Life Story

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1 But it's for His glory, that I say it. God bless you.
Now, in the 13th chapter of Hebrews, I wish to read some Scripture, because no service is complete without the reading of God's Word. My word will fail, everybody else's word will fail, but God's Word will never fail.
We have an altar, whereof they which have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Jesus... Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
(Now, here's my text.) For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
I imagine my voice has a little blast in there, and I'll get back to... Can you hear all right up in the balcony, up in the second balcony all right?
What I wish to speak on, is "Here We Have No Continuing City," to kind of back up and... And you pray with me. There's no one that...

2 I think of when the Abraham left the city of Ur... Era... Ur and the land of Chaldean, he was seeking a city whose Builder and Maker was God. Now, there was something in Abraham that he could see that great city of Ur, and he knew that that very thing that made people colonize together, there was bound to be a city somewhere that was typed off of. And by instinct, or by the leading of the Holy Spirit, he hunted that city whose builder and maker was God. And he sojourned in strange land, professed to be pilgrims and strangers, a seeking a city, and dwelling in tents with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so then, we see that city.

3 There's no matter how many places you ever roamed, no matter how far you go, there's no place like home. Is that right? How many here today is away from home, let's see your hands, just away from home? Oh, my. I wished I could sing. I'd sing, "We're Pilgrims And Strangers Seeking A City To Come." Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Let's take a little trip back home, would you like to do that? I believe everyone here would like to take a trip home, wouldn't you, just like to go back home? There's no place that you'll ever go that'll ever seem like that lovely little old city you lived in, or little old dwelling place out in the country.
For myself, I want to walk back down the road just this afternoon with each one of you, taking a little evening stroll to review the things over.

4 The first thing comes into my mind at this time, is a little humble home built out in the country by the broomsage fields, and some old apple trees standing around, where my father and mother and their little family lived, a little humble place indeed. The...
We were very, very poor. Daddy had a hard time. He was a very poor man. He worked for seventy-five cents a day in log wood. My father had a bad habit, drinking. I'm sorry to have to say that, but that's true. And he... My father died in my arms. I seen my daddy work so hard, till when he would come in, his back would be sun burned until his shirt would be sticking to his back, and mother would have to take and clip the shirt loose from his back. I don't care what he done. He's my daddy. I'm not ashamed of my father. I love my daddy. He's gone on today, but he's still daddy.

5 And young people, remember. If you're fortunate enough today to have a daddy and a mother living, love them, honor them. The hour will come when you'll think they're the greatest people in the world, if you don't now. And don't never, little fellows, don't never give this slandering word, "old man," and "old woman." That's not the old man and old woman. That's daddy and mother.
And some of these days when they go out of the room, in the casket, of flowers, you hear them lowered down in the ground, the pastor say, "Ashes to ashes and dust..." It won't be the "old man" then. There won't be the "old woman," it'll be, "Mother." You'll be wringing your hands and crying. That's right.
Now, while she's a living, give her her flowers now, and give dad his flowers. That's right. Now, and the best flower you could give them, is obey them. And that's the first promise in the Bible, the first commandment with promise, "Honor thy father and mother: which may lengthen the days upon the earth that the LORD giveth thee."

6 My daddy worked on a farm. I remember mother... The furniture we had in the house was the old hickory bottom chairs. How many remembers the old hickory bottom chairs, wrapped...? Well, I'm not the only country person in here, am I? And we had an old kerosene lamp with a big old hoot owl on the chimney. Remember them old owls? It used to the one I had to clean it, because my hand was so little, I could clean the chimney. And we had an old cook stove in the kitchen.
And pop would cut the wood, and we'd bring it in, and lay it behind the stove. And us little kiddies would help him saw it up.
And we had a table. And behind the table was a bench. Daddy took a piece off of a barn, and made a--and made a bench that we all... We little boys would go set on that. We only had three chairs. And so we would get on...

7 And I remember the cabin, the front part of it, it had a floor. It had a room in front and a little half room in the back. And we had one of those little old... We called them monkey stoves, or laundry stoves set up on a stump. And mother cooked from there.
here's about five of we little Branhams. We'd run in there, and wash our face, and slick that hair down, and jump up behind the table. And one great big old pot dinner, cooked in an old three-legged kettle... How many remembers them? Say, I'd just love to have a dinner out of one right now. And we'd...

