&lt;br /&gt;And now, Israel was of the seed of Abraham, not of Lot. Israel come out of Isaac, Jacob. And Israel sprung out of those twelve tribes from Jacob, which was later called Israel, because he wrestled with the Lord. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;73&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And Moab here... Now, in this... And you people out in the--on the telephones, I want to first say that I--I do not wish to be critical, and I hope I&#39;m not; but the Message that&#39;s been given to me, I must be faithful to that Message or I&#39;ll be a hypocrite. See? I--I can&#39;t say no more than what I am sent to say. And I--I am thinking that the great enemy of the Christian society today is the organized churches. I do believe with all my heart that it&#39;ll finally form into the mark of the beast (which I can--think I can prove that by the Bible with God&#39;s help. I have already done it.)--that it will form into the mark of the beast in the federation of the churches. Because God never did at any time ever recognize a ordained church--organized church, never. He never did do it, and every time that man made an organization, the Spirit of God left it and never did return again. Ask any historian, or you may be a reader yourself. Never. When they organized, God laid it on the shelf; and that&#39;s where it went; it stayed from then on. They growed in members, but never awakening of the Spirit: never, no more. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;74&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Moab here is a type of such, because they were a--a organized nation in their own land, like in their denomination. And they had their own religions. And their religion was the same religion that Israel had. They were Moabites and believed in Jehovah God, but they was a organized group of people.&lt;br /&gt;And now, as they represent the natural church, Israel represents the spiritual church in its journey. Now, Israel was not an organized nation. As long as they followed God, they were independent. They come up, sojourners, no place to go; wherever the Pillar of Fire went, they went with It. They were not a organized nation. They had a organism among them, because circumcision gave them that under the commandment by God, but never an organized nation at this time. When they finally become an organized nation, that&#39;s where they fell and rejected their Messiah. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;76&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, we find always that when these natural and spiritual spirits of churches and organizations meet, they&#39;s always a clash. It&#39;s never failed to be so; it always clashes. Because we find that in there is a jealousy, and there... In this jealousy it causes carnal comparisons, impersonations. And we find it in today as it was then; when God does something for an individual, everybody tries to copy just like God did for that person. See, it causes a competition, and it makes carnality. And then, if they cannot (the other side) get the spiritual results, then they take it by a political power or they substitute something to upset the people&#39;s mind to draw disciples after themselves.&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s exactly what took place at the very beginning. As Cain and Abel, both boys here on earth; and when Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, and God vindicated Abel by coming down and receiving his sacrifice, it caused jealousy with Cain; because he was jealous of his brother, and slew his brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;78&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; It started at the beginning, that when the natural and the spiritual... Yet Cain and Abel worshipped the same God. They both built the same kind of altars, and they both worshipped the same God at the same church, same altar. But Cain by carnal reasoning brought in the fruits of the land and laid them upon the altar as a sacrifice, thinking that surely that this would answer to God for an atonement. So he must&#39;ve brought in--as people think today, apples, that Adam and Eve took that caused the sin, and whatever... I think now they got it down to a pomegranate or something now. Some of them said not long ago it was something else, and...&lt;br /&gt;But Abel had the right sacrifice. He knowed that it was blood that did it, so he brought a lamb. And when God received his... Now, Abel, by faith, by revelation, no other way; there was no Bible written. So you see, the beginning of righteousness is God&#39;s revealed Truth, and the entire church of the living God is built upon that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;80&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Jesus, one day, coming off the mount, said to His disciples, &quot;Who does man say I, the Son of man, am?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;One said, &quot;You&#39;re Moses,&quot; and the other one say, &quot;You&#39;re Elias, and You&#39;re Jeremias, or one of the prophets.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;But who do you say that I am?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s when the apostle Peter, inspired of God, quickened by the Spirit, made that tremendous statement: &quot;Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Notice the statement: &quot;Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you; My heavenly Father has revealed this to you. Thou are Simon; upon this rock...&quot; What rock? Now, the Catholics says, &quot;Upon Peter, the rock (little stone).&quot; And the Protestant said, &quot;Upon Christ, the Rock.&quot; Not to be different, but it was upon the revelation that Peter had Who He was. &quot;No man can come to Me,&quot; said Jesus, &quot;except My Father draws him; and all the Father has given Me will come to Me.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven. Upon this rock I&#39;ll build My church, and the gates of hell can&#39;t prevail against it,&quot; spiritual revealed Word of God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;84&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice, Abel by faith in God offered a more excellent sacrifice. And the carnal believer thought that it was the works of his own hands that--and his fruits and his beautiful offering that he brought, that God would recognize, and it made a clash.&lt;br /&gt;We find that Abraham and Lot had to clash. We find that Moses and--and Dathan, Korah had the same clash. Moses, being a ordained prophet with the Word of the Lord, vindicated that he was chosen to be their leader of the hour, and that Abraham had promised all these things, and here Moses did exactly what God said it would be--take place. And Korah, being carnal, wanted to raise up an organization among them. He wanted to make a group of men, and God doesn&#39;t deal with people like that. It shows right there in that Scripture a type of the journey today that organization is not what God ordains. For as soon as Korah done it, he said to Moses, &quot;You take too much upon yourself.&quot; In other words, &quot;The whole congregation&#39;s holy; why, you say you&#39;re the only holy man. You have no right to do any such as that. You try to make yourself somebody big. We&#39;re all holy; we&#39;re all God&#39;s children.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And Moses just turned his head and walked away. He said, &quot;Lord, what will I do?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;God said, &quot;Separate yourself from him; I&#39;ve had enough of it.&quot; And He swallowed him up in the earth. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;88&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; See, there was a clash. When the carnal and the spiritual meets, there&#39;s always a clash. When Judas and Jesus met, there was a clash: One the Son of God; the other one the son of Satan. Just like Cain and Abel, there was a clash when they met. One of them was the treasurer of the church, and the other One a Pastor. And as... Now, we come in this day to the same thing again: the carnal denomination to the spiritual Bride of Christ. The spiritual Bride of Christ is so much different from the carnal organizations till there&#39;s no comparison in them at all. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;89&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, notice; the natural always tries to type the spiritual. But as in Jacob and Esau, it will not work. It will not. Now, when it come to doing good works, I--I--I believe that Esau actually was a better man than Jacob in the sight of men. He tried to take care of his daddy (was blind, a prophet), and all these things that he tried to do. But yet Esau didn&#39;t think about that being just carnal work; he thought he could get in by what he done--do something good for somebody, which was all right. But Jacob, his whole soul was to get that birthright, and that&#39;s what God recognized in him spiritual. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;90&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice. And it&#39;s always caused the natural to hate the spiritual. It caused Cain to hate Abel; it caused Korah to hate Moses; it caused Judas to hate Jesus; and on and on it goes. It causes the natural to hate the spiritual, just as Cain at the beginning hated Abel, the one that God received the sacrifice from, and tries to destroy them. You... They try to destroy the influence; they try to destroy everything, because it&#39;s nothing but jealousy. It started in Cain and proved that it was jealousy, and it&#39;s still the same thing today when the natural, the carnal, and the spiritual meet together. It proves it&#39;s Satan, no other way, because jealousy comes from Satan. And then causes an impersonation of the truth: somebody to try to impersonate something that isn&#39;t--they are not ordained to do. How much of that have we seen in these last days? Oh, my. How much of it?&lt;br /&gt;So we see God does for--not forever change His mind about His original Word, but who He calls, that&#39;s who He ordains. No one else can take that place. No one could take Moses&#39; place. No matter how many Korahs raised up and how many Dathans, it was Moses God had called, regardless. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;92&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But--and if the people won&#39;t walk in His perfect will, He does have a permissive will He&#39;ll let you walk in. Notice, He permits it all right, but He will make it work out for His glory in His perfect will. Now, if you&#39;d like...&lt;br /&gt;Just like in the beginning, it was not God&#39;s perfect will for children to be born on the earth through sex. No, sir. God created man out of the dust of the earth, breathed the breath of life into him, and he become a living soul. He took from that man a helpmate and made a wife to him. That was God&#39;s first and original will. But when sin come in and did the thing that it did, then He permitted man to marry a wife legally and have children by her. &quot;Multiply and replenish the earth then, if that&#39;s the way you&#39;re going to do it.&quot; But, you see, it never was His perfect will. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;94&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Therefore, all these things that had a beginning has to have an end. All sin has to come to annihilation. All sin has to be done away with. Therefore, in the great millennium when the resurrection comes, we will not have to be reborned again by our fathers and mothers, but God like He did in the beginning will call man from the dust of the earth and his helpmate with him. That&#39;s right. That&#39;s the way He did it at the beginning.&lt;br /&gt;So therefore, God never changes His mind about anything, but He will permit you to go on. Now, this is a long ways around to get to what I want to say here about this, but--and--but it&#39;s a... You&#39;ll--I want you to understand it. See? God will permit you to do something and even bless you in doing it, but still it isn&#39;t His perfect will. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;96&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; God permitted Israel to take a law in Exodus the 19th chapter, when grace had already give them a prophet, Pillar of Fire, a sacrificed lamb, a delivering power, but they cried out for a law. It wasn&#39;t God&#39;s will, but it was injected because man wanted it. And he was cursed by the very law that he wanted. It&#39;s best to have God&#39;s will. That&#39;s what He taught us: &quot;Thy will be done; Thy Kingdom come, Thine will be done.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;We must submit ourselves to His will and His Word. Don&#39;t question It, believe It. Don&#39;t try to find a way around It, just take It the way It is. So many wants to go around, get some other way. And when you do, you find yourself going on, you find God blessing you, but you&#39;re working in His permissive will and not in His perfect Divine will.&lt;br /&gt;He permits it, as I said, but He will not--He will not let it be His perfect will, but He&#39;ll make it work to honor and bless His perfect will. And childbearing by sex is one of that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;99&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, notice, Moab, to begin with, was a illegitimate nation. It started out illegitimate, yet by a--a father believer and a daughter believer. Just exactly, if you&#39;ll type that and use a spiritual mind, you can see that denomination standing there just as plain as anything. Sure. See, the whole thing is altogether wrong. And look, when it&#39;s started like that, it can--it keeps--like a ball of snow, it just keeps rolling more and more and more. You get one error and start on that one error, and you just keep rolling one thing after another, and one thing like another, all after another. And that&#39;s the way the church started.&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s the way it started at Nicaea, Rome, when the Roman Catholic church... At the very beginning, where it come from was Pentecost, but when they organized and brought in the celebrity into the church, they started to making--having prayers, and running beads, and--and praying for the dead, and all these other things; and then it just started rolling from one error to another, one error to another, until look where it&#39;s gone to. There&#39;s not one representation of Pentecost in it at all. See? It&#39;s one error picking up another, picking up another. There&#39;s only one thing to do, that&#39;s clean off the record and go back to the beginning.&lt;br /&gt;When Martin Luther started off with justification... This ought to be the further advanced Lutheran church. See? If Luther... When he organized, he could not take Wesley&#39;s sanctification, because he was organized, and the men wouldn&#39;t stand for it. So the Spirit moved out of it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;102&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, Lot&#39;s group here, or Moab was Lot&#39;s daughter&#39;s child, illegitimate to start with. Now, notice, as the natural church, Moab, represents the natural denomination, Israel represents the spiritual church. Israel, the--the church true, was the bride of that day, called out of Egypt and vindicated to be the truth.&lt;br /&gt;Notice when they--them two come together. Both of them offered the same sacrifice, both built saw--seven altars; both offered up clean sacrifice--ox. And they even offered up rams, testifying that there was a coming Messiah. Fundamentally, they were both exactly the same: Israel down here in the valley, Moab up on the hill; and Moab with seven altars, Israel with seven altars; Moab with seven ox, Israel with seven ox; Moab with seven rams, speaking of the coming Messiah, Israel with seven rams. What was the difference in them? Fundamentally, both right. But you see, Moab did not have the vindication of God with them. They were only a nation, a group of celebrities, but Israel had a prophet with them. They had a smitten rock with them. They had a Pillar of Fire. They had a brass serpent for healing. They had the blessings of God moving right along with them. And they was the called out children of God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;104&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we find that so perfectly typed here in them churches of today. As Moab was not so... Israel was a sojourner from place to place. Wherever that Pillar of Fire moved, they moved with It. Moab, not so, they were settled down in their own denomination, down in their own nation. They didn&#39;t move; they stayed right there. They had their celebrities. They ordained things as they should do, and they had their warriors; they had their fighters;, they had their king; they had--that they got their orders from, and so on.&lt;br /&gt;But Moab seen Israel with something that they didn&#39;t have. They seen a mighty power amongst Israel, and it was a prophet. And that prophet was Moses. And they knowed that when the battle went wrong, they just raised up his hands and held them up there, and the battle changed. So they didn&#39;t have such as that, so they tried to match it with politics, with a political pull. They sent over to another country and hired a prophet to come over so they could have a prophet and would have power amongst them just like Israel had amongst them.&lt;br /&gt;Do you see the carnal comparison? Can you see the carnal church today? It&#39;s done the very same thing. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;107&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice. Now, they&#39;re both going to have prophets. The only different was, Moses, the prophet of God, his King was God. That&#39;s where he got his orders: the Word of the Lord. And Balaam, he also, he had a king, and that king was Balak, the king of Moab, and that&#39;s where he got his orders and his blessings. So Moab said to Balak, &quot;Come down&quot;--or Balaam; said, &quot;Come down and curse me this people, for they cover the whole face of the earth. They just come and lick up everything like an ox licks up the grass.&quot; Said, &quot;Come down now, and I understand that you can curse, you can bless; whatever you do is recognized.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, we want to notice that this man was a prophet ordained of God, but he sold his birthrights for political reasons, just as the church did today: like Luther, Wesley, Pentecost, and the whole group of them, sold it out for pulls in their organizations: Moses under God; Balaam under Balak. Yet both prophets were called men of God and both spiritual, notice the difference. Each had a head: Moses&#39; was God; Balaam&#39;s was Balak. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;109&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice here how the spiritual is applied to prove that the natural is wrong. Moses, sent of God in line of duty is met and challenged by another prophet of God. Can you imagine that. Moses (See?), called of God, ordained of God, standing in the duty of God, moved up into this cold, formal group and was challenged by another prophet of God, what God had blessed and ordained. How would you tell the difference? They both had prophets. God spoke to both prophets.&lt;br /&gt;And some of them say, &quot;God said, &#39;Do this.&#39; God said, &#39;Do that.&#39;&quot; Now, I don&#39;t question that. But it&#39;s out of the line of God&#39;s Word, the prophet... No matter if he is a prophet, he&#39;s out of the line. So many people get deceived like that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;111&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &quot;Oh, this brother can do this,&quot; and, &quot;This brother can do that.&quot; And deny the Word? &quot;Though I speak with tongue of men and angels, though I have gifts that I can move mountains, though I give all my goods to feed the poor, I am yet nothing.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Many will come to me in that day and say, &#39;Lord, Lord, have not I prophesied in Your Name? Have not in Your Name I&#39;ve cast out devils and done mighty works?&#39; And I will say unto them, &#39;Depart from you--depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never even knew you.&#39;&quot; Yet they come with a confession that they had did it, but Jesus said they were workers of iniquity. What is iniquity? Is something that you know you should do, that&#39;s right to do, and yet you don&#39;t do it. See what it&#39;s going to be in the last days? Hear the whole line...&lt;br /&gt;That was my purpose tonight. I said I&#39;d be out at nine o&#39;clock, but I&#39;m going to be a little bit after maybe. Look. That was my whole purpose to show you this line by the Word of God (See?), that--that God has to keep His Word in order to stay God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;113&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we notice this. Both of these were spiritual men, both were prophets, both were called. And Moses, right in the line of duty with a fresh Pillar of Fire before him every day, the Spirit of God upon him, in the line of duty... Here comes another servant of God, called of God, ordained of God, a prophet to whom the Word of God comes to. Here&#39;s the danger of it. There&#39;s nobody could dispute that man being a god--of God, because the Bible said the Spirit of God spoke to him, and he was a prophet. But you see, when he got the real answer from God, he wouldn&#39;t keep it; he didn&#39;t notice it. Then he went to challenge Moses. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;114&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, Balaam sought the will of God with all of his heart. Now, when these great men come over and said, &quot;Balaam, Balak the king has sent that you come to him immediately and curse this people Israel, because they&#39;re scattered all over the face of the earth, and now they&#39;re camping against me. And they&#39;ve licked up every kingdom around below them, and now, we want you to come over and curse this people, because I understand that if you curse anyone, he&#39;s cursed.&quot; Now, you see, he was a man of God. &quot;What you bless, is blessed.&quot; He was a servant of God.&lt;br /&gt;And Balaam now thought, being a prophet, &quot;There&#39;s only one thing for me to do and that&#39;s seek out what is the will of God.&quot; That&#39;s the duty of a prophet if he&#39;s called to be a prophet. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;116&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; First, what must a prophet do? Is seek out the will, the Word of God. He must do it. Because being a prophet, the Word of God comes to him. The... They say, &quot;Well, you&#39;re not a theologian.&quot; Never does the Bible say the Word of God come to a theologian. They&#39;re the one who messes It up. The Word comes to the prophet of God.&lt;br /&gt;And here was a man who was a prophet of God. And when he was hired--to be hired to come over and curse another people of God, notice, he went to seek the will of God. And he wanted to know His perfect will, and God gave him His perfect will in the matter. His perfect will was presented to him. What was His will? &quot;Don&#39;t you go.&quot; That&#39;s God&#39;s first Word. &quot;Don&#39;t go with them. Don&#39;t you try to attack My people, walking in My perfect ways.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;How that is today. Want to fuss, debate, and everything else when they see the Spirit of God working among you, and they&#39;re trying to--they&#39;ve tried it for years to smother it down; but the more they try to smother it, the greater It grows. You can&#39;t curse what God has blessed. You just can&#39;t--you just can&#39;t do it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;119&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So you see, that was God&#39;s people. Now, that prophet, though he was up there and hired by the king, worked among the celebrity and so forth... And the Word of God came to him, he sought the will of God, and the will of God spoke back to him and said, &quot;Don&#39;t curse this people. I&#39;ve blessed them.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, there isn&#39;t a theologian under the skies that can deny this Message that we&#39;re preaching, but what It&#39;s exactly the Word of God right in time. God&#39;s a-vindicated it in everything that&#39;s been said or done. He&#39;s proved it to be right. Now, there&#39;s no theologian, no Bible reader, no prophet can look in that Word, if he is a prophet, he&#39;ll see the same thing. But if he doesn&#39;t see the same thing, that shows there&#39;s something wrong, because...&lt;br /&gt;You say, &quot;Well, oh, I could take it vice versa.&quot; So could Balak, Balaam. See? But God identified Moses. And then what was the proof? The Word of God. And he heard the plain, clean-cut decision of God: &quot;Don&#39;t you go. Don&#39;t try to--to curse what I&#39;ve blessed. Them&#39;s My people.&quot; But you know what? Balaam didn&#39;t like them people to begin with. Oh, what a--how many Balaams is there in the world today? He didn&#39;t like that group to start with. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;122&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, after he got God&#39;s clean-cut decision, &quot;Don&#39;t you go.&quot;... But you see, instead of doing it, it was the same thing like Cain, like Korah; he was jealous, and he--he wanted to--a reason to go anyhow.&lt;br /&gt;Notice, his denominational headquarters, after he sent back said, &quot;Nope, don&#39;t believe I&#39;ll go down; don&#39;t believe I&#39;ll have anything to do with them. I won&#39;t debate with them people, &#39;cause God&#39;s done told me they&#39;re His people, and I don&#39;t believe I&#39;ll go.&quot; If he&#39;d have stayed with that, but down in his heart he didn&#39;t like them. See? They wasn&#39;t of his group. And anything didn&#39;t belong in his group wasn&#39;t right to begin with. See? And he looked down at them, said, &quot;There&#39;s been some awful things them people did. Surely a holy God will curse such a people as that. They&#39;re--they&#39;re illiterate; they&#39;re not educated like us. We&#39;re smarter people. Oh, they claim to serve God, but look at them. What are they? A bunch of--why, a bunch of slaves, mud-daubers, that the Egyptians run out down there. Why, God would never have anything to do with a dirty bunch like that.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;124&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; He failed to see that smitten rock and that brass serpent, that Pillar of Fire. He tried to judge them from a moral standpoint. He failed to see the higher call of God. By grace, by election they were in that line, and with God&#39;s Word. And when he wanted to curse them, God said, &quot;Don&#39;t you do it; they&#39;re Mine. Leave them alone. Don&#39;t you touch them.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, so the men turned around, went back. Now, watch his denominational headquarters though when he gets back. They sent a more influential group. This time there might&#39;ve been some--instead of just regular layman, they might&#39;ve been doctors of divinity come this time. They might&#39;ve been bishops, or the--maybe state presbyters for all--all... He sent a--a better group and a--a little more influential group, somebody that had a little better education and could lay out the plan to him better, could make it reasonable. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;126&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; See, that&#39;s what Cain did. He reasoned. That&#39;s what Korah did. He reasoned. It&#39;s not him that reasons. We cast down reasonings; we believe God, no matter what anything else says; we believe God. We don&#39;t reason what God says. You can&#39;t reason with It. You have to accept It by faith. And anything that you know, you don&#39;t have to reason anymore. I don&#39;t know how He does it; I just believe He does it. I don&#39;t know how He&#39;s going to keep that promise, but He said He&#39;d do it; I believe it. I accept it on the basis that I believe that it&#39;s the Word of God.&lt;br /&gt;You say, &quot;Well, you can&#39;t get by with that.&quot; I don&#39;t know how I&#39;ll get by with it, but He said, &quot;Say it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I remember my Baptist pastor told me, said, &quot;Why, Billy, you&#39;ll preach to the post in the church. Why, you think anybody&#39;d hear a thing like that?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;God has said so.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;How are you going to, with a seventh grade education, pray for kings and preach around the world?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;127&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I said, &quot;I don&#39;t know how I&#39;m going to do it, but He said so; and that&#39;s just good enough for me.&quot; See? &quot;He said so. I don&#39;t know how it&#39;s going to be done.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Do you think that people of this great, educated world, that you&#39;re going to stand up against on this subject of Divine healing and so forth, do you think they&#39;ll believe that?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;It ain&#39;t for me to know whether they believe it or not,&quot; I said; &quot;my duty&#39;s to preach it. That&#39;s what He told me. He said He&#39;d be with me, and He&#39;s told me what it would do.&quot; And it&#39;s done just exactly what He said it would do: &quot;First, take ahold of their hands; then it&#39;ll come to pass that you&#39;ll even know the secret of their heart.&quot; And I told you about it, and it happened that way. How does it do it? I still don&#39;t know how it does it. It&#39;s none of my business how it&#39;s done; it&#39;s just done. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;129&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Who could explain when God told Elijah, &quot;Go up there and set on the mount, and I&#39;ll feed you. I&#39;ve ordained the--the crows to feed you&quot;? How could a crow get a slice of bread and a pinch--a piece of fish baked, and bring it to a prophet? That&#39;s beyond anything I could explain. I don&#39;t think you can either, or nobody can. But He did it. That&#39;s all&#39;s was necessary. He did it, and that&#39;s the truth of it. How He did it, I don&#39;t know. It&#39;s none of my business. But He did it. How He made the earth, I don&#39;t know; but He did it. How He sent His Son, I don&#39;t know; but He did it. How He rose from the dead, I don&#39;t know; but He did it. How did He save me? I don&#39;t know; but He did it. That&#39;s right. How&#39;d He save you? I can&#39;t tell you; but He did it. How did He heal me? I don&#39;t know; but He did it. He promised He would do it, and He keeps His Word.&lt;br /&gt;Now, Balaam should&#39;ve knowed that, and he did know better. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;130&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice, this better, influential group come, and what better? They had better gifts. And not only that, they could give him more money, and they could--offered him a better position. &quot;Now, besides just a regular minister in our organization, we&#39;ll make you district superintendent. (See?) Well--we&#39;ll do something for you if you&#39;ll just run that bunch of people out of there (See?) and stop that.&quot; Oh, they offered him a great position. Said, &quot;The more you bless...&quot; Said, &quot;You know, I&#39;m able to promote you.&quot; Look where he&#39;s getting his words from, the head of the nation. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;131&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Where was Moses getting his words from? The King of heaven. One was the Word of God&#39;s promise: &quot;I&#39;ll take you to the promised land, and no man will stand before you. I&#39;ll send hornets before you and drive them out from right to left. And you&#39;re going to take the land. I&#39;ve--I&#39;ve already give it to you. Go on; take it; possess it; it&#39;s yours.&quot; And now (See?), that&#39;s Who Moses was listening to. And this man was listening until it come to something in his own heart he was jealous of, and so then he went to his ecclesiastical head. See?&lt;br /&gt;Notice, a better position. He said, &quot;You know I&#39;m able to promote you? I will promote you to a better place. I&#39;ll do more for you; I&#39;ll raise your wages; I&#39;ll give you a better salary.&quot; And when he offered him all of this, it blinded him.&lt;br /&gt;How many Balaams are there in the world today, that by a better position, a better church, a promise of something... When a man gets his eyes open to the Word and the workings of God, and that good man who&#39;s got influence will start out as a servant of God, and he holds a good congregation, after while, the Holy Ghost baptism is presented to him; the baptism in Jesus&#39; Name is presented to him (which is a Scripture and the only Scriptural way to baptize), and when it is presented to him and the denomination knows they&#39;re going to lose him when he starts that, they offer him a better position and a change in church. See, old Balaamism again, just exactly like it was at the beginning. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;134&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, that man who reads that Bible, he can&#39;t read it unless he sees that that&#39;s the truth. There&#39;s nobody ever baptized using the titles of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. It&#39;s a Catholic creed and not a Bible doctrine. No person in the Bible was ever baptized or three hundred years after the death of the last apostle, but what was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. The Catholic church started that, and the rest of them come to it. And any minister setting in his study and will look at that, knows that&#39;s the truth. But for popularity, to hold his position, better thought of among the people, he compromises.&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Well,&quot; you say, &quot;God blessed him.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Certainly. Some of them have got gifts of healing; some of them have great campaigns; and that rubs right in their face, and they get the same answer from the Word of God that you or any other man would get: God doesn&#39;t change. See what I mean? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;136&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Balaam, for a better position he thought... Now, look, when that better group come back, the right... Balaam here took a phony text. See? He said... The--the better group come back; he--he ought to have said, &quot;Get out of my presence. I&#39;ve told you the Word of God. Get going. This is THUS SAITH THE LORD.&quot; But you see, the gifts, and to be a more popular man...&lt;br /&gt;Oh, how they like to do it. &quot;We&#39;ll send you all over the world. We&#39;ll give you a special plane. We&#39;ll sponsor your meetings everywhere if you&#39;ll just...&quot; Oh, no. See? We know what the Word says. We know what God said. We&#39;re going to stay with that by God&#39;s help. See? No matter what kind of a promise, and how much more you can pay, and how many this, that, or the other you can--you can produce, we want the THUS SAITH THE LORD and what He said here first. Well, the church said, &quot;That&#39;s secondarily.&quot; We want what the--God said at the beginning, and anything added to it or taken away from it, even your name will be taken off the Book of Life, to add one word to It or take one word away from It... We want what He said, not what the church said, what Dr. Jones said, what somebody else said; we want what THUS SAITH THE LORD said, what the Word said. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;138&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But now we find Balaam, a servant of God... And many of those men start out, and are ordained of God, and does speak God&#39;s Word in many things, but when it comes to the full truth, they won&#39;t do it.&lt;br /&gt;Notice here, as a prophet of God, he should not been caught in such a group as that to begin with. He shouldn&#39;t have went with them. But watch. For popularity sake (See?), for his conscience&#39; sake, he said, &quot;Well, stay all night, and I&#39;ll try again.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;See, &quot;I&#39;ll try again.&quot; What do you want to try again for? God already told him what to say. God said, &quot;Tell them you&#39;re not going.&quot; That&#39;s His original Word: &quot;I&#39;m not going.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;And don&#39;t you go; don&#39;t you curse what I bless.&quot; Now, watch how it backfired on him after while. See? And it will every time. When God says anything, He means it. He don&#39;t change His mind about it. He stays right with His Word. No matter what anyone else says, He stays right with that Word. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;141&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, Balaam should&#39;ve knowed better. He should&#39;ve dismissed himself from such company, but all them nice gifts and a--a--the promise that this king said, &quot;You know, I can do it; I&#39;m the bishop. I can do just whatever I want to, and I&#39;ll promote you if you&#39;ll come do it for me.