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.
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
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