Brother Branham, you scare people by saying Jesus is coming so quickly

Someone said, one time said, "Brother Branham, you scare people by saying Jesus is coming so quickly. Oh, it's a horrible thing to think that our world is coming to the end."
I said, "Not for the Christian. It's the most glorious thing he can have on his mind, just to think that our Lord might come at any time. It'll all be changed then. It'll be over.
I believe the boys has got a little book here that the Businessmen printed, the vision that the Lord just gave me recently. I hope you get to read it.
"Yes," Paul said, "I have fought a good fight, and finished the course, and kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day, and not only me, but to all who love His appearing. Oh, when you love the Lord it takes all the fear out. You're just going to meet Him.

Recently, when old friend of mine, Dr. F. F. Bosworth, died down in Miami, I went down to see him. He was about--way close to ninety years old. And I said to him, I said, "Brother Bosworth, what was the happiest time of your life, you've been preaching now for about fifty-five or sixty years?
He said, "This is the most glorious hour I've ever lived."
And I said, "What would--why would you say that?" just question the old saint.
He said, "Brother Branham, all I've lived for since I was a young man, has been Jesus Christ." And he said, "At most any minute, I'm looking for Him to come in the door to take me with Him." Said, "It's the most glorious... All I could ever think or the most glorious expectations that I could ever have, is to know that soon now, I'll be in the hands of my Lord, to be with Him forever." That's real Christian dying. That's not real Christian dying; that's real Christian going to be with Him.

Like Paul Rader said, when he was dying... Los Angeles. As we call death... He called his brother, Luke. He said, "Think of it, Luke. We've been a long time together, but," said, "in five minutes from now, I'll be standing in the Presence of Jesus Christ, clothed in His righteousness." Squeezed his brother's hand and went to meet Him. Oh, that makes me think of Longfellow's "Psalm of Life:"
Lives of great men all remind us
And we can make our lives sublime.
With partings, leave behind us,
Footprints on the sands of time.
How that encourages the Christian.

 

WMB~ An uncertain sound (61-0315)

Now, if that's the inspired Word of God, drink this sulfuric acid.

Some time ago there was an infidel across the country, oh, I guess fifty years ago; and he was converting people from Christianity to infidelism. And when his mother was dying the only thing that he could say, "Maw, grin and bear it."
Oh, what a consolation to give a mother in her death hours. So he went over to England, and he had a lot of converts there. No preacher would attack him. No, sir. 'Cause he was smart and shrewd. He'd just cut them down like this, 'cause most of the preachers... He stood right...

 And a friend of mine who stood and even shook his whole foundation when he stood there with a bottle of sulfuric acid and right down in Memphis, Tennessee, and had that bottle of sulfuric acid. He said, "Any of you people here that's supposed to be Christians, Mark 16 said, 'They shall drink deadly things and it will not harm them.'" Said, "That's what Mark said." Said, "Now, if that's the inspired Word of God, drink this sulfuric--sulfuric acid."And some of them said... Why they said, "Why, you--you shall not tempt the Lord thy God."
And he said, "Oh, so I shall not tempt Him to ask Him anything, either." Said, "Maybe He can't be disturbed," and making fun of them like that.

And one thing happened, I'll have to tell this too, while right at it if I can. There was a big old country boy setting back there with hair hanging down his neck, overall jacket on. He just come walking up, and teeth out here in front, you know, and hair hanging down in his face. He walked right up towards the platform, reached down his overall pocket, and pulled out a big apple, and began to peel it with a knife.The infidel said, "Well," said, "Sap, what do you want?"
Said, "I just want to ask you something." He just kept on peeling on his apple.
He said, "Well, tell me what you want, or I'll have you throwed out of here."

Said, "Just a minute. Give me my time." So he peeled the apple and cored it, got it ready, put it in his mouth, begin chewing on it like that. Said, "I want to ask you a question."Said, "What is it?"
Said, "Is this apple sweet or sour?"
Said, "How do I know I'm not eating it?"
Said, "That's what I thought." Turned around and walked back to his seat. How do you know that God ain't real until you've tasted Him, felt Him? Hallelujah. How do you know Divine healing's not right unless you've put it to a test one time? How do you know the Holy Ghost is not right, you run around with your ecclesiastical jacket on trying to explain all the Divine part of the Bible out, and taking a bunch of theology. How do you know about God, if you've never even tasted to see that He's right or not?

Be sincere. Be humble before Him. That's right. And Dr. Davis standing there, an old Methodist bishop was setting there with this young preacher. A young, Roy Davis he was setting there with this bishop. That infidel said, "Any of you guys," and some of them, the ministers was saying, 'Mark 16 from the 9th verse on is not inspired. It isn't inspired, so you can't depend on it.'"He said, "Well then, I'll say over there, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden,' Matthew 11:27 said," I'll say, 'That's not inspired then.'"
So he had him on a spot. And Roy said... The Holy Ghost begin to move on him, say, "Stand up there." So he said, the old bishop, he said, "If that infidel makes that challenge one more time, if I die in my shoes, I'll go to heaven believing God's Word."
So he said, "Now, listen, son. Set down and let him just... He's just popping his own brain. Let him alone."

So it was the Holy Spirit moving. So when he made that challenge again, he let out a big "Ha-ha" and held his watch up. "If there's a God, I'll die in a minute." Waited for a minute and said, "Didn't I tell you wasn't no such a thing? Ha, ha, ha," like that, laughed out like that.

So Roy when he made that challenge said, "Why not some of you guys out there believe that God's so real," said, "try this sulfuric acid test."Now, now, I'm not telling people to do that. Don't you do it unless the Holy Ghost is with you. See? Now, I don't believe in taking up serpents, or... I believe if I was baptizing out in the water, and a serpent grabbed me, I'd throw him out on the bank and go ahead and baptize like Paul did or something like that. Or somebody slip poison to me, I'd trust God for my healing. That's right. But I don't believe in bringing things, say, "Come here and I'll show you I can do it." I think that's wrong. That's right.
But Brother Davis walked up to the platform. We got a notary public's statement on this. He walked up there. He said, "Christian people," about two or three thousand setting there, he said, "I'm twenty-five years old." He said, "I'm a minister of the Gospel," and he said, "I--I know that my God is able to deliver me from that," but said, "nevertheless, if He does or does not, I'll never let that infidel stand there with that in his hand and challenge God's Word." He said, "I'll meet you in glory."

Grabbed it out of his hand...?... and drank ever drop of it right down, stood there and preached the Gospel, and about fifteen hundred people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost setting in the meeting. Hallelujah. Yes, sir.No, that same infidel after coming back, he wanted to take a rest, and he went out here in the west in Colorado. And he had a camp out there and he was walking down along the path there one day, and he begin walking along.
He kinda felt kind of bad, his health was breaking on him and he happened to look up there, and the wind was blowing them great big rocks hanging in the mountains. He said, "Wonder if I've been wrong." He got down; he said, "O ever where you are, Who you are." Said, "Look at those rocks hanging there. Have I been wrong? Has the water washed them away like that, or did God place them there like that?"
What was it? God speaking in His universe. If they hold their peace, the preachers, the rocks will immediately cry out. There that infidel fell on his knees and gave his heart to God, because the rocks was a crying out. How that God speaking out of mother nature to him. Hallelujah.
God is in His universe. Do you believe? Oh, my, I could stay on that another hour. Let's just stop a minute. God in His universe. I'll hurry with these others right quick.

WMB ~  Show us the Father - 53-0907A

Over in Africa his father is a king of the tribe. And yet, an alien, away from home, he knows he's the son of a king. So he conducts himself that way."

As I said last night about a--a king one time, down in the south when they had... The colored down there was sold for slaves. Why, they was no more than just a--a used car market; you get a bill of sales on them. And I was alarmed, at a little place... I read one day where a--a broker come along to buy some, and he said, "Well, now, I'd like..." They was sad; you'd have to whip them, make them work because they was away from home. They're sold slaves. And they in a foreign country they knowed nothing about, and they'd never be back home again, and they were sad. You had to whip them, make them work. But this broker come by a certain plantation.