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And God done told him, &quot;Don&#39;t do it,&quot; but yet Balaam said, &quot;You--you stay all night, and I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll try again.&quot; See? He had the Word. You don&#39;t have to argue anymore about it; God&#39;s done said so. With a group like that, they always talk you out of the will of God if you&#39;ll let them. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;143&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; There&#39;s one group to come to a prophet, one time, named Job. They couldn&#39;t talk him out. He saw the vision; he knowed what was right.&lt;br /&gt;Balaam saw the vision and still didn&#39;t stay with it. No matter how much these church groups said, &quot;Oh, Job, you ought to do this, you ought to do that&quot;...&lt;br /&gt;Even his wife... He said, &quot;You talk like a foolish person. (See?) I know what the Lord said; I know what He required, and that&#39;s what I done.&quot; See, he stayed with what God told him.&lt;br /&gt;Notice, Balaam using this phony text for his conscience... See? He said, &quot;Well, I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll find out. I&#39;ll try again.&quot; Now, there&#39;s where you come secondarily. How many Balaams have we got tonight that likes to use that phony text of Matthew 28:19 just for their conscience&#39; sake? How many wants to use Malachi 4 for their conscience&#39; sake? How many wants to use Luke 17:30 just for conscience&#39; sake? How many wants to use these things, yet, &quot;Well, I tell you, I--I believe they&#39;re all mixed up on that&quot;? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;146&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then here was Balaam trying to say, &quot;Perhaps maybe God&#39;s got mixed up; I&#39;ll try again, (See?) see what He says.&quot; Now, He knows your heart. Notice, Balaam used this phony text for his own conscience&#39; sake, because actually he wanted that money. He wanted that dignitary; he wanted that--he wanted that job. He wanted that position to be looked up to as Dr. So-and-so. So he--he--he said, &quot;I&#39;ll try again.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, at the Balaams in the world tonight: promised positions, popularity (my, oh, my.), they numb their conscience by them. Because of their denominations, they say, &quot;If you do that, out you go. I know you&#39;re a good man, and we love you (and he is a good man), we love you, but you can&#39;t preach that. Our--our doctrine says you can&#39;t do that. Dr. So-and-so said this is the way it is. Now, you&#39;ve got to believe it this way if you stay with us. Now, if you want to, I know you had a hard time, well, I&#39;ll see if I can&#39;t get you promoted, maybe change churches.&quot; Oh, you Balaam. When you know the will of God, you do it. God ain&#39;t going to change His mind. No. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;148&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Something that He could pass by, the truth, for His commission... He said, &quot;Well, I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll try again.&quot; Notice the Balaams there is.&lt;br /&gt;So now remember, when he come the second night with this great celebrity, already had his conscience dull and numb, God let him go. Now, God never changed His mind, but He give him His permissive will. &quot;Go ahead then.&quot; But he found out it&#39;ll not work.&lt;br /&gt;God knew what was in Balaam&#39;s heart. Though he was a prophet, He knowed he hated them holy-rollers, and he--and he just--he--he was going to want to curse them anyhow, and God done told him not to do it, but yet he come, wanted to do it again, so God let him go ahead. God said, &quot;Go ahead.&quot; Now, remember, He never changed His mind. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;151&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice, it was his desire to curse them. The people that he classed as fanatics, he wanted to curse them. He wanted a position. He didn&#39;t want to fool with them, so he thought if he could do this little act for the king, then he would be promoted. God never changed His mind or His Word, but He will give you the desire of His heart--of your heart. He promised that. You know that? He promised to give you the desire of your heart. And let your desire be the Word of God. Let your desire be His will, never your own will, His will. If He--you ask Him for something, He don&#39;t give it to you, say, &quot;Thank You, Lord. You know what&#39;s good.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;152&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Look at even King Hezekiah, when he sent that prophet up there to him, God did, and said, &quot;Put your house in order. You&#39;re going to die.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly and said, &quot;Lord God, I--I ask You to consider me. I&#39;ve walked before You with a perfect heart. I want You to let me live fifteen years longer.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;All right.&quot; God spoke to the prophet, said, &quot;Go back and tell him I heard him.&quot; And what did he do? He brought disgrace upon the whole nation. He kindled the anger of God till He would&#39;ve killed him. That&#39;s right. You know that. Backslid on God. It would&#39;ve been far better on--off, nation, king, and all, if he&#39;d have went on and took God&#39;s first thing to him. But it looked hard on the prophet, when the prophet had to go back and speak the Word of God to him after he done told him. But God said, &quot;Go ahead.&quot; But you see, it brought a disgrace.&lt;br /&gt;What did Balaam do? After knowing the will of God, and yet he was persistent, he was going to do it anyhow, and what did it do? Notice. He never changed His mind; He knowed what was in his heart. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;155&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You know, Thomas, one time he just couldn&#39;t believe it. No, he--he said, &quot;Naw, I can&#39;t believe that. If I could take my hand, stick it in His side, put it in the nails of His hand, well then--then I--I--I&#39;ll believe it then.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Come here, Thomas.&quot; See? &quot;Now, put your hands in here.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Now...&quot; Oh, Thomas said, &quot;Now, it&#39;s my Lord and my God.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Said, &quot;Yes, you&#39;ve seen, and now you believe. How much greater is their reward has never seen and yet believe.&quot; People sometimes won&#39;t receive the Holy Ghost unless they speak with tongues. I believe in speaking in tongues. Certainly. He&#39;s a good God; He&#39;ll give you the desire of your heart. But no matter how much you speak in tongues and deny this Word, you&#39;re wrong anyhow. See, see? You don&#39;t go in by speaking in tongues; you go in by keeping every Word. That&#39;s the evidence of the Holy Ghost: when you believe the Word of God. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;157&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I believe in speaking in tongues. I believe you can be quickened, like I said this morning, till you&#39;ll speak with a new tongue. I have myself, and I know it&#39;s the truth. I know it&#39;s true, but that&#39;s not the sign you--that you&#39;re God&#39;s selected child. See? No, indeedy. He never... Said, &quot;Many will come to Me and say, &#39;Lord, haven&#39;t I prophesied and done all these great things in Your Name?&#39;&quot; He&#39;ll say, &quot;Depart from Me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;You speak with tongues and then refuse to be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ? Something wrong somewhere. Yes, indeed. Any of those things, any of those orders God give... There&#39;s something wrong. Just search your own conscience and see what--see what the Bible said. Show me some place where somebody was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost. See? It&#39;s not there. But, you see, sometimes for your conscience&#39; sake... You say, &quot;Well...&quot; You say, &quot;God speaks to the women about how they must do, not wear shorts and things, but you know, the pastor said... So they take the easy way. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;159&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; They know what God said about it here. See? Sure. God said so, so they--they--they want to do it anyhow. See, they try to find an excuse. &quot;Well, I think it&#39;s much better; it&#39;s--it&#39;s not... The wind don&#39;t blow...&quot; But God said for a man to dress different from a woman. If a woman put on a garment pertained to a man, it was abomination in His sight. So it&#39;s not right. Yes. You shouldn&#39;t do it, no. See?&lt;br /&gt;So therefore, it&#39;s wrong. But you see, they try to find an excuse that &quot;the Lord told me to do this.&quot; I don&#39;t say He didn&#39;t, but look, it ain&#39;t His perfect will. It&#39;s got to be His permissive will. You see what it&#39;ll do? It&#39;ll pollute the whole bunch. It polluted all the camp. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;161&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice here, God never changed His mind, His Word. But He is a good God, and He&#39;ll give you the desire of your heart though it be against His will. You believe that? Look. God told Moses, &quot;You go down there (this anointed prophet)...&quot; Said, &quot;Go down there and speak to that rock. It&#39;s already been smitten.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Moses went down there in his anger, picked up the rod, and said, &quot;You rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?&quot; and smote the rock. The water didn&#39;t come; he smote it again. It come. It was against God&#39;s will. It broke every plan in the Bible. Christ had to be smitten second time. See? Christ was smitten once. It broke the whole plan. But He give him His permissive will. Then after, he said, &quot;See, we got the water for you. See, I brought it for you, you bunch of rebels.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;163&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; God said, &quot;Come here, Moses. Come here. Come up here on top. You&#39;re been a faithful servant. (like the woman with the high heels: &quot;You&#39;ve climbed...&quot; See?) Look over yonder. See the promised land?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Oh, Lord...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;But you&#39;re not going over. You took My permissive will down here at the rock. You glorified yourself (See?) and not Me. You sanctified yourself. You didn&#39;t sanctify Me. You didn&#39;t keep My original Word, what I told you to do.&quot; Yet the waters did come. You can lay hands on the sick and they recover; you can prophesy or speak with tongues, but the thing is, keep His original Word. God don&#39;t change His mind, friend. You got to keep His commission, His will. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;164&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &quot;Oh well, that was for the disciples.&quot; He doesn&#39;t change. If He&#39;s still got a disciple, that&#39;s the same commission: &quot;Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel. These signs shall follow them that believe.&quot; It&#39;s never change; He can&#39;t change.&lt;br /&gt;Now, you can say, &quot;Well, I tell you, it ain&#39;t for this day.&quot; Oh, you Balaamite. You see? See? God don&#39;t change. He&#39;s the same yesterday, today, and forever.&lt;br /&gt;Just look at the Balaamites today: &quot;Oh, I know in the Bible they baptized in Jesus&#39; Name, but look, all the people...&quot; I don&#39;t care what the people&#39;s done. There&#39;s not another Name under heaven given among men whereby you can be saved. No remission of sin, only through the Name of Jesus Christ. What--how good you are, what you do, that don&#39;t have one thing to do with it; it&#39;s God&#39;s original Word. You got to stay with that. Whew. All right.&lt;br /&gt;Obedience to His Word is better than sacrifice. You remember that time when Saul came back. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;167&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Balaam had a gift of faith and could&#39;ve used it to the perfect original Word of God. Many men on the field today with gifts of healing could do the same thing. Many men out here, people speaking in tongues, people prophesying, a gift--could use it for the Kingdom of God, but they don&#39;t do it; they take... And God blesses them anyhow, gets the permissive will. But for popularity, and pleasures, personal gain, sold their birthrights as Esau did (See?), sold out to a organization, sold out like Balaam did. See? And so many are doing today the same thing. We know that&#39;s right. They sell out their birthright. Women professing the Holy Ghost, wearing shorts, men permitting them in the pulpit, bobbed-haired women in the pulpit, paint on their face, with religious gowns on, it&#39;s the biggest stumbling block the church has ever had. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;168&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; If you want to know in political powers what time it is in the Kingdom age, see where the Jews are. Watch how the Jews are, because they are a nation. If you want to know where the nations are standing, watch the Jews. If you want to know where the church is standing, watch the women. Watch the morals among the women, &#39;cause she&#39;s a representation of the church. When you see the pollution amongst the women, you find a pollution in the church. What she become a painted-up Jezebel, just exactly what the church has become. See? Now, that&#39;s the truth and you know that. See? If you want to know where the church is, watch the morals among your women, &#39;cause she is--the church is a woman. If you want to know of the national status, watch the Jews. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;169&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Notice, as God said to Balaam, after he had heard the true cut decision Word, &quot;Don&#39;t go&quot;... Yes, then He told him after He seen it in his heart, what it was to do, He give him His permissive will, so He said, &quot;Go.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And you can do the same thing. If you don&#39;t want to walk in the truth... You can go to have--have to have a great ministry. Certainly you can. But you&#39;re taking His permissive will; you&#39;re walking over His Word. He&#39;ll prosper you (certainly); the--just like He did Balaam. He was a success, but he couldn&#39;t curse that people. He couldn&#39;t do it, &#39;cause every time he started to curse, he blessed. See, he couldn&#39;t do it. But when he come to being prosperous in his achievement, he taught those people, through Balak, to commit adultery. He brought in the camp of Israel and married them off. He said, &quot;Why, we&#39;re all one. Why, you worship the same God. We got a prophet up here; you got a prophet down there. And we have the same sacrifice, the same Jehovah as our fathers. Now, why not you all just come and associate with us.&quot; The Bible said, &quot;Don&#39;t join yourself up amongst unbelievers. Don&#39;t yoke up with them at all.&quot; If they don&#39;t believe it, stay away from them. See? &quot;Come out, be separate,&quot; saith the Lord, &quot;and I&#39;ll receive you. (See?) Touch not their unclean things.&quot; That&#39;s right. Their filth against the Word and things like that, stay away from it; don&#39;t listen to it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;171&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And here we find out that Balaam went down there and he begin to teach the people, and he had an error. And he--he run in the way of Balaam, how that he did, and taught Balak, and the children of Israel committed adultery, and a plague struck the nation of Israel, the people, and thousands of them died in one day. And while they were all there before the altar of God praying, here come an Israelite man with a Midianite woman, a denominational woman, and went into the tent. And the priest&#39;s son walked over there and took a javelin and killed them both. And that stayed God&#39;s wrath. You know that&#39;s the Scripture. Is that right? See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;172&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But what happened? Balaam. He succeeded in weakening Israel. What did he do? He weakened their camp. God let him go and weaken their camp, and it polluted the whole camp. And when some doctrine starts that&#39;s not the Bible truth, it pollutes the whole camp. Somebody raise up with a different idea, like Korah, and say, &quot;Well, this, that, and the other. And I got a different idea,&quot; it pollutes the whole camp. And that&#39;s what&#39;s done the whole church camp today. That&#39;s right.&lt;br /&gt;Teaching, as he did, weakening the whole camp for Kadesh Barnea, the Word showdown... When they got to Kadesh Barnea, then in the weakening of the camp, they come back, said... Went right... After... Remember, they&#39;d eat Angels&#39; food; they had the Word of God every night made manifest, and they eat the food. They drink from the rock. They did all--seen the miracles; they watched Moses and seen his word, seen his prophesies, everything. And then finally when they listened to this false teacher come in among them and teach wrong, he weakened the camp, and prospered by it. He might&#39;ve built a million dollar buildings; he might&#39;ve had great denominations; he might&#39;ve added thousands times thousands, and done great works, and mighty works, and was a prophet. That&#39;s all right, but as long as it&#39;s not with the Word of God, you&#39;d better stay away from it. God don&#39;t change His mind. Stay right with His Word, &#39;cause that&#39;s what&#39;s going to come out in the end: the Word, word by word. &quot;Whosoever shall take one word away from It or add one word to It...&quot; It&#39;s got to stay that Word. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;174&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, listen closely now. When the Word test came, when they went over and seen the opposition so great--the greatest opposition they ever seen, the Amalekites was--was ten times their size--they said, &quot;We look like grasshoppers. Their fences are--or their cities are so walled till they can run a chariot race around it, two chariots, as hard as they can go around the walls (See?) of the cities. Why, their spears are way out there, long. And they&#39;re giants. Why, we look like grasshoppers. We can&#39;t do it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And two men stood on that Word. Caleb and Joshua said, &quot;Wait a minute. You two million people, shut up just a minute; we are more than able to do it. (See?) We are more than a match for them.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;What was they basing on? God said, &quot;I&#39;ve given you the land. It&#39;s yours.&quot; And there they stood. But the people had gotten married off amongst other things and all kinds of creeds and rituals among them, and they just weaky, wishy-washy, didn&#39;t know which way to turn and what to do. That&#39;s right. There come the Word test. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;175&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Yet He grants you permission for to make--permit your will--a permissive will, knowing that--what&#39;s in your heart... He knows it. You say, &quot;Well, Brother Branham, I do so-and-so; it don&#39;t bother me. God blesses me every day. I sing in the Spirit; I dance in the Spirit; I...&quot; He&#39;ll permit it. Go ahead. That&#39;s right. But what are you going to do?&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I wear shorts; and I do this; it don&#39;t bother me. I know my faith is in Christ, not in what I wear.&quot; But the Bible said there is something to it. See? What&#39;ll you do it? You&#39;ll make a stumbling block like Balaam did before every one of the other women. What&#39;ll you do to your young girls? You&#39;ll have a bunch of &quot;Rickettas&quot; (That&#39;s exactly right.), a bunch of little painted-up Jezebels. See? But God will prosper you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;177&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &quot;Why, He blesses me.&quot; I don&#39;t doubt that. He blessed Balaam too. See? Certainly He will. You&#39;ll walking in His permissive will, not His perfect will. God doesn&#39;t change His mind &#39;cause He blesses you. He blessed Israel right out there for forty years. What did they do? Married wives, raised families, kissed the children, paid their tithe, lived right out there, and the--God blessed them in the wilderness, fed them with the manna on and on; and every one of them perished, &#39;cause they never kept His original permissive--His original will, His Word. They took His permissive way.&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Go ahead.&quot; But you remember, when they left Kadesh, they never journeyed any farther; they just went around and around in the wilderness. Where they could&#39;ve been out in two days after that--they could&#39;ve been in the promised land, they journeyed forty years, and every one of them died but Joshua and Caleb, the ones who stayed on the original Word. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;179&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Oh, God, help us. God don&#39;t change His will. He don&#39;t change His mind, but He&#39;ll bless you. Sure, He blessed Balaam. And what did he do down there? He polluted the whole camp. See, you have to stay with what He said. He never changed His original plan.&lt;br /&gt;Now, look at the Balaams today in the field, would you? Just look around: Prospering, speaking in tongues, sure, using God&#39;s gift to gain, everything. Sure. But it defiles the whole Church of God with their corrupt teaching. That&#39;s right.&lt;br /&gt;One said to me, he said, &quot;What you doing this for? What you doing that for?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Don&#39;t you believe that that&#39;s the truth?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Oh, yes, but,&quot; he said, &quot;you know what? That&#39;s not your business. You&#39;re to pray for the sick. They believe you to be a prophet. Why, you could teach them women how to--and them men how to do this, that, or the other...&quot; How can you teach them algebra when they won&#39;t even learn their a-b-c&#39;s?&quot; See, see? How can you teach them things when they won&#39;t even take their primer?&quot; See? You&#39;ve got to come back and start where you began or where you left off, and take every Word of God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;182&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Just look at it in the field today. As Balaam married into God&#39;s church a harlot--married a harlot into God&#39;s church--so is these false teachers today trying to tell you. They&#39;re going to marry every one of these organizations and these people into the old harlot of Revelation 17. They&#39;re Balaam doctrine, going around today and say, &quot;We&#39;re just the same; we&#39;re all Christians.&quot; And priests and popes and whatevermore are all compromising and doing this.&lt;br /&gt;The preacher said... Even I know a Pentecostal preacher... All of them started now giving a round kosher, which means Ashtoreth, the moon god, a kosher wafer, say, &quot;Shut your eyes and take it if it hurts your conscience.&quot; Shut your eyes? A round wafer? What does it mean? We are taking a broken body, Jesus Christ broken, not a round moon god, Ashtoreth, who Mary took the place of (and the Roman kosher&#39;s still round)... For the moon god--goddess, not god. We have a broken Kosher. Certainly. Oh. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;184&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So now the great harlot of Revelation 17, these Balaam teachers with their false doctrine, is marrying the church into that kind of a mess. Watch when it comes to the showdown at the end time, look the weakness of it now. Nine hundred and something different organizations, one pulling one way, and one the other, there&#39;s no unity among them, and they&#39;re trying to bring unity, not backed by the Word of God, God&#39;s original plan, they&#39;re taking it in by politics and an organization. God don&#39;t change His mind; He stays right with His Word. He said, &quot;Heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word won&#39;t.&quot; That&#39;s right. He stays with His original Word. Oh, my.&lt;br /&gt;Though they still reason against It, just like they did, and just... There&#39;s only one thing to do; He won&#39;t change It; just believe, because both heavens and earth will pass away, His Word will never fail. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;186&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You see where you&#39;re getting married into? See the politics and things, how they&#39;re trying to join the church together by politics in the church? We are not joined to Christ by politics; we&#39;re joined to church--to Christ by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And the way you know the baptism of the Holy Ghost is &#39;cause that Spirit in you identifies every Word of God to be the Truth. That&#39;s right. &quot;For whosoever shall take one word out of It or add one word to It, his part will be taken from the Book of Life.&quot; Yet he prospers.&lt;br /&gt;You say, &quot;You can&#39;t believe that by prosperity?&quot; You can&#39;t judge God by prosperity; the world prospers. Balaam prospered by it, but, brother, you judge God by His Word. He keeps His Word and identifies It the Truth. So remember, friend, as long as you live, don&#39;t you never forget this: God doesn&#39;t change His mind. Yet He&#39;ll bless. He&#39;ll let you go His permissive will, but He won&#39;t change His mind. He won&#39;t change His plan. He won&#39;t change His Word for you. No, sir. You&#39;ve got to change... You can&#39;t have God&#39;s Word to match your experience; you got to have your experience to match God&#39;s Word. See? That&#39;s the way you&#39;ve got... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;188&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You say, &quot;Well, I&#39;m a good man. God does this, that, or the other.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;But do you keep His Word?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Oh, well, I tell you, that ain&#39;t just...&quot; Now, all right. There&#39;s something wrong somewhere. God&#39;s going to... Yes, He&#39;ll prosper you. Sure, He&#39;ll make you... The denominations has prospered to who wouldn&#39;t have it. They spread their tents, the great, fine churches and everything throughout the land, and the rich and money pouring in and members from everywhere. Didn&#39;t the Bible say there was found in her even riches of the world, and even souls of men, and everything, that was found in this old harlot, which is the mother of the whole thing, corrupt politics and organization? But God&#39;s little group is His Bride, centered on that Word. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;189&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; May the dear heavenly Father ever keep you stabilized right there. Don&#39;t you never move from that Word. You may bless; you may... God may heal your sick; He may heal your sick baby; He may heal your husband, you wife, He may heal your mother, somebody else; you may jump at His Spirit and dance up-and-down. Remember, the rain falls on the just and the unjust just the same. But when that seed&#39;s laying there, it&#39;s either ordained or it&#39;s not ordained. And if it&#39;s ordained, it can... If it&#39;s a wheat, it has to bring forth wheat; if it&#39;s a Word of God, it has to produce the Word of God. If it isn&#39;t, well then it isn&#39;t. See? You get that now? The Lord bless you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;190&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Here I told you I was going to quit at nine o&#39;clock, and here it is, twenty minutes to ten. Many of you people a long ways to go. I love you, and the reason I hold you like this is not because I want to be cruel to you, but I love you. And what I know, I don&#39;t keep nothing back; I tell you the Truth.&lt;br /&gt;Out in the meetings where I go, you never hear me preach these messages. No, I promised you to come to this Tabernacle. Right here is where I preach my messages from. I&#39;ve got three or four more here that the Lord has given me; I&#39;ve got the Scriptures on it, that I would be daresn&#39;t to preach it anywhere else but right here. Here&#39;s where the Word of God started going from, and till God changes it, I&#39;m staying right here and bringing it out right here. That&#39;s right. Out yonder in meetings, I pray for the sick and everything like that and on the side say things in a round about way that the sheep hear it. They know what it&#39;s talking about. Otherwise, it&#39;s just the bait on the hook. You see? I show the signs of--of trying to show that God knows in discernment, and knows the hearts of the people, and does these things. That&#39;s an evangelistic gift just to stir the people. The first thing you know, a tape drops into their house; that&#39;s got it then. If he&#39;s a sheep, he comes right with it; if he&#39;s a goat, he kicks the tape out. That&#39;s it. That&#39;s... And you too, is right, Ben; that--that&#39;s exactly right. Ben&#39;s had some experience. All right. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;192&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Well, that&#39;s right. Aren&#39;t you glad that you&#39;re His? Aren&#39;t you glad? We used to sing a little Pentecostal song a long time, like:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;If it had not been for Jesus, where would I be?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, I&#39;ve been happy since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;ve been happy since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;If it had not been for Jesus, where would I be?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad since the Lord brought me out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;ve been shouting since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;ve been shouting since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;If it had not been for Jesus, oh, where would I be?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Glory. Aren&#39;t you glad?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Aren&#39;t you glad... &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Let&#39;s sing it.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Aren&#39;t you glad that the Lord brought you out?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Aren&#39;t you glad that the Lord brought you out?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;If it had not been for Jesus, oh, where would I be?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Well, I&#39;ve been singing since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;ve been singing since the Lord brought me out;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;If it had not been for Jesus, oh, where would I be?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;I&#39;m so glad that the Lord brought me out.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Aren&#39;t you glad of it? Then, &quot;We&#39;ll Walk in the Light,&quot; you know that song?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;ll walk in the Light,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It&#39;s a beautiful Light;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Comes where the dew drops of mercy are bright;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Shine all around us by day and by night,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, Jesus the Light of the world.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Don&#39;t you like that? Let&#39;s sing it again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;ll walk in the Light;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It&#39;s a beautiful Light;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Comes where the dew drops of mercy are bright;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Shine all around us by day and by night,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, Jesus the Light of the world. &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(It&#39;s sun up.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;All ye saints of love proclaim,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Jesus the Light of the world;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Truth and mercy in His Name,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Jesus, the Light of &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Now, let&#39;s raise our hands when we sing it.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;ll walk in this Light,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It&#39;s such a beautiful Light;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It comes where the dew drops of mercy are bright;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Shine all around us by day and by night,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Jesus the Light of the world.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Shake one another&#39;s hand.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, it comes where the dew drops of mercy are bright. &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Aren&#39;t you glad you&#39;re children of the Light. The sun&#39;s up.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;... all around us by day and by night, &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Little children, love one another.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;... the Light of the world.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;ll just walk in the Light;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It&#39;s such a beautiful &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Manifestation of His Word)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Comes where the dew drops of mercy are bright;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Just shine all around us by day and by night,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It&#39;s Jesus the Light of the world.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; You believe it? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;193&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;The beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Let those refuse to sing&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Who never knew our God;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;But children of the heavenly King,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;But children of the heavenly King,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;May speak their joys abroad,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;May speak their joys abroad.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;For we&#39;re marching to &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Glory.)&lt;/span&gt; Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;The beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Get your handkerchief out. Take out your handkerchiefs. Let&#39;s give the Lord a wave offering. It ain&#39;t a sheaf, but they took from the body of Paul handkerchiefs and...?...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;194&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Amen. Oh, don&#39;t it make you feel good? I can just imagine those old saints back there before going into the Roman circus there, start walking up that hill, you know, up that little ramp, going up into the lion&#39;s den, saying:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, we&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;This beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;The fields of Zion yield&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;A thousand sacred sweets,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Before we reach the heavenly throne,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Before we reach the heavenly fields,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Or walk the golden streets,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Or walk the golden streets.