8 She'd take and get beef and make mulligan stew. How many knows what mulligan stew is? I'm not the only Irishman here then, am I? So they'd put the mulligan stew in there. And we had...
My plate was a tin plate. Frankly, it was a big bucket lid that was turned over, so I'd get a good measure every time the cup went down and dipped out the mulligan stew. And we'd baked corn bread in a--in a pan (How many remembers old corn bread baked in a pan?), cut it in the middle, put it on.
And I'd set next to daddy, because every person broke his own bread. And so when it come by, I'd break the corner off, because it had more crust on it. It was just so good. And so I sure like that yet. Yes, sir, I sure do.
I've eat in many good places, and some of the best places, I guess, in the nation that minister friends of mine has taken me to dinner, which I'm very, very thankful. But friends, I'd give everything I ever had, or ever will have, if I could set behind that old table one more time and look at my daddy setting there, and eat some mulligan stew with him. I'll never do it no more. That's right. It's done forever. Enjoy your childhood, young people. Love God.

9 See all my brothers set around there, the little healthy looking things. Some of them's in eternity. I can never do that no more. For here, we have no continuing city, but we seeking one to come.
I used to see my daddy when we'd come in. He's a little fellow about my size, but strong built. And he would wind up his sleeves like that.
And we had it out to the old apple tree, they had a wash pan setting out there with an old piece of a glass with drove up in the tree, and a towel made out of a meal sack. And we'd go out there and wash at this old bench, and then we'd clean up on the outside. There's a little bench around the tree.
I'd see daddy when he'd be combing his black wavy hair, and the muscles would just wallow under his arm. I thought, "Oooh, my. My daddy will live to be a thousand years old," I'd think. I admired my daddy. And I'd think, "How strong he is." I said, "My, he'll live and live and live and live, because he's so strong." He died at fifty-two. For here, we have no continuing city.

10 Now, I thought, "Oh, that house. How big." Beneath it was logs. And it been kind of slab board on the outside. I thought, "Oh, how... That house will stand for hundreds of years." Today, there's a housing project there. Here, we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come. That's right.
I passed by just before coming here. I'm just so a great swelling in my heart. Oh God, how can just twenty years make such a difference in a place? But here, we have no continuing city. We're seeking one to come. And I thought of daddy.
And also, we... I remember every Saturday night, we'd go to town and pay the grocery bill. And every time we'd pay a grocery bill, Mr. Grower would give us (the grocery man), give us a little sack of candy. I think our grocery bill run to the extent of three dollars a week. And my, dad only made about four and a half.

11 So mom would get some goods at gi... My wife's setting here. I'm afraid to say what kind of goods that was, because I make a mistake on it every time. Anyhow, it's some kind of that little stuff, you know, that they used to make shirts out of.
And I remember one time at my church, I said to... One of the worst I ever was gotten at my church. I was going to have a humble night on Wednesday night, and I said... And my choir was all setting behind me. I said... And that... What... g-a-n-g-h--jan--j--gingham... That's what it is, name--gingham. And I said... And I was trying to think of that.
And there's a little place down the road called Gingham--Gingham Cottages. And I'll try to think of that. And I said, "I'm sure to make a mistake when I say that."
So I had a little girl by the name of Irene Wiseheart singing in the choir. I said, "Now, Sister Wiseheart, when I back back, if I forget about it, you tell me what that was." And so I didn't understand anything about goods like that.

12 And I said, "Now, Wednesday night is humble night here at the Tabernacle." I said, "Now, all you brothers, wear your work clothes, your overalls. I'm going to preach in my overalls." I said, "You all come out with your overalls. And all you women wear your..." I said walking back.
I backed back, and she said, "Gingham, gingham."
I said, "Your greyhound dresses." And my... And oh, my. That was about the worst I ever was gotten it. And everybody started to laughing at me, and I thought, "Well, I guess I done said it." So I said, "Ever what that goods is like's on this little cottage down here"
Then one night, I was--run home. I was patrolling. And I used to carry those great big old red handkerchiefs. When you hunt, you know, you have to have a red handkerchief. And I'd carry one in my pocket.
And one night, I run in and... We lived in a little two room cabin. And I run across the street real quick to church. I was late, and I run across the street real quick, you know, and I dressed in the room and changed clothes. And I was over there just a preaching away, you know, and I got to perspiring. And I reached back and got this handkerchief, you know, and I started shaking it like this. And I looked, and it was that big old red handkerchief. I seen, my little wife looking at me, and I said, "Oh, well." I said, "I'm afraid of them little ones. Afraid I'd swallow it." So I said... There's about two of the worst I ever knew... was gotten in church.