One young fellow there with his chest out, and his chin up, you didn't have to whip him. He was right up, and he kept the morals of the rest of them up.The broker said, "I'll buy him."
He said, "He's not for sale. No, sir. You ain't going to buy him, because he's not for sale."
He said, "Well, what makes him so much different?" Said, "Is he the boss over the rest of them?"
Said, "No."
Said, "Do you feed him different?"
Said, "No. Yeah, he's a slave; he eats out there in the galley with the rest of them."
Said, "What makes him so much difference?"
He said, "I wondered myself, till I found out. Over in Africa (where they come from, where the Boers bought them, and brought them over here and sold them for slaves), over there his father is a king of the tribe. And yet, an alien, away from home, he knows he's the son of a king. So he conducts himself that way."

What a rebuke to Christianity. We're supposed to represent God and Eternal Life. There's only one form of Eternal Life, and that's God. He alone has Eternal Life. And we are products of His, because we're genes of His Spirit. Then we should conduct ourself, women and men, like the Bible said for us to do, not Jezebels of the street, and Rickies of the organization; but Christian gentlemen, sons and daughters of God, borned of the Spirit of God, manifesting the Light in our days and scattering It. That's exactly right.

WMB ~ Leadership - 65-1207

So I went out that night and slept in a corn field [and my] seersucker trousers got all dirty there in corn field

And I remember a lovely little boy was born into our home. I call him Billy Paul. I want him to be with me in the next meetings at Carlsbad, as soon as I leave Arkansas here. And so, he's fourteen years old now. And a little later on, eleven months come along, another--another lovely little sweet thing by the name of Sharon Rose.Just before Billy was born, we had saved enough money, till I was-- wanted to take a little time off. And we... I went up to Dowagiac, Michigan, to a--a meeting, and the--with an old man that had white beard and white hair, by the name of John Ryan.
And so I went up there. And on the road back, coming back, I seen a sign, great crowds of people everywhere when I passed through Mishawaka. I thought, "What are those people." And I went over there, and there's some of them in T-Model Fords, and some in Cadillacs. And they told me that they were... I couldn't nothing to, no place to stay. And they said you're--you're... There's a conference going on here. The Pentecostal people are having a conference. The--the P. A. of J. C., I believe it was, P--P. A. of J. C. denomination of Pentecost called that.

Well, I seen all kinds of people. I thought, "Well, that's a religious meeting. Believe I'll go in."Well, I never heard so much noise in all my life. So... Oh, church manners, they didn't have it. They were screaming, shouting, and carrying on. I thought, "What in the world?" I looked around there, and they got a tabernacle...
Some of you might know the man's name. His name's Rowe, Reverend Rowe. Anybody happen to know Reverend Rowe? And a... Yes, someone here knows of him. Reverend Rowe, it was in his church.
Well, they were just clapping their hands, and carrying on, and dancing. And why, I said, "My, isn't that horrible, people dancing in the church?" I said, "Well, that's a shame." And I was setting in a seat of the scornful, sure enough. So I thought... Something though kinda got a hold of me a little bit. And I thought, "Well, now."

I'm counting my money. I had--I had two dollars and fifteen cents left. And I went out and got... Thought, "Well now, I can't stay in a tourist court, 'cause I ain't got the money. But I'm going to stay over. Just got enough money to buy my gasoline to get home." So I went out that night and slept in a corn field. And I know... I didn't have very good clothes. And the next morning, why I went to the service.And that day, oh, my, ministers preaching... And how I noticed, that night they called, said, "Every preacher come to the platform." Hundred and fifty, more preachers come up to the platform. They was having a conference, international conference. They was all setting on the platform.
He said, "We haven't got time for all of you testify." I went up. He said, "Just say who are and where you're from."
And it come to me, I said, "Evangelist, William Branham, Jeffersonville," set down.
Well, come to find out, I was youngest minister in the group of them. So then that night I thought... They had a... They was bringing all kinds of preachers. And they chose an old colored man to bring the message for that night: real old, just a little rim of hair around his head. He had an old preacher's coat on, had velvet collar, kinda a cut-away coat. Poor old fellow come out to the platform like this. And oh, I felt so sorry, I wanted to get up and help the old man. And he come out...
And they had to have the conference up there on account of not having it in the South, 'cause they had both colored and white to--together.

And the old fellow was standing there, you know. And all the ministers that day had been preaching on what Jesus done and so forth. But he never taken... He took his text from over in Job somewhere there where it said, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world, and when morning star sang together, and sons of God shouted for joy?" Well, where the ministers were bringing the activities of the Church on earth, he went up into the heavens back yonder and come plumb back down about ten million years before the world was ever formed, and come back down the horizontal rainbow with him.And about time he got down there, he let out a great big whoop, and jumped up, and clicked his heels together, said, "Glory to God. You ain't got enough room up here for me to preach."
I look at that. I said, "Well, if That'll make an old man like that act like that, what would It do to me if I got some of It?" I said, "I want some of That. That's what I want. If It'll make an old man like that, well, what would It do for me?"
So I went out that night in the corn field, and I begin to pray. I said, "Lord, le--le--let me get some of that." So I--I said, "You give me favor with them people." And pray way into the night, out there in the corn field.

I took my... had some seersucker trousers. My others was... got all dirty there in corn field. So I--I laid them on my seat, and took the two seats and put them together out of my car, and pressed my trousers that night. And I had my little seersucker shirt. Nobody knew me, so I just laid it down there. seersucker shirt and little old T-shirt, and seersucker trousers, rather. I laid them down there. Next morning I got up, shined them all up.Meeting begin at ten o'clock. We had breakfast after breakfast. And I wasn't going to eat with them, because I didn't have no money to put in. I just didn't--didn't eat with them. But they made me welcome and everything. I didn't know no one there, but a little fellow, I forget what his name was. He played a violin, a little curly headed fellow.

And so next morning, I walked in, set down. And so after while, I looked over and another man come in and set down, a colored man sat down by me, big bunch of people setting there. So I was setting there. This... They said, "We're going to begin the services." And they was talking, making their... selling literature, and whatever they had. And he said, "There was a minister on the platform last night by the name of Branham from Jeffersonville." Said, "He was the youngest man on the platform. We want him to come up and bring the morning message."Mercy, why, I never even seen a microphone. They had a microphone there. I thought, "What? Well, I couldn't... seersucker trousers and T-shirt." I just hunkered down real low, like this.
He announced again, said, "Anybody know where William Branham of Jeffersonville?" Said, "We want him to come up and bring the message." Fifteen hundred people nearly setting there. Not me, before that. I just set back there. No, sir. This... I was too countryfied to get up there. So I just set there real low. And so... And he announced it two or three times. Said, "Anybody on the outside, we're paging for William Branham."
I thought. Something told me, said, "That's what you prayed for last night. If you want to get acquainted with them people, get up there."
"Lord, I can't do that, seersucker trousers and T-shirt." I said, "Nuh-uh." So I was setting there.
And he... when he announced it again, this colored man looked over at me, said, "Do--do--do--do you know that man?"
Oh, my. Talk about on the spot. I said I had... I knowed I had to lie or--or--or something, or be--tell him. I said, "Look, fellow, look. Now, keep this to yourself." I said, "I'm he. See? But..."
He said, "Well, get up there, white man, get up there."
I said, "No." I said, "I got on... Look at these pants here."
He said, "Them people don't care what you got on. They want to hear you."
And I said, "Look, I can't get up there." I said, "I--I don't... You just keep still."
And he said, "If anybody knows where..."He said, "Here he is. Here he is." Whew. Um. "Here he is."
I thought, "Oh, my." I could just feel my heart go, and my knees real weak, and my arms looked like they was going to drop off. Well, it just looked like something picked me up, and here I went walking up, just as conscious, seersucker trousers and T-shirt.
I got up there, and I said, "Folks, I don't know very much about..." Before them preachers who could really preach, oh, my. I said, "I just want to say that I--I love Jesus, and--and ah--and ah--and ah..." You know, sort of like that.
And so he said... I started to walk off, and he said, "Well, speak a little for us, Brother Branham."