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;195&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Repeat after me: &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Congregation repeats each phrase after Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Lord God,... I pledge myself anew to You... Cleanse me from all unrighteousness;... cleanse me from all doubt in Thy Word... Let me from this Easter... be a new creature... in Christ Jesus... Let me bear in my heart... Your Word... May It be a Lamp to my feet... and a Light in my path... From henceforth... I will follow You... In Jesus&#39; Name... Amen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;O, beautiful, beautiful Zion;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;We&#39;re marching upward to Zion,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;That beautiful city of God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;196&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Don&#39;t that make you feel good? We have pledged ourself anew, knowing that in our hearts we have been quickened from the dead...?... Don&#39;t that make you feel good? My, oh my. I love you with undying love. Listen. Love one another, for you cannot dislike your brother who you see, and say you love God, Who you haven&#39;t seen. So just love one another. Then you serve one another, you serve God. Is that right? &quot;As you do unto the least of these that&#39;s got Quickening Power in them, you&#39;ve done it unto Me.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;When did we see You in need? When did we visit You in prison? When did we do these things?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;What you done to them, you did it to Me.&quot; Isn&#39;t that wonderful? I love Him, don&#39;t you? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;198&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Oh, there&#39;s one more song we have to sing, if you&#39;ve just got a minute more time. Oh, well, we&#39;ll just take them. All right. All right, sir. Oh. &quot;Take The Name Of Jesus With You.&quot; Don&#39;t forget that, friend. Let&#39;s all sing it now. Each one together now, just with one big heart, take it to Him, that&#39;s with all we got in us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Take the Name of Jesus with you,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Child of sorrow and of woe;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;It will joy and comfort give you,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Take it everywhere you go.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Precious Name, O how sweet!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Hope of earth and joy of heaven;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Precious Name, O how sweet!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Hope of earth and joy of heaven.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;199&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Remember now, pray for me when the hot persecution winds are blowing, when devils on every side is challenging, I&#39;ll remember you&#39;re praying for me night or day; I&#39;ll be praying for you. Stand by your good pastor, Brother Neville, and the associate, Brother Capps. Listen to them; they&#39;ll teach you the Word of Life. I believe that. If I didn&#39;t believe it, I certainly wouldn&#39;t have them here. I certainly would not. I believe that they believe the Message, and they stay with it to the best of their knowledge, and I&#39;ve got faith in both men. Stay with them. These other brothers around where they got their meeting, that stood here tonight, if you&#39;re around their neighborhood, stand by them. You heard what they come here for tonight.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Take the Name of Jesus with you,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;As a shield from every snare; &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Listen at this.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Oh, when temptations &#39;round you gather,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Just breathe that holy Name in prayer.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Precious Name, &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Precious Name,)&lt;/span&gt; O how sweet! &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(O how sweet!)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Hope of &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Dear God, heal these people, heavenly Father, in Jesus&#39; Name. Grant it, Lord.)&lt;/span&gt; O how sweet!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Hope of earth and joy of heaven.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Till we meet, till we meet,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Till we meet at Jesus&#39; feet;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Till we meet, till we meet,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;God be with you till we meet again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Let&#39;s bow our heads now. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham hums &quot;Till We Meet&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Oh, God, be with us; help us, Lord.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Till we meet, &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Till we meet.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Till we meet, till we meet,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;God be with you till we meet again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia, Bookman Old Style, Times New Roman, Times, New York, serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;200&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; That&#39;s truly my prayer, till we meet again. God bless you. And now, I&#39;m going to ask our precious Brother Neville if he&#39;ll dismiss this fine congregation. God love you, each one. I&#39;m so thankful to have people like you all. What would my Message be if I had nobody that believed it? And there&#39;s people here, you&#39;d die for it...?... May God help you, each one. My prayers are with you; my blessings go with each one of you. May you not forget that you&#39;re part in that resurrection. The Quickening Power is now in you. It&#39;s all settled. You&#39;re God&#39;s child. Let&#39;s bow our heads until Brother Neville dismisses you. God bless you.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/5887351826274938779/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=5887351826274938779' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/5887351826274938779'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/5887351826274938779'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-god-ever-change-his-mind-bill.html' title='Does God Ever Change His Mind! - Bill Branham'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-8666433632811592406</id><published>2008-07-17T19:23:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T19:24:39.124+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Message by Martin Luther!</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;   &lt;!---------------------------&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;by Martin Luther&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt; Note 1: It was by listening to this preface that John Wesley felt &quot;his heart strangely warmed&quot;, and he became a changed man. Because of his changed life, history changed. Thus these few words have had an impact on most people&#39;s lives, unbeknown to themselves.&lt;br /&gt;It was by reading Romans 1:17 (&quot;the just shall live by faith&quot;) that Martin Luther saw the Light, and this Scripture changed the world by  starting the Reformation, and ending the Dark Ages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt; Note 2: The terms &quot;just, justice, justify&quot; in this piece are  synonymous with the terms &quot;righteous, righteousness, make  righteous.&quot; A similar situation exists with the word &quot;faith&quot;;  it is synonymous with &quot;belief.&quot; Thus, &quot;We are justified by faith&quot;  translates the same original sentence as does &quot;We are made  righteous by belief.&quot; The term &quot;&lt;b&gt;just&lt;/b&gt;ification&quot; can be seen  as &quot;&lt;b&gt;just&lt;/b&gt; as if you never sinned&quot;. The term &quot;&lt;b&gt;right&lt;/b&gt;eousness&quot;  can be seen as being &quot;&lt;b&gt;right&lt;/b&gt;&quot; with God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian&#39;s while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes. Therefore I want to carry out my service and, with this preface, provide an introduction to the letter, insofar as God gives me the ability, so that every one can gain the fullest possible understanding of it. Up to now it has been darkened by glosses and by many a useless comment, but it is in itself a bright light, almost bright enough to illumine the entire Scripture. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;To begin with, we have to become familiar with the vocabulary of the letter and know what St. Paul means by the words law, sin, grace, faith, justice, flesh, spirit, etc. Otherwise there is no use in reading it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;You must not understand the word law here in human fashion, i.e., a regulation about what sort of works must be done or must not be done. That&#39;s the way it is with human laws: you satisfy the demands of the law with works, whether your heart is in it or not. God judges what is in the depths of the heart. Therefore his law also makes demands on the depths of the heart and doesn&#39;t let the heart rest content in works; rather it punishes as hypocrisy and lies all works done apart from the depths of the heart. All human beings are called liars (Psalm 116), since none of them keeps or can keep God&#39;s law from the depths of the heart. Everyone finds inside himself an aversion to good and a craving for evil. Where there is no free desire for good, there the heart has not set itself on God&#39;s law. There also sin is surely to be found and the deserved wrath of God, whether a lot of good works and an honorable life appear outwardly or not. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Therefore in chapter 2, St. Paul adds that the Jews are all sinners and says that only the doers of the law are justified in the sight of God. What he is saying is that no one is a doer of the law by works. On the contrary, he says to them, &quot;You teach that one should not commit adultery, and you commit adultery. You judge another in a certain matter and condemn yourselves in that same matter, because you do the very same thing that you judged in another.&quot; It is as if he were saying, &quot;Outwardly you live quite properly in the works of the law and judge those who do not live the same way; you know how to teach everybody. You see the speck in another&#39;s eye but do not notice the beam in your own.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Outwardly you keep the law with works out of fear of punishment or love of gain. Likewise you do everything without free desire and love of the law; you act out of aversion and force. You&#39;d rather act otherwise if the law didn&#39;t exist. It follows, then, that you, in the depths of your heart, are an enemy of the law. What do you mean, therefore, by teaching another not to steal, when you, in the depths of your heart, are a thief and would be one outwardly too, if you dared. (Of course, outward work doesn&#39;t last long with such hypocrites.) So then, you teach others but not yourself; you don&#39;t even know what you are teaching. You&#39;ve never understood the law rightly. Furthermore, the law increases sin, as St. Paul says in chapter 5. That is because a person becomes more and more an enemy of the law the more it demands of him what he can&#39;t possibly do. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 7, St. Paul says, &quot;The law is spiritual.&quot; What does that mean? If the law were physical, then it could be satisfied by works, but since it is spiritual, no one can satisfy it unless everything he does springs from the depths of the heart. But no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God, who makes the person be like the law, so that he actually conceives a heartfelt longing for the law and henceforward does everything, not through fear or coercion, but from a free heart. Such a law is spiritual since it can only be loved and fulfilled by such a heart and such a spirit. If the Spirit is not in the heart, then there remain sin, aversion and enmity against the law, which in itself is good, just and holy. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;You must get used to the idea that it is one thing to do the works of the law and quite another to fulfill it. The works of the law are every thing that a person does or can do of his own free will and by his own powers to obey the law. But because in doing such works the heart abhors the law and yet is forced to obey it, the works are a total loss and are completely useless. That is what St. Paul means in chapter 3 when he says, &quot;No human being is justified before God through the works of the law.&quot; From this you can see that the schoolmasters  and sophists are seducers when they teach that you can prepare yourself for grace by means of works. How can anybody prepare himself for good by means of works if he does no good work except with aversion and constraint in his heart? How can such a work please God, if it proceeds from an averse and unwilling heart? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;But to fulfill the law means to do its work eagerly, lovingly and freely, without the constraint of the law; it means to live well and in a manner pleasing to God, as though there were no law or punishment. It is the Holy Spirit, however, who puts such eagerness of unconstained love into the heart, as Paul says in chapter 5. But the Spirit is given only in, with, and through faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul says in his introduction. So, too, faith comes only through the word of God, the Gospel, that preaches Christ: how he is both Son of God and man, how he died and rose for our sake. Paul says all this in chapters 3, 4 and 10. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law; faith it is that brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ. The Spirit, in turn, renders the heart glad and free, as the law demands. Then good works proceed from faith itself. That is what Paul means in chapter 3 when, after he has thrown out the works of the law, he sounds as though the wants to abolish the law by faith. No, he says, we uphold the law through faith, i.e. we fulfill it through faith. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Sin&lt;/i&gt; in the Scriptures means not only external works of the body but also all those movements within us which bestir themselves and move us to do the external works, namely, the depth of the heart with all its powers. Therefore the word &lt;i&gt;do&lt;/i&gt; should refer to a person&#39;s completely falling into sin. No external work of sin happens, after all, unless a person commit himself to it completely, body and soul. In particular, the Scriptures see into the heart, to the root and main source of all sin: unbelief in the depth of the heart. Thus, even as faith alone makes just and brings the Spirit and the desire to do good external works, so it is only unbelief which sins and exalts the flesh and brings desire to do evil external works. That&#39;s what happened to Adam and Eve in Paradise (cf. Genesis 3). &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;That is why only unbelief is called sin by Christ, as he says in John, chapter 16, &quot;The Spirit will punish the world because of sin, because it does not believe in me.&quot; Furthermore, before good or bad works happen, which are the good or bad fruits of the heart, there has to be present in the heart either faith or unbelief, the root, sap and chief power of all sin. That is why, in the Scriptures, unbelief is called the head of the serpent and of the ancient dragon which the offspring of the woman, i.e. Christ, must crush, as was promised to Adam (cf. Genesis 3). &lt;i&gt;Grace&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;gift&lt;/i&gt; differ in that grace actually denotes God&#39;s kindness or favor which he has toward us and by which he is disposed to pour Christ and the Spirit with his gifts into us, as becomes clear from chapter 5, where Paul says, &quot;Grace and gift are in Christ, etc.&quot; The gifts and the Spirit increase daily in us, yet they are not complete, since evil desires and sins remain in us which war against the Spirit, as Paul says in chapter 7, and in Galations, chapter 5. And Genesis, chapter 3, proclaims the enmity between the offspring of the woman and that of the serpent. But grace does do this much: that we are accounted completely just  before God. God&#39;s grace is not divided into bits and pieces, as are the gifts, but grace takes us up completely into God&#39;s favor for the sake of Christ, our intercessor and mediator, so that the gifts may begin their work in us. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In this way, then, you should understand chapter 7, where St. Paul portrays himself as still a sinner, while in chapter 8 he says that, because of the incomplete gifts and because of the Spirit, there is nothing damnable in those who are in Christ. Because our flesh has not been killed, we are still sinners, but because we believe in Christ and have the beginnings of the Spirit, God so shows us his favor and mercy, that he neither notices nor judges such sins. Rather he deals with us according to our belief in Christ until sin is killed. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Faith is not that human illusion and dream that some people think it is. When they hear and talk a lot about faith and yet see that no moral improvement and no good works result from it, they fall into error and say, &quot;Faith is not enough. You must do works if you want to be virtuous and get to heaven.&quot; The result is that, when they hear the Gospel, they stumble and make for themselves with their own powers a concept in their hearts which says, &quot;I believe.&quot; This concept they hold to be true faith. But since it is a human fabrication and thought and not an experience of the heart, it accomplishes nothing, and there follows no improvement. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God (cf. John 1). It kills the old Adam, makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! It is impossible that faith ever stop doing good. Faith doesn&#39;t ask whether good works are to be done, but, before it is asked, it has done them. It is always active. Whoever doesn&#39;t do such works is without faith; he gropes and searches about him for faith and good works but doesn&#39;t know what faith or good works are. Even so, he chatters on with a great many words about faith and good works. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God&#39;s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God&#39;s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire. Therefore be on guard against your own false ideas and against the chatterers who think they are clever enough to make judgements about faith and good works but who are in reality the biggest fools. Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Now &lt;i&gt;justice&lt;/i&gt; is just such a faith. It is called God&#39;s justice or that justice which is valid in God&#39;s sight, because it is God who gives it and reckons it as justice for the sake of Christ our Mediator. It influences a person to give to everyone what he owes him. Through faith a person becomes sinless and eager for God&#39;s commands. Thus he gives God the honor due him and pays him what he owes him. He serves people willingly with the means available to him. In this way he pays everyone his due. Neither nature nor free will nor our own powers can bring about such a justice, for even as no one can give himself faith, so too he cannot remove unbelief. How can he then take away even the smallest sin? Therefore everything which takes place outside faith or in unbelief is lie, hypocrisy and sin (Romans 14), no matter how smoothly it may seem to go. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;You must not understand flesh here as denoting only unchastity or spirit as denoting only the inner heart. Here St. Paul calls flesh (as does Christ in John 3) everything born of flesh, i.e. the whole human being with body and soul, reason and senses, since everything in him tends toward the flesh. That is why you should know enough to call that person &quot;fleshly&quot; who, without grace, fabricates, teaches and chatters about high spiritual matters. You can learn the same thing from Galatians, chapter 5, where St. Paul calls heresy and hatred works of the flesh. And in Romans, chapter 8, he says that, through the flesh, the law is weakened. He says this, not of unchastity, but of all sins, most of all of unbelief, which is the most spiritual of vices. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;On the other hand, you should know enough to call that person &quot;spiritual&quot; who is occupied with the most outward of works as was Christ, when he washed the feet of the disciples, and Peter, when he steered his boat and fished. So then, a person is &quot;flesh&quot; who, inwardly and outwardly, lives only to do those things which are of use to the flesh and to temporal existence. A person is &quot;spirit&quot; who, inwardly and outwardly, lives only to do those things which are of use to the spirit and to the life to come. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Unless you understand these words in this way, you will never understand either this letter of St. Paul or any book of the Scriptures. Be on guard, therefore against any teacher who uses these words differently, no matter who he be, whether Jerome, Augustine, Ambrose, Origen or anyone else as great as or greater than they. Now let us turn to the letter itself. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;The first duty of a preacher of the Gospel is, through his revealing of the law and of sin, to rebuke and to turn into sin everything in life that does not have the Spirit and faith in Christ as its base. Thereby he will lead people to a recognition of their miserable condition, and thus they will become humble and yearn for help. This is what St Paul does. He begins in chapter 1 by rebuking the gross sins and unbelief which are in plain view, as were (and still are) the sins of the pagans, who live without God&#39;s grace. He says that, through the Gospel, God is revealing his wrath from heaven upon all mankind because of the godless and unjust lives they live. For, although they know and recognize day by day that there is a God, yet human nature in itself, without grace, is so evil that it neither thanks nor honors God. This nature blinds itself and continually falls into wickedness, even going so far as to commit idolatry and other horrible sins and vices. It is unashamed of itself and leaves such things unpunished in others. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 2, St. Paul extends his rebuke to those who appear outwardly pious or who sin secretly. Such were the Jews, and such are all hypocrites still, who live virtuous lives but without eagerness and love; in their heart they are enemies of God&#39;s law and like to judge other people. That&#39;s the way with hypocrites: they think that they are pure but are actually full of greed, hate, pride and all sorts of filth (cf. Matthew 23). These are they who despise God&#39;s goodness and, by their hardness of heart, heap wrath upon themselves. Thus Paul explains the law rightly when he lets no one remain without sin but proclaims the wrath of God to all who want to live virtuously by nature or by free will. He makes them out to be no better than public sinners; he says they are hard of heart and unrepentant. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 3, Paul lumps both secret and public sinners together: the one, he says, is like the other; all are sinners in the sight of God. Besides, the Jews had God&#39;s word, even though many did not believe in it. But still God&#39;s truth and faith in him are not thereby rendered useless. St. Paul introduces, as an aside, the saying from Psalm 51, that God remains true to his words. Then he returns to his topic and proves from Scripture that they are all sinners and that no one becomes just through the works of the law but that God gave the law only so that sin might be perceived. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Next St. Paul teaches the right way to be virtuous and to be saved; he says that they are all sinners, unable to glory in God. They must, however, be justified through faith in Christ, who has merited this for us by his blood and has become for us a mercy seat in the presence of God, who forgives us all our previous sins. In so doing, God proves that it is his justice alone, which he gives through faith, that helps us, the justice which was at the appointed time revealed through the Gospel and, previous to that, was witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets. Therefore the law is set up by faith, but the works of the law, along with the glory taken in them, are knocked down by faith.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapters 1 to 3, St. Paul has revealed sin for what it is and has taught the way of faith which leads to justice. Now in chapter 4 he deals with some objections and criticisms. He takes up first the one that people raise who, on hearing that faith make just without works, say, &quot;What? Shouldn&#39;t we do any good works?&quot; Here St. Paul holds up Abraham as an example. He says, &quot;What did Abraham accomplish with his good works? Were they all good for nothing and useless?&quot; He concludes that Abraham was made righteous apart from all his works by faith alone. Even before the &quot;work&quot; of his circumcision, Scripture praises him as being just on account of faith alone (cf. Genesis 15). Now if the work of his circumcision did nothing to make him just, a work that God had commanded him to do and hence a work of obedience, then surely no other good work can do anything to make a person just. Even as Abraham&#39;s circumcision was an outward sign with which he proved his justice based on faith, so too all good works are only outward signs which flow from faith and are the fruits of faith; they prove that the person is already inwardly just in the sight of God. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;St. Paul verifies his teaching on faith in chapter 3 with a powerful example from Scripture. He calls as witness David, who says in Psalm 32 that a person becomes just without works but doesn&#39;t remain without works once he has become just. Then Paul extends this example and applies it against all other works of the law. He concludes that the Jews cannot be Abraham&#39;s heirs just because of their blood relationship to him and still less because of the works of the law. Rather, they have to inherit Abrahams&#39;s faith if they want to be his real heirs, since it was prior to the Law of Moses and the law of circumcision that Abraham became just through faith and was called a father of all believers. St. Paul adds that the law brings about more wrath than grace, because no one obeys it with love and eagerness. More disgrace than grace come from the works of the law. Therefore faith alone can obtain the grace promised to Abraham. Examples like these are written for our sake, that we also should have faith. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 5, St. Paul comes to the fruits and works of faith, namely: joy, peace, love for God and for all people; in addition: assurance, steadfastness, confidence, courage, and hope in sorrow and suffering. All of these follow where faith is genuine, because of the overflowing good will that God has shown in Christ: he had him die for us before we could ask him for it, yes, even while we were still his enemies. Thus we have established that faith, without any good works, makes just. It does not follow from that, however, that we should not do good works; rather it means that morally upright works do not remain lacking. About such works the &quot;works-holy&quot; people know nothing; they invent for themselves their own works in which are neither peace nor joy nor assurance nor love nor hope nor steadfastness nor any kind of genuine Christian works or faith. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Next St. Paul makes a digression, a pleasant little side-trip, and relates where both sin and justice, death and life come from. He opposes these two: Adam and Christ. What he wants to say is that Christ, a second Adam, had to come in order to make us heirs of his justice through a new spiritual birth in faith, just as the old Adam made us heirs of sin through the old fleshy birth. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;St. Paul proves, by this reasoning, that a person cannot help himself by his works to get from sin to justice any more than he can prevent his own physical birth. St. Paul also proves that the divine law, which should have been well-suited, if anything was, for helping people to obtain justice, not only was no help at all when it did come, but it even increased sin. Evil human nature, consequently, becomes more hostile to it; the more the law forbids it to indulge its own desires, the more it wants to. Thus the law makes Christ all the more necessary and demands more grace to help human nature. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 6, St. Paul takes up the special work of faith, the struggle which the spirit wages against the flesh to kill off those sins and desires that remain after a person has been made just. He teaches us that faith doesn&#39;t so free us from sin that we can be idle, lazy and self-assured, as though there were no more sin in us. Sin &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; there, but, because of faith that struggles against it, God does not reckon sin as deserving damnation. Therefore we have in our own selves a lifetime of work cut out for us; we have to tame our body, kill its lusts, force its members to obey the spirit and not the lusts. We must do this so that we may conform to the death and resurrection of Christ and complete our Baptism, which signifies a death to sin and a new life of grace. Our aim is to be completely clean from sin and then to rise bodily with Christ and live forever. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;St. Paul says that we can accomplish all this because we are in grace and not in the law. He explains that to be &quot;outside the law&quot; is not the same as having no law and being able to do what you please. No, being &quot;under the law&quot; means living without grace, surrounded by the works of the law. Then surely sin reigns by means of the law, since no one is naturally well-disposed toward the law. That very condition, however, is the greatest sin. But grace makes the law lovable to us, so there is then no sin any more, and the law is no longer against us but one with us. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;This is true freedom from sin and from the law; St. Paul writes about this for the rest of the chapter. He says it is a freedom only to do good with eagerness and to live a good life without the coercion of the law. This freedom is, therefore, a spiritual freedom which does not suspend the law but which supplies what the law demands, namely eagerness and love. These silence the law so that it has no further cause to drive people on and make demands of them. It&#39;s as though you owed something to a moneylender and couldn&#39;t pay him. You could be rid of him in one of two ways: either he would take nothing from you and would tear up his account book, or a pious man would pay for you and give you what you needed to satisfy your debt. That&#39;s exactly how Christ freed us from the law. Therefore our freedom is not a wild, fleshy freedom that has no obligation to do anything. On the contrary, it is a freedom that does a great deal, indeed everything, yet is free of the law&#39;s demands and debts. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 7, St. Paul confirms the foregoing by an analogy drawn from married life. When a man dies, the wife is free; the one is free and clear of the other. It is not the case that the woman may not or should not marry another man; rather she is now for the first time free to marry someone else. She could not do this before she was free of her first husband. In the same way, our conscience is bound to the law so long as our condition is that of the sinful old man. But when the old man is killed by the spirit, then the conscience is free, and conscience and law are quit of each other. Not that conscience should now do nothing; rather, it should now for the first time truly cling to its second husband, Christ, and bring forth the fruit of life. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Next St. Paul sketches further the nature of sin and the law. It is the law that makes sin really active and powerful, because the old man gets more and more hostile to the law since he can&#39;t pay the debt demanded by the law. Sin is his very nature; of himself he can&#39;t do otherwise. And so the law is his death and torture. Now the law is not itself evil; it is our evil nature that cannot tolerate that the good law should demand good from it. It&#39;s like the case of a sick person, who cannot tolerate that you demand that he run and jump around and do other things that a healthy person does. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;St. Paul concludes here that, if we understand the law properly and comprehend it in the best possible way, then we will see that its sole function is to remind us of our sins, to kill us by our sins, and to make us deserving of eternal wrath. Conscience learns and experiences all this in detail when it comes face to face with the law. It follows, then, that we must have something else, over and above the law, which can make a person virtuous and cause him to be saved. Those, however, who do not understand the law rightly are blind; they go their way boldly and think they are satisfying the law with works. They don&#39;t know how much the law demands, namely, a free, willing, eager heart. That is the reason that they don&#39;t see Moses rightly before their eyes.  For them he is covered and concealed by the veil. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Then St. Paul shows how spirit and flesh struggle with each other in one person. He gives himself as an example, so that we may learn how to kill sin in ourselves. He gives both spirit and flesh the name &quot;law,&quot; so that, just as it is in the nature of divine law to drive a person on and make demands of him, so too the flesh drives and demands and rages against the spirit and wants to have its own way. Likewise the spirit drives and demands against the flesh and wants to have its own way. This feud lasts in us for as long as we live, in one person more, in another less, depending on whether spirit or flesh is stronger. Yet the whole human being is both: spirit and flesh. The human being fights with himself until he becomes completely spiritual. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 8, St. Paul comforts fighters such as these and tells them that this flesh will not bring them condemnation. He goes on to show what the nature of flesh and spirit are. Spirit, he says, comes from Christ, who has given us his Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit makes us spiritual and restrains the flesh. The Holy Spirit assures us that we are God&#39;s children no matter how furiously sin may rage within us, so long as we follow the Spirit and struggle against sin in order to kill it. Because nothing is so effective in deadening the flesh as the cross and suffering, Paul comforts us in our suffering. He says that the Spirit, love and all creatures will stand by us; the Spirit in us groans and all creatures long with us that we be freed from the flesh and from sin. Thus we see that these three chapters, 6, 7 and 8, all deal with the one work of faith, which is to kill the old Adam and to constrain the flesh. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapters 9, 10 and 11, St. Paul teaches us about the eternal providence of God. It is the original source which determines who would believe and who wouldn&#39;t, who can be set free from sin and who cannot. Such matters have been taken out of our hands and are put into God&#39;s hands so that we might become virtuous. It is absolutely necessary that it be so, for we are so weak and unsure of ourselves that, if it depended on us, no human being would be saved. The devil would overpower all of us. But God is steadfast; his providence will not fail, and no one can prevent its realization. Therefore we have hope against sin. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;But here we must shut the mouths of those sacriligeous and arrogant spirits who, mere beginners that they are, bring their reason to bear on this matter and commence, from their exalted position, to probe the abyss of divine providence and uselessly trouble themselves about whether they are predestined or not. These people must surely plunge to their ruin, since they will either despair or abandon themselves to a life of chance. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;You, however, follow the reasoning of this letter in the order in which it is presented. Fix your attention first of all on Christ and the Gospel, so that you may recognize your sin and his grace. Then struggle against sin, as chapters 1-8 have taught you to. Finally, when you have come, in chapter 8, under the shadow of the cross and suffering, they will teach you, in chapters 9-11, about providence and what a comfort it is. Apart from suffering, the cross and the pangs of death, you cannot come to grips with providence without harm to yourself and secret anger against God. The old Adam must be quite dead before you can endure this matter and drink this strong wine. Therefore make sure you don&#39;t drink wine while you are still a babe at the breast. There is a proper measure, time and age for understanding every doctrine. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 12, St. Paul teaches the true liturgy and makes all Christians priests, so that they may offer, not money or cattle, as priests do in the Law, but their own bodies, by putting their desires to death. Next he describes the outward conduct of Christians whose lives are governed by the Spirit; he tells how they teach, preach, rule, serve, give, suffer, love, live and act toward friend, foe and everyone. These are the works that a Christian does, for, as I have said, faith is not idle. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 13, St. Paul teaches that one should honor and obey the secular authorities. He includes this, not because it makes people virtuous in the sight of God, but because it does insure that the virtuous have outward peace and protection and that the wicked cannot do evil without fear and in undisturbed peace. Therefore it is the duty of virtuous people to honor secular authority, even though they do not, strictly speaking, need it. Finally, St. Paul sums up everything in love and gathers it all into the example of Christ: what he has done for us, we must also do and follow after him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 14, St. Paul teaches that one should carefully guide those with weak conscience and spare them. One shouldn&#39;t use Christian freedom to harm but rather to help the weak. Where that isn&#39;t done, there follow dissention and despising of the Gospel, on which everything else depends. It is better to give way a little to the weak in faith until they become stronger than to have the teaching of the Gospel perish completely. This work is a particularly necessary work of love especially now when people, by eating meat and by other freedoms, are brashly, boldly and unnecessarily shaking weak consciences which have not yet come to know the truth. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In chapter 15, St. Paul cites Christ as an example to show that we must also have patience with the weak, even those who fail by sinning publicly or by their disgusting morals. We must not cast them aside but must bear with them until they become better. That is the way Christ treated us and still treats us every day; he puts up with our vices, our wicked morals and all our imperfection, and he helps us ceaselessly. Finally Paul prays for the Christians at Rome; he praises them and commends them to God. He points out his own office and the message that he preaches. He makes an unobtrusive plea for a contribution for the poor in Jerusalem. Unalloyed love is the basis of all he says and does. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;The last chapter consists of greetings. But Paul also includes a salutary warning against human doctrines which are preached alongside the Gospel and which do a great deal of harm. It&#39;s as though he had clearly seen that out of Rome and through the Romans would come the deceitful, harmful Canons and Decretals along with the entire brood and swarm of human laws and commands that is now drowning the whole world and has blotted out this letter and the whole of the Scriptures, along with the Spirit and faith. Nothing remains but the idol Belly, and St. Paul depicts those people here as its servants. God deliver us from them. Amen. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;We find in this letter, then, the richest possible teaching about what a Christian should know: the meaning of law, Gospel, sin, punishment, grace, faith, justice, Christ, God, good works, love, hope and the cross. We learn how we are to act toward everyone, toward the virtuous and sinful, toward the strong and the weak, friend and foe, and toward ourselves. Paul bases everything firmly on Scripture and proves his points with examples from his own experience and from the Prophets, so that nothing more could be desired. Therefore it seems that St. Paul, in writing this letter, wanted to compose a summary of the whole of Christian and evangelical teaching which would also be an introduction to the whole Old Testament. Without doubt, whoever takes this letter to heart possesses the light and power of the Old Testament. Therefore each and every Christian should make this letter the habitual and constant object of his study. God grant us his grace to do so. Amen.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/8666433632811592406/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=8666433632811592406' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8666433632811592406'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8666433632811592406'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/message-by-martin-luther.html' title='Message by Martin Luther!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-8219240205908685920</id><published>2008-07-17T15:00:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-12-08T23:43:09.299+00:00</updated><title type='text'>Standing in the Gap - William Branham (1963)</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2FJCaKILneWn1fBAKC1JSvn6RW7koom3c_4ngfQQw88xiIJ-isI6HH4Ypi4HHZdvx_fWtoakaJJYtuZSF71-sr9140y_LIj1NoXdKecQTGSIFBKhQP_c4azDp-AAYF68V6jTr0XWlQQ/s1600-h/standing+in+the+gap1.jpg&quot;&gt;45&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2FJCaKILneWn1fBAKC1JSvn6RW7koom3c_4ngfQQw88xiIJ-isI6HH4Ypi4HHZdvx_fWtoakaJJYtuZSF71-sr9140y_LIj1NoXdKecQTGSIFBKhQP_c4azDp-AAYF68V6jTr0XWlQQ/s320/standing+in+the+gap1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224002413820993922&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,SunSans-Regular,sans-serif;font-size:6;&quot;  &gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;Standing In The Gap&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;     &lt;!---------------------------&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;!--br clear=all--&gt;&lt;!---------------------------&gt;        &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;    &lt;!---------------------------&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Thank you very much. Let us remain standing just a moment now, as we bow for prayer. Let&#39;s bow our heads, and if there&#39;s any special request, would you just let it be known by your hands uplifted. Now, hold in your heart those things that you need. And ask the heavenly Father that He&#39;ll grant it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Our heavenly Father, we are coming to Thee now in the Name of the Lord Jesus. We are coming, believing that the things that we desire is to be made known in prayer. And if we would believe that we receive what we ask for, it would be granted. Now, that promise is so true. All these years we&#39;ve seen it tested and we know that it&#39;s true. We want to thank You first, for sparing our lives and permitting us to be back here again together, assembled here in the congregation of the Lord.&lt;br /&gt;We thank Thee for the church, and for the pastor, and for the great truth in which it&#39;s built here and stands for. We thank Thee for every person that&#39;s in Divine Presence. And we ask that You&#39;ll be merciful to us today, and grant unto us the understanding that we have need of, that we might be a more efficient servant for Thee. It&#39;s our heart&#39;s desire to serve Thee with reverence and with a true heart, and that You might get the very best out of our lives. Every day, may our walk be so that You&#39;ll be well pleased with the things that we did for that day. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;4&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we pray for all the sick and the needy today, that&#39;s in the Divine Presence here, and in the presence of Your sanctuaries everywhere around the world, that the great Jehovah will come in His power and heal all the sick and afflicted. Get glory unto Thy great Name. Bless every secret in the hearts this morning, of those requests for prayer. We pray now, as You look down into every heart and see what they had reference to as they raised their hands, and give to them their desire. And bless us as we further worship You, and when we leave the building this morning and we go to our homes, may we be able to say like those who came from Emmaus, &quot;Did not our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us along the way?&quot; We ask it in Jesus&#39; Name. Amen. (Can be seated.) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;5&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I would like to say that it&#39;s good this morning to be here again in the congregation of the people in the Presence of the Lord. It&#39;s been a few months since I was back. And last Sunday I intended to come down, but I--I suppose it wasn&#39;t the will of the Lord. Somehow I--the valley here is very unhealthy for me. Soon as I come into the valley... I&#39;m allergic to this air that&#39;s in here. And I break out in hives all over, and I think the hives went right straight into the stomach. And I was so sick, I--shivering, and shaking, and chills, and I just couldn&#39;t come down, although, I got up and tried to force myself to do so. And I&#39;m... I know that I--I&#39;ve... The valley is very unhealthy and it&#39;s unhealthy and--and I&#39;m not supposed to live in it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we want to report, we have had a great time in the services of the Lord, out across the different parts of the country where the Lord has called us to minister. And now, I wasn&#39;t expecting to speak this morning on any certain thing, if Brother Neville so wanted me to--to say something of being here with the people. So I... He&#39;s always gracious in that way, as we all know Brother Neville. And we love Brother Neville. Now, there isn&#39;t a day that I don&#39;t think about him, he and his wife, and family, and his children, and pray for them. God give him strength to go on, carry on. As we know, our time is running out. We&#39;re just so close of--of tomorrow, that the Evening Light&#39;s of the day... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I... Our family&#39;s out in the west. We all got along fine. And I gained twelve pounds and lost ten of it since I been back. And Billy Paul gained eighteen pounds. And Rebekah, and Sarah, and Joseph all gained. Of course, my wife didn&#39;t gain. So--so... I&#39;d be daresn&#39;t to say that up here, you know, &#39;cause I have to go home after while...?... See? So I... But we had a--a wonderful, wonderful time and so grateful. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; We... Kinda bad, I thought, to come back, but there&#39;s one great thing--two things mainly that we missed, that there&#39;s no other place can take its place: one thing, our friends here, and the church. No matter where we go, we find friends. And we&#39;re grateful for our friends. But there&#39;s something about those friends who stuck with you through the thick and thin, that there&#39;s no way to substitute them friends. No matter what any other friend could be, there&#39;s no way to substitute a friend like that. You&#39;re just squeezed into them; you&#39;re one. And we, together, looking for the coming of the Lord as the days go on... And it&#39;s kinda hard to try to think that you could... You cannot be separated. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;9&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; It comes to my mind of a Scripture that I believe Paul wrote, and said in the Corinthians, that &quot;There&#39;s nothing present, nothing future, and no powers, neither nakedness, starvation, peril, or any creature present, neither life, nor death can separate us from the love of God that&#39;s in Jesus Christ.&quot; How that even death itself will never separate us because we have been joined together in heart in this great fellowship around the Word of God. And even death itself, will not separate us. We&#39;ll be united in the great eternal for all times and ages. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then the children, of a morning... We would go to church, of course, but everywhere you go there&#39;s not a... It isn&#39;t the little Tabernacle on the corner. And there&#39;s something about it. I--I miss hearing that little old bell and the--I--dinging up there on top of a morning. And I think it isn&#39;t ringing at the time because they haven&#39;t put the steeple on just yet for the bell.&lt;br /&gt;And then, together, here at Eighth and Penn Street, where some thirty-five years ago, kneeling here in an old swamp to build my first church... How the Lord Jesus dealt with me on that. And today it stands as a little shrine here, and as a brick and mortar it stands as a shrine. But down in the inside of my heart, it&#39;s a shrine that&#39;ll last as long as I have memories. And it&#39;s a...&lt;br /&gt;And what makes a church, it&#39;s not the building. It&#39;s the people who gather beneath it to worship God. We&#39;re grateful for these things. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;13&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, I thought maybe, being that our time was up, almost, and we don&#39;t have much time left, I would just kinda brief you on some things that&#39;s happened. And then, I&#39;m going to make some tapes while I&#39;m here. Because I promised you all (See?) that any new message (taped message) would first be from this platform. Here&#39;s where all the tapes are made, not out there. Now, Brother Jim and them goes along and sells tapes in the meeting and so forth. But there&#39;s... It&#39;s always on something that come forth from here first. See? You&#39;ll check anywhere back, you&#39;ll find it. That&#39;s my promise to you, and it will continue that way until the Lord God changes it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;14&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I think now that our tape customers, which around the world... A message that goes forth from here, circles the globe. See? Out into the jungles and everywhere, it goes by tape recordings. And to the heathens and so forth, by many, many different languages it&#39;s interpreted in. So I want, while I&#39;m here, the Lord willing, to make some new tapes. And maybe, if the pastor hasn&#39;t got something burning for his heart tonight, well, I&#39;d like to maybe make a tape tonight. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then I&#39;m going to Arkansas tomorrow and--or Tuesday rather, Tuesday morning, to help out in a little convention there with the International Brotherhood of Christians. I think... Or maybe I mispronounced that. It&#39;s something about National Brotherhood of Christian... I really don&#39;t know. I&#39;m sorry. That&#39;s awful, isn&#39;t it? (Thank you, sir.) Associated Brotherhood of Christians. And I was supposed to have through--from Sunday, now, on through. But I held today for the Tabernacle, to be down here. And then I&#39;m--then I&#39;ll get out on Friday... (Is that the... sir? Is...) Friday is when the--the meetings close down there. And I&#39;ll try to get back Saturday night to be here Sunday morning, the Lord willing on make another tape. And maybe sometimes along down I want to make a few tapes before we go. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;16&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then I&#39;m really pressing for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for that convention. And then--and then come back. And then I&#39;m supposed to go, by all means, to Anchorage. See? And--and from Fairbanks and Anchorage, for the Christian Full Gospel Business Men on those chapters, and then back, and if the Lord willing, up to Chicago at the last week in July.&lt;br /&gt;And I suppose then, about that time, I&#39;ll have to hurry the children off to Arizona again to be in--to get them in school out there. Because Charlie, I have to be here about the 15th of August. So I--I want to be back by that time, the--the Lord willing, down in Kentucky. Everybody laughing, maybe some of the newcomers wouldn&#39;t know what that meant. And just kinda hope it don&#39;t sound bad from the platform, but that&#39;s when squirrel season comes in. So, Mama Cox, I&#39;m depending on that. You see? So... For a couple weeks, down there for my vacation... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;18&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, I believe the... I got something here that Billy wrote me some little notes. And one of them said, &quot;Daddy, Brother Neville wants to know if you could dedicate two children.&quot; Certainly. Just be fine. And yes, we have a--the dedicational service that the... We might as well have that now. And then, I think, we&#39;ll kinda take the next forty-five minutes or something, on briefing, on some of the things that&#39;s taken place.&lt;br /&gt;Now, many of the people and churches, being that when I... This is a open tabernacle. It&#39;s never been a denomination, and God grant that it won&#39;t never. Because we want this a place where we have no--no law but love, no creed but Christ, and no textbook but the Bible. And then, we do not have membership; we have fellowship, one with another, for all people, all denominations. Everybody&#39;s welcome and we have--and we have fellowship around the Word of God, where everybody can feel welcome as they can be. In principle, we just love the Lord Jesus. And--and we&#39;re not a--a scholarly group here. We&#39;re just plain people that try to just read the Bible and put no interpretation to It outside of what It just says. Just... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;20&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I believe that God will judge the world someday by the Bible. Now, if they are... He&#39;s going to judge the world. And if there isn&#39;t a standard to judge them by, how will the people know what to do? See? It would be God... You could not pin unjustice to--to God. And God&#39;s got to have something for His standard that He judges the people by. Therefore, if He judges it by the Roman Catholic church, then the Greek church (the Orthodox Catholic) and many of those are certainly lost, and all the rest of the world. If He judges it by the Greek Orthodox Catholic church, and not by the Roman church, then the other... Then the Roman church and all the rest is lost. If He judges it by the Lutheran church, then the Presbyterians is gone. If He judged it by the Presbyterians, the Lutherans and Baptists is gone. See? So if He judges it by the Pentecostal, then all besides Pentecostals is gone. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;21&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But He&#39;ll not judge it by any church, to my opinion, because there&#39;s too much differences and too much confusion. But He&#39;ll judge it... The Bible says He&#39;ll judge the world by Jesus Christ. Now, that&#39;s Scriptural. Now... And the Bible said that &quot;In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us, the same yesterday, today, and forever.&quot; So He is the Word. And this is Christ in letter form. And in the Book of Apocalypse to the Catholics, Revelation to the Protestant... In the 22nd chapter when this Book was finished, Jesus said Himself, &quot;If any man will take one Word from this Book or add one word to It, the same... His part will be taken from the Book of Life.&quot; So I... The reason we believe this is... Say just exactly... Nothing... He can do things that He hasn&#39;t written here; we know that. But as long as we just stay with what He has wrote, that&#39;ll be fine. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;22&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, in dedication of children, many of the people, the--the Methodists sprinkle them. And--and I think they have their first communion in the Catholic church or Lutheran along about twelve years old, and kind of a--a baptismal service when they&#39;re born, as I think the babies are sprinkled. And--and I think that split the Nazarene from the Methodist many years ago, in infant baptism. I think that&#39;s right, Brother Brown. I--I--I believe that that was what split the Methodist church and the Nazarene, &#39;cause the Nazarene didn&#39;t accept infant baptism. But to us, here at the Tabernacle, if we are going to stay with what the Bible says... There&#39;s no place in the Bible where they ever did sprinkle anybody, let alone a baby, and not even an adult. But they... The Bible says, the only place of our Bible for the children, they brought infants to Jesus. And He... That He might put His hands upon them and bless them. And He said, &quot;Suffer the little children to come to Me and forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of heaven.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;23&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, therefore, we know that we are poor hands, the pastor and I, or any other pastor, to take the hands of the Lord Jesus. And if He was here this morning, these parent would bring that baby to Christ. But being that we are here in representation of Him, that we represent Him, they bring the children to us. And we dedicate them to the Lord by laying our hands upon them in commemoration of His great Word and His act. So that&#39;s how we dedicate the little ones.&lt;br /&gt;I thought maybe some mother might be here with her baby, that never been dedicated to the Lord, that she might want to come along with these mothers or fathers who&#39;ll be dedicating the children. We just bring them up here and present them to God, and pray over them, and tell the Lord that we lay our hands upon them, and in a substitute way for His. And that&#39;s as close to the Scripture as I&#39;ve ever found yet. Now, you might get your textbook out and find something that some group of men said, but I mean what the Word said. You see? And I think I&#39;ve made it real, real clear what it is. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, if the pianist (Are you the pianist, brother?) will come up here. Isn&#39;t that awful, in my own church, ask, &quot;Who&#39;s the pianist?&quot; (I almost had to knock at the door.) All right. They sing this little song or play it:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Bring them in, bring them in,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Bring the little ones to Jesus.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; And while the congregation sings this, let&#39;s stand to our feet. And let the mothers and fathers that&#39;s bringing their little ones come now and stand. All right:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Bring them in, bring them in,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Bring the little ones to Jesus.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, pastor would... Now, we have a little--little fellow here that&#39;s a sleeping, and sometimes they &quot;Amen&quot; a little loud. So we understand that; they&#39;re babies. What is your name, sir? William Henry Vincent. And your little girl? Christina Maria Vincent. What a lovely little fellow, laying on the--the shoulder of her father. May I have her? Christina, I can&#39;t substitute for your father here. Let us... Will you lay your hands upon the baby? Let us bow our heads.&lt;br /&gt;Our heavenly Father, we are approaching Thy throne to--today, up beyond, our faith lifts us beyond the moon, stars, beyond the solar system, into the Presence of the Almighty. We bring this lovely little child. We know not what we hold in our arms, Lord. It might be a great servant to You in the days to come. We trust that it&#39;s so. But the father of the child has brought the little one to us, that we might lay our hands upon it, that we have confessed to be Your servants, to act in Your place until You return, and then You take over all things. Until then, Lord, we&#39;re to serve You with trueness and sincerity. And with our hands laid upon this little girl, we bless her in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And trust that You&#39;ll give her a long life if Jesus tarries, and may she become a great servant to You. Bless the home that she&#39;ll be raised in. May she be brought up in the admonition of God, and serve Him all the days of her life. Bless her parents, and may they live to see this child an honorable vessel unto the Lord because of their act today. In Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;God bless you. God bless you, sir. Her name is? This is sister to that one: Teresa, I just don&#39;t whether we&#39;re going to be able to hold Teresa or not; I don&#39;t think so; she knows a little more. Well, let us bow our heads.&lt;br /&gt;Our heavenly Father, as we lay our hands upon the sister of this little one just dedicated to You, the parents want the little one dedicated also. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ rest upon this child now and give her a long life, a blessed of service to You, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. God bless you now, bless you all; you&#39;re a mighty fortunate parents when you have those two lovely little fellows. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25b&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; His name? Joel William Cartwright. And he&#39;s a taking his siesta this morning, I see. (All right. Now, if you&#39;d--you all--both of you can go to your seat if you will and then let just Joseph come up here. All right, now you can hold him if you wish to.)...?... Our heavenly Father, we bring to You this little Joseph William Cartwright. The father stands this morning to give back to You that which You&#39;ve given to him in a life of service. God, bless the little one and may he live a long life, healthy, strong, and become a great servant to You. Bless his father and mother, and the home that he&#39;ll be raised in. May Christ be that unseen Guest at all times. And we give this little boy to You for a life of service, in Jesus Christ&#39;s Name. Amen. Bless you, Brother and Sister Cartwright. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25c&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Little girl? Its name? Sylvia Shippy. Our heavenly Father, we&#39;re laying our hands upon this little girl as the--this loved one brings her here this morning, standing at the altar, may the blessings that would come upon her if the Lord Jesus laid His own nail scarred hands upon this child. May Thy blessings rest upon the little one. Bless her now, and may she live a long happy life and be a servant to You. And bless her home, her parents, her loved ones, in the Name of Jesus Christ, we do this act according to the Bible. Amen. Blessed be...?... Bless you...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25d&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Is he going to be a singer. What&#39;s the name? Laura Ellen Myer. I said he&#39;s going to be a singing. It reminds me... I hope this doesn&#39;t sound bad at the church, but one day I was talking to an Indian, had a little baby, standing there, and I said to him, &quot;He&#39;s a nice fellow. And He&#39;s a nice fellow.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And the chief watched me a few minutes; then he looked down and said, &quot;But him a her.&quot; I guess that&#39;s about the way it is here.&lt;br /&gt;What&#39;s the name? Laura Ellen. Allen and your last name? Myers, Laura Ellen Myers. She&#39;s a beautiful little thing.&lt;br /&gt;Our heavenly Father, as we lay our hands upon this little child... And in the Bible they said they brought little infants to You and You laid Your hands upon them and blessed them; and that&#39;s the act that we perform in commeration of Your great act on earth. Bless this child, its parents; may the home be a constant place of prayer, faith. And may the little girl live a long happy life, and be Your servant all those days, and may the family never be--wheel broken in glory. May every member be assembled around the great throne of God at that day and go to live forever. Until then, Lord, may Your eternal blessings rest upon the child whom we bless in Jesus&#39; Name. Amen. Bless you, my brother.&lt;br /&gt;This little... Her little sister Rebeccah. Heavenly Father, we lay our hands upon little Rebeccah and bless her also in the Name of the Lord Jesus, just as though she was going to water to the pool, and I trust, Lord, that the day will come when she becomes the age of accountability that she will make her stand and walk right down to the pool there and be baptized for the remission of her sins, in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Grant it, Father. Now, bless her with little sister. May she live a long happy life in service to You. Amen. Bless you. The Lord bless you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25e&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; ...?... name? Little Jackelyn Cunnard, another pretty little girl. Now, heavenly Father, we lay our hands upon the little girl in commeration of the great Lord Jesus Who laid His hands upon them as He blessed them, and may blessings come upon the child as though Your own hands was upon it today. If You were here on earth in a physical body, the mother would bring the child to You, but as we as Your representatives she comes to us secondly then, Father, and we ask that You will bless the child who we bless, in the Name Jesus Christ. May it live a long happy life and be Your servant. Bless its home that it&#39;ll raised in, may it be a constant house of prayer, in Jesus&#39; Name. Amen...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;25f&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You have two of them, don&#39;t you? All right. Now, this little boy is? James David Hume. I thought I knew you, Sister Hume; you&#39;re a missionary, you and your husband. Is your hubby with you this morning? Well, the Lord bless brother Hume. Well, you sure have some fine nice little children. This is David, and this is...&lt;br /&gt;I was just speaking with a sister from Florida in the study this morning. This little boy, when he was from...?... They&#39;re from Florida, when we was there. The little boy, just a lad, little bitty tiny fellow went into the...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;26a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Years ago, standing in the school door up here at--on the Utica Pike, did I ever know that that little boy, wee, bashful, looking across from each other, that someday I&#39;d lay my hand upon his grandchild and dedicate it to the Lord God. Receive little John, this morning, Lord, as a servant to You. The mother and father gallantly bring him to give back to God what&#39;s been given to their care. And may they live a strong life of health and strength, and determination in Christ. Now, we give You this little boy, in the Name of Jesus Christ, as a life of service. May he live long and serve You. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Is the little girl dedicated? What&#39;s her name? Carla. Likewise, upon little Carla, we lay our hands this morning, and dedicate her to the service of Jesus Christ. God bless her. May she live a long, happy life. May she be a servant to You all the days of this life. Grant it, Lord. Bless her home. Let it always be a place of prayer and faith. We give You this lovely little girl, this morning from the heart of the father and mother, who stand on this little altar. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;26b&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; The little boy, let me take his hand. Our heavenly father, the father of these little ones, holds now in his arms the last little treasure that You give him in the form of a child, who named him from his father&#39;s name. God grant that he will be man of wisdom like James and in the Bible. I pray that You&#39;ll give him a long healthy life, Lord, and may he raise up, and if there is a tomorrow, to let him pack the Word of God. Grant it, Father.&lt;br /&gt;In commemoration of what Jesus Christ our Lord did when He was on earth, I lay my hands upon little James Poole and dedicate him to the service of God. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s his name...?... A little boy...?... What say? Gary Dean...?... Lord God, upon the head of this little boy, Gary Dean Adams, may the blessings of Jesus Christ rest. As we lay our hands upon him, as we dedicate this young life to You. Bless his home, his parents. May he live a long happy life of service to our God and his God, Who we give him to now, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Bless you, brother. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;27&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, I think that just about--about does this now. Now, we&#39;re just exactly on time at eleven o&#39;clock. Now, you know, I can just imagine seeing those mothers coming along, and daddies with those babies... I could think of Joseph and Mary the morning of the dedication of the Lord Jesus.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Kidd, I was having a little interview with someone in the office, but I--I heard your emotion this morning out here--of a--of a man of your age... And I suppose you were telling of how the Lord healed you out--the audience. And I almost tore my car up one morning to get to the elderly... He&#39;s an old minister. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;29&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Just think. This man was (his little wife here)--was preaching the Gospel before I was born, preaching this Gospel, up over the mountains and valleys of Kentucky and Tennessee, where coal miners... And being run out and they live without anything to eat. And this little wife here wash on a washboard for about twenty or thirty cents a day to send her husband into the field to preach the Gospel. That&#39;s enough to make a person excited, ain&#39;t it?&lt;br /&gt;And then to think, that there he laid when the very best of doctors said, &quot;He&#39;s dying. It&#39;s prostate cancer all through him. He can&#39;t live but just a number of hours, and mainly a day or two.&quot; And that&#39;s been two or three years ago. Three years ago, and here he is this morning, healthy, well, giving God glory. Then how old were you when you were healed, Brother Kidd? About what was the age when God... How old are you... Is he now? Eighty. All right, he was about eighty years old when God healed him. Now, does God care for us old people? Sure He does. Yes, sir. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;31&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; He healed Abraham when he was a hundred years old; and Sarah when she was ninety. And they brought forth Ishmael--or, beg your pardon, Isaac. Is that right? We&#39;re very happy for this..&lt;br /&gt;Now, you&#39;re so nice, I could talk to you all morning just like this. But let&#39;s just read some of the precious Word and then go right into the service. Now, I think, if it be the will of God, I would like to kinda brief you on things that&#39;s happened. And then tonight, if the Lord willing, I want to speak on a--a subject... I want to tape it mainly to go out. Is a... And if you want to come listen, all right. After the pastor gets through, his message then I&#39;ll have my... I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll make this tape. I want to preach it on &quot;The Flashing Red Light of His Coming,&quot; how one of the flashes is right on us right now. And I want to speak on that tonight: &quot;The Flashing Red Light of His...&quot; He&#39;s here, being right on the hand, right now. The--the signal&#39;s down. The train&#39;s in the block. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;33&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Numbers, 16th chapter, to you who will turn and read. This is the eternal Word so let&#39;s read reverently. I want to read two verses of Numbers 16, the 3rd and 4th verse, to get a little background on what I wish to say.&lt;br /&gt;And now, if the tapes are not on, I wish they would turn them on now. Or fix it so that this part here will be able to be sent out. This is going out if you want to... Can you fix your tapes in there to where this part here, will be separate from the rest of the service? You see, this is a--a new thing. Now, you can block it right here or whatever you do. Well then, we&#39;ll... Would you like for me to snap it off just a second and turn it back on, so it&#39;d give you a block to know where to start from? Or can you start there anyhow? Start anyhow. All right, that&#39;s fine. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;35&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, we&#39;re going to read Numbers 16: 3 and 4.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregations are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;scripture&quot;&gt;And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Our heavenly Father, bless these few Words. And may the meditation of our heart and the fruits of our lips be acceptable in Thy sight. In Jesus&#39; Name we pray. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;I want to--to take this as a text, for what I wish to say this morning: &quot;Standing In The Gap.