13 But I remember daddy would take us down on Saturday night and pay the grocery bill, and get those little old sack of candy. And we had a little old jersey wagon. You all call them out here, buckboards I believe, or whatever. And they put some straw in the back. And it'd be cold, and we'd wrap up in blankets, and go down. And it'd be spitting snow. And they'd pay the grocery bill.
And all these little Irish, setting out there waiting, you know, for this candy to come. Then we'd come out, and that candy had to be equally broken among every one. If there's one stick over, it was broke into so many pieces. To be sure, every little blue eye was watching right at it, to be sure he never got cheated. So we'd set and eat that.
And I'd play a little trick on them. I'd... Now, we wouldn't eat it, couldn't chew it, because it was too valuable, that old stick candy. I'd... We'd suck on it a little while, then hold it, you know, wait a little while, rest up, and suck on it again.

14 Well, I remember I used to play a trick on them. I'd suck on my piece for a while, and wrap it up in a piece of paper, and put it in my pocket. And I had some from Monday. And I'd suck on it again, and tell all the boys, "Don't you wish you had some?" And I'd just put that piece, and the dirt, and candy, and all of it roll [unclear words]. And they was good.
And I guess I could go tomorrow and buy a whole box of chocolates, Hershey's, if I wanted to. But it would never taste like that. That's the real candy.
And I remember those old days and how glorious they was. And how that going to school... When school days come along, we went to school. We didn't have any clothes to wear hardly to--just enough to--that we possible legally could go.

15 I remember going to school all winter long with one of mom's shoes on, and one of pop's. That's right. I had... We called it a boot-n-gagger. And I had one of mom's shoe on this foot, and pop's. And this is awful to say, but it's the truth. It's the truth.
I remember I didn't have any shirt to wear that winter. And Mrs. Wathan, a rich lady lived up the road from us, give me a little coat that had a little eagle emblem on it. And I'd pull that coat up like this, and go on to school.
I remember setting up there. It got kind of warm, you know. And the teacher said, "William."
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
She said, "Aren't you warm? Better take off that coat."
I couldn't take that coat off. I didn't have any shirt on. So I said, "Why, I--I... No--no ma'am." I said, "I'm just a little bit chilly."
They had a great big old stove setting over there. She said, "You ain't taking a cold. You go over and set by that stove."
My, my. I set there and the perspiration run down on my face. She said, "Aren't you warm yet?"
I said, "No, ma'am." I was plenty warm, but I couldn't take that coat off. I didn't have any shirt on.

16 And so I remember that spring when I got my first shirt. I had a cousin, a girl, Lucille Hare, my father's sister's child. They come over to visit. And when she left, she left one of her dresses.
And I cut the skirt part off, and wore the top part as a shirt. I went to school. And it had this here little... What is that stuff that runs up-and-down, you know, like that, they put it around the edges of garments? Rickelty-rackelty? Or whatever the... I missed that. Rick what? Rick-rack. And so we... All over it everywhere, rick-rack all over it. So that's... [Gap in the audio.] [ unclear words].

17 Down the hill we'd go, rivity, rivity, rivity, rivity. Well, we wasn't sliding like the rest the boys, but we were sliding anyhow. We were getting there anyhow in this old dish pan. Well, that was all right, but rat... Some of the boys had sleighs. You see? So after a while, the bottom come out of it. So we had no more sleigh. And we went down the river, and I got me a big old log, put a wire on it, and pulled it up top of the hill. And we'd get on this log and ride, ride down the hill.
I never will forget a event taken place there, there's a boy named Lloyd Ford. Brother Graham, ever where you at, my associate pastor's here somewhere. Lloyd Ford, he got him a job. That was in time of the world's war. So he got him a job selling "Pathfinders," or something like that, magazines. And he got to wear one of them Boy Scout suits. And everything was a war then, you know, and army. And oh, how I wanted to dress like a soldier.

18 I'd see those soldiers come up from the quartermaster, and go up the road there, just at attention, walking. And at the school, we had an old sassafras pole there, and raised the flag, and those soldiers come by would salute the flag.
I thought, "How..." Oh, my heart just beat. "When I get big enough, I'm going to join the army. I'll get plenty of clothes to wear. And I'll... And if I can join the army." But when I got big enough, I was too scrawny at the--to get in the army. And they wouldn't even take me.
But Somebody accepted me. That's right. I'm in a Army today. You might not be able to see my uniform, but I know it's on anyhow. It's on the inside. I'm in the Army of the Lord.

19 And so in the war, I tried to volunteer and everything, but they wouldn't--didn't receive me. So they never even called me. Put me in the minister's class, and just never even called me. I guess my education was too poor to be classed as a Chaplain. And then being a minister, they wouldn't... I... They didn't draft me. And so there I was. I was left out.
But somehow or another, and even with my scrawny, uneducated and all, God sent out a recruit one day, and I answered it, and I'm in His Army now. And I'm doing the best that I can, to fight the greatest battle that's ever fought, a wage against sin and evil, and for righteousness.