I turned over. I said, "I--I--I just don't know what to say." And I happened to think of a text, "And Then He Cried," the rich man that... When he lifted up his eyes in hell. And I took that text, "And Then He Cried." And I got to speaking, and the first thing you know, Something hit me. My, I was lost out of this world for awhile. And everybody got to screaming.I went outside when the service was over, and a great big fellow from Texas with a... with cowboy boots on, and a big cowboy hat, said, "I'm a preacher."
I thought, "Well, brother, my seersucker trousers aren't so bad after all. He had those cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat, and be a preacher?"
And he said, "I heard you say you was an evangelist. I'd like to sign you up for couple week's revival down in Texas."
I took his name. I said, "Oh, my, Lord. You just doing great things for me." I took that all down, you know.

A little bitty fellow with these little golf playing trousers on, walked up and said, "I'm from Florida. Like to have you over there for a couple of weeks."My, I seen they was just common people after all. So first thing a--a indian... A woman come up from the indian reservation, wanted me to go there. Well, I had enough invitations to last me about a year. My, I jumped in that old Ford, and it half backslid, and down the road I went.
I rushed in at home, wife met me, you know. I said, "Oh, honey, I got something to tell you. I met the cream of the crop." I said, "My, people who just scream and shout and jump up-and-down. They're not ashamed of their religion." I said, "My, the best you ever seen."
She said, "Where they at?"
And I told her. I said, "Looky here. I got a whole string here." I said, "My, I can just preach and preach and preach it. And you know what, they accepted me."
Said, "Is that right?"
I said, "Look. I'm going to quit my job and start right out."
She said, "Well, we haven't got any money."
I said, "How much money we got?"
She said, "We got that twelve dollars in there, payment on the Ford."
I said, "Well, you know, the Bible said, 'Don't--don't take anything when you go.' See? Don't take any script, or if you got two coats, give one to your brother. He said, 'I--I--I will be with you.'" I said, "That's the way." He said.. I said, "Will you go with me?"
She, bless her heart. She said, "Yes, I'll stick with you."
So I--I went and told my mama. And mama said, "That's all right, honey. If you feel that."

Well, I went and had to tell her mother. And that didn't work so good. She said, "William." She said, "She's your wife. You may take her if you want to." But said, "I don't want my daughter drug out among that bunch of trash." Um. Trash?Friends, I found out this, that what she thought was trash, is the cream of the crop. That's right. And I say that with respect.
Said, "Out like that where all that carrying and screaming and carrying on like that." Said, "Why don't you go on up there and be a pastor. And--the someday they'll build you a parsonage, and all that."
That didn't... Oh, my. So Hope begin to cry. And so I said, "Well..."
She said, "I'll go with you."
But anyhow, I didn't want... She said her... how it would hurt her, so I just let it go, went on.
Friend, the little girl that was too good to be with that trash, I buried her just a little after that. Sorrow set in right there.

WMB ~  Life story - 50-0200

And it won't work; no selfish thing will work. Your motives and objectives has to be exactly, perfectly right, then you have faith there

 Someone come not long ago, a group of men, some of them listening in tonight, and told me, said... I kept telling them, "Go to Kentucky; oil's down there." I knew it was; I seen it in a vision.Well, Brother Demas and them didn't go for a long time. After while, finally, they said (after Texas had moved in)--and they said, "Now, we're going down."
I said, "You ought to have went a long time ago." But they didn't do it.
Demas said, "I made a great mistake in that, by not doing that, Brother Branham."
I said, "If you'd have went down there, you'd have had it all."
Well, they wouldn't listen to it. Then the first... Then 'fore we left that night (the--the place where we were having lunch) the Holy Spirit showed me a great crack in the earth, and in that was full of oil, and these overflows in Kentucky was just little beds of oil that they were pumping from, but this one come from the main stream. And I said, "Brother Demas, it's there."
So they went to searching for it. Said, "Go down and tell us where the--where the oil well is."
I said, "Oh, no. No, no."

See, we don't use the gift of God for commercial. No, no. He could tell me where it was at, but I don't have any need of it. I wouldn't even have faith enough to ask Him. See? If I had a need of it, I believe if I'd ask Him, He'd tell me. But first (You see?), your motives and objectives has to be right. You have to have reasons for this. God don't give you those things just because you ask. And you cannot ask in faith unless there's a real objective to that, to be in the will of God. See? If you want to be well, what do you want to be well for? See? If you want to be healed, what's the reason you want to be healed? What are you telling God? What do you want to do with you life when you get healed? See? There's got to be... You've got to have a motive and objective, and they have to be right according to the will of God. And then's when the faith is revealed to you, and God by His sovereign grace places that faith in there, then it's over. See? Now. See?

Now, to make that Word true, when the brethren got down there, they got... One fellow went over and bought a bunch of stuff, and sold leases, and cheated the other one this way. I said, "You see, it won't work." Now, just to make the prophecy sure, within a hundred yards of where these men were digging their well, some man struck the big gusher. And it's there, eleven hundred barrels of oil in a half a day, or something or other like that: still putting it out, right in that main stream. But just to make the prophecy, the Word that had been said that it was there, it was there. The rest of them nearly's all dried up, everywhere through Kentucky. Little ponds, they pump them a little while, and they go. It's only the overflow from this. See?

But because of the selfishness got among it, the objectives was wrong, signing up a bunch of stuff "it would be this way," when they promised they would do it for the Kingdom of God, but looked like it's for themselves. See?And it won't work; no selfish thing will work. Your motives and objectives has to be exactly, perfectly right, then you have faith there. "If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence." See, see? We've got to have confidence. "I want this to the honor and glory of God." Then faith has a--a channel to move into; if it doesn't, then you've got mental, intellectual faith, and not genuine faith from God. That intellectual faith will get you nowhere. Might get you emotional, but it won't get you the healing that you're looking for.

So Job, checking himself with the genuine faith that God had give to him that he was just, that he had done everything that God required him to do... Now, when we're going to be prayed for for our sickness, I wonder if we have done everything that God requires us to do. Have we followed every iota of the Scripture? Have we give Him our hearts and lives to service? What's the reason you want to be healed? That's the reason you can't get faith enough (See?), because you haven't maybe made this thing to God sincerely from your heart. Like Hezekiah did, give God the reason, he wanted to set his--his kingdom in order. And God sent His prophet back and told him, and he'd be healed. See? But you have to have those things made right first.So then as soon as you get to these places and know that it's been revealed to you by the Word of God, by the revelation, by the Word that God requires you to do, then you have faith, genuine faith.

Now, just like Abraham when he was ninety and nine years old (I believe Genesis 17)... God appeared to this old man now, ninety and nine years old, when he was almost a hundred years old, that had been waiting upon that promise all these years, He appeared to him in the name of El Shaddai, the "Breasted-one." And what an encouragement it was, yet the promise wasn't fulfilled then. But, "Abraham, I am the Almighty God, El Shaddai, the Strength-giver, the Breasted God."

Like I've told you before, like the little baby that's fretting, and sick, and crying, and it lays upon its mother's breast and nurses its strength back from her, because it's satisfied while it's a-nursing, because the only access it has and knows of is the mother's breast. It knows no dose of medicine. You might give him a dose of medicine; he'd squeal and cry, give him a shot in the arm, and he'd carry on. But the only access to satisfy him is the mother's breast.
 