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;38&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Of this time that we&#39;re speaking of or reading... Of course, we all understand that it was when Dathan and--and--and Korah had decided that--that they would interfere with the--the commission that God had give to Moses, saying, &quot;You ought to let the whole congregation do such-and-such. They&#39;re all holy.&quot; And God had commanded Moses to lead the people to the promised land. And they said, &quot;You take it upon yourself to do too much. You that try to make yourself the only one in the bunch that--that&#39;s got any say-so.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And this displeased God so much until He told Moses, &quot;Separate yourself from among them. I--I&#39;ll just--I&#39;ll just kill the whole bunch and start a new generation with you.&quot; And Moses fell in the Presence of God and said He&#39;d have to come over him. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;40&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, today, if God was going to liquidate the people... And there was a time that when God had gotten tired of fooling with our sin (we constantly going wrong)... Who would stand like Moses today for the people? Where would we find a person that would stand, or could stand, that God would accept like He did Moses? And Moses&#39; own life on earth meant so much to God till it stayed the wrath of God. And God would not cross over Moses. That always was a puzzle to me till I... One day in revelation of the Scripture there came this thought to me, that... You see, Moses in act was every way substituting. He was a type of Jesus Christ. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;41&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And when God was going to take the life of the whole world and destroy it, and all the sinners, and condemned to die, Christ died for us all. And God could not cross over Christ, being His own Son. And then Jesus gave Himself freely, that He might pay the way then if... Moses couldn&#39;t have done that. Moses had no blood but human blood like we are. So therefore, his blood would not be... It would not suffice. But Jesus being the Blood of God Himself, the creative Blood of God... God just excused the entire human race then of sin, because it was all laid upon Him. And He went to Calvary and died out of the Presence of God, and suffered, and was cast into hell because that He was sin made--our sins upon Him. And there being our--our burden Bearer, took our sins to--to Calvary, and from Calvary to hell, and God raised Him up on the third day for a propitiation of our sins. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;42&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And today He&#39;s the only Mediator between God and man, and we&#39;re freely pardoned and forgiven. God don&#39;t even know we ever sinned. Our sins were put in the sea of forgetfulness never to be remembered no more. We cannot do that ourself; we&#39;re finite. He&#39;s infinite. And our finite... We can still remember because we&#39;re not big enough; but He&#39;s so great, that He even forgets we ever did sin. We are sons and daughters in His Presence. And all things that He was, we are. He become my sin, that I might become His righteousness. He become your sin that you&#39;re--He--you might become His righteousness. So God cannot see no sin in you as long as your confession is in Christ Jesus. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;43&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Someone said, sometime ago, said, &quot;If I believed a thing like that, would I ever turn on the steam. I&#39;d paint the town red. I&#39;d go to every dance hall. I&#39;d get so drunk, and everything, because...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Why?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;You&#39;re already secured in Christ. What difference does it make?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;That shows you haven&#39;t got it.&quot; If the love of God ever struck your heart in the tenderness of Jesus Christ, you&#39;d be so in love with Him the world would be dead as your sin. That&#39;s how you know you have the Holy Spirit. Not because that you could scream, shout, speak with tongues, or whatever it is, but when sin becomes dead and you&#39;re alive in Jesus Christ. Oh, love of God, how rich, how pure. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;45&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, here in Louisville, Kentucky, not long ago, a minister was talking to--that there was a young lady. She&#39;d waited a little long in life to be married, somewhere around her twenty-five, thirty years old. And she was a fine, staunch Christian girl. And there was a certain man in Louisville that wasn&#39;t... He hadn&#39;t lived such a good life. He&#39;d run with dances, and roadhouses, and so forth, but one day he found pardon for his sin and he--he become a real Christian, real staunch Christian. About a year later he fell in love with this young lady, and the young lady madly fell in love with him. And they were married. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;46&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; After they lived together about two years, they said that this young lady said to her husband one day... She said, &quot;Dear, I suppose that&#39;s kind of hard for you just a new Christian.&quot; I&#39;ve been a Christian since a little girl.&quot; But said, &quot;For you, to--a young Christian, to have to stand all the--the--the wiles and temptations that goes with it after you&#39;ve--you&#39;ve sinned so long.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And he said, &quot;Well, it does become a battle.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;She said, &quot;I want you to remember one thing, that if the enemy does upset you somewhere, and you fall and you go back into sin, don&#39;t stay away from home. I want you come on home.&quot; Said, &quot;You&#39;re going to find at home the same wife that you married.&quot; And said, &quot;I&#39;ll help you to pray back, and pray through, and get back to God again.&quot; Said, &quot;I--I--I--I--I don&#39;t want you to stay away.&quot; Said, &quot;Look, I married you upon the basis not of what you were, but I married you because I loved you.&quot; And she said, &quot;No matter what you do, I still love you. I married you because I love you.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;48&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And the man that day went to work, was heard repeating it in a--the place where he was working. He said, &quot;Now, how could a man do anything wrong against something like that?&quot; When a woman, that loves him so much that no matter what he did, was willing to come back and take him again, and try it again... See? It shows... Now, you multiply that by billions and then you have some idea of what the love of God is.&lt;br /&gt;That when a man falls in love with Jesus Christ, the things of the world... When you think of what He did for you in the light of the Scripture, not in the light of some emotion, but in the light of facts, what it is, then there&#39;s something happens to you when the new birth comes, to sin is dead as midnight. When the... Long as that Light is in you, how can darkness shine? It cannot do it. And that&#39;s what God did to one man who throwed hisself in the gap, that could take the promise. And Moses being a--a type of this Antetype, that&#39;s why Moses stood in the gap for the people. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;50&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then I wonder, in this day, of this loose, lazy, soft, Laodicea Age that we live in. We all know, and been through the church ages, that we&#39;re living in the last age, the Laodicea Church Age. And this lazy, loose, happy-go-lucky, joking, sinful age of lust that we&#39;re living in now, it&#39;s a wonder that God doesn&#39;t just say, &quot;Step back, Church, I&#39;ll just a-liquidate the whole group.&quot; See? What a age that we&#39;re living in. And He will do that one of these days too. We know that it&#39;s coming, and there isn&#39;t going to be no sparing to this, because He&#39;s already... Someone died for those who wanted to escape. But He&#39;ll take those who was, or has accepted Christ and become Christians. They&#39;ll be taken out of the wrath, &#39;cause then He could not do it. There was no way of doing it in the time of Moses. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;51&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, in the Book of the Revelation, when we get to the Laodicea Church Age... In the Revelation the 3rd chapter, the Bible said that this age, the Laodicean Age, was blind. Said, &quot;Because you are rich, you say you&#39;re rich, and you&#39;re increased in goods...&quot; (greatest churches, the finest dressed people, the--the greatest that there&#39;s been in any age). &quot;Because you say, &#39;I have need of nothing.&#39; Knowest thou not, that thou art poor, miserable, wretched, naked, blind, and don&#39;t know it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, if a man was in this condition, and you could tell him his condition, he&#39;d try to help himself if--if he&#39;s mentally right. But when he&#39;s in that condition and you can&#39;t tell him any different... He just don&#39;t believe that he&#39;s naked. He doesn&#39;t believe that he&#39;s in that shape, then it shows here that he&#39;s blind. The god of this world has blinded the eyes of those that refuse to serve Christ, and they... So blind they can&#39;t see the sign that we&#39;re living in, the hour, the time that we are living in. And remember, there&#39;s already been one stand in the gap and no one else can stand. You have to accept that--that remedy or you&#39;re doomed. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;53&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, now, to us, to get close now to what I want to say. Could we stand... (Now, I&#39;m preaching to myself in this.) Could we stand and see a human being that&#39;s blind, physically blind, and know that he&#39;s walking over a cliff... Could we in our--our sta--state of mind, that we&#39;re in this morning, could we stand and see a blind man walk over a cliff, blind, and not try to warn him? It would be... There would be so cruel. We would be so indifferent in our heart. Could you imagine, a person getting so indifferent that he could almost laugh and see a blind man (that cannot see and can&#39;t help hisself) deliberately walk over a cliff? That would be a--a bad thing... do nothing about it... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;54&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Well, to my brethren, world over, I want to make this confession. I--I humbly say it, that that&#39;s just about what I was doing or fixing to do. I had been preaching for years, and I--I had become an old man and an old veteran preacher. I had a lot of hard battles and I&#39;m... May... I&#39;m scarred, all cut up on the inside from fights. Because my lot, that the Lord gave me, was not back to kiss the babies, and--and to marry the young, and bury the old. But it was to hold a two-handed Sword at the battle front against the wiles of--of paganism, and demonology, and--and the powers of darkness, and fight it with the Word of God till I seen the enemy defeated. I&#39;ve been cut deep many times. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;55&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then when I come with the Message in this day and have said to the church the things that I am about to say... And I predicted years ago when the Holy Spirit called me to this work. And there isn&#39;t a person living on earth today, that could ever say that the Lord ever let me tell you anything in His Name, but what it come to pass just exactly the way it was to be done.&lt;br /&gt;How that He sent me out first, and the first gift, and the second gift... And the things that&#39;s been said or done the world over, and literally millions have come to Christ. And tens of thousands of preachers inspired, that started a revival that&#39;d sweep the entire face of the earth today. And being that the Pentecostals was the one received my Message, they&#39;s the one that&#39;s gained ground. The Pentecostal church shows more conversions than the... Little group of Pentecostals, than all the rest of the churches put together. That&#39;s statistics. Why? Because of them receiving truth and receiving a revival. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;57&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, after the great time come of the healing of the sick, the casting out of devils, and the raising up of the dead; which we&#39;re all witnesses, and so is many doctors, and great man of the earth... And the appearing of the Lord Jesus among us that--in the sign, there that you see, I guess, on the wall or wherever it is, of the Angel of the Lord, and how the scientists has copyrighted it; and it&#39;s--it&#39;s a known fact, the world over. And see the very things that He did come to pass every time. Then if the Pillar of Fire that went with Israel across the wilderness in the days of Moses, that we... Or now that Moses was called, &quot;The servant of the Lord,&quot; and he followed a Pillar of Fire by night and a Cloud by day... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;58&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And when Jesus was on earth, He said that He was that God. He said, &quot;Before Abraham was, I AM.&quot; And I AM was the Pillar of Fire that was in the burning bush that spoke to Moses in the--the days gone by. I think that&#39;s correct, Brother Vayle. Then He said, &quot;I come from God and I go to God.&quot; And when He was crucified, died, and rose, and ascended on high, and laid His body down upon the great altar of the eternal God, to there, ever be present, to act in our place, to know that He had paid our sin debt. And there He returned back to the earth again in the form of a great Pillar of Fire. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;59&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Saint Paul, on his road... Before he was called Saint Paul, he was called Saul of Tarsus. And on his road down to Damascus, to arrest some people who were making too much noise, and shouting, and preaching a Gospel that was contrary to their tradition of their churches... On his road down one day, about this time in the day, he was stricken down by a great Light. And this great Light, to Him being a Jew, and know that the Pillar of Fire had led the children of Israel, and here It was before him again, he cried out, &quot;Lord.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, if you notice in your translations on both King James, and your Standard and all, it&#39;s capital L-O-R-D. And anyone here knows their Bible, knows that when that&#39;s capital L-O-R-D is Elohim, the all-sufficient One that created the heavens and earth, in Genesis 1:1: LORD. Now, Paul would&#39;ve not called some optical illusion... He wouldn&#39;t have called some something that he didn&#39;t know about, because he was a trained man in the Scriptures: come up under Gamaliel, the great teacher of that day. And he would not have called that LORD, if he wasn&#39;t satisfied that That was Jehovah. He said, &quot;Lord, Who are You?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Listen at the Voice come back, &quot;I am Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;61&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So I think, in the midst of all of it, before going any farther, both here and across the world... The people who&#39;ll be listening, and listening now, will know that it is proven by every act to be Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Done the very same things that He did: healed the sick, knowed the thoughts of the mind for--showed forth things that would come to pass; and every time perfectly through these years. I&#39;m fifty-four years old, and saw visions since I was about eighteen months old, and not one time... But every time it&#39;s been the truth. See? Now, that has to be God. And then, me thinking that, &quot;Why are the people so blind that they can&#39;t see that?&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;63&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And constantly when I talk to our--our women about bobbing their hair, and the ministers bawling me out about it; and about them wearing immoral clothes, these shorts and--and--and laying out like that, and--and carrying-on of that evil way; and about our men the way they were doing, smoking, and taking sociable drinks and--and everything; and then still calling themselves Christians, and taking Communion at the table because that they belonged to an organization. Oh, it was just simply... They thought I&#39;d blasphemed God. And did the women get better? They got worse, across the nation.&lt;br /&gt;Then I, being a nervous (I say this kinda quietly), and maybe a neurotically type of person that I am... And knowing that I was insufficient at the beginning for the job, as many has complained, that had it to do. It was hard. But I--I thought, &quot;God, why didn&#39;t You call somebody that could&#39;ve done it. And I--I&#39;m sorry, but I--I failed. The people just won&#39;t listen to me. And I failed to do what I should&#39;ve done, somewhere, because they won&#39;t listen.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;65&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; My mother that&#39;s just passed on into glory (about--about a little over a year ago)... My mother... Her father was a--a hunter. And I--I think I got all that come out from him in that stand, &#39;cause I--I--I--I love the woods. And I thought, &quot;If this people that call themselves Christians, if they don&#39;t want to listen to the Message that I&#39;m preaching, then let them alone. I&#39;ll just stop it altogether, and I&#39;ll go up into the mountains. And I know a friend to where...&quot; Many of you, here, remember me predicting the time, about six months before it happened, how that I would go to a place (right from this platform here); and there would be a--a animal that look like a deer with pointed horns, and how they&#39;d be forty-two inches, and how there&#39;d be a seven-foot silver-tip grizzly. You got it on tapes and everything. I guess that&#39;s... You remember the time; all of you. Well, it&#39;s laying in my room up there now to--to show that it&#39;s the truth. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;66&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, just on things like that because it&#39;s just before the going of my mother, and He was wanting to quiet me for that great shock, that He knew He was to take her.&lt;br /&gt;Now, I met a man was a Christian, and he&#39;s got a great country right under Alaska. And I had made up in my mind, that being that I&#39;d left here and gone west, that I would take my wife and kinda trap her into something. I&#39;d get her up there, and I&#39;d become a guide. And then, if the Lord wanted me to do something... I&#39;d let my hair grow out and--and I--I&#39;d--my whiskers. And--and I&#39;d go back in there and be a guide. There&#39;s only about two or three Indians live back in the country there, and I--I&#39;d just be a guide and then I&#39;d help Bud. And if the Lord wanted me to do anything, then I&#39;d--I&#39;d say, &quot;All right, Lord.&quot; He&#39;d give me a vision, I&#39;d slip on out. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;68&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I said the people... I&#39;ve never regarded myself... Anybody knowing this... But people have said, &quot;Brother Branham, the Lord called you to be His prophet.&quot; Well, I--I&#39;ve never regarded myself as that, but I begin to get to the time that I was about ready to do it: to think, &quot;Well, maybe I am. If I am, I&#39;ll live back in the wilderness. And if I live back in the wilderness, then I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll be His prophet.&quot; See? And then if He wants to send me somewhere... And while He&#39;s not using me, then I&#39;ll sure to catch some fine fish and--and do some things.&quot; &#39;Course that was kind of a selfish attitude (See?), because I wanted to do that. Now, it isn&#39;t just exactly the thing that--to do. And now, I had that made up in my mind to do that.&lt;br /&gt;And now, just before the Seven Church Ages was preached, as they&#39;re drawed there... There&#39;s many today that was here during that time and know that how the Lord did bless that, on the wall back there reflecting it, just to... How many&#39;s here now, that was there then, when He--He came? That did it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;70&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then I remember then of a Brother Jackson. He&#39;s usually with us, Brother Junior Jackson, the Methodist--was a Methodist minister. Yeah, here he is setting over here now. Now, that he come to me with a dream and then some more brethren come with similar dream. Now, the Lord&#39;s been real good to me, and I have never (And take you to record this morning.) have I ever told you a wrong interpretation of a dream. No, sir. Because that the Lord... I will not speak it till I see it over again and know what it--He says about it, then I&#39;ll tell you. And then, he said, &quot;I...&quot; I was having a service down to his church, and he... Somehow or another he was real nervous that night. And he ran out of the church and come around the other way and met me in the car, and the people passing by. Said, &quot;I want to tell you something.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;71&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And he told me that he dreamed a dream, that up here somewhere like in Indiana, that there was a long, great grassy hill and a--the water had washed all the soil off the top. And it become rock like a--a bald top on the--on the mountain. And then in this rock there was funny writing. And said I was standing there with all the brethren around the church here, interpreting this writing. And then when it come to the time that I got all of it interpreted, then that I somehow or another, if I understand the dream right, got a-hold of something like a crowbar or--or some kind of angle bar or something (Or--or not a angle bar, I meant a--a pry bar or something.) and just cut the top of that mountain out and lifted it up. And on the inside of it was white rock, something on the order of granite or--or something on that side, some white rock that wasn&#39;t written on. And I said to the brethren, &quot;Stay here and look in on this, and I...&quot; While they were all looking, I slipped out from among them and started going west. And Brother Jackson said that he saw me going over one hill, and then another hill, getting smaller and smaller going west. You remember that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;72&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Well, the interpretation of that, of course, was given here at the church before it come to pass... That the--the time is now, that I believe that the full revelation through the age of Luther, Wesley, and John Smith, Alexander Campbell, and different ones that preached on the Bible... And then we got over in the Bible and showed that there would be a--a seventh angel&#39;s Message. And at the sounding of the seventh angel&#39;s Message, all the mysteries of God would be made known. Then come seven mysterious thunders.&lt;br /&gt;And now, if it is that end age that we&#39;re living in, where we&#39;ve come up through justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit; and had signs, wonders, and all different things... And the gifts has returned to the church, such as: Divine healing, and prophecy, and--and speaking with tongues, and interpretations. And though it&#39;s been misrepresented, terrifically, but yet, that don&#39;t take away, there&#39;s a good one, there&#39;s a true one, of real genuine, a gift of speaking in tongues that&#39;s always supposed to be in the church. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;74&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; We have a lot of impersonations. We have people that get up and try to act like Christians and their lives don&#39;t compare, so there&#39;s something wrong. Jesus said, &quot;By their fruits you&#39;ll know them.&quot; See? That&#39;s how you know a Christian, by how he lives. So never jump any higher than you live. So then just... But in there... But it&#39;s a--it&#39;s a devil making a scarecrow to keep the real, genuine believers away from the true thing of it. But God help us to separate and be able to discern between right and wrong. And--and the Word will always straighten that out.&lt;br /&gt;Now, we find that in this, I told you that the interpretation on the rock... And the Rock is Christ that was in the brother&#39;s dream. And that&#39;s the Bible. And for all these years, the Bible&#39;s been interpreted till we&#39;ve absolutely give It the ecclesiastical interpretation through. And the last gift being added in the Laodicean Age (which is the seventh angel&#39;s time to preach in the Laodicean Age), that time, that they would be a lot of things that was misconstrued down through the ages. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;76&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Like Luther preached justification, but he let it run wild because he didn&#39;t live long enough. And along... Then they organized the church. Luther never organized it: after Luther. And then Wesley come forth. And after Wesley they got the Wesleyan church. And then after that come John Smith, the Baptist; and then Alexander Campbell and so forth. But the men (the reformers) didn&#39;t live long enough to get it all together. And so there&#39;s lot of loose ends left like. And then when they did... For instance, of the water baptism that John Smith brought back the water baptism in immersing, but using the titles. And many of those things that was left loose... And then when we come down to the end, the last Message is supposed to straighten that all up, to bring these things to one faith, one Lord, one baptism. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;77&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, after the Bible had been interpreted completely, then you notice, it opened up the top of the pyramid-like rock (Not pyramid teaching, now, not that, because I... The men who teach that pyramid doctrine... I guess they know what they&#39;re talking about. I know nothing about it.). But however, in--it is in the shape of a pyramid. But the cap on the pyramid was never put on. Now, I&#39;ve been in Cairo and--and in Egypt and--and the cap never did come, because it was a cornerstone, it was a headstone. In the church It was the cornerstone. In the full church, It was the Headstone. So It never did come. It was rejected: Christ. And It will come. And I believe that when It&#39;s coming, that the Church will shape into a place from justification under Luther, sanctification under Wesley, and the Pentecostal message; will bring the church to such a minority. And a ministry will be among those people till it&#39;ll be exactly the same ministry that Jesus Christ did. That&#39;ll bring Jesus and catch the whole thing away. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;78&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; All those honest and true Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and whoever&#39;s born with the Spirit of God will be caught away with Jesus Christ when He comes. I believe that. I different with some of our Pentecostal brethren who believe that the remnant of the church is those who will be caught away in the last age. I different there, because God... How could a man... How could God... We don&#39;t say, &quot;How could He?&quot; He can do what He wishes to. But God, Who promised Luther... And under justification, that&#39;s all they knowed. See? He promised to take the church. And He... I believe by the grace of God and by the Scriptures support it. Because He didn&#39;t come in the first watch, and they went to sleep, and the second watch, on down. In the seventh watch He come. And that&#39;s the seventh church age. That&#39;s the seventh angel&#39;s Message. See? And when He come, all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamp: Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, whoever that&#39;s borned of the Spirit of God shall go in that rapture. I believe that the Bride will be called out during that time. I believe there will be some in the last days won&#39;t have to taste death but will be changed in a moment, a twinkling of an eye. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;79&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now. But insomuch as you noticed in Brother Jackson&#39;s dream, that there was no writing on this rock on the inside. That&#39;s what I went west for. Now, as it&#39;s happened... And I told you someday I would tell you what it meant. I went west for it. And told you the vision which the people, both on tape and present this morning, will know in taking &quot;Sirs, What Time Is It?&quot;... And any you tape brethren that doesn&#39;t have that message, and want to follow this, take &quot;Sirs, What Time Is it?&quot; Before... Weeks and months before it happened here, I saw the vision of being at Tucson, north of Tucson; that&#39;d be east of Flagstaff, north of Tucson, and would be picking burrs off of my trouser legs and a--a blast would go off that would actually look like shake the country. How many of you remember that? That&#39;s right. That would shake the country... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;80&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Well, it happens to be that at least one man is present this morning who was standing there when it happened. It actually shook the rocks off of the mountain. And now, they... We find out that during that time I saw seven Angels in a--in a form of a pyramid that swept down and picked me up. And I was brought east to open the Seven Seals for God. If you haven&#39;t got them... If Jesus tarries, and I... My great grandchildren, little Paul&#39;s children... That will still be the eternal truth of the living God. Now, that was to find out that it was sealed inside this mountain. That wasn&#39;t wrote. It had to be interpreted. And when I come back, the first Angel on the first night opened the Seal contrary to anything we ever heard in our life. And all the seven come out the same way. You know that. You were here present when it happened: many of you. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;81&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, I didn&#39;t know it at that time, but Brother Fred Sothmann... I know he&#39;s here. And I&#39;m pretty sure Brother Norman is here. We was up... I had to go to Houston about getting that little boy saved from the electric chair. And then I went back, and I went hunting up there with the brethren. And that morning, I was standing there picking cockleburs, or--or what they call &quot;goat-heads&quot; there, burrs off of my trouser leg. And the blast did just exactly the way It said. Is that right, Brother Fred? And I--I--I must&#39;ve jumped way off of the ground. And just above me was the Angels of the Lord that sent message back for me come here to break these Seals. Why here? Why at the Tabernacle? Why didn&#39;t I do it there? Because I&#39;d made a promise to my church and to God, that any new message would come from this Tabernacle, recorded from here. And He was helping me to keep my word to stay back here to do it. And then immediately I went back again... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;82&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And now, I didn&#39;t know at the time, that they were taking pictures of that, scientists was, as the Angels lowered themselves from heaven to bring the message. And you remember, I said the one on the right side of the constellation had His--kinda chest back, and His wings... You remember me saying that, all of you? And how that I watched him? He was very distinctive from the others. And I didn&#39;t know they were taking a picture of It, &#39;cause immediately I hurried east. But going back home to Tucson, there it was all through the papers that had been seen almost nationwide or--or plumb into Mexico, all the western States. And I think the &quot;Courier&quot; over here... It was on the Associated Press. How many saw a mysterious cloud in the sky? Lets see the hands. And now, the &quot;Life&quot; Magazine picked it up. And I have the--the article here this morning in the &quot;Life&quot; Magazine there, of the show... Now, here it is, the same time I was there. See the pyramid or the Cloud? I was standing just below this. And there... See the distinctive Angel on the right hand side? See the pointed wing of It? Just exactly what was said. And here&#39;s interview of Mexico and different places from where they took the picture. Now, this scientist here is trying to--to get all the information about the picture that he can, about the people who has the picture. He&#39;s studying it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;83&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, he says here that it would be impossible for it to be a cloud, because moisture doesn&#39;t go over about--I&#39;d say about six or eight miles high, something like that. When we go overseas we usually fly nineteen thousand feet; we&#39;re above the storms then. But this cloud, according to this article here of this scientist, is twenty-six miles high. It would be miles and miles beyond moisture. And he said, checking the area... And now, you know I... How many remembers that I told you, &quot;It sounded like the sound breaker on a plane&quot;? Remember? But there was no plane in the district. The book says so here. They checked it. There wasn&#39;t no--wasn&#39;t no planes up there. And besides, it couldn&#39;t... That fog behind a plane is nothing but broken up air, moisture. &#39;Cause it sucks through this unit, as a jet. As it&#39;s pulling itself, it breaks the moisture in the air. They can never get rid of it as long as there&#39;s a jet, because it&#39;s got to... That&#39;s what it propels on. And it&#39;s the moisture scooting out from it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;84&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But here it is, miles above where there could be moisture, and no planes in the district. And it couldn&#39;t be moisture up there, and hung up there that day. It&#39;s thirty miles across it, twenty-six miles high. You see? Just as the same, it was that picture there, when I told you, &quot;the Angel of the Lord looked like a Pillar of Fire years ago,&quot; before it was ever took. God made science recognize that it&#39;s truth. And here of the prophecy that was given, God made science testify that it&#39;s the truth. Now, where do we stand? I want to keep this, for I--I may speak to a friend of mine that&#39;s present this morning to--to write those Seven Seals. He might want to use this for it. And so, you have a copy of it... Why, if you get one, hold it for reference. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;85&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, he&#39;s wanting to find out, but what good would it do to go to tell him that? He&#39;d laugh at it. He would just merely laugh. So don&#39;t cast our pearls like that. But we know, the church knows, and God knows that it&#39;s the truth.&lt;br /&gt;And then while I was praying on this subject, a wondering what would happen to me, and you know where I was at? North of Tucson, east of Flagstaff, just exactly, positionally, where I told you months before it happened I&#39;d be standing. And exactly, according to this paper here and the papers--or this magazine, and our own testimony, exactly where it taken place. God is perfect and cannot lie. And it will come to pass. See? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;87&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You remember on the tape, &quot;Sirs, What Time Is It?&quot; I quoted over it, &quot;Remember, something&#39;s fixing to take place major.&quot; And now it&#39;s made the whole nation testify to it. Every newspaper on the Associated Press, and one of our leading magazines, and everything else testifying about it, it ain&#39;t all over yet. But what a privileged people, a--a privileged people that&#39;s Christian, to know that in this dark hour when there&#39;s no hopes according to science there&#39;s an atomic bomb waiting for us. And no hopes in our organizations ever getting together; they&#39;re consolidating with the mark of the beast... And when all of our hopes that way is gone in our economy, of our Christian fellowship amongst the organizations... It&#39;s heading up into Catholicism, which will be a mark of the beast in the confederation of church.&lt;br /&gt;But it&#39;s those who love God and are looking for a reality that... The very God Who made the promise in the Bible, spreads it before our face and makes the church, and the people, and science, and magazines, and everything recognize that He&#39;s still God and can fill the promise. What a time. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;89&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then in Sabino Canyon that morning, praying and wondering what would happen, holding my hands out to God upon top that mountain, that Sword dropped into my hand with a pearl handle, and its guard over it, and a long blade about three foot long, and glisten like pot metal or--or like chrome, razor sharp; and I didn&#39;t know what it was. And I said, &quot;I&#39;m afraid of these things.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And just then a Voice spoke that shook the canyon, said, &quot;This is the Sword of the Lord.&quot; And the Sword of the Lord is the Word of the Lord. For the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;91&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then coming back to that... Then during that time a gallant little brother here in the church, and he&#39;s a--was a soldier and got blowed all to pieces in the army almost, and laid out for dead; and said, he&#39;d... They didn&#39;t... The medics didn&#39;t think he&#39;d live and wasn&#39;t even worth fooling with, he was so far gone. The main nerves in his leg burst, and his little arm almost blowed completely off, his leg--one leg off and everything. But God seen grace and saved him and healed him one day.&lt;br /&gt;He, Brother Roy Roberson was present when that picture was taken there at Houston. How his wife was told by a vision, what she&#39;d been doing in the day, and how she had a trouble, and it would be healed. And that brought him a believer. But he, being a military man was kind of a (I hope he forgives me for saying this from...) more on the--the rough, precise side; giving orders (See?), in the army as a command of men, He&#39;d had to sass-out, and, &quot;Do it.&quot; See? And he--he believed though. But steady coming around with the church and seeing the supernatural, he said, &quot;I believe that, but that&#39;s for somebody else.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;93&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; One night the Lord woke him up, one morning. We was setting, he and I, look like in Jerusalem at the Lord&#39;s Communion Table, and I was talking. He couldn&#39;t understand it. And Brother Roy, setting present, looking at me right now, and he saw it. And he called me up in--out in Arizona... Or sent me a letter and I called him back. He said, &quot;You were setting there, Brother Branham, and I saw that big Pillar of Light come in and get you and take you away from the Lord&#39;s table, and you went westward.&quot; &#39;Cause he was setting on the east side watching me go west, and this Light come in and take me out.&lt;br /&gt;Said it was one morning like it was a vision. Got up in the bed about three or four o&#39;clock in the morning, something like that, and saw this happen. And said he screamed, look like for days, &quot;Brother Bill, come back.&quot; And Roy and I have been real brothers. We live together, and hunt together, and we&#39;re just brothers. And he--he screamed for me till he was hoarse in his throat, &quot;Come back. Bring him back. Bring him back.&quot; Crying, he said, I&#39;d... Here come that Pillar of Fire coming back, or a Cloud come back, and He set me at the head of the table, and I&#39;d been changed. It was a mystery to Brother Roy, me being changed to look different. (I lay this up here for something I want to remember) Being changed... (when I give him the interpretation of it.) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;95&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; That was just before I come back for the Seven Seals. When I come back for the Seven Seals, then I... One morning he got ahold of Billy, and he wanted to talk to me. And I was busy, under prayer for the Seven Seals, and then he told me of... It happened again and repeated again. Brother Roy, if I get this wrong, you--you call my attention. And he said he--he got up again in--in the morning, I guess early again in--in the morning, and there he looked in the room, and he saw this big Light, or a Cloud upon a mountain. He asked me not long ago, &quot;Was there something about a cloud being on a mountain?&quot; And I said... &quot;In the Bible.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Yes, when Peter, James, and John was took up, and the cloud overshadowed the Lord Jesus. And--and God spoke, said, &#39;This is My beloved Son.&#39;&quot; I preached on that here, not long ago, a little message, the tape brethren might understand, &quot;Hear Ye Him.&quot; I suppose, maybe you have it on tape. I&#39;m sure. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;97&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And he said that he went up the mountain. And when he did, I was standing there. And a Voice came from the Cloud (Wasn&#39;t it, Brother Roy?) and said something on this order: &quot;This is My servant. I&#39;ve called him to be a prophet to the age, to lead the people just as Moses did. And he&#39;s been given the authority. He can speak into existence.&quot; Something like that like Moses did, like speaking in the flies. And we know about the squirrels and so forth, and things that&#39;s already took place. Little Hattie Wright back there, I suppose would know what taken place at her house. And He told him that I had done what Moses had done. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;98&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I... He told me that coming down after a--a trip. And in my mind, I&#39;d made up my mind that I was going to go up to Bud&#39;s, because he&#39;s in a bad shape up there as a hunter.&lt;br /&gt;Before leaving here, I might drop this in. And we&#39;ll hurry. I dreamed a funny dream, an odd dream. And I hope if my brother-in-law ever gets ahold of this, it doesn&#39;t hurt his feelings. And I hope I don&#39;t hurt my wife, who&#39;s setting present now. But she knows that about many months ago, right along, well, it was around about October or November I dreamed that I--I was a-roaming out in the dark, and I... Well, I--I had no place to go and nobody cared for me. And I&#39;d become a bum, just a--a bum. And I was cold, and I looked in the distance and I saw fire. And when I got over there, it was a--a city dump. And they had ditches, and the fire was in these ditches. And the--between the ditches was slick were bums would sleep there to keep warm (keep from freezing) between these fires on a cold winter night. And I--I was cold. And I--I walked up to this fire to get warm, and it was laying full of bums, and they were... I didn&#39;t see any of them, but they all like had stalls or places where their sleeping places was. And I saw my brother-in-law, Fletcher Broy. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;100&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And Fletcher, how I remember him. He&#39;s a good kid. But this might be a lesson to the young children. I remember a few years ago a handsome young man of James Fletcher Broy, and he got with the wrong crowd, and he took his first drink. I remember he called me behind the curtains in my house. And his daddy has gone on to glory years ago, was out there picking a guitar, &quot;On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And Fletcher called me back; he said, Brother Bill, pray for me. Listen that piece my daddy&#39;s playing, and I&#39;ve been drinking today.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Fletcher...&quot; About eighteen-year-old boy, I said, &quot;Don&#39;t go that route.&quot; But he never listened. He went on; he come a complete alcoholic. And his wife left him, his children... And he&#39;s just at this hour... And God knows I love him...&lt;br /&gt;I went to pray for him, just a bum. I went to pray for him here not long ago; he&#39;d got hurt, while I was here with the Seven Seals. I said, &quot;Fletch, I got a couple suits up there I&#39;d--I&#39;d like to give you.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Don&#39;t do it, Brother Bill.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Now, I--I know he had no clothes. And I said, &quot;Why don&#39;t you take the clothes?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Huh-uh.&quot; And he looked up at me and, &quot;See, you know what I&#39;d do with them: pawn them and get drunk.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;I&#39;ll give you a little money, Fletch.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;No, don&#39;t do it, Brother Bill. I--I--I don&#39;t want you to do it.&quot; He&#39;s a real guy at heart, but he&#39;s become an alcoholic and a bum. And his--his wife has took the wrong road. And, oh, just everything&#39;s happened to the poor fellow. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;105&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And when I woke up... Before I woke up, Fletch said to me, said in the dream... He said, &quot;Billy, I&#39;ll--I&#39;ll hunt you a place, Brother Bill. You fed my children when they were hungry.&quot; Said, &quot;You was a daddy to them. Now, I&#39;ll find you a place here to keep warm.&quot; And we went walking by the bums&#39; places and finally come to a place, he said, &quot;I&#39;ll sit down here.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;I&#39;ll walk up here and see if I can find a place.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I walked up and looked out into the dark, cold night. And I thought, &quot;Think of it. One time, God Almighty let me lead His Church. One time He let me preach His Gospel and see souls saved. Men and women come from around the world to speak with me for a few minutes. And here I am now, a bum; nobody wants me. And I&#39;m cold. And what must I do?&quot; Then I woke up. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;107&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I told my wife; I said, &quot;Maybe it means that Fletch is in need.&quot; So we hurried up to see if we could find him. And his brother found him. He was staying out here in a--with the &quot;Weidners,&quot; out there where they have trade horses and things; sleep in a corner of a barn or something. And I went on. I thought, &quot;Well, just have to let it go.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;So I come back down now from Canada with Fred and them the other day. And in my mind, I had it made up, &quot;If these people didn&#39;t want to hear my message, all right, they didn&#39;t have to.&quot; I&#39;d preached now for about thirty-five years. And the last fifteen, eighteen years I&#39;ve done nothing but just... The Lord... I&#39;ve tried to live so close to Him and not say a word till He told me first. Everything... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;109&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; People say, &quot;Now, if Brother Branham tells you he&#39;s coming, remember, look out for a meeting, because he&#39;s coming in the Name of the Lord. He won&#39;t do nothing till the Lord tell...&quot; That&#39;s right. I waited till He told me. I didn&#39;t move till He told me. And then He got so for the last few months, He didn&#39;t tell me nothing about places to go.&lt;br /&gt;Then I come down from Canada and Fred told... Or Brother Roy told me his dream, as he and I and Brother Banks rode along together, just before we separated.&lt;br /&gt;And then, the next day we got out at Brother Fred&#39;s, and his boy, Lynn wasn&#39;t at home, and so he couldn&#39;t come on with us. And him and his wife had to wait. He picked up his wife there at Rosewood, or--or Melrose, Saskatchewan.&lt;br /&gt;And Billy and I come on in Brother Fred&#39;s truck. That night we traveled most the night and the next day. And then on the next morning we had left Helena, Montana, and was coming on towards the border.&lt;br /&gt;And I--I can stay up till about nine o&#39;clock, and I get sleepy. I got to sleep. And Billy, he wants to sleep till about ten o&#39;clock the next day, when the daylight comes up. So it makes it pretty good for us to travel. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;113&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So I--I got up at about four o&#39;clock and got started driving. And Billy was sleeping. We went into a place, and I was thinking on my mind, &quot;You know what? One of these days, as soon as I can get the wife up there... And I won&#39;t tell her what I&#39;m going to do. But I&#39;d get up there. And then I&#39;m going to tell her, &#39;I love this place so well, no need of us going anywhere else. Let&#39;s just stay here.&#39;&quot; And that&#39;s back from civilization eleven hundred miles from anywhere (See?), way in the wilderness. I thought, &quot;Boy, won&#39;t that be fine? I won&#39;t have to get a haircut, and I--I--I won&#39;t have to dress up. And I&#39;ll just be a--a regular mountaineer, what I always wanted to be.&quot; And I said, &quot;I&#39;ll got some guns, and some people give me... And I&#39;ll be a guide like you never heard of. I&#39;ll just love it. Then if the Lord tells me go down and tell somebody something, I&#39;ll run out and tell them and come back again. And I&#39;ll help Bud, and we&#39;ll really have a real place here.&quot; I was thinking on that. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;114&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; We went into a restaurant to eat (a little place in the mountains) just about seven o&#39;clock. It was getting a little late, so I woke Billy up. We was out of gasoline, so had to get some gasoline, and went into this little place, this little restaurant. And while there, a man come across the street, maybe a teeny bit older than I was, but he looked like a man to me. He had on a pair of overalls, overall jacket, riding boots, a black hat, whiskers down on his face like this (snow-white), and hair hanging out from under back of his hat. I thought, &quot;That looked like a man,&quot; to me, not some soft, lazy, with a cigar in his mouth about that long, setting with a pair of shorts on, around some patio or swimming pool, some pot-bellied easterner, like... Excuse that expression. But, however, the guy looked like a man to me: hard, rough. Looked like he lived where God made man to live. And I was admiring him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;115&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; He come into the restaurant and ordered some pancakes. Was about fifteen, twenty people. He had to sneeze. You know how some people &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Brother Branham imitates stifling a sneeze--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... (Pardon me.) But he let out a great big, healthy wood sneeze: Ker-choo-ee! My, it looked like the wind was blasting. And when he did, nobody dared to say nothing. No, sir. I said, &quot;Billy, there&#39;s a man after my own heart.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Aw, daddy, you don&#39;t want to be like...&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;That&#39;s what... That&#39;s me in the future.&quot; See? I said, &quot;That&#39;s me.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;116&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And I set there a little bit, and Billy looked up at me and kept on eating his pancakes. And I--I was finished with mine. In a few minutes, somebody in a booth right around from of us, with the boards this way, a back of the booth, I couldn&#39;t see around. A man got up that looked exactly my profile, about seventy-five years old, little bitty fellow, and his clothes tied on him, ragged. And the buddy that got up with him was Fletcher Broy, exactly: gray hair hanging in his face. And Billy looked around and he said, &quot;Daddy, that looks like you and Fletcher.&quot; You could imagine how I felt. And the little fellow, looked like me, wobbled up. You... And had been standing over a campfire with smoke all over them, faces dirty. I think their breakfast together... The man must&#39;ve paid twenty cents: maybe a cup of coffee or something. My heart bounced within me. And I watched. And Billy said, &quot;What&#39;s the matter with you?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Nothing.&quot; And I watched that. And they went around and went out.&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Daddy, what&#39;s the matter?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Nothing.&quot; And he got in the car. I said...&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Do you mind driving again?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;No.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;I&#39;m still sleepy.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;117&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; So he went to sleep, and I went speeding down the road about fifty-five miles an hour in the truck, over the mountains, coming on towards the--the border, down to--coming home to Arizona, but I was coming now into Utah. And as I got there, just coming down from the mountains about twenty miles out of the city... Just as it... You&#39;ve heard it, as I told you, about the morning about the squirrels and all these things, how something... Somebody went to talking to me, a voice just the same as you hear mine. I know it sounds neurotically. But as I&#39;ve just got through expressing, &quot;Have I ever told you anything but what was right?&quot; And a--a voice got to talking. I was talking to it.&lt;br /&gt;It said, &quot;Carry out your plans and you&#39;ll be like that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Lord, I don&#39;t want to be like that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Said, &quot;Your wife will go too. She won&#39;t live up there in them hills like that. And you&#39;ll become a bum just as the dream showed you you would.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;I don&#39;t want to be that, but the... I--I--I don&#39;t want to have to live like that. I--I want to do something different. But I--I was told that--that You&#39;d call me to be a--a prophet, and I want to live in the wilderness like the prophet.&quot; But I was using my own excuse so I could hunt: my own good.&lt;br /&gt;And He said, &quot;But that was the prophets of the Old Testament. You&#39;ve been called to be there in a much higher office than that.&quot; He said, &quot;You have more gifts besides that; you was called to pray for the sick and to preach the Gospel in--in the apostolic forms, you know of--of greater things, many great gifts.&quot; He said, &quot;Why do you wait for Me to move you every time you move? Where is your reward?&quot; Then I seen. And then said, &quot;Do you remember? (I told you...?...) You remember what Brother Roberson told you in your dream, in his dream, or vision? That you had done like Moses; you forgot the feeling of your people. You forgot the call that I called you to.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;122&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I let the sick lay. I want Lord to tell me where to go and not to. That&#39;s wrong. I&#39;d built myself a complex, because the people didn&#39;t hear my message. And if you&#39;ll... And God forbid that I&#39;ve tried to compare the life of now like Moses, but it&#39;s exactly what Moses did. The people wouldn&#39;t listen to him when he come to deliver them, so he just left them alone and went into the wilderness, but God turned him around. And he&#39;d long forgot the suffering people.&lt;br /&gt;And then I said, &quot;Lord, if... How could I... That&#39;s right. With no education but a grammar school education, be able... And the people would stand in rows and everywhere to--to hear the simple Gospel.&quot; It&#39;s more; it&#39;s greater now than it was under the old covenant. He ascended on high and give gifts unto men (See?), Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;124&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then I was talking and I heard It talking to me. And It left me. And I said, &quot;Billy.&quot; And he was sound asleep. I said, &quot;Billy, was that you?&quot; And he didn&#39;t even wake up.&lt;br /&gt;And I thought, &quot;Lord God (I slowed my car down.), what does this mean?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;Billy, Billy.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Said, &quot;What do you want?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;You talking to me?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;No, why?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I said, &quot;I want to tell you something. I dreamed a dream not long ago. You remember seeing that guy, looked like me and Fletch? Ask mother when you get back to Tucson; I told her this dream. And Billy, there&#39;s something&#39;s happening. It&#39;s going on now. Something was talking to me, and I--I thought it was you.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;127&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; He looked at me kinda strange and waited a little bit. We was driving on, so a few minutes he went back to sleep again. And I was driving along thinking about, &quot;What&#39;s the--could that mean?&quot; Driving along right in the road, and it... All at once, here It come talking again.&lt;br /&gt;And He said, &quot;Return. Did not I tell you in the beginning to do the work of an evangelist? When I called you down on the river, did not I say, &quot;As John the Baptist was sent forth to forerun the first coming... Wasn&#39;t John more than a prophet?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Jesus said so Himself: &quot;What&#39;d you go out to see, a prophet?&quot; Said, &quot;More than a prophet.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;129&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Then it all begin to come to me. I begin to--to wonder. Then He reminded me again of the--of the people. How, doing what Moses did, how could Moses reach the people in the wilderness? And how could I reach the people in the wilderness? Exactly the same thing. Then it come this II Timothy 4. Remember when we dedicated the church that morning thirty years ago (some of you old-timers), when He showed me them trees and I planted them on both sides? You remember that? You remember the vision. It&#39;s all wrote in books and on tapes and everything. Been years ago, how I seen these, and I--I never crossed up the oneness and the trinity. I stood between them and planted these trees, and they were the only two trees that had fruit. And I... All the trees growed up about thirty feet and stop. These went plumb into heaven. Broke off of the same branch... See? One on one side and one on the other, and I broke them. You remember the vision. See? It&#39;s wrote in books and it&#39;s in my life story and all. And they went plumb up into heaven like that, quickly. And He said, &quot;Hold out your hands for the fruit.&quot; And then I found the same fruit in the cross when I run down there. And He said, &quot;Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of your ministry. The time will come when they&#39;ll not endure sound doctrine. Don&#39;t quit then; keep going.&quot; That all come into my mind. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;130&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then I remember, this Marilyn Monroe, the girl that I saw die about a week before she died, and how that they said she committed suicide, when she didn&#39;t. I told them about it before, what would happen and it did; like it did the boxers up there, one was going to kill the other one. I mistaken the girl. It&#39;s another girl there. Her cousin is--is--is Danny Henry. What is her name? Jane Russell. Her cousin, a Baptist boy...&lt;br /&gt;And I was preaching in Los Angeles at the Business Men&#39;s breakfast, and something there just laying down on those organizations, and there set the head man of the Assemblies and many of the great dignitaries had gathered in there. And when I got through speaking and started to leave the platform, getting ready... &#39;Cause the message was being sent out across the--the--the nation on radio, and had to change back. During this change when he cut off the radio, then to send that message out, and it--come back and announce the station, and I was at Clifton&#39;s where we had the breakfast... And as I was walking from the upper platform to the lower, a fine handsome-looking young fellow of about thirty years old, run forth and threw his arms around me. He said, &quot;I&#39;m Danny Henry.&quot; And not knowing that that was his brother doing the televising. And it televises after the Christian Business Men. (And it&#39;s Jane Russell, that movie star, her cousin. Her mother&#39;s a Pentecostal preacher.) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;132&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And then, when I... He started running to me, and he throwed his arms around me, and said, &quot;God bless you, Brother Branham.&quot; He said, &quot;I hope this don&#39;t sound sacrilegious, but to my way of seeing it, that message could be the 23rd chapter of Revelation.&quot; And when he said that, he started speaking in tongues, a boy who never even heard of such a thing, a Baptist by denomination. And as soon as... He turned white, and he looked at me; he didn&#39;t know what to do. There&#39;s men setting here was there. Were you there, Fred? How many was there at that time? Yeah, there&#39;s two or three here, was there at that time. And he didn&#39;t know what to say.&lt;br /&gt;And there&#39;s a great, big French woman setting down here; she raised up; she said, &quot;Why, that don&#39;t need any interpretation.&quot; Said, &quot;That was purely French.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;The boy said, &quot;I don&#39;t know one word of French.&quot; And she&#39;d wrote down what he said.&lt;br /&gt;And then there was a man setting on the corner; he said, &quot;That&#39;s correct. I&#39;ve got wrote down what he said. It&#39;s French.&quot; Way back in the back, a blond-headed, handsome-looking fellow, standing up against the wall, come forward and compared notes. He was the interpreter for the U.N., for French. And this man over here was Victor Le Doux, of the Arne Vick church out there, and he wrote it down. And I&#39;ve got the interpretation to it. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;135&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Listen to this if I can read it.&lt;br /&gt;I Victor Le Doux, am a full-blooded Frenchman, borned again Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit. My address is 809 North King Road, Los Angeles 46. I attend the Bethel Temple, pastor Arne Vick, pastor. A true translation that I proclaim, of prophecy said over Brother Branham, given by Danny Henry in French, February the 11th, 1961, at the Full Gospel Business Men&#39;s breakfast. A true translation of the prophecy.&lt;br /&gt;Now here&#39;s what It said:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Because thou has chosen the narrow path, the harder way, thou has walked in your own choosing. &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Now, I can see that. Moses had to make his choice too. See?)&lt;/span&gt; Thou hast picked the precise and correct way--correct decision, and it is My way &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(underlined &#39;My way,&#39; the Holy Spirit speaking back)&lt;/span&gt;. Because of this momentous decision, a huge portion of heaven awaits you--awaits thee.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;What a glorious decision... &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Now, listen close.)&lt;/span&gt;... What a glorious decision thou has made. This in itself is that which will make, and come to pass, the tremendous victory in the love Divine.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;137&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; You notice, it&#39;s a verb before the adverb. See? French... Now, the U.N. interpreter interpret that, and the boy knows not one word: never heard--never heard of such thing as speaking in tongues. He was a Baptist. Just happened to drop in there and heard that music, and said come up there, and stand up there and listen at me preach.&lt;br /&gt;Now... &quot;in the love Divine,&quot; Divine Love... How can that be Divine Love if it isn&#39;t the--the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is Divine Love. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;139&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now... And as Billy and I started on down the road (See?), started going on down the road, Billy went to sleep again. And It said, &quot;I&#39;ll give you an everlasting sign.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;Lord, what...&quot; I waited a little bit and nothing happened. I said, &quot;What is the everlasting sign, Lord?&quot; And I waited a few minutes. And just then... I looked over to see Billy. He was asleep.&lt;br /&gt;And He said, &quot;I&#39;ll give you an everlasting sign,&quot; again. He said, &quot;Look westward from where you&#39;re at.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;And I turned my head like this in the truck to look (slowed down, you know)... And oh, my, the Spirit of the Lord... I felt like I could scream and cry. I looked, and I just saw a mountain with white caps on it. I said, &quot;I don&#39;t know--see no everlasting sign about that.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;Your name is wrote all over it.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, I thought, &quot;What is that?&quot; And I got real weak and I started stopping.&lt;br /&gt;And Billy raised up and said, &quot;What&#39;s the matter with you?&quot; And I pulled my hands like this, perspiration dropping off my hands, that&#39;s...?... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;146&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I said, &quot;Billy, something&#39;s happening. At one time I know where I&#39;ve done wrong. I know that I&#39;ve failed God.&quot; And looked like I could hear that song being sung and see thousands of mixed people lame, halt, blind, and withered: heared a choir, a voice of some great renown voice singing:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Unclean! Unclean! The evil spirits drove him. &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(You know the song.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Then Jesus came and set the captive free.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; I could see the sick lines laying everywhere. And I had to stop. Billy didn&#39;t know what was taking place, and I looked up. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;148&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I stopped and looked up on the mountain, and I seen those seven hills. Now, here if you want to see something. There was seven peaks on top of a mountain, one mountain, that run for several miles. The last mountain before you go into the other country, no more mountains after that. And it was running from east to the west, the mountain set. And it was snowcapped on top.&lt;br /&gt;The first two small peaks, and then a large peak... And then another small peak, and then a larger peak... And then a small peak, and then a great, large, long, snowcapped mountain. And I said, &quot;Lord, I do not understand what that means.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;He said, &quot;How many peaks are there?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;I said, &quot;There&#39;s seven.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;How many letters is in your name?&quot; B-r-a-n-h-a-m, M-a-r-r-i-o-n, B-r-a-n-h-a-m. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;153&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And there was three outstanding peaks. He said, &quot;Those three peaks are the first, second, and third pull. The first one was your first part of your ministry: small hill; then your first pull, pretty high. (You know, sign in the hand.)&quot; Then there&#39;s a little interval in there, the time that I was taken off from being too tired. Many of you remember it. And then come the discernment, the second pull. Now, I&#39;ve had another, about few years here of just kinda little peaks (See?), back like my ministry wasn&#39;t just... And then come the third one.&lt;br /&gt;Three is a number of completion (See?), the third one. The next peak was five, number of grace. And the next peak was seven, a number of--of perfection: the end. &quot;Six days shall ye labor; the seventh is the Sabbath, the end of the week, the end of time.&quot; See? And I stopped and I showed it to Billy. And I looked at them. And He said, &quot;That... Let that stand. If there&#39;s ever a doubt in your mind, remember this place; come back here.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;156&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And Billy punched me on the shoulder, he said, &quot;Daddy, look eastward.&quot; And how it ever happened I don&#39;t know, but there on the east side of the road was that burning dump. Miles and miles from any kind of a city, an old rubbish heap dump laying there on the left hand side of the road.&lt;br /&gt;I am returning to the field. Amen. Old or young, live or die, I&#39;ll obey God until death shall set me free. I have failed the Lord, not willing... Whether I make... I&#39;ve tried... Let me insert this. See? (Some more tape left?) Let me insert this. I&#39;ve wanted--I&#39;ve wanted to see Jesus Christ manifested without one flaw. And let the brethren who hear this tape and this church remember from this day, the reason you haven&#39;t had no flaws, and the reason that all these years... You can&#39;t say one thing that ever said or done but what it happened. I challenge anybody to bring any of the thousands of things on the platform, and the discernment, and the prediction of what would happen; it&#39;s happened exactly to the letter. Now, if the church believes that, say, &quot;Amen&quot; so that...?... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[Congregation answers, &quot;Amen.&quot;--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; There&#39;s not a person in the world can show one.&lt;br /&gt;But be it known to the church here and to the church hereafter: If God pushes a man through a pipe and he don&#39;t move at all until God tells him, there&#39;s no faith connected with it. It&#39;s God pushing you to something. And it&#39;s built the ministry to a place to where there&#39;s nobody can say one word against it. But from henceforth, let me first speak to you in the Name of the Lord, before you listen, because I must go out by faith. I must do it by faith whether I think it&#39;s right or wrong, or what... I do the best of my choosing and then go do it. Because it hasn&#39;t been wrong, it&#39;s &#39;cause I&#39;ve waited till He told me to go do it. I&#39;ve waited for Him, so it wasn&#39;t me; it was Him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;158&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But, you see, even the great Saint Paul got between the straits one time. And many times that God has did things or let His servants do it, that was mistakes, in order to prove these things. Now, we know that human beings can make mistakes, but God can make no mistake. But now, if I get into the field of preaching and going the way I--I do, then I have to set up meetings ahead and--and get things lined up. And perhaps this is that great time coming that we been looking for. And surely, if this in itself is a tremendous thing that will bring to pass, and make come to pass, the tremendous victory in the Love Divine (and that&#39;s the verb before adverb), then it&#39;s Divine Love which is God. See? And it takes the love of God to dash out there on the front line and stand in the gap for the people. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;159&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And these Rickys and Rickettas that have so sassed the words, that I&#39;ve called them &quot;Ricky&quot; and &quot;Ricketta,&quot; God gives me to understand I shouldn&#39;t do that, because that&#39;s... Many of them are still His children. I must... They can&#39;t help because they act so much different. Some of these old, cold formal churches that&#39;s got them, that spirit upon them, and they&#39;re as much in--in prison as Israel was in prison, just as much as Moses went down to deliver them from slavery: human beings that love Jesus Christ, would serve Him if they only know what to serve Him by. And they&#39;re in bondage under denominationalism that tells them, &quot;Don&#39;t you do this,&quot; and &quot;Don&#39;t you do that.&quot; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;160&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; But the call of God must come, &quot;Whoever wants to march towards the promised land, let him march.&quot; We&#39;re on our road to the promised land. Amen...?... Let them come, march. We&#39;re on our road to meet Christ at the end time. And I wanted to bring this to you so that you would see, and show you that the mistakes that a man can make, yet being sincere.&lt;br /&gt;Moses lost the feeling of his people because they wouldn&#39;t listen to him. And, Brother Roy, you see your dream? And now, I cannot go with a ministry like that, until I feel different in my heart about it, no matter if God did tell me. But that is what change that, Brother Roy, that&#39;s coming. Something&#39;s got to change me, because I, in my heart, if I go out there feeling the way I do now... I still feel that they ought to have heared that message, they ought to done... And I don&#39;t have the feeling for the people that I should have. And till I can get that feeling, there&#39;s no need in me going because I&#39;d be a hypocrite. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;162&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; And all these years I&#39;ve tried to serve Him with a true heart, and I won&#39;t go out there being a hypocrite. I got to feel that, that it isn&#39;t &quot;Ricky&quot; and &quot;Ricketta,&quot; and it isn&#39;t this bunch. It&#39;s God&#39;s children that&#39;s in bondage, and I must go to them. And until I can feel that way, I&#39;ll just have to loaf around, preach some conventions and things, but wait. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;163&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I got a little song. I can&#39;t sing. I&#39;ll just like to quote it to you. (Brethren, that it&#39;s kinda mapped out.) I ain&#39;t got it spelled right. It ain&#39;t wrote right. I don&#39;t know whether I can even read it or not. It&#39;s in the tune of the &quot;Battle Hymn of the Republic.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah! &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(You&#39;ve heard it.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah! &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(How many... Of course we all heard that.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;The circuit rider preacher went riding through the land,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;With a rifle on his shoulder and a Bible in his hand;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;He told the prairie people of a blessed promised land,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;As he went riding, singing along.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Leaning, leaning,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Leaning on the everlasting arms.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Leaning, leaning,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Leaning on the everlasting arms.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;He preached the coming judgment of fire and brimstone;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;And a glorious, endless heaven of the justified alone.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;As he rode across the mountains you could hear him sing this song,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;As he went riding on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;There is power, power, wonder-working power,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;In the blood of the Lamb;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;There is power, power, oh, wonder-working power,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;In the precious blood of the Lamb.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;164&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; The old circuit preacher, you remember him. See?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Now his rifle&#39;s old and rusty and is hanging on the wall;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;His Bible&#39;s very worn and dusty and is seldom touched at all; &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(That&#39;s right)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;But the message that It brings us will meet us on that day,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;For God&#39;s Truth&#39;s still marching on. &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(All.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;His truth is marching on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;165&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; I&#39;m going to learn that. I stood this morning when I was writing that down, put my hand on my old rifle hanging on the wall. I know it won&#39;t be long.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;His rifle&#39;s old and rusting as it&#39;s hanging on the wall &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(That&#39;s right.)&lt;/span&gt;,&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;And the Bible&#39;s worn and dusty and is seldom touched at all.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;But His message from this Bible... at the judgment one day;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;And His Truth keeps marching on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; God&#39;s Truth is this Bible. Yeah, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;167&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; The old circuit preacher with his rifle across his back, his Bible in his hand, rode across the prairies, and up over the mountains, and down into the ditches and everywhere, preaching of a coming millennium, of a coming fiery judgment for the unjust, and preaching a Kingdom of God for the just. It&#39;s true. The old Winchester&#39;s a-rusting away. And the Bible, they--they got some sex book instead of It. But God&#39;s Truth still marches on. He makes Hisself just as real today, as proves it, as He ever was.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;God&#39;s Truth keeps marching on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;His Truth is marching on.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;168&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Why? Somebody&#39;ll take It, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let&#39;s sing it again. Now, we&#39;re mixed up here Methodists, Baptists, Lutheran, everything else. While we sing that last chorus, let&#39;s shake hands with somebody around you and then we&#39;ll be dismissed.&lt;br /&gt;And now, remember, you that have to go to your own church, go tonight. Greet your pastor from me. And--and then pray for me, each one of you. And then again, I want you to remember, if you have no place to go... (And if you&#39;d have anything...) After Brother Neville message tonight, after he has his message, then I want to make a tape called &quot;The Red Flashing Light of His Coming&quot; (See?) tonight. The Lord bless you now. And next week, I&#39;ll... Next Sunday, the Lord willing, I may be down again to make another tape, &#39;cause I have to be in Arkansas this next week. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;170&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; All right, now, let&#39;s sing again and shake hands now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory, hallelujah!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;i&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;singing&quot;&gt;Glory! glory,... &lt;span class=&quot;singcomment&quot;&gt;(Lord Jesus, bless these handkerchiefs as...?... place my...?... over them...?... in the Name of Jesus Christ.)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;171&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Praise be to God. Now, let us bow our heads just a moment. You&#39;re just in time, Brother Ruddell. Walk up here just a minute. Brother Ruddell, another one of our associate brethren here of a little association of churches we have together, just interdenominational. And I&#39;ve heard the gallant stand that Brother Ruddell taken for the--for the Gospel. And so I--I say this, Brother Ruddell, that everything along the road... God has not promised a flowerly bed of ease, but He promised a battle. Yes, but He promised victory. That&#39;s the thing.&lt;br /&gt;I remember when I first took this stand, even my own mother and father want to turn me from the house. See? But, oh, my, how I baptized them in the Name of the Lord Jesus. The only hopes I ever have today is because of the stand. I&#39;m so glad that the message of the Bible from the old circuit preacher down to this time... Though people has got ahold of it, and they&#39;ve trimmed it around, and they&#39;ve made denominations and put creeds and everything else in it, that Truth still marches on. That&#39;s right. It still marches on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;173&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; God bless you each one and we hope to see you again real soon. Till then, will you do this one favor for me now, both here and on tapes also, you brethren? Pray that God will place into my heart that something that I lost out there in that complex. It&#39;s so easy to build a complex. I had a interview the other day with my Brother Way setting here, setting here in front of us: a good man but built hisself around a complex, another kind of a complex. Did the same thing. Brother Way, you can so easily do it. It&#39;s... You just get a little something in your mind, keep thinking that way... Go back and check it with the Scripture, see if it&#39;s right or not, and then go from there on. Yeah. Don&#39;t lose the feeling of the people. See? You must remember they&#39;re not made out of sawdust; they&#39;re flesh and blood, human beings with a soul. Pray for me, all of you, if you will. God bless you now. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;174&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; We&#39;re going to bow our heads and ask Brother Ruddell if he&#39;ll... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[A man speaks from the congregation--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Okay, brother. &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[A man relates a dream to Brother Branham--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt; Praise be to God. This is a minister. Somebody might not know. And he was one of the group that (I didn&#39;t have time this morning), that was in one of those dreams, speaking of me going the other way (See?), going west, going out west on this last time: Brother J. T. Parnell. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;175&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Now, there might be strangers that wonder about people having dreams, of dreamers. No, we don&#39;t go for all kinds of dreams, but we believe that the Bible said, &quot;And it shall come to pass in the last days that I&#39;ll pour out My Spirit upon the people; and they shall prophesy, and shall see visions, and dream dreams.&quot; And as long as that&#39;s in the lids of the Bible, it&#39;s my duty to believe it and to preach it. And when people tell dreams, if the Lord doesn&#39;t give the interpretation, we let it go. And if it&#39;s something... When anyone speaks with tongues, it must be something to the church and must happen too. If it don&#39;t, it&#39;d be an evil spirit. It must come to pass, &#39;cause interpretation of tongues is prophecy. We know that&#39;s right. So we try here to live the Bible just the way It&#39;s taught, take nothing away from It or add nothing to It, but just live it the way It is.&lt;br /&gt;The Lord be blessed. That helps me, Brother J. T. to believe that... God didn&#39;t tell me go out now and compromise with sin. But just go out and just keep on doing things. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;176&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Let us pray now, Brother... &lt;span class=&quot;editornotes&quot;&gt;[A woman in congregation cries out--Ed.]&lt;/span&gt;... Someone fainted. Just a minute, set still now.&lt;br /&gt;Heavenly Father, let Thy mercy just...?... in Brother Way...?... In the Name of Jesus Christ...?... come to pass. Give him back, Lord, give him the strength...?...&lt;br /&gt;So help me, his heart starts beating again...?... Lord Jesus, let Thy goodness and mercy be...?... It&#39;s over. As I stand here on this altar where funerals has been preached, where I stand here where hundreds of people that&#39;s prayed through to Christ... I reached down; his eyes was set; his pulse was gone. And no more than called the Name of Jesus Christ, and his pulse started jumping back...?... Praise the Lord. As a minister of the cross, I say that in the Name of Jesus Christ. Isn&#39;t He wonderful? A heart attack... See? I&#39;m so thankful it happened just now, instead of waiting till we got away. See the grace of God? The Lord be blessed. Let us just bow our heads. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Georgia,Bookman Old Style,Times New Roman,Times,New York,serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;paranum&quot;&gt;179&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/small&gt; Heavenly Father, we thank You now for Your goodness and Your mercy. You&#39;re ever in our midst. Give me, Lord, Oil in my lamp. Give me the--the--the--the Rod of the Lord, that I might stretch it out up over the sick and afflicted, that I might bring it out upon--to bring deliverance to those who are needy and judgment to those who are rejecting. Grant it, Father. We thank You for all Your goodness, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.&lt;br /&gt;Brother Ruddell, God bless you, brother.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/8219240205908685920/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=8219240205908685920' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8219240205908685920'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/8219240205908685920'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/standing-in-gap-william-branham-1963_4944.html' title='Standing in the Gap - William Branham (1963)'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit2FJCaKILneWn1fBAKC1JSvn6RW7koom3c_4ngfQQw88xiIJ-isI6HH4Ypi4HHZdvx_fWtoakaJJYtuZSF71-sr9140y_LIj1NoXdKecQTGSIFBKhQP_c4azDp-AAYF68V6jTr0XWlQQ/s72-c/standing+in+the+gap1.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-6743609241149163538</id><published>2008-07-17T14:35:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T14:36:25.235+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Spiritual Christianity  -  John Wesley</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif;font-size:6;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;title&quot;&gt;Spiritual Christianity&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-size:78%;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;   &lt;!---------------------------&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;font-size:130%;color:#ff0000;&quot;&gt;by John Wesley (24th August 1744)&lt;/span&gt;  &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&quot;Whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his  own head.&quot; - Ezek. 33:4.&lt;br /&gt;&quot;And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.&quot; - Acts 4:31.&lt;/b&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;The same expression occurs in the second chapter, where we read, &quot;When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all&quot; (the Apostles, with the women, and the mother of Jesus, and his brethren) &quot;with  one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven  as of a rushing mighty wind. And there appeared unto them cloven  tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were  all filled with the Holy Ghost:&quot; one immediate effect whereof was, they &quot;began to speak with other tongues;&quot; insomuch that both the  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and the other strangers who &quot;came together, when this was noised abroad, heard them speak, in their several tongues, the wonderful works of God&quot; (Acts 2:1-6).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In this chapter we read, that when the Apostles and brethren had  been praying, and praising God, &quot;the place was shaken where they  were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.&quot;  Not that we find any visible appearance here, such as had been in  the former instance: nor are we informed that the extraordinary gifts  of the Holy Ghost were then given to all or any of them; such as  the gifts of &quot;healing, of working&quot; other &quot;miracles, of prophecy,  of discerning spirits, the speaking with divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:9, 10).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Whether these gifts of the Holy Ghost were designed to remain  in the church throughout all ages, and whether or no they will be  restored at the nearer approach of the &quot;restitution of all things, &quot; are questions which it is not needful to decide. But it is needful  to observe this, that, even in the infancy of the church, God divided  them with a sparing hand. Were all even then prophets? Were all workers  of miracles? Had all the gifts of healing? Did all speak with tongues?  No, in no wise. Perhaps not one in a thousand. Probably none but  the teachers in the church, and only some of them (1 Cor. 12:28-30).  It was therefore, for a more excellent purpose than this, that &quot;they  were all filled with the Holy Ghost.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;It was, to give them (what none can deny to be essential to all  Christians in all ages) the mind which was in Christ, those holy  fruits of the Spirit, which whosoever hath not, is none of his; to  fill them with &quot;love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness&quot;  (Gal. 5:22-24); to endue them with faith (perhaps it might be rendered, fidelity), with meekness and temperance; to enable them to crucify  the flesh, with its affections and lusts, its passions and desires; and in consequence of that inward change, to fulfil all outward righteousness; to &quot;walk as Christ also walked,&quot; in &quot;the work of faith, in the patience  of hope, the labour of love&quot; (1 Thess. 1:3).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Without busying ourselves, then, in curious, needless inquiries, touching those extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, let us take a nearer  view of these his ordinary fruits, which we are assured will remain  throughout all ages; -- of that great work of God among the children  of men, which we are used to express by one word, &quot;Christianity;&quot;  not as it implies a set of opinions, a system of doctrines, but as  it refers to men&#39;s hearts and lives. And this Christianity it may  be useful to consider under three distinct views:   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;I. As beginning to exist in individuals:   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;II. As spreading from one to another:   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;III. As covering the earth.   I design to close these considerations with a plain, practical application.    &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;I.&lt;/b&gt;  And, first, let us consider Christianity in its rise, as beginning  to exist in individuals.   Suppose, then, one of those who heard the Apostle Peter preaching  repentance and remission of sins, was pricked to the heart, was convinced  of sin, repented, and then believed in Jesus. By this faith of the  operation of God, which was the very substance, or subsistence, of  things hoped for (Heb. 11:1,) the demonstrative evidence of invisible  things, he instantly received the Spirit of adoption, whereby he  now cried, &quot;Abba, Father&quot; (Rom. 8:15). Now first it was that he could  call Jesus Lord, by the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 12:3), the Spirit itself  bearing witness with his spirit, that he was a child of God (Rom.  8:16). Now it was that he could truly say, &quot;I live not, but Christ  liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live  by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me&quot;  (Gal. 2:20).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;This, then, was the very essence of his faith, a divine &lt;i&gt;elegchos&lt;/i&gt;  (evidence or conviction) of the love of God the Father, through the  Son of his love, to him a sinner, now accepted in the Beloved. And, &quot;being justified by faith, he had peace with God&quot; (Rom. 5:1), yea, &quot;the peace of God ruling in his heart;&quot; a peace, which passing all  understanding (&lt;i&gt;panta noun&lt;/i&gt;, all barely rational conception), kept  his heart and mind from all doubt and fear, through the knowledge  of him in whom he had believed. he could not, therefore, &quot;be afraid  of any evil tidings;&quot; for his &quot;heart stood fast, believing in the  Lord.&quot; he feared not what man could do unto him, knowing the very  hairs of his head were all numbered. he feared not all the powers  of darkness, whom God was daily bruising under his feet. Least of  all was he afraid to die; nay, he desired to &quot;depart, and to be with  Christ&quot; (Phil. 1:23); who, &quot;through death, had destroyed him that  had the power of death, even the devil; and delivered them who, through  fear of death, were all their life-time,&quot; till then, &quot;subject to  bondage&quot; (Heb. 2:15).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;His soul, therefore, magnified the Lord, and his spirit rejoiced  in God his Saviour. &quot;He rejoiced in him with joy unspeakable,&quot; who  had reconciled him to God, even the Father; &quot;in whom he had redemption  through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.&quot; he rejoiced in that  witness of God&#39;s Spirit with his spirit, that he was a child of God; and more abundantly, &quot;in hope of the glory of God;&quot; in hope of the  glorious image of God, and full renewal of his soul in righteousness  and true holiness, and in ho~pe of that crown of glory, that &quot;inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&quot;The love of God was also shed abroad in his heart by the Holy  Ghost which was given unto him&quot; (Rom. 5:5). &quot;Because he was a son  God had sent forth the Spirit of his Son into his heart, crying Abba, Father!&quot; (Gal. 4:6). And that filial love of God was continually  increased by the witness he had in himself (1 John 5:10) of God&#39;s  pardoning love to him; by &quot;beholding what manner of love it was which  the Father had bestowed upon him, that he should be called a child  of God&quot; (1 John 3:1). So that God was the. desire of his eyes, and  the joy of his heart; his portion in time and in eternity.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;He that thus loved God could not but love his brother also; and  &quot;not in word only, but in deed and in truth.&quot; &quot;If God,&quot; said he,  &quot;so loved us, we ought also to love one another&quot; (1 John 4:11); yea, every soul of man, as &quot;the mercy of God is over all his works&quot; (Ps.  145:9). Agreeably hereto, the affection of this lover of God embraced  all mankind for his sake; not excepting those whom he had never seen  in the flesh, or those of whom he knew nothing more than that they  were &quot;the offspring of God,&quot; for whose souls his Son had died; not  excepting the &quot;evil&quot; and &quot;unthankful,&quot; and least of all his enemies, those who hated, or persecuted, or despitefully used him for his  Master&#39;s sake. These had a peculiar place, both in his heart and  in his prayers. he loved them &quot;even as Christ loved us.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And &quot;love is not puffed up&quot; (1 Cor. 13:4). It abases to the dust  every soul wherein it dwells. Accordingly, he was lowly of heart, little, mean, and vile in his own eyes. he neither sought nor received  the praise of men, but that which cometh of God only. he was meek  and long-suffering, gentle to all, and easy to be entreated. Faithfulness  and truth never forsook him: they were &quot;bound about his neck, and  wrote on the table of his heart.&quot; By the same spirit he was enabled  to be temperate in all things, refraining his soul even as a weaned  child. he was &quot;crucified to the world, and the world crucified to  him;&quot; superior to &quot;the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, and the pride of life.&quot; By the same almighty love was he saved, both  from passion and pride; from lust and vanity; from ambition and covetousness; and from every temper which was not in Christ.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;It may be easily believed, he who had this love in his heart would  work no evil to his neighbour. It was impossible for him, knowingly  and designedly, to do harm to any man. he was at the greatest distance  from cruelty and wrong, from any unjust or unkind action. With the  same care did he &quot;set a watch before his mouth, and keep the door  of his lips,&quot; lest he should offend in tongue, either against justice, or against mercy or truth. he put away all lying, falsehood; and  fraud; neither was guile found in his mouth. he spake evil of no  man; nor did an unkind word ever come out of his lips.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And as he was deeply sensible of the truth of that word &quot;Without  me ye can do nothing,&quot; and, consequently, of the need he had to be  watered of God every moment; so he continued daily in all the ordinances  of God, the stated channels of his grace to man: &quot;in the Apostles&#39;  doctrine,&quot; or teaching, receiving that food of the soul with all  readiness of heart; in &quot;the breaking of bread,&quot; which he found to  be the communion of the body of Christ; and &quot;in the prayers&quot; and  praises offered up by the great congregation. And thus, he daily  grew in grace, increasing in strength, in the knowledge and love  of God.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;But it did not satisfy him, barely to abstain from doing evil.  his soul was athirst to do good. The language of his heart continually  was, &quot;`My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.&#39; My Lord went about  doing good; and shall not I tread in his steps?&quot; As he had opportunity  therefore, if he could do no good of a higher kind, he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, helped the fatherless or stranger, visited and  assisted them that were sick or in prison. he gave all his goods  to feed the poor. he rejoiced to labour or to suffer for them; and  whereinsoever he might profit another, there especially to &quot;deny  himself.&quot; he counted nothing too dear to part with for them, as well  remembering the word of his Lord, &quot;Inasmuch as ye have done it unto  one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me&quot; (Matt.  25:40).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Such was Christianity in its rise. Such was a Christian in ancient  days. Such was every one of those who, when they heard the threatenings  of the chief priests and elders, &quot;lifted up their voice to God with  one accord, and were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The multitude  of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:&quot; So did  the love of him in whom they had believed constrain them to love  one another! &quot;Neither said any of them that aught of the things which  he possessed was his own but they had all things common:&quot; So fully  were they crucified to the world, and the world crucified to them!  &quot;And they continued steadfastly with one accord in the Apostles&quot;  doctrine, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers&quot; (Acts 2:42).  &quot;And great grace was upon them all; neither was there any among them  that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold  them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid  them down at the Apostles&#39; feet: And distribution was made unto every  man according as he had need.&quot; (Acts 4:31-35.)   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;II.&lt;/b&gt; Let us take a view, in the Second place, of this Christianity, as spreading from one to another, and so gradually making its way  into the world: For such was the will of God concerning it, who did  not &quot;light a candle to put it under a bushel, but that it might give  light to all that were in the house.&quot; And this our Lord had declared  to his first disciples, &quot;Ye are the salt of the earth,&quot; &quot;the light  of the world;&quot; at the same time that he gave that general command, &quot;Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good  works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.&quot; (Matt. 5:13-16).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And, indeed, supposing a few of these lovers of mankind to see  &quot;the whole world lying in wickedness,&quot; can we believe they would  be unconcerned at the sight, at the misery of those for whom their  Lord died? Would not their bowels yearn over them, and their hearts  melt away for very trouble? Could they then stand idle all the day  long, even were there no command from him whom they loved? Rather, would they not labour by all possible means, to pluck some of these  brands out of the burning? Undoubtedly they would: they would spare  no pains to bring back whomsoever they could of those poor &quot;sheep  that had gone astray, to the great Shepherd and Bishop of their souls&quot;  (1 Pet. 2:25).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;So the Christians of old did. They laboured, having opportunity, &quot;to do good unto all men&quot; (Gal. 6:10), warning them to flee from  the wrath to come; now, now to escape the damnation of hell. They  declared, &quot;The times of ignorance God winked at; but now he calleth  all men everywhere to repent.&quot; (Acts 17:30) They cried aloud, Turn  ye, turn ye, from your evil ways: &quot;so iniquity shall not be your  ruin&quot; (Ezek. 18:30). They &quot;reasoned&quot; with them of &quot;temperance, and  righteousness,&quot; or justice -- of the virtues opposite to their reigning  sins; &quot;and of judgement to come,&quot; -- of the wrath of God which would  surely be executed on evildoers in that day when he should judge  the world (Acts 24:25).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;They endeavoured herein to speak to every man severally as he  had need. To the careless, to those who lay unconcerned in darkness  and in the shadow of death, they thundered, &quot;Awake thou that sleepest; arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.&quot; But to those  who were already awakened out of sleep, and groaning under a sense  of the wrath of God, their language was, &quot;We have an Advocate with  the Father; he is the propitiation for our sins.&quot; Meantime, those  who had believed, they provoked to love and to good works; to patient  continuance in well-doing; and to abound more and more in that holiness  without which no man can see the Lord. (Heb 12:14)   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And their labour was not in vain in the Lord. his word ran and  was glorified. It grew mightily and prevailed. But so much the more  did offences prevail also. The world in general were offended, &quot;because  they testified of it, that the works thereof were evil&quot; (John 7:7).  The men of pleasure were offended, not only because these men were  made, as it were, to reprove their thoughts (&quot;He professeth,&quot; said  they, &quot;to have the knowledge of God; he calleth himself the child  of the Lord, his life is not like other men&#39;s; his ways are of another  fashion; he abstaineth from our ways, as from filthiness; he maketh  his boast, that God is his Father&quot; Wis. 2:13-16;) but much more,  because so many of their companions were taken away, and would no  more run with them to &quot;the same excess of riot.&quot; (1 Pet. 4:4.) The  men of reputation were offended, because, as the gospel spread, they  declined in the esteem of the people; and because many no longer  dared to give them flattering titles, or to pay man the homage due  to God only. The men of trade called one another together, and said, &quot;Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth: but ye see  and hear that these men have persuaded and turned away much people; so that this our craft is in danger to be set at nought&quot; (Acts 19: 25ff.). Above all, the men of religion, so called, the men of outside  religion, &quot;the saints of the world,&quot; were offended, and ready at  every opportunity to cry out, &quot;Men of Israel, help! We have found  these men pestilent fellows, movers of sedition throughout the world&quot;  (Acts 24:5). &quot;These are the men that teach all men everywhere against  the people, and against this place&quot; (Acts 21:28).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Thus it was that the heavens grew black with clouds, and the storm  gathered amain. For the more Christianity spread, the more hurt was  done, in the account of those who received it not; and the number  increased of those who were more and more enraged at these &quot;men who  thus turned the world upside down;&quot; (Acts 17:6;) insomuch that more  and more cried out, &quot;Away with such fellows from the earth; it is  not fit that they should live;&quot; yea, and sincerely believed, that  whosoever should kill them would do God service.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Meanwhile they did not fail to cast out their name as evil; (Luke  6:22;) so that this &quot;sect was everywhere spoken against.&quot; (Acts 27: 22.) Men said all manner of evil of them, even as had been done of  the prophets that were before them (Matt. 5:12). And whatsoever any  would affirm, others would believe; so that offences grew as the  stars of heaven for multitude. And hence arose, at the time fore- ordained of the Father, persecution in all its forms. Some, for a  season, suffered only shame and reproach; some, &quot;the spoiling of  their goods;&quot; &quot;some had trial of mocking and scourging; some of bonds  and imprisonment;&quot; and others &quot;resisted unto blood&quot; (Heb. 10:34;  11:36ff.)   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Now it was that the pillars of hell were shaken, and the kingdom  of God spread more and more. Sinners were everywhere &quot;turned from  darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.&quot; he gave  his children &quot;such a mouth, and such wisdom, as all their adversaries  could not resist;&quot; and their lives were of equal force with their  words. But above all, their sufferings spake to all the world. They  &quot;approved themselves the servants of God, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours; in perils in the sea, in perils in the wilderness, in weariness and  painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness&quot; (2 Cor.  6:4ff.). And when, having fought the good fight, they were led as  sheep to the slaughter, and offered up on the sacrifice and service  of their faith, then the blood of each found a voice, and the heathen  owned, &quot;He being dead, yet speaketh.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Thus did Christianity spread itself in the earth. But how soon  did the tares appear with the wheat, and the mystery of iniquity  work, as well as the mystery of godliness! How soon did Satan find  a seat, even in the temple of God, &quot;till the woman fled into the  wilderness,&quot; and &quot;the faithful were again minished from the children  of men!&quot; here we tread a beaten path: the still unceasing corruptions  of the succeeding generations have been largely described, from time  to time, by those witnesses God raised up, to show that he had &quot;built  his church upon a rock, and the gates of hell should not&quot; wholly  &quot;prevail against her.&quot; (Matt. 16:18.)   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;III.&lt;/b&gt; But shall we not see greater things than these? Yea, greater  than have been yet from the beginning of the world. Can Satan cause  the truth of God to fail, or his promises to be of none effect? If  not, the time will come when Christianity will prevail over all,  and cover the earth. Let us stand a little, and survey (the Third  thing which was proposed) this strange sight, a Christian World.  Of this the Prophets of old inquired and searched diligently (1 Pet.  1:10, 11ff.:) of this the Spirit which was in them testified: &quot;It  shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord&#39;s  house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall  be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And  they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears  into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.&quot; (Isa. 2:1-4.) &quot;In that day  there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of  the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be  glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall  set his hand again to recover the remnant of his people; and he shall  set up an Ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts  of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four  corners of the earth.&quot; (Isa. 11:10-12.) &quot;The wolf shall then dwell  with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the  calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child  shall lead them. They shall not hurt nor destroy, saith the Lord, in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge  of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea&quot; (Isa. 11:6-9).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;To the same effect are the words of the great Apostle, which it  is evident have never yet been fulfilled. &quot;Hath God cast away his  people? God forbid.&quot; &quot;But through their fall salvation is come to  the Gentiles.&quot; &quot;And if the diminishing of them be the riches of the  Gentiles, how much more their fullness?&quot; &quot;For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery; that blindness in part  is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come  in: And so all Israel shall be saved.&quot; (Rom. 11:1, 11, 25, 26.)   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Suppose now the fullness of time to be come, and the prophecies  to be accomplished. What a prospect is this! All is peace, &quot;quietness, and assurance for ever.