20 And I remember I asked Lloyd. I said, "Lloyd, will you give me that suit when you wear it out?"
He said, "Yes, I'll give it to you."
And that was the longest lasting suit I ever seen. He wore that suit, looked like... When I seen him one time, he come up missing it, and I said, "Lloyd, what about that suit?"
He said, "I'll see if I can find that, Billy." Looked all around. He said, "No, sir. You know, mother patched dad's clothes with it, and the dogs used it for a pallet, and they drug it away." And said, "The only thing I got left is one legging."
I said, "Bring me that."
And so it was a little old stave legging about like that, laced up on the side. So I took that legging, you know, and I wore it around home. Put it on. My, I looked, how good that looked, you know, one legging. Thought, "My, that felt good." I wanted to wear it to school, but I didn't know just how I was going to get to wear that legging to school. So I put it in inside my coat.

21 And I was riding on that log one day, and I went down the hill. And oh, I got up and I said, "My, I hurt my leg. Whew. Um." I said... My stockings, you know, and great big holes in them. And I said, "I--I just hurt my leg so bad."
I said, "That just reminds me, I--I--I got one of my Boy Scout leggings here in my coat." I put that legging on. My, I walked into school, you know, kind of limping like, but getting everybody looking at that one legging.
And so I had to go up to work the problems on the blackboard. And so that they wouldn't notice I just had on one legging, I stood sideways and put this legging on that side and stood like this, and worked the problems like this. Look out and see if everybody was looking at me, that one legging on. Everybody got to laughing at me. My, I got to crying, so she made me come down. But oh, my. Something there...
I got a pair of leggings today that I'm not ashamed of. That's right: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And then, many great things happened in childhood back there, that I wouldn't have time to approach.

22 One thing not long ago, I was having a revival in Texas. I come home, and... Wife, I, and the baby, we went up the road. And I just so tired, I just felt like I'd drop. I just couldn't stand it.
And on the road home, I was driving, and I'd go to sleep. And I drive about a couple of miles, then I'd stop. I'd try to sleep, and I'd wake up. And I'd drive a little farther, and I'd get sleepy, and just almost go off the road. And I'd stop. I thought, "This is awful dangerous, but I must get home." And I would lay on the--lay down in my car and try to sleep.
I woke up after while, and you know what had happened? I driving, I'd run off the road, and was way out in a cow pasture, holding my hand out and saying, "Sister, believe it. That's all you have to do. If you're ever get healed, then you believe it." Way out there in the pasture where I'd run off the road, and out through the field there, and asleep. And wife and I, there's a great crowd of people waiting there. So we got in the car and went up the road.

23 I passed by the old school house; it's gone too, for we have no continuing city.
And right across from there, there used to be Mr. Wathan's chauffeur. And [unclear words] they live there. There's a pump that I wanted a drink out of. And I thought, just like David one time, wanted a drink out of that well. And I went down there to the--and begin to pump the water, and wife and baby and them was picking violets.
I was leaning across the old fence, and looking at the old hill there where the school used to be, and the old trees, the sugar maples where we used to tap them and suck the sap on them in the spring of the year, you know, when it was coming up.
And I thought, "Oh..." I could just imagine seeing all those little boys standing lined up there with their hands on one another's shoulders, tramping like this, and the flag up, and we were going in, the teacher with a great big long willow, making us line up just right. And I looked up on the hill, and see the old home where it used to be, and housing project up there. Down here, the old school was gone.
And my, my heart begin to swell up. I thought, "Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come."

24 I remember the boys that I use... I said, "Let me think. Ralph Fields, where's he at? He's gone. Where's Howard Higgins? Dead. Where's my brother? Gone. Here we have no contin... Where's dad? He's gone. Where's Charles? Gone. Where's Edward? Gone." I thought, "O God, and soon somebody look at this ground and say, 'Where's Bill?' Gone." Here we have no continuing city. I begin to think of it. My heart begin to pound.
I remember a little dirty trick that I done my brother there. Don't do anything wrong that you'll ever regret.
I remember one day that mama give us some popcorn to take to school with us. We couldn't eat with the rest of the kids. We'd always run over the hill there and eat, because we--the rest of the children could afford sandwiches.
And we used to have a little jar. In there would be greens and a piece of corn bread laying on the side, and two spoons, and maybe a little jar full of stuff, you know. And we'd set and both of us eat out of this jar with this spoon, and eat our bread and pass it back and forth to one another. We was ashamed before the children. And we'd run over the hill and eat behind the trees over there.