 And He said, "Abraham, you're old; your strength is gone; your arms are withered up; your manhood's gone; but I am your Mother. Just take ahold of My promise, and be satisfied while you're waiting. Be rested."Now, that's the way every believer, no matter how bad the cancer's got you, how long you been setting in a wheelchair, any of those things, just if you can grasp that revelation from God, then be satisfied, knowing that it's going to happen, because faith waits patiently for the promise. See?

Job knew that he was right. When we find out here in the Scriptures, that there was these fellows come to him (his church members). Everything that once seemed dear to him had turned against him, and tried to accuse him of being a secret sinner, because all these things had happened to him. You hear people, yet today, say, "I told you. Look at him. You see what..." That ain't altogether the truth. Sometime it's God testing His people. In this case it was God testing Job, the best man there was on earth at the time. Now, He was holding him there, because that He knew Job was a prophet that had a vision from God, that he had exactly done what God told him to do and he... God was duty bound to keep His promise to him.

Oh. All Christians has got to be that. When the last struggle of our life comes, and death rattles are in our throat, we still must hold steady and remember that God said, "I'll raise you up again at the last day." See? Got to hold that--that, our testimony, our place in Christ, our position, what we are, knowing that we have kept every Word of His commandment. "Blessed are they that do His commandments that they might have the right to enter in." See? And when we know, that no matter what anyone has said, we've kept every commandment that we see in the Bible, that God has done us--told us to do, with reverence, and love, and respect to the Creator Who wrote the Bible...We say, "Man wrote It."
"Men of old moved by the Holy Ghost wrote It." See, see? God wrote It through men. Like a prophet speaks His Word; it's not the prophet's word; it's God's Word (See?) through the prophet. That's the reason it has to come to pass, if it's truly the Truth.

I have heard but now I see  [65-1127E]

She screamed, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever."That little eagle said, "That sounds right."

I heard a story one time, that there was a farmer, that was going to set a hen. Now, I guess all you people know what it takes to make it setting a eggs. And he lacked one egg in having enough. And he put an eagle's egg under the hen. That's about the way it averages, one to a setting.But, however, when this little fellow was hatched out, he was a stranger in a strange land. That's the way when some of these places hatch out a eagle once in awhile. He didn't know what to do. He didn't--couldn't understand their language. The hen would get out there and scratch in the barnyard, holler, "Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck. The days of miracles are past. There's no such a thing as Divine healing. All that Holy Ghost stuff is fanaticism."
He couldn't understand that. He's kinda by himself. And he looked around, thought, "Is this where I belong? Now, I don't look up that way, because that was one time, but we're down here now. See?" But he couldn't understand that. He looked up and it looked pretty good to him. Why? It was his nature. He was an eagle to begin with. He wasn't at home. Did you ever see any of them like that? I was one of them.

So then, the first thing you know, the clucking of the hen, he couldn't understand it. The chickens, their diet and the way they'd eat. Why, he couldn't understand that. It'd turn his little stomach to see the way they eat. Sometime it does, a real Christian in an old formal church. The diet, bunco games, card parties, soup suppers for to the preacher, God don't endorse that.So then the first thing you know, one day while he was out there running along by himself looking around, his little wings folded, didn't know what to do. And all the little chicken was eating away on their diet. He couldn't understand it. But there come an old mother eagle through the sky hunting for him. She flew over.
I'm so glad that He found me one day too. I never found Him; He found me. I knowed there was something somewhere. There was something in my heart when they told me that visions and things is of the devil, that Divine healing, that was just mental conditions. There was something down in there told me different. I knowed that was wrong.

The old mother eagle flow by, and she looked down, and she saw her child. And she screamed. And when she screamed, he understood that language. She screamed, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever."That little eagle said, "That sounds right."
She come back cross again; she said, "Son, you're not a chicken; you're mine." I'm so glad. Hallelujah! "You're my child. You don't belong among them chickens." She looks again, could I be mistaken? I'll test him. God always tests His children by the Word. And she screams back, and she said, "If you are an eagle and you believe..."
"How do I get out of here, mama?"
"Only thing you do is just jump, and start flapping your little wings; they'll pack you. Jump, run towards the altar and flap that little faith you got a little bit. See what I'll do for you. If you're sickly in there dying, just make a run towards Calvary. Use that faith you got. Watch what happens?"

He made a jump (See?), because he was a eagle. Now, if he'd been a chicken, he'd said, "You never get me hooked up in that bunch of holy-rollers. You'll never get me in that fanaticism. Oh, no." But he was a eagle, and he minded the Word.Any man that's a Christian, when the Bible says anything, he will say, "Amen" to It, 'cause the Holy Ghost had give him birth is the One that wrote the Word.
He begin the flop his little flappers, and he jumped up as hard as he could. He didn't care whether it looked like holy-roller to them chickens or not. He's obeying the word that was told him. And he jumped, and he started flapping his little wings. And he got his feet off the ground: felt pretty good. Then he lit right on a barnyard post, right in the middle of a pentecostal organization, who fences all the chicken in, and says, "Don't associate with that bunch." We got them.

And his mother come back. She said, "Son, you'll have to jump higher than that, or I'll never get you."That's the way it is, brother. You've got to jump into the arms of God. You've got to get off your feet. You've got to get off of the denominational porch. You've got to pull your arms out to every man and woman that professes Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. Certainly, love them; break down your barriers; don't fence them in. Eagles can fly a fence.
She caught him. Oh, how good it was take--take the first solo flight up into the air, because he was an eagle.

No doubt but what there's eagle here tonight that's never took your first solo flight. You don't what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe you don't know what it is to have the joybells of God ringing in your heart. Maybe you'd look and see the power of God moving, like a blind man standing here last night to receive his sight; see the Angel of the Lord promised through the Bible, as we've been preaching this week, showing that He would do the same things just before the Lord Jesus came, that He did in the days of Sodom. How that a Man came, a human, looked like, dressed like a man, dust on His clothes; said He was a Stranger, set down with Abraham, the elected Church. Why, there was a modern Billy Graham and so forth, and Jack Schuller, went down and blinded the people about preaching the Gospel in Sodom, to the lukewarm church to call them out.But an Angel come to the elected, and stay there with Abraham and his group. Watch what He did. He said, "Abraham, where is your wife, Sarah?" How'd He know he had a wife? How'd He know her name was Sarah?
Said, "She's in the tent behind You."
And Sarah, in the tent, laughed within herself. And the Angel said, "Why did Sarah laugh?"
A eagle will catch that right quick. A eagle will know that we're at the last day. Jesus said, "As it was back there at Sodom and Gomorrah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man."

WMB ~  As the eagle stirreth up her nest - 59-0815

"Days of miracles is past, cluck, cluck, cluck. Stand here and eat this, and stand here and eat that."

The other night I was teaching somewhere; I believe it was out in California, or Arizona, about... I believe I've told the little story here about the man setting a hen and had a eagle egg under it. And when that eagle hatched out, he was the funniest looking bird that them chickens ever seen. But he walked around; he was the--he was the ugly one among them, because he just couldn't understand how that hen will cluck and scratch on that manure pile and eat, and he couldn't get the idea. She'd say, "Come on over and feast, honey." Why, he--he was a eagle; he just didn't eat like that. It wasn't his food.So she'd catch grasshoppers and whatmore, you know, and call the little chickens. And all them little chickens would go along, cluck along, and eat. But the little eagle just couldn't do it. It didn't--didn't look right to him.