&quot; here is no din of arms, no &quot;confused noise, &quot; no &quot;garments rolled in blood.&quot; &quot;Destructions are come to a perpetual  end.&quot; Wars are ceased from the earth. Neither are there any intestine  jars remaining; no brother rising up against brother; no country  or city divided against itself, and tearing out its own bowels. Civil  discord is at an end for evermore, and none is left either to destroy  or hurt his neighbour. here is no oppression to &quot;make&quot; even &quot;the  wise man mad;&quot; no extortion to &quot;grind the face of the poor;&quot; no robbery  or wrong; no rapine or injustice; for all are &quot;content with such  things as they possess.&quot; Thus &quot;righteousness and peace have kissed  each other;&quot; (Ps. 85:10;) they have &quot;taken root and filled the land; &quot; &quot;righteousness flourishing out of the earth;&quot; and &quot;peace looking  down from heaven.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And with righteousness or justice, mercy is also found. The earth  is no longer full of cruel habitations. The Lord hath destroyed both  the blood-thirsty and malicious, the envious and revengeful man.  Were there any provocation, there is none that now knoweth to return  evil for evil; but indeed there is none that doeth evil, no, not  one; for all are harmless as doves. And being filled with peace and  joy in believing, and united in one body, by one Spirit, they all  love as brethren, they are all of one heart and of one soul. &quot;Neither  saith any of them, that aught of the things which he possesseth is  his own.&quot; There is none among them that lacketh: for every man loveth  his neighbour as himself. And all walk by one rule: &quot;Whatever ye  would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them.&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;It follows, that no unkind word can ever be heard among them,  no strife of tongues, no contention of any kind, no railing or evil- speaking, but every one &quot;opens his mouth with wisdom, and in his  tongue there is the law of kindness.&quot; Equally incapable are they  of fraud or guile: their love is without dissimulation: Their words  are always the just expression of their thoughts, opening a window  into their breast, that whosoever desires may look into their hearts, and see that only love and God are there.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Thus, where the Lord Omnipotent taketh to himself his mighty power  and reigneth, doth he &quot;subdue all things to himself,&quot; cause every  heart to overflow with love, and fill every mouth with praise. &quot;Happy  are the people that are in such a case: yea, blessed are the people  who have the Lord for their God&quot; (Psalm 144:15.) &quot;Arise, shine;&quot;  (saith the Lord;) &quot;for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord  is risen upon thee.&quot; &quot;Thou hast known that I the Lord am thy Saviour  and thy Redeemer, the mighty God of Jacob. I have made thy officers  peace, and thy exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be  heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but  thou shalt call thy walls Salvation and thy gates Praise.&quot; &quot;Thy people  are all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever; the branch  of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.&quot; &quot;The  sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall  the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an  everlasting light, and thy God thy glory&quot; (Isa. 60:1, 16-19).   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;IV.&lt;/b&gt; Having thus briefly considered Christianity, as beginning, as  going on, and as covering the earth, it remains only that I should  close the whole with a plain, practical application.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;And, first, I would ask, Where does this Christianity now exist?  Where, I pray, do the Christians live? Which is the country, the  inhabitants whereof are all thus filled with the Holy Ghost? --are  all of one heart and of one soul? cannot suffer one among them to  lack anything, but continually give to every man as he hath need; who, one and all, have the love of God filling their hearts, and  constraining them to love their neighbour as themselves; who have  all &quot;put on bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, gentleness, long- suffering?&quot; who offend not in any kind, either by word or deed, against  justice, mercy, or truth; but in every point do unto all men; as  they would these should do unto them? With what propriety can we  term any a Christian country, which does not answer this description?  Why then, let us confess we have never yet seen a Christian country  upon earth.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, if ye do account  me a madman or a fool, yet, as a fool bear with me. It is utterly  needful that some one should use great plainness of speech towards  you. It is more especially needful at this time; for who knoweth  but it is the last? Who knoweth how soon the righteous Judge may  say, &quot;I will no more be entreated for this people?&quot; &quot;Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in this land, they should but deliver their  own souls.&quot; And who will use this plainness, if I do not? Therefore  I, even I, will speak. And I adjure you, by the living God, that  ye steel not your breasts against receiving a blessing at my hands.  Do not say in your hearts, &lt;i&gt;Non persuadebis, etiamsi persuaseris&lt;/i&gt;; &quot; [Your persuasions shall not prevail with us, even though they should  really convince us.--EDIT.] or, in other words, &quot;Lord, thou shalt  not send by whom thou wilt send; let me rather perish in my blood, than be saved by this man!&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Brethren, &quot;I am persuaded better things of you, though I thus  speak.&quot; Let me ask you then, in tender love, and in the spirit of  meekness, Is this city a Christian city? Is Christianity, scriptural  Christianity, found here? Are we, considered as a community of men, so &quot;filled with the Holy Ghost,&quot; as to enjoy in our hearts, and show  forth in our lives, the genuine fruits of that Spirit? Are all the  Magistrates, all heads and Governors of Colleges and Halls, and their  respective Societies (not to speak of the inhabitants of the town), &quot;of one heart &quot;and one soul?&quot; Is &quot;the love of God shed abroad in  our hearts?&quot; Are our tempers the same that were in him? And are our  lives agreeable thereto? Are we &quot;holy as he who hath called us is  holy in all manner of conversation?&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;I entreat you to observe, that here are no peculiar notions now  under consideration; that the question moved is not concerning doubtful  opinions of one kind or another, but concerning the undoubted, fundamental  branches (if there be any such) of our common Christianity. And for  the decision thereof, I appeal to your own conscience, guided by  the Word of God. he therefore that is not condemned by his own heart, let him go free.   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;In the fear, then, and in the presence of the great God, before  whom both you and I shall shortly appear, I pray you that are in  authority over us, whom I reverence for your office sake, to consider  (and not after the manner of dissemblers with God), are you &quot;filled  with the Holy Ghost?&quot; Are you lively portraitures of him whom ye  are appointed to represent among men? &quot;I have said, Ye are gods,&quot;  ye magistrates and rulers; ye are by office so nearly allied to the  God of heaven! In your several stations and degrees, ye are to show  forth unto us &quot;the Lord our Governor.&quot; Are all the thoughts of your  hearts, all your tempers and desires, suitable to your high calling?  Are all your words like unto those which come out of the mouth of  God? Is there in all your actions dignity and love? --a greatness  which words cannot express, which can flow only from a heart &quot;full  of God;&quot; and yet consistent with the character of &quot;man that is a  worm, and the son of man that is a worm?&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Ye venerable men, who are more especially called to form the tender  minds of youth, to dispel thence the shades of ignorance and error, and train them up to be wise unto salvation, are you &quot;filled with  the Holy Ghost?&quot; with all those &quot;fruits of the Spirit,&quot; which your  important office so indispensably requires? Is your heart whole with  God? full of love and zeal to set up his kingdom on earth? Do you  continually remind those under your care, that the one rational end  of all our studies, is to know, love and serve &quot;the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent?&quot; Do you inculcate upon them day  by day, that love alone never faileth (whereas, whether there be  tongues, they shall fail, or philosophical knowledge, it shall vanish  away); and that without love, all learning is but splendid ignorance, pompous folly, vexation of spirit? Has all you teach an actual tendency  to the love of God, and of all mankind for his sake? Have you an  eye to this end in whatever you prescribe, touching the kind, the  manner, and the measure of their studies; desiring and labouring  that, wherever the lot of these young soldiers of Christ is cast, they may be so many burning and shining lights, adorning the gospel  of Christ in all things? And permit me to ask, Do you put forth all  your strength in the vast work you have undertaken? Do you labour  herein with all your might? exerting every faculty of your soul,  using every talent which God hath lent you, and that to the uttermost  of your power?   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Let it not be said, that I speak here, as if all under your care  were intended to be clergymen. Not so: I only speak as if they were  all intended to be Christians. But what example is set them by us  who enjoy the beneficence of our forefathers? --by Fellows, Students, Scholars; more especially those who are of some rank and eminence?  Do ye, brethren, abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in lowliness  of mind, in self-denial and mortification, in seriousness and composure  of spirit, in patience, meekness, sobriety, temperance; and in unwearied, restless endeavours to do good in every kind unto all men, to relieve  their outward wants, and to bring their souls to the true knowledge  and love of God? Is this the general character of Fellows of Colleges?  I fear it is not. Rather, have not pride and haughtiness of spirit, impatience and peevishness, sloth and indolence, gluttony and sensuality, and even a proverbial uselessness, been objected to us, perhaps not  always by our enemies, nor wholly without ground? O that God would  roll away this reproach from us, that the very memory of it might  perish for ever!   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Many of us are more immediately consecrated to God, called to  minister in holy things. Are we then patterns to the rest, &quot;in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity&quot; (1 Tim.  4:12)? Is there written on our forehead and on our heart, &quot;Holiness  to the Lord?&quot; From what motives did we enter upon this office? Was  it indeed with a single eye &quot;to serve God, trusting that we were  inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon us this ministration, for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people?&quot;  And have we &quot;clearly determined, by God&#39;s grace, to give ourselves  wholly to this office?&quot; Do we forsake and set aside, as much as in  us lies, all worldly cares and studies? Do we apply ourselves wholly  to this one thing, and draw all our cares and studies this way? Are  we apt to teach? Are we taught of God, that we may be able to teach  others also? Do we know God? Do we know Jesus Christ? Hath &quot;God revealed  his Son in us?&quot; And hath he &quot;made us able ministers of the new covenant?&quot;  Where then are the &quot;seals of our apostleship?&quot; Who, that were dead  in trespasses and sins, have been quickened by our word? Have we  a burning zeal to save souls from death, so that for their sake we  often forget even to eat our bread? Do we speak plain, &quot;by manifestation  of the truth commending ourselves to every man&#39;s conscience in the  sight of God&quot; (2 Cor. 4:2)? Are we dead to the world, and the things  of the world, &quot;laying up all our treasure in heaven?&quot; Do we lord  over God&#39;s heritage? Or are we the least, the servants of all? When  we bear the reproach of Christ, does it sit heavy upon us? Or do  we rejoice therein? When we are smitten on the one cheek, do we resent  it? Are we impatient of affronts? Or do we turn the other also; not  resisting the evil, but overcoming evil with good? Have we a bitter  zeal, inciting us to strive sharply and passionately with them that  are out of the way? Or is our zeal the flame of love, so as to direct  all our words with sweetness, lowliness, and meekness of wisdom?   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;Once more: what shall we say concerning the youth of this place?  Have you either the form or the power of Christian godliness? Are  you humble, teachable, advisable; or stubborn, self-willed, heady, and highminded? Are you obedient to your superiors as to parents?  Or do you despise those to whom you owe the tenderest reverence?  Are you diligent in your easy business, pursuing your studies with  all your strength? Do you redeem the time, crowding as much work  into every day as it can contain? Rather, are ye not conscious to  yourselves, that you waste away day after day, either in reading  what has no tendency to Christianity, or in gaming, or in--you know  not what? Are you better managers of your fortune than of your time?  Do you, out of principle, take care to owe no man anything? Do you  &quot;remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;&quot; to spend it in the more  immediate worship of God? When you are in his house, do you consider  that God is there? Do you behave &quot;as seeing him that is invisible?&quot;  Do you know how to possess your bodies in sanctification and honour?&quot;  Are not drunkenness and uncleanness found among you? Yea, are there  not of you who &quot;glory in their shame?&quot; Do not many of you &quot;take the  name of God in vain,&quot; perhaps habitually, without either remorse  or fear? Yea, are there not a multitude of you that are forsworn?  I fear, a swiftly-increasing multitude. Be not surprised, brethren.  Before God and this congregation, I own myself to have been of the  number, solemnly swearing to observe all those customs, which I then  knew nothing of; and those statutes, which I did not so much as read  over, either then, or for some years after. What is perjury, if this  is not? But if it be, O what a weight of sin, yea, sin of no common  dye, lieth upon us! And doth not the Most High regard it?   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;May it not be one of the consequences of this, that so many of  you are a generation of triflers; triflers with God, with one another, and with your own souls? For, how few of you spend, from one week  to another, a single hour in private prayer! How few have any thought  of God in the general tenor of your conversation! Who of you is in  any degree acquainted with the work of his Spirit, his supernatural  work in the souls of men? Can you bear, unless now and then in a  church, any talk of the Holy Ghost? Would you not take it for granted, if one began such a conversation, that it was either hypocrisy or  enthusiasm? In the name of the Lord God Almighty, I ask, what religion  are you of? Even the talk of Christianity, ye cannot, will not bear.  O my brethren, what a Christian city is this! &quot;It is time for Thee, Lord, to lay to Thine hand!&quot;   &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial, Helvetica;&quot;&gt;For, indeed, what probability, what possibility, rather (speaking  after the manner of men), is there that Christianity, scriptural  Christianity, should be again the religion of this place? that all  orders of men among us should speak and live as men &quot;filled with  the Holy Ghost?&quot; By whom should this Christianity be restored? By  those of you that are in authority? Are you convinced then that this  is scriptural Christianity? Are you desirous it should be restored?  And do ye not count your fortune, liberty, life, dear unto yourselves, so ye may be instrumental in the restoring of it? But suppose ye  have this desire, who hath any power proportioned to the effect?  Perhaps some of you have made a few faint attempts, but with how  small success! Shall Christianity then be restored by young, unknown, inconsiderable men? I know not whether ye yourselves could suffer  it. Would not some of you cry out, &quot;Young man, in so doing thou reproachest  us?&quot; But there is no danger of your being put to the proof; so hath  iniquity overspread us like a flood. Whom then shall God send? -- the famine, the pestilence (the last messengers of God to a guilty  land), or the sword, &quot;the armies of the&quot; Romish &quot;aliens,&quot; to reform  us into our first love? Nay, &quot;rather let us fall into thy hand, O  Lord, and let us not fall into the hand of man.&quot; Lord, save, or we  perish! Take us out of the mire, that we sink not! O help us against  these enemies! for vain is the help of man. Unto thee all things  are possible. According to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou  those that are appointed to die; and preserve us in the manner that  seemeth to thee good; not as we will, but as thou wilt!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/6743609241149163538/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=6743609241149163538' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6743609241149163538'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6743609241149163538'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/spiritual-christianity-john-wesley.html' title='Spiritual Christianity  -  John Wesley'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-5777965528852110771</id><published>2008-07-17T02:55:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T02:57:03.874+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Real Men Stand in the Gap - Franklin Simmons</title><content type='html'>&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Librarian;font-size:180%;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Standing in the Gap, A Real Man&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Men&#39;s Day Celebration, the theme is &quot;Real Men Serve the Lord&quot; and the scripture chosen is: &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Scripture: (Ezek 22:30 KJV) And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;I want to center this message on the thought &quot;Standing in the Gap, A Real Man&quot;. First let&#39;s look at my perception of a real man&#39;s characteristics. Real Men:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Get Nervous and Excited&lt;br /&gt;Make Mistakes and Achieve Perfection&lt;br /&gt;Lose and Win&lt;br /&gt;Cry and Laugh&lt;br /&gt;Experience Pain and Pleasure&lt;br /&gt;Experience Sorrow and Joy&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;But, through all this diversity, they serve the Lord. Real men serve the Lord!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Also let&#39;s be clear, not all men serving are serving the Lord, some are serving the Lord&#39;s purpose.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Oh yes men, don&#39;t deceive yourselves, you can be used by God for His purpose and never receive a blessing. There is a difference in serving God&#39;s purpose and serving God. You see God&#39;s servants WORSHIP GOD, they PRAISE GOD, and they TRUST GOD, hence they receive His blessings. &lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;What do I mean by being blessed and being used! Well, God can use anything to serve His purpose. He used a donkey to stand in the gap for Balaam to keep him from going astray. God sent an Angel to block the way of the donkey and force it aside three times, each time Balaam would smite the donkey. However, Balaam didn&#39;t know why the donkey was acting so strange and was mad enough to kill it. Then the Lord caused the donkey to speak to Balaam and question his treatment of it, especially since the donkey had been so loyal to him in the past. Then the Lord opened Balaam&#39;s eyes to see the angel and the angel told Balaam if the donkey had not turned aside then I would have killed you. Now, who wouldn&#39;t serve a God like that? Read the story in the book of Numbers, the 22&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; chapter.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He used a fish to stand in the gap for Jonah until he repented and went on to preach to the Ninevites. Jonah was tossed into the depths of the sea, only to be saved by a great fish that kept him for three days and three nights as he pondered his decision to run from God and then he repented. Jonah said, out of the belly of hell I cried out and the Lord heard me and placed me on dry land to accomplish the mission he had originally given me. Now, who wouldn&#39;t serve a God like that? Read the story in the book of Jonah, the 1&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt; and 2&lt;sup&gt;nd&lt;/sup&gt; chapters.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He used ravens to stand in the gap for Elijah while Elijah waited out God&#39;s drought hiding from Ahab, king of Israel at that time. God had given Elijah the task of telling Ahab it would not rain or even have dew in the land for years. After telling Ahab, Elijah fled and Ahab hunted him to kill him but never found him as the ravens tended his needs, because there was no man to stand in the gap for him for fear of Ahab. Now, who wouldn&#39;t serve a God like that? Read the story in the book of I King 17&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; chapter.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;You see God can use anything. If he can use these animals he can use you. But, the difference is the blessings received. Yes the blessings are the difference in serving God&#39;s purpose an serving God.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Now, being blessed is to receive a gift of God.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Well, You might ask what is a gift of God? God&#39;s gifts are conveyed in (Gal 5:22 &amp;amp; 23): they are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. When you receive these gifts you can be a real man and stand in the gap. You see, you can have the meekness and longsuffering of Job, who suffered the loss of all his family and property and even endured injury with much pain and suffering. But, he endured it all with patience and without resentment. You can have the love that Steven showed, as he asked the Lord, lay not this sin to their charge as Saul stood by holding the coats of the villagers and watching as they stoned Steven to death. You can have the faith of the Hebrew Boys (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) as they said to Nebuchadnezzar, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. You can have the joy of David as he said weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. He also said this is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. You can have the peace of Paul, the man that stood and held the coats of the men that stoned Steven to death. I can see him now as he stands on the deck of that storm tossed ship destined for destruction telling the seamen to fear not for there will be no loss of life. You can have the gentleness of Elisha, as when he led the Syrian army blinded by God from Dothan to Samaria, delivering them to the King of Israel as prisoners. When the King asked shall I smite them, Elisha replied no, give them food and drink and send them home. And the King did and the Syrians troubled the Israelites no more for a while. You can have the goodness of the good samaritan as he cared for the wounded, left for dead man that the priest and levite pass by. You can have the temperance of John the Baptist as he kept himself under the subjection of Christ while he prepared the way for Him, not once entertaining the tribute of men saying that he was the Messiah. Now John was a man with a mission and because of his conviction God was not going to let that favorite nemesis of man, Pride, get in his way. Now who wouldn&#39;t serve a God like that! You see men, one of our biggest problems is pride. If we can develop the temperance to defeat our worldly pride we can stand in the gap and be a real man. Are you serving the Lord&#39;s purpose or are you serving the Lord and receiving your blessing? Take an inventory of your characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Ezekiel searched for a man such as these, but found none. God is searching today for such a man, are you that man. Can you stand in the gap if called upon today? Well if you can&#39;t, then here are a few suggestions:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;I suggest you take the advice of David and:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Change your ungodly ways. Because Psalms 1:5 says the ungodly shall not stand. Psalms 5:5 says that the foolish shall not stand. We cannot drink our liquor, do our drugs, down our brothers and expect to stand. We cannot dishonor our women by thought, word or deed and expect to stand. We cannot abandon our children and expect to stand. We cannot go behind our brother&#39;s back and do all kind of evil things and expect to stand. We cannot say hurtful things to each other and expect to stand. God sees, hears and is aware of all these things and will hold us accountable.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He wants us to be righteous as he admonishes us in Psalms 24: 3-5, &lt;b&gt;Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.&lt;/b&gt; You know the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He wants us to be reverent as he exclaimed to us in Psalms 33: 8, &lt;b&gt;Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.&lt;/b&gt; You know the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He wants us to be glad as he confesses to us in Psalms 122: 1-2, &lt;b&gt;I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.&lt;/b&gt; You know the joy of the Lord is my strength.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He wants us to be patient and hopeful as he exclaimed to us in Psalm 130: 5-7, &lt;b&gt;I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.&lt;/b&gt; You see my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Also, take the advice of Luke and be watchful and prayerful as he repeats the words of Jesus in St. Luke 21: 36. &lt;b&gt;Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.&lt;/b&gt; Pray without ceasing, for prayer is the way we communicate with God. Pray when things are good and when things are not so good.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;And then take the advice of Paul and:&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Be justified by faith as he tells us in Romans 5:1-2, &lt;b&gt;Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.&lt;/b&gt; You see without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith seals our prayer requests.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;Paul wants us to be whole as he emphasizes in Ephesians 6: 10-20, &lt;b&gt;Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.&lt;/b&gt; We have got to start living so we can stand and speak boldly for Christ. Not having to look around to see who is around that might know something on us. For there is nothing stronger than a righteous Black man standing for what he knows is the truth and can back it up. But, if we speak one thing and do the opposite, then we are weak in our delivery and not convincing to our audience.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;He also wants us to be Holy as he challenges us in Philippians 1: 29 - 2: 4, &lt;b&gt;For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.&lt;/b&gt; You see I am my brothers&#39; keeper. Everything Christ did He did for others.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;And when you can do these things, you can as John P. Kee says, &quot;Stand for Holiness, stand for righteousness and be counted among them that shall reign with Him&quot;. He said, &quot;I decided to take a stand, not knowing I&#39;d lose my best friend, but I&#39;d rather live right than in Hell to lift up my eyes. Stand for Holiness, stand for righteousness and be counted among them that shall reign with Him. You stand, when friends are gone, stand when you&#39;re all alone and believe He shall receive His own. Stand, stand, stand, you stand!&quot;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;In order for us to stand we as men will have to do as the Colorado Mass Choir recorded &quot;Stir up the gift&quot;. They said, &quot;God has not given us a spirit of fear, but the Lord has given us POWER!&quot; He has given us &quot;Power and love, His joy and peace; His happiness; He has given us a sound mind.&quot; And &quot;Never should I be afraid.&quot; But, Stir up the gift. They said Lord, &quot;Lay your hands on me, and Stir up the gift.&quot; They said &quot;Touch me, Lord, Stir up the gift, I want you to stir me. I want you to stir me, Stir me, Stir me Lord. Oh stir me. Yes. STIR UP THE GIFT!&quot; Touch me, Lord. Stir up the gift.&lt;/p&gt;     &lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; width=&quot;380&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;     &lt;td width=&quot;374&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;&quot;&gt;St. Stephens, Opp - Men&#39;s Day&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;/tr&gt;   &lt;tr&gt;     &lt;td width=&quot;374&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;&quot;&gt;03/14/1999&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;/tr&gt;   &lt;tr&gt;     &lt;td width=&quot;374&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;&quot;&gt;Franklin Simmons&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/5777965528852110771/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=5777965528852110771' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/5777965528852110771'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/5777965528852110771'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/real-men-stand-in-gap-franklin-simmons.html' title='Real Men Stand in the Gap - Franklin Simmons'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-6770404490264036692</id><published>2008-07-17T02:52:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T02:53:32.985+01:00</updated><title type='text'>Standing in the Gap</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 100%; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Standing in the Gap&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: rgb(153, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;TGIF Today God Is First, by Os Hillman&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. - Ezekiel 22:30&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The people of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Israel&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt; fell into sin when they worshiped the golden calf. It would not be the last time God&#39;s people would fall into idol worship. They had forgotten the great things God had done for them. This angered God so much that He was going to destroy the whole nation. Only one thing changed God&#39;s mind in the matter-Moses. Psalm 106:23 says, &quot;...had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them.&quot; Moses was a man willing to stand in the gap, sacrificially, for those who were not deserving of such sacrifice. This sacrificial love by Moses is called for among His people today.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The prophet Ezekiel described another situation in which God&#39;s people fell into sin. God was ready to destroy the nation when He spoke to Ezekiel, asking him if there is a man willing to stand in the gap so that God would not have to destroy His people.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Judah&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt; was a man who stood in the gap on behalf of his younger brother Benjamin. Joseph held his brother Simeon hostage as insurance that the other brothers would bring Benjamin to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;lw_1169405249_3&quot; style=&quot;background-position: 0% 50%; background-attachment: scroll;&quot;&gt;Egypt&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Judah&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt; had a long history of a me-focused life, but in this instance he came forward to stand in the gap for his younger brother. He responded to the anguish of his father, Jacob, by personally guaranteeing the safe return of both Simeon and Benjamin. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Judah&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&#39;s sacrifice was rewarded (see Gen. 42-43).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just as Christ did, we are to be those who will stand in the gap on behalf of others who are not aware of their own vulnerable condition. It is a proactive sacrificial position. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Who is God calling you to stand in the gap for? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Perhaps it is a mate; perhaps it is a coworker who has not come to know the Savior; perhaps it is a wayward child. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Are you willing to become the sacrificial offering to God to change His plans of judgment because of your willingness to stand in their place? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;This is a hard teaching. This is what Jesus did for each of us. When we stand in the place of another, God moves because of our willingness to stand on their behalf. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;If we don&#39;t, His plans will go forward because He is a righteous and holy God who will honor His own word, even if it means destruction. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Are you willing to stand in the breach of the wall for someone today? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;MsoNormal&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; font-size: 85%; color: black;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Arial; color: black;&quot;&gt;Perhaps you are the only person who will stand on someone&#39;s behalf.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/6770404490264036692/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=6770404490264036692' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6770404490264036692'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/6770404490264036692'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/standing-in-gap.html' title='Standing in the Gap'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46769606935820225.post-2887642302452134800</id><published>2008-07-17T02:44:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-07-17T02:49:17.763+01:00</updated><title type='text'>To all my Brothers, Welcome!</title><content type='html'>Hello Brothers,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Welcome to your page and to your site!!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is the official blogsite for our Group - &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Brothers Standing in the Gap!&lt;/span&gt; The Facebook group for Men Intercessors!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The whole idea was informed by the need to come together as a collective to stand in the gap for our families, societies, nations and issues!! We come believing that we serve a prayer - answering God!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please feel free to contribute as much as the Holy Spirit would inspire you. We know that prayers change things. The effectual and fervent prayer(s) of the righteous availeth much!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God bless you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yours in His service&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Pastor Gbenga Shadare&lt;div class=&quot;blogger-post-footer&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;valid-atom.png&quot; alt=&quot;[Valid Atom 1.0]&quot; title=&quot;Validate my Atom 1.0 feed&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/feeds/2887642302452134800/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=46769606935820225&amp;postID=2887642302452134800' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2887642302452134800'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/46769606935820225/posts/default/2887642302452134800'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://brothersstandinginthegap.blogspot.com/2008/07/to-all-my-brothers-welcome.html' title='To all my Brothers, Welcome!'/><author><name>Brothers Standing in the Gap (Facebook)</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/04476003547043068604</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>

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