25 I remember mama getting us some popcorn around Christmas. We had a sack of it, and we took it to school, left it in the cloak room. And here the little dirty trick that I did. I held up my hand. Teacher said, "What do you want, William."
I said, "May I be excused?"
Said, "Yes, ma'am--yes, sir."
And I went out the building, and went out through the cloak room, I put my hand down in that sack and got a great big handful of that popcorn. Went out and stood behind the school and eat this popcorn to be sure that I got my share of it. And I was eating that popcorn. I never will forget. When dinner time come, we went out and got our bucket and got our popcorn. My brother looked in that sack, and about half of it gone. He said, "Say," said, "something happened there, didn't it."
I said, "Sure did." Uh uh-huh. I know what had happened. I'd eat his popcorn. So... But he shared the rest of it.

26 And standing there leaning over that fence, I thought of all those things. He's the one that's gone on. He died in the hospital calling for me when I was in Arizona, many, many years ago.
Friends, if I'd a had a hundred million dollars laying before me, I'd have give every thing that I had if I could've took him that handful of popcorn back again. Couldn't do it. He's gone on. And I thought, "How hard he had to live. He died when he was just a boy." And how that we tried to share our clothes with one another. And just before he died, he put his hand over his heart, said, "I will never live to see Bill again." But said, "Tell him he's my favorite brother." And when down there, I was thinking about that then. I started crying. Wife said, "Why don't you come home to rest." And she seen what was going on, so she got me away, and we went on up the road. Life when one is a child; it was boyhood. I'll hurry.

27 I was a young man; I seen the way women lived. I never did like girls, never did like women, because I got enough to see the way they would live. If anything I respect in a woman, is being true. I don't care if she's any--colored, white, or whatever she is; if she's a real lady, she deserves the highest of respects. God knows that. And I purposed in my heart when I was a little boy, that I'd never have nothing to do with women. I'd be a hunter all my life. And that's what I did, friend. And I'd live in the woods, hunt all night. And that's why... That's where I learned God, was by nature.
I remember when... Course, when I got to be about seventeen or eighteen then, as all boys, they... Some boy friend of mine, his daddy had a car, James Poole. And he had a little girl he wanted me to meet. And you know how you are. I seen that little girl, and I thought she was prettiest little thing I ever seen. You know, teeth like pearls, eyes like a dove, neck like a swan. Oh, my, just prettiest thing you ever seen.
So said, "She wants to meet you, Bill."
And I said, "Oh." I said, "I don't know how to talk to a woman." I said, "I--I can't do that."
And He said, "Oh, come on."
So I talked to her a few times. And after while, he said, "I'll get dad's old car." And said, "We--we'll take our girlfriends a riding."
I thought, "Well, now that wouldn't be bad."

28 So we went out. We stopped down there to get some sandwiches. And I went in, and got some Cokes, and some sandwiches, and come back out. And we ate the sandwiches, and I took the Cokes back--the Coke bottles back. When I went back, I come out, to my surprise, my little girlfriend was smoking a cigarette.
Well, I always had my opinion of a cigarette smoking woman, and I haven't changed it yet. It's the most lowest, immoralest, degrading thing that a woman can do. I'm not here to preach the Gospel in that manner. Your preacher will do that.
But women, if you do smoke, for mercy sake, get away from it. How cheap it looks in a woman that'll smoke a cigarette. My, it's the cheapest thing. I'd rather see her drunk any time.

29 And listen. You talk about a sabotage. Don't you worry about Russia coming in and getting us. Russia ain't going to hurt us; we're hurting ourself. It's our own moral decay that's a hurting us. We're corrupting ourselves.
Statistics shows by doctors, I believe, that eighty percent of the women that has children that smoke cigarettes, if they'd raise their baby like they should, to the breast, in eighteen months it dies. It kills the baby, the nicotine poison in the milk of the mother. Why, sabotage, fifth columnist...?
I still say, what this world needs today is not a new president, it needs an old-fashioned Saint Paul's revival, and the Bible Holy Ghost back in the church again. I believe that's right. Yes, sir. That's exactly what it needs.

30 And the women, how they could smoke. And I thought that was terrible to see a woman smoke. Well, that just broke my heart. I just couldn't stand that. I didn't want nothing to do with that. So I just left her. And so that was the time when the Angel of the Lord appeared to me when... She laughed at me, called me a sissy. She made me walk home (That's right.) from the place. She said, "Well, you big sissy. I wouldn't even ride with you."
I said, "You don't have to."
She said, "You don't smoke?"
And I said, "No ma'am."
Said, "You don't drink either?"
And I said, "No ma'am."
Said, "What do you like to do?"
I said, "Go fishing, hunting." Course, that didn't interest her. So I was... That was way I thought about it anyhow. And I'm glad today that I did think that. That's right. Amen.
Listen friends. It ain't the robin that pecks the apple that hurts it; it's the worm at the core that kills the apple. That's what. It's sin in our midst is what's a hurting us (That's right.), sin in our midst that's killing us.