So one day his mammy come hunting him. And he'd hear that hen cluck. He'd tried his best to cluck, but he couldn't do it. He tried to cheep like a chicken, but he couldn't do it. See, he was a eagle. He's... To start with he was a eagle. He was just hatched under a hen. That's like some church members. Every... That's about the way it is; about one out of a setting is right.But one day his mammy flew over and she screamed. He recognized it. "That sounded right." Why? He was a eagle to begin with. That's the way it is with the Gospel of the Word, the power of Jesus Christ; when a man has been predestinated to Eternal Life, he hears that true ring, scream of God, nothing can keep him from it. The church might say, "Days of miracles is past, cluck, cluck, cluck. Stand here and eat this, and stand here and eat that."
That barnyard stuff won't do for him any more. He's gone. "All things are possible." He gets off the ground. That's what's the matter with so many Christians today; they can't get their feet off the ground. The old mammy said, "Son, jump; you're an eagle. Come up here where I am."
He said, "Mom, I never jumped in my life."
She said, "Well, you jump; you're eagle to begin with; your not a chicken." So he made his first jump and flopped his wings; didn't do too good, but he got off the ground. That's the way we do; we accept God by faith by the written Word. There's something in there (See?), that Eternal Life, you were predestinated to it.
His grandpa and grandma were eagles; he was a eagle all the way back. Eagle don't mix with other things. He's not a hybrid at all; he's a eagle.

Then after you recognize the very Word of God was Eagle Food, then you left the other thing. You've then been formed into the living image of the living God. You heard from your theophany. "If this earthly body be dissolved, we have one waiting."You say, "Is that right, Brother Branham?" All right, let's take a couple of eagles and look at them for a few minutes.
There was a name--man named Moses. Everyone knows that a prophet's called the eagle in the Bible. There was a prophet named Moses. And one day God called Him--and wouldn't let him go over the land--and he--he died on a rock. The Angels took him away and buried him. There was another man, a eagle, didn't even have to die. He just walked across Jordan, and God sent a chariot down and: "This robe of flesh he dropped and rise and caught the everlasting prize." Eight hundred years later, eight hundred years later on Mount Transfiguration here stood those two men. Moses' body had been rotten for hundreds of years, but here he was in such a form till even Peter, James, and John recognized him. Amen. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved..." If you're an attribute of God expressed here on earth, you've got a body waiting after you leave this world. There they was standing on Mount Transfiguration in their theophany, for they were prophets to whom the Word came to.

 WMB~Who is this Melchisedec-65-0221E

Operations of Church Offices AS WERE RECOMMENDED BY REV. WILLIAM BRANHAM

Operations of Church Offices
AS WERE RECOMMENDED
BY
REV. WILLIAM BRANHAM
FOR
THE BRANHAM TABERNACLE
PASTOR
Rev. William Branham
ASSOCIATE PASTOR
Rev. Orman Neville

AGREEMENT AND OPERATION OF OFFICES

The following agreements and the operations of the present offices in power at the Branham Tabernacle are compiled below. It is to enlighten the present members who now attend the worship
services at the Branham Tabernacle; as to the proper function of each office. That we may agree as one united body, understanding each others position as we work together to forward the kingdom of God.

THE OFFICE OF THE PASTOR

The office of the pastor is to conduct and act upon any program of which he believes to be according to the plan of God, according to the Word of God, for the Branham Tabernacle. He shall assume supreme authority and meet promoting for the spiritual welfare of the church. He shall be head of the associate pastor, the deacon board, the trustee board, and the church body itself. Acting in wisdom to lead God's saints, manifesting love toward all the saints and their burdens. Conducting himself in perfect servitude, of which God has called and placed him to act upon.

THE OFFICE OF ASSOCIATE PASTOR

The associate pastor to the Branham Tabernacle, is to perform and carry out the duties of the pastor, in his absence. To conduct worship services according to the manner of doctrine believed and practiced by the Branham Tabernacle. He shall be invested with the same power as the pastor is, meeting all responsibility of the church, and acting in full authority to keep the church in order. He is to manifest deep concern to all the burdens of the saints and fulfill the commission of which God has called him to, as
a shepherd. He shall account at various times the progress of the church, spiritual matters present, and problems that may be pressing, to the pastor. He shall not undertake any business transactions without first presenting it to the pastor, the exact transaction.

THE OFFICE OF THE TRUSTEES

The body of men, shall govern the welfare of the church as a business group. They are elected to protect the church in its financial matters, its business investments, the supervision of its properties, and its expenditures. They shall strongly consider every move of progress, step by step, which involves church funds. For they shall be responsible to keep the church from indebtedness, and the saints from burdens that are too great to bear financially. In the undertaking of any project, regardless what it is, they are to bring the matter to the pastor, consultation by the pastor, consultation by the pastor only for every financial project the church wishes to invest or engage itself therein is absolutely required.

THE OFFICE OF THE DEACONS

The office of deacons, as elected according to the Word of God and the manner of the Branham Tabernacle, is to act as an office of spiritual assistance to the pastors. They are to assist the pastors on all of his spiritual activities. They are given free speech in presenting to the pastors any program or benefits that would bless the general and spiritual welfare of the church. They must be apt to teach, and ready to assist the pastor or associate pastor on every duty if called to do so. They shall assist in serving communion. They shall be acting ushers in all services. They shall police the church, in keeping civil order and conduct. They shall assist in taking local offerings. They shall oversee the spiritual conduct of
the church in working with the pastor and one another on spiritual problems and matters of the saints.They shall be ready at anytime to assist the need of every saint who is burdened and in need of spiritual consultation, or general welfare. They have not the right to act upon any program or promotion without agreement with one another, the pastors, or the trustees if the program they are considering doing involves church funds. They will be responsible before God for their conduct and manner of service, according to the Word of God. They shall not have meeting among themselves without the pastor or associate pastor present.

THE OFFICE OF THE TREASURER

The responsibility of the treasurer is to provide an exact account of the financial status of the present funds in the treasury. This report is to made available to the pastor or the board of trustees, upon their request of such a report. No other office in the church may have access to this information. He may obtain such information from the trustees report given to him by the treasurer. The treasurer shall sit in on every trustee meeting to take notes and minutes of actions taken by the board of trustees. He has not the authority to convey or acknowledge the financial status information to any acting office in the church but the pastor or board of trustees. He shall not be a consultant in spiritual matters, nor is it of need that he
should attend meetings of the deacons. Unless asked to by the pastor.

THE OFFICE OF SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT

The office of Sunday school superintendent is of vital importance to the church. Though his duties are not major, he is responsible to keep the childrens classes with teachers and supplies that pertain to
teaching. He shall undertake to appoint teachers to their rooms assigned to them. He shall, in the absence of a Sunday school teacher, appoint another teacher to take the place of the one absent from duty. He shall watch carefully that the time element of the classes beginning and closing does not interfere with the worship service. He shall present the needs of Sunday school supplies to the board of trustees, who will advise him concerning the funds needed for supplies. He shall not direct the teachers themselves, only
assigning them to their classes. He shall not undertake any program without consulting the pastor, for the Sunday school department solely. He is not required to sit in on deacon board meetings, nor on trustee meetings. He is free from any responsibility as that pertaining to a deacon or trustee, that all his time may
be given to supervise the Sunday school, with devout interest.

THE OFFICE OF MUSIC PROGRAM

The music program and all order pertaining to the development of such a program is under the supervision of the pastor only, and the associate pastor. During regular - services, special meetings, or
revivals, at all times, the pastors shall advise and conduct this program. The trustee board shall advise on the purchasing of any musical instruments and the pastor shall be consulted. Any suggestions for musical programs by the saints, deacons, or such parties interested should be presented to the pastor, who will
welcome them, and advise on such suggestions. It is preferred the pastor shall control this program, as he is the leader of the worship service, and confidence is placed in his ability to lead the church in worship that is most pleasing to God. Music programs, testimony services, addresses by various parties, reports to the church by various offices, or any program that intervene the worship time should be under the pastors supervision.

“Don’t be afraid of him, son. He has been sent from the Presence of God Almighty.”

As a little boy, I used to sell books for my dad in the healing campaigns. I wore a carpenter’s nail apron around my waist, and I would walk up and down the aisles before the service, offering for sale the three booklets we had at that time, which were I Was Not Disobedient To The Heavenly Vision, Jesus Christ, The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, and Divine Healing In The Branham Campaigns. The price was three for 25 cents, and I remember how I concentrated on making the correct change for people, and then balancing my little record book every night. I thought I had the most important job in the world and I was proud to think that Dad trusted me to do it. Usually, one of my uncles would travel with us also, to give out the prayer cards each night and to help Dad in and out of the service. I especially liked it when Donnie, Dad’s youngest brother, who was only eight years older than me, came along. We were both just kids, and we had a lot in common and shared some great times together.

It was never Dad’s way to stay in high priced accommodations when we traveled, but that was especially the case in those early years of ministry when our choice of lodging would best be described as being adequate, but humble. Dad and I spent many, many nights together in the cramped quarters of run-of-themill hotels, where the bathroom was not in your room, but at the end of the hall. They were uneventful times, for the most part, with one remarkable exception.

We were in Vandalia, Illinois, and I was about 11 years old. Dad, Donnie, and I were all sleeping on one bed in a tiny room, and, being the youngest, I was in the middle. It was very early in the morning, before dawn, when Dad nudged me awake. He was holding a pillow up next to my face, and when he was sure I was fully awake, he began to speak to me in a low voice. “Billy,” he said, “you know the Angel that Daddy talks about?” I had heard him tell, many times, about the Angel that stood beside him, so I said, ‘Yes, sir.”

“He’s here,” he continued, “he visited me tonight and told me things about the coming meetings. He is still in this room, right now, and I asked him if I could let you and Donnie see him. The Angel told me, ‘You can wake up your son, Billy.’ “He nodded his head towards a corner of the room where I knew there was a wash basin and mirror, but that spot was now being blocked from my view by the pillow. Dad said, “He’s right over there by the wash basin. Would you like to see him?”

Again I said, “Yes, sir.” From the first time I’d heard Dad speak about the Angel that came and spoke with him and stood beside him, I had wondered what an angel looked like. I don’t know what I expected to see in our room that night – an airborne being with wings, I suppose. But that is not the way it was.

Dad lowered the pillow so that I could see, and I turned my head towards the corner of the room. There stood a man dressed in white. Every detail of his face and clothing was visible to me, and in my mind’s eye I can see those details as clearly today as I did then. He was a large man, weighing perhaps 200 pounds (much larger than my dad). His hair was very dark and hung to his shoulders, touching the robe-like garment he wore, but he had no beard. His complexion was smooth and unlined, and the color of his skin was somewhat dark, nearly olive-toned. Later in my life, I recognized his features and coloring as being characteristic of the Armenian people. His arms were folded across his chest, and he was looking directly at us there on the bed. There was a kind and gentle look in his eyes that I cannot describe, and although he did not say a word to me, I sensed a communication between the Angel and Dad. I began to tremble. Dad put his arm around me and said, “Don’t be afraid of him, son. He has been sent from the Presence of God Almighty.” With my dad’s arm around me, I continued to look directly at the Angel, and after a few minutes the man’s form began to blend into a pillar of light. The light became a mist which then vanished from the room. In its place hung a rainbow. 

When Donnie awoke a short time later, the rainbow was still visible in the room, and together we watched the colorful beam of light as it hung there in our room for more than two hours.

When I grew older, I asked my dad, “How come the Angel of the Lord let me see him that night?” I’ll never forget his reply. He said, “Because God called you to work with me, son, and He wanted to make Himself manifested to you.” And I know that from that night in Vandalia on, no matter where we were, I never had to wait to hear Dad say, “He’s here.” I could always tell when that Presence was near.

 Quoted from 'The Angel by Billy Paul Branham' in Only Believe Magazine

"Brother Roy,.......You've been worried about your son, Eddie, that got killed.

We lost our youngest son, Eddie, in 1951, in the Korean War. He was just twenty-one years old, and had been married about a year, and had a six-week-old baby. That was so hard for us to understand. We wondered why the Lord couldn't have taken one of us instead. And I was worried about whether or not he was truly saved.

The military funeral for Eddie was held in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Brother Branham was there, along with several very high-ranking Army officers. The Army chaplain had the service, and Brother Branham prayed at the funeral home and at the gravesite. Then he made himself acquainted with all the military men, talked to them and shook hands with them. He had such a way of talking to people, no matter who they were, that was like no one I ever met before. He was the greatest man, even amongst great men.
A few weeks after the funeral, Brother Branham and I were on our way to Brother George Wright's farm, which was about 35 miles out in the country. Brother Branham really loved the Wright family, and we would go out there quite often, to fellowship with them and to go rabbit or squirrel hunting.

On this particular day, we were riding in my station wagon and I was driving when all of a sudden I began to feel real light-headed, and a strange feeling came over me. I though that I was going to be sick, or even faint, so I started to tell Brother Branham I was going to have to pull off the road and stop. But as I started to say this, he spoke up and said to me, "Brother Roy, I've got something I want to tell you. The Holy Spirit has wanted me to tell you this. You've been worried about your son, Eddie, that got killed. You're worried whether or not he's saved. You're causing yourself to have an ulcer, Brother Roy. Just quit worrying about him because he's all right and he will be there on that day."
And then he said, "I see you when you were lying on a stretcher over there in France in 1944, when you were wounded. I see the wounds in your right arm and both legs. The nerves were severed in your legs and your right arm was just barely attached to your body. They lay you out on a stretcher there with another soldier, and they thought you were dying. But the Lord had something for you to do later."
I had never said anything about this to him, but Brother Branham saw it all in a vision and told me every detail.

Words of Roy Roberson from the Only Believe Magazine

"Don't worry about it, Brother Roberson. I'll meet you at Mount Zion."

Brother Billy Paul and he told me that there had been an accident, a bad accident. He asked me to call all the brothers and have them pray, and that he would call me back as soon as he knew more.
I called as many of the brothers as I could and we all began praying.

 About forty-five minutes later, Brother Billy Paul called me back and told me just how seriously injured everyone was, and that they had just taken Sister Branham and Sarah to the hospital in Amarillo and as soon as they could they would take Brother Branham also.
Several of the brothers left right away for Amarillo, but I stayed in Tucson in case there was something that needed to be done from there. I was just in a bad state. I felt that I couldn't pray, and I sat in our trailer alone most of the time. I couldn't understand anything that was happening.

One night, I was lying on my bed and all at once the room lit up and I saw Brother Branham walk up beside my bed. He had on his hat and his Bible was under his arm. He reached down and got hold of my hand, and he said, "Don't worry about it, Brother Roberson. I'll meet you at Mount Zion."

When I came to myself, somehow in my heart I could understand that it was all the Lord's purpose, and not something for me to reason about.

Words of brother Roy Roberson from the Only Believe Magazine

"Then I went out and prayed all night; nothing happened. Come back the next morning; nothing happened"

Like the little Stadsklev baby, when they sent over here to... Mrs. Stadsklev said, "Brother Branham, I called from Germany." There was an American army, with one of their jet planes setting out here at the field, would fly me to Germany and back in a day. He was a chaplain. And the baby was laying dead. And that little mother screaming, she said, "Listen..." Said, "I know; I stood right there and seen that woman hold that dead baby in her arms that died that morning. And I seen Brother Branham walk right out there and lay hands on that dead baby, and it come to life." Said "This is my baby, Brother Branham." Never been a death in their family. See? And this little thing took sick one morning and died that afternoon.Here was all of them standing around and giving prophecies and things, "The baby was going to raise up." and all like that.
I said, "Well that's mighty nice, Sister Stadsklev, but let me see what Father says." And I went out to the woods, and I prayed. Come back in, she done called two or three times 'fore I got back the next morning. Nothing.
The doctor said, "All right, if that's... If you have faith like that, lady, we'll never let the baby leave the hospital. Let it lay right here. You stay right here with it. That's all right."
Brother Stadsklev went and seen the army and major, and they said, "Sure, we--we'll fly him over and bring him back."