31 Now, now, I guess you wonder how I ever got married. Well, when I met my wife, she was a Christian girl, very lovely Christian girl. And I was then about twenty-three, twenty-four years old. She very sweet humble character. And I met her. And I'd take her to church, and she went to church. And she was a very fine lovely woman.
All these people here, my friends from Jeffersonville setting here in front of me knows her, or knew her, and how a lovely woman she was. She's in her grave today. But that's her body. Her soul's in--with Christ. And she was a very lovely Christian character.
And I went with her awhile. And she come from a good home. Her father, during the time of the depression that that was, he made about six hundred dollars a month. He was a brotherhood organizer on the Pennsylvania Railroad. I made twenty cents a hour digging ditches. So I couldn't marry the girl, I didn't think.

32 And I thought, "Well, if I have went with her any longer, I was taking up her time. She was too good of a girl to let go. She'd make some man a good wife." So I had to either just let her go or ask her to marry me, and I didn't have nerve enough to do that. So I guess you wonder how I got... I wrote her a letter, and asked her if she'd marry me. And I said, "Well, I..." Now, it wasn't "Dear Miss, will you have me." It was a little bit, what you call, mushier than that. And I--I--I kind of talked to her...
But here... I remember, I thought, "I got to do something, because it's not right to take the girl's time." So I wrote her a letter.
And I went to work that morning; I was working Public Service Company. And I was very nervous about dropping it in the box; it was on Monday morning. I dropped it in the box. And all day, I thought about it. And I thought, "Tonight, oh, oh, I'll hear from that tonight. Her mother will call me up and rake me over the coals." And I went on. That night it was all right.

33 And I was to meet her Wednesday to take her over to the church. So I remember, then come on towards Wednesday. And Wednesday night I was just as nervous, I didn't know what to do. I thought, "What am I going to do when I get up there?" So I asked my mother, "Has Hope called?"
"No."
"Did you get any mail?"
"No."
"Well, maybe it hung up, and didn't even get out of the box." So I thought, "Something's happening here."
So I went up, and I blowed the horn outside. And so she come out. She said, "Come in."
And I thought, "Oh, oh, going to get me in there where her mother is now, and then I'm really going to get it." So I said, "Are you about ready?"
She said, "Let's walk to church."
I thought, "Oh, my." So I said, "All right." And I went in.
And Mrs. Brumbach looked at me, said, "Hello, Bill."
I said, "How do you do." So I was just nervous as I could be. So I thought something's going to happen any time. You know how you feel when you're under them strains.

34 So we went on out and went to church. Honest, I didn't even hear what Brother Davis said that night. He just preached away, and I didn't know what he said. I was scared something was going to happen.
And I'd look at her, and I thought, "Oh, my, ain't she pretty." And I... She's going to tell me this is all of it, sure as the world, 'cause I could just tell that I'd knowed she was going to tell me, "Stay home after tonight." So I had it all fixed up what she was going to tell me, and I...
And after church was over, we started walking back, a pretty moonlight night. We was walking down the street, and I looked up to see the moon shining down through the bushes, went on, you know. And I look at her and I thought, "My, I'd hate for this to be the last night, but I guess this is it." I walked on, you know, and I said, "How are you tonight?"
She said, "Just fine. How are you?"
I thought, "Hurry up, lady. Tell me something, I--I--'fore I faint. Don't get too close to home." We walked on a little farther, and I said, "Humph, sure a pretty night."
She said, "Yes, it is."
I thought, "Well, why... Hurry up; say something." You know, women can just keep you like that anyhow, you know, under that suspense.

35 And I walked on; I thought, "Well, she getting pretty close to home." I said, "Uh, uh... Did uh... Did you get any mail this week?"
She said, "Uh-huh." That was all.
And I said, "Uh, did you get my letter?"
She said, "Uh-huh."
My, oh, my. I was certainly burning energy then. And I said, "Well, uh..." I said, "Did--did you read it?"
She said, "Uh-huh."
My, I--I said, "What'd you think of it?"
She said, "It was all right."
Whew, my. And I said, "Did--did--did you--did you--did you read all of it?"
She said, "Yes, I read it all."
I said, "What'd you think of it?"
She said, "It was all right."
Well, we got married. There it was. I don't know how; we just got married. So...