And there was a plane setting waiting to take me over that morning and bring me back that night to Germany, to Heidelberg, Germany, for the resurrection of this baby. I said, "Sure God can do it, but let's see what His will is."Then I went out and prayed all night; nothing happened. Come back the next morning; nothing happened. And I started into the room. Just then I looked there, and there stood that Light hanging near the door, said, "Don't put your hand on that. Don't rebuke that. That's the hand of God."
I got her on the phone; I said, "Sister Stadsklev, bury your baby. It's the hand of the Lord. It's God's will. Something would happen to that baby down along the line. You let it go right where God knows where it's at. You can't go to it now. If it lives, you won't. You leave it right like that."
That great Lutheran preacher in Germany wrote a letter and said, "How I can appreciate what Brother Branham, waiting for that clear-cut decision of God before he said anything." That's it. Hold to God's decision. No matter what others say, or whatever it is, don't proposition with Satan at all.

WMB~How can I overcome  [63-0825M]

"I've always been afraid of death" bro. Branham's confession in a tape he made for condolences to Stadsklev family

Condolences to Stadsklev family
William Branham - [JEFF IN] TAPE: 60-0924

This is the evening of September the twenty-fourth.  Brother Julius Stadsklev and Sister Stadsklev, David, and Deborah, way across the sea tonight in Germany, broken hearted, I'm sending this little message to you, Brother Julius and Sister Stadsklev, David, and also to Grandpa and Grandma. Hasn't been long since I was talking to you on the phone. Doesn't seem possible that things can happen just as quick as they did. You know, that reminds me, Jesus said, "Be prepared, for we know not what minute or hour."
Been a terrible day for us, Brother Julius, Sister Stadsklev, because that our sorrow's for you. How we feel so sorry for you. And knowing we're limited, just so much that we can do... But we want to express to you our love and gratitude.

Around home today, pretty near everything I looked at was something that you all had give us or something. I went in my den room, there hung that rifle you gave me. I looked setting over there on the--my study desk, and there was the rocks that David had ground out and made a--a--a Bible carrier, or book end ever-what-you-call-it. Went into the room to pick up the telephone, and this
morning and today when I was talking to you and praying with you, and that telephone is setting right on the sewing machine that you all bought for us. Just everywhere I looked, it looked like it just... I guess it's because of the sorrow that I had in my heart for you. My heart goes out to you.

 And this morning, Brother Julius, as I prayed yesterday afternoon and last night, and I'd sleep a little while and wake up and wonder, "Lord, will You speak to me?" Then about six-thirty, Meda got
up to go into the kitchen to get the children's breakfast. And when she got up, and just as she left the room, I heard a voice, spoke into my heart and said the words that I told you. "Don't rebuke this.
This is the hand of God." Then it brought a little comfort to me to know that whatever... It wasn't something that Satan slipped up on you. It was the plan and program of God.Brother and Sister
Stadsklev, how can I make you see that now? No more than I could when I went in the room there to pray for little Sharon, and God refused to hear me. That... I couldn't understand then how that
would be His program. But look what that little story has done: brought thousands to Christ.

A few weeks ago I was coming down off of a hillside where I went one afternoon in the woods to hunt. And I was setting up on the hillside thinking of the time when I was a little boy and used to
squirrel hunt. And I thought, "Well, things has changed a lot since then. But look at the sorrow. If you'd go through it, would you do it again, if you had to go back over life?"I said, "Yes, I would."
First, I said, "I don't believe I would, because I'd have to go through the sorrow of seeing Hope my first wife go, and little Sharon, and them."
And then Something said, "But look at the thousands of souls that's been saved." I said, "God, yes, I'd go through it again: anything for Your Kingdom."

Now, Brother Stadsklev, it said, you know, in the Scripture, like Job when he had all these troubles and everything, "Every one that cometh to God must be chastened and tried." And Job, in all of his suffering, and in his troubles and temptations lost all of his children, and all of his--all of his wealth, and everything. He said, "The Lord gave; the Lord taken away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord." God straightened everything up for him.Did you ever think there, Brother, Sister Stadsklev, he said, "And He restored to him his children." After He restored the camels, and the--the sheep and
everything, and He restored his children. Do you ever notice where them--think of where those children were? They were in glory waiting for him. Remember he'd made a sacrifice, and had for his
children, "peradventure they might have sinned," he said.

When Sister Stadsklev told me this morning that the little baby had gotten so it could put his hands over its eyes and praise the Lord, now that--that was making the sacrifice. Christ made it, and
you was teaching it to that baby as a little bitty thing. It's in glory tonight waiting for you. Brother Julius, I just got a little tape here I want to send you, and I want you to know that we thinking today if
we could get flowers over, or something or another, we just don't know what to do. Anything we can do, brother, just let us know.

I want to make a confession here, of something that just recently happened. I've always been afraid of death, Julius. I always afraid to die, because I didn't want to become a spiritual body. I thought I only knew as human being, and I wanted to remain that way. And I wanted to live to see the coming of the Lord Jesus.And here a few weeks ago I was laying on the bed one morning after coming in from a great meeting, and I thought, "Well, my wife's asleep, so I'll just study about if I've--being fifty-one now, could I possible live to see the coming of the Lord?" And just then I heard something say to me, "Just keep pressing on. The reward's at the end of the road. Keep pressing on."

Now, Brother Julius, I don't want to call it a translation; although I believe it was. But I'll call it a vision. Something happened. Now, I left where my body, where I was at. And I come into a place, looked like they had a little hill-like. Coming down through there was tens of thousands of young women. They were all running to me, and throwing their arms around me, and hollering, "My precious brother."Well, I thought, "I don't understand this." And something said, "This is perfect love, what you're speaking of."

Now, we realize, and I know that no human being, the male and female, can put their arms around one another without having a human sensation. But, Brother Julius, it wasn't so there. There's no human sensation there at all. It's not... About like a mother hugging her baby or something like that... It was beyond that. It was perfect. It was beyond perfect. I don't know how to express it.Then I heard the--looked like a voice coming from the other way. And I looked, here come tens of thousands of men. The women was all young, and the men were all young. The women had long hair, down around their waist, and was wearing white dresses and barefooted. The young men seemed to have kind of a shaggy hair down around their neck. And I thought, "What is this all about?" And just then, they lifted me up and set me on a great, high place. And I said, "Have I died? Is this it?"

And just then, he said, "This is perfect love. What you've taught." And I said, "Why would you put me up like this?" And they said, "Because in earth, you was a leader." I said, "Well, if I've passed on, I want to see Jesus." And they said, "You can't see Him now. He's a little higher. But someday He'll come." And said, "Then when He comes, then He'll come to you and--and you'll be judged by the Gospel you preached."
I said, "Well then, did--did... Will Saint Paul have to be judged this same way and stand before his crowd?"
Said, "Yes."
I said, "Well, I preached the same thing he did."
And millions of voices, sound like, rang out at the same time, "We are aware of that."

Then I looked and I thought, "What is this about?"Just then a voice said, "You have been gathered to your people just like Jacob was."
"Gathered to my people?" I thought, "What is this?" And I said, "Do you mean I can't see Jesus at this time?"
Said, "No, not now." Said, "We're here in this form."
Now, they had bodies, because I could feel their arms around me, and--and--and I... They were real people.
And I said, "Well, this is wonderful. And I was afraid of this?" And then... And I said, "I--I don't understand this, but it--this is wonderful."
And just then, It said... There was a young, beautiful woman come up, put her arm around me. She said, "My darling brother."

 And I seen my first wife coming; I thought... But of course she died when she was just a girl, twenty-two years old. And I thought she looked natural. And so I said, "Maybe she'll call me her husband when she gets here."And when her time come up, for her around--put her arm around me, she called me her darling brother. Then she put her arms around another girl there and said, "Isn't it
wonderful? He's with us."
Well, I--I didn't know what to make of it. And just then, this young, beautiful woman run and threw her arms around me, another one. He said, "These are..."
And I said, "Is this my people? Are all these Branhams?"
He said, "No. This is your converts, trophies of your ministry."
There was millions of them. And I said, "Trophies of my ministry?"
Said, "Yes." Said, "That woman, that beautiful woman that just put her arms around you, young and beautiful," said, "you know how old she was when you led her to Christ?"
I said, "I have no idea."
Said, "She was past ninety. Now, she'll never be old no more. She'll never be sick, or have sorrow no more."