36 My, the next strain come when I had to ask her mother and daddy. Well, I knowed it was appropriate to do that. So I never will forget Charlie Brumbach. He may be setting right here this afternoon for all I know. And her mother was a very prissy sort of a woman. Fine woman, but she belonged up in the ranks, you know. And so Charlie was just a good old humble brother.
And I thought I'd better ask him, and let him ask her. He's a... And so I thought I could get by with the man better than I could talk to the women anyhow. So I said...
One night I was leaving, Hope said, "Have you asked dad yet?"
And I said, "No."
She said, "Well, you--you ought to."
I said, "I know I should, but I'm not..."
Hope said, "I think it'll be all right."
So when I went to leave that night, he said, "See you later, Billy."
I said, "Humph, Charlie." He said... I said, "Could--could I talk to you just a little bit?" He would said... I said, "Come out here just a minute." Walked out on the porch, and I was just sweating and shaking. He said... I said, "Charlie," I said, "I--I want to ask you something."
He said, "Oh, you can have her, Bill. Go on, just be good to her."
Oh, my. I love him to this day. I said, "Charlie, I can't make her a living like you do. I can't give her clothes like you can buy her. But I promise you this: I'll love her with all my heart. I'll work till my hands bleed to make her a living. And I'll be as true to her as I know how to be."
He put his... He was a German. He put his big hand over on me. He said, "Bill, I'd rather you would have her and be good to her, than somebody that had a lot of money would treat her mean."
I said, "Thank you, Charlie."

37 We got married. We didn't have nothing to start housekeeping on. Only thing we had... I tell you what we had: A little old place where I rented; my rent cost me four dollars a month. And I went into a little old place there, and somebody give us an old-fashioned folding bed. You remember that old folding bed? Straw mattress, straw tick on it... And then... And we had a little old table we bought from Sears and Roebuck, and chairs; we had to paint it ourselves. And so I painted it. And we had two linoleum rugs, got from Johnny Jobbers. That was just a second hand place down into the, Jeffersonville. I said that John Jobbers so they could catch get the benefit of it. And so we got... I think they cost a dollar and a quarter apiece.
And I went over to Mr. Webber's; he was a junk dealer and bought a cooking stove. And I give him a dollar and something for it, and I had to pay a dollar and seventy-five cents for grates to put in. I got an icebox from Public Service Company for fifty cents, one they took in on swap. We went to housekeeping.

38 But friends, it was just as paradise on earth. We had each other. I'd become converted in that time, become a minister, and was preaching, and I loved the Lord with all my heart, and we loved one another. And that's all we cared for.
And listen. Happiness does not consist of how much the world's goods you own, but how contented you are with the portion that's allotted to you. That's right. Remember that. That's all we had. We were happy and lovely. I had a little church there they built for me; the little Tabernacle stands today yet as a memorial. And we all great crowds of people come from far and near, around the country to hear the simple Gospel. And we were just doing wonderful.

39 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 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 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 get nothing to, no place to stay. And they said you're... There's a conference going on here. The Pentecostal people are having a conference. The P. A. of J. C., I believe it was, P--P. A. of J. C. denomination of Pentecost called that.

40 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 here 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 kind of got a hold of me a little bit. And I thought, "Well, now."

41 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, because 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 cornfield. And I knowed I, but 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, kind of 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, because they had both colored and white together.

42 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 was 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 room enough up here for me to preach."
I looked 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 cornfield, and I begin to pray. I said, "Lord, let me get some of that." So I said, "You give me favor with them people." And prayed a way in the night, out there in the cornfield.

43 I took my ... had some seersucker trousers. My others was ... got all dirty there in the cornfield. So 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. They 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 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.

44 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 and big bunch of people setting there. So I was setting there and 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 countrified 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 you know that man?"
Oh, my. Talk about on the spot. I said I had... I knowed I had to lie 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 don't... You just keep still."
And he said, "If anybody knows where..."
He said, "Here he is. Here he is." Whew. "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 uh--and uh--and uh..." 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."

45 I turned over and 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 a while. 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.

46 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 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, and 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?"
Said, "We got that twelve dollars in there, payment on the Ford."
I said, "Well, you know, the Bible said, '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 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 just stick with you."
So I went and told my mama. And mama said, "That's all right, honey. If you feel that."

47 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 then 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.

48 I'll hurry just a few minutes I got left, about fifteen minutes. There's where sorrow struck me. Now, you let my ... what my mistakes be your gain. You prosper by what I had to suffer for. Sometimes you see me standing here on the platform, laughing, that's ... you don't know what's beneath there. That's right. I tell you: There's been a price paid that nobody knows but God alone.
Right away, my wife taken sick. First thing, I lost my daddy. I run over to the house to see him, picked him up in my arms like that, he looked up at me like that, he smiled. A doctor had give him a dose of medicine that killed him. One overdose of strychnine for his heart, and it killed him.
'Course, there's nothing said about that. The undertaker covers up the doctor's mistakes sometimes. Nothing I got against doctors, but I say there's nothing said about that.

49 But some woman here not long ago trusted God out in California for her baby that died, and every newspaper and magazine packed it across the country. And the same time where one didn't have faith enough for deliverance, everybody criticized that, all the magazines and papers, and God healed thousands, and you have to pay them to put it in the paper, or something like that.
But look here. Let me tell you something. The Bible said, "Come, let us reason together." Is that right? Listen. The same time that picture was being packed across the country telling people that divine healing can't be trusted, and everything like that, the doctor lost thousands times thousands of cases, and there wasn't nothing said about that. Isn't that right?
Listen. Come reason together. Sauce for the goose is for the gander too. That's... And let me tell you, if one person being lost by divine healing with not enough faith to recover, and is all branded as fanaticism, then if the doctor loses one case, brand it fanaticism. Sauce for the goose is for the gander. Is that right? That's right.
But friends, what medical science and ministers ought to get together and cooperate together, knowing we're all working for the good of the people and for the glory of God, and work together. That's what we ought to do.

50 But anyhow, my father, he was killed then by this doctor, give him an overdose of medicine, and it killed him. And right away, my brother was riding on the side of a car, got his neck broke, died in my other brother's arms. My sister-in-law died. My wife took sick, and was...
Oh, the 1937 flood came up and there was sorrow. I never will forget it. Wife was laying just at the point of death. I went and I was praying for her, doing everything I knew. And every time I'd pray, looked like... I went and told my church. I said, "She's going to die."
Said, "No, that's just..."
I said, "She's going to die as certain as anything."
My babies, both of them were sick, the flood come up and everything, houses breaking over, and rushing, and miles of water sweeping over the country. And they taken my wife out to the hospital, to the government hospital, temporary hospital.
And I was on patrol duty. And I was riding up-and-down the streets, and trying to get the people out.

51 And I never will forget, one horrible night. O God, when I think of it, there in that critical hour. I had a truck there, little patrol truck, and I was taking a boat. And I coming up the road. And somebody said, "Over on Chestnut Street, the dike's about ready to break through." And said, "There's a woman screaming for mercy over there, and nobody can get to her."
Well, I was raised on the river, and thought that I was--could do pretty good with the boat. And so I got the boat, and set it in the water, and started off.
And I looked over there and I heard that mother. It was about eleven o'clock at night, just screaming, "Mercy. Help me. Help me." Standing out on a porch.
And I got up there and tried to get the boat across. And went way down and come out the other side, the water sweeping down through the street. I went way back again and tried. And finally, I hit against the post.
And the mother fainted. I picked her up, put her in the boat; four or five little children, I got them in, and went back and finally got to the shore. And just as we got to the shore, somebody said, "My baby, my baby."
Well, I thought the woman left a little baby in there, and back I went. And just as I got over there, I run through the house. Come to find out, her ... the baby ... the little girl in there about two, three years old, and that's who she was talking about, and I didn't know it.

52 And I was over there, and the dike broke through up there on Chestnut Street, poured down, and away went the building. And just as I jumped in my boat, and had to run my hand in the water to jerk the rope, or my boat... Then I got out into the stream and couldn't get it started. On down we floated. Got out over on Market Street there. Big waves a dashing against the side, I thought any minute I would go to the bottom.
I knew; there in that boat I knelt down. I said, "O God. I know I have disobeyed You."
And I believe friends, if I'd have went on back down there when those people called me in, the gift of healing would've been manifested right there. That was God's program. But I failed to walk in what He told me to do. I listened to what people told me instead of what God told me to do. Don't never do that. You follow what God tells you to do. And then sorrows was on.

53 And I prayed. I said, "O God, I know I've disobeyed You. If You'll just help me. I don't want to die. I don't want to drowned out here in this river. Please, God, let this motor start. Will You, please?"
And I'd pull that string, and the ice freezing; and it'd chug a couple of times, and that boat ripping, and jumping, and dashing like that; done got out in the main current. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. And I'd try and try, and it wouldn't start.
And I prayed again. I said, "God, my poor wife laying out there sick. My babies sick, and here me drowned in the river. What, O God, what can I do." And I said, "If You'll just help me, Lord."
And I pulled the string again, and away it went. Oh, my. I started right into the river, out of the river and got on into the--come out way down towards Clarksville. And I come around, and got back up and got to my truck. And some of them said, "Did you know the government just washed out when that dike broke?" Out to the hospital I went as hard as I could.

54 I met a Brother George DeArk there. He said, "Oh, Brother Billy (put his arms around me.)," he said, "looks like things are close." He said, "Brother Bill, if I never meet you again, I'll meet