And there they all were, just perfect. And I thought, "Well, my, this is a most wonderful thing to know that--that we gather into a place like this, and are saved and in a body like that." I thought,
"This is a--the--a glorious thing."So then I thought, "Well, this is--this is beyond anything that I could think of." It was just such a beautiful place. And everything so perfect: perfect love, perfect health, sin could never be there. There can be no death. There could be no sorrow. There could be nothing.
There was no yesterday, no tomorrow, and there was no tiredness. Everything is just perfect. I thought, "This is wonderful."

 And just then, I looked, and coming down across the hill I saw my old dog, my old Fritz; he put me through school. I'd hunt with him at nighttime, and--and he'd, you know, catch some opossums
and coons, and things, and--and--and I'd sell fur. And--and that was my old dog coming. And just then, I looked, and here come my little old horse.Now, a minister once said to me not long ago,
when I was referring this, said, "Do you think that animals would be in heaven?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Where do you get that for Scripture?"
I said, "Where's the horses that taken Elijah up into heaven on that chariot? Where's the horse that Jesus will be riding on the earth, upon a white horse, and His vesture dipped in blood? When will it
be when the wolf and lamb shall feed together and lay down, and a little child shall lead them?
When--when will all these be, when the ox and the lion eat straw together, and lies down together?
When will all these things take place?"
And then, when it--when I got through saying that, then he was convinced that it was true.

Then, Brother Julius, my old dog when I... He got poisoned, and when I buried him, I said to,
"Fritz, if there's a--a resting place for dogies, you'll sure be there." And here he come up and licked me on my hand.And old Prince, my horse, come up and put his neck across mine. Just then I heard
a voice speak out of the heaven and said, "All that you ever loved, and all that ever loved you, God has given you. And they're all waiting here for the coming of the Lord."
Then I felt real strange. And I heard a voice then, said, "Keep pressing on. Keep pressing on."
Something happened. And I looked back towards the bed where I could see my body, and I was moving around. A few moments I was back normal again.

Brother Julius, that did something to me. I've never been the same since. I don't believe I ever could. To know that our gracious heavenly Father let me look a past the curtain of time, to see a
land where there's--he's been perfect. Imperfection that we live in now has been changed. Then we're perfect, nothing to worry about no more, Brother Julius. Just waiting for that glorious hour, that
when our God and Saviour shall appear.And, Brother Julius, I don't know where I was. Wherever it was, isn't far away, 'cause I could look back and see myself. And wherever that is, your baby is
tonight. She's no more a teeny baby as she was. She's a young lady, beautiful, maybe looks like her mother. Some glorious day you'll see her again.

Deborah, honey, David, little sister's not dead; she's asleep in Jesus. She's waiting for the time that when you'll all be together again. When the... Gathered with your people... When the great Stadsklev family comes together, the Petersons, and all that's associated in your family, you'll see little sister there again.I know how you feel, honey. I know how I felt when I gave up my little girl. Not
long after that, I saw a vision of her. And you who have... You'll read it in my life story. And I'll be with her again some glorious day when the family's gathered together. And then together we'll meet,
wherever we are, scattered across the world. If you notice, the order of the resurrection: They which are asleep (and that's dead). Christians don't die, you know. But saying in our way: dead. "Dead"
means "separation." "Death," rather, means "separation."

Then them which are asleep shall not prevent those which are awake at the coming of the Lord.
"For the trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we'll be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." You notice the order of the resurrection? "We which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord (II Thessalonians, I believe about the 5th chapter) shall not prevent (or hinder) those that are asleep. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." And notice the next, "Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them."See, we meet them first. Now, I wonder, how God in His great mercy, when
He'd be worshipped perfectly there, and when... He knew that. He knew that if we got there first to worship Him, and then we'll go to look around, wonder where baby is, and where mother is, and
where this one or that one; but (You see?) He lets us meet one another first. So when you go up to worship before the Lord on that day, she'll be with you. See?

 "We not prevent or hinder those which are asleep, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air." And then we meet one another first and then stand before Him to crown Him the King of king and the Lord of lord. Oh, what a worship.When I see those precious ones. I preached and labored through the years, my loved ones, and meet them all, and then together hand in hand, stand in His Presence, won't we worship Him? To know when we take off our crowns and lay them before His feet, and say, "It was by Thy grace, Lord. We--we didn't merit a thing, but You brought us all together again with Eternal Life. We could never be separated no more, never have no more heartaches. Never will there be a funeral service among us. Never will there be flowers strowed along in the graveyard. Never will there be an ambulance, or a--no medicine to be taken. There'll be nothing but just living with the Lord, with each other, to enjoy the Eternal Life. And 'course, that's for eternity.
I'm waiting, watching for the coming of that grad-glad day, that when Jesus will come.

Now, may God's rich blessings be with you. Now, this morning, it was rather shocking. After you said to me yesterday, Sister Stadsklev, on the phone about praying for the baby, I had a real
strange, odd feeling. I went in and prayed, and come back out, and took the Bible in my hand. I said, "Lord, could You even show me a Scripture to start with?"When I opened up, it had--it opened to
that flyleaf that's in the middle of a Bible that says, "Death: Record of death." Then I prayed again. And I don't remember just where the Scripture was, but it was something about a death of someone else. I never opened it no more. I went to the woods, and later I found out the baby was even dead before you called. And then this morning, when these words came, "Do not rebuke this. This is the hand of the Lord."...
You know, many times, when I'm called to a--a case, why, I'll stand up there if it's sickness and say, "Sickness, I withstand you. I adjure thee, or rebuke thee, in the Name of Jesus." That, like the little
boy raised in Finland and other places, you know, withstanding it, because that's when God has told me to do it. Then it's not my word that rebukes it; it's the Word of the Lord.

And then, this morning when I was seeking, and last night, seeking the Word of the Lord for you, the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, "Rebuke this not, for it is the hand of the Lord," so sweet and kind. So as I said this morning to you, Sister Stadsklev, "Sleep on, little one. Take your rest. God has called. He knows what's best." And confide yourself into the will of God. Humble your
hand--your--humble yourself under His mighty hand.
My heart bleeds for you, as I think of you away from home, way across over there tonight in a strange land, among strange people, know no one. And your little, precious darling's gone on. But
how God knows, and how to take care of these situations. How He knows what to do. He knows what's best.

And, Sister Stadsklev, way I thought about my little Sharon, the way children are today, may be God had to say this. "I have to break your heart for a little bit, Julius, Gloria, David, Deborah,
Grandpa, and Grandma, and all your associates; I'll have to break your heart for a little bit. But you love that baby. I never give it to you. I just lended it to you for a little while to bring a little joy in your home. I've got to have it up with Me now. If I leave it there, Satan will make a great stumble out of it, and you'll lose it. So I can keep it better than you can. I'll just bring it up to Me, let it stay up here until you come, where you cannot lose it no more."God bless you, Brother Julius, and your family.
Anytime I that can be a favor to you, do anything for you, if the Lord would ever reveal anything more to me, I'll certainly be glad to send it right to you. And now, I'll write you a letter pretty soon.
And I thought this tape you'd hear it, and it might make you, you know, be a little closer to us, and we'd be a little closer together.

May the Lord ever richly bless you, my precious brother, and comfort you now in this great and dark hour that you're going through. And write me and let me know how you're getting along. And I'll be praying for you. Until I see you, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ever be with you. I'm going to have a little prayer before this little tape runs out. Lord Jesus, give peace, and satisfaction, and rest to my precious friends who this tape is designated to, the Stadsklev family, and the Petersons. May they know that You've called, and You know what's the best thing to do. Grant it, Lord. I commit them unto you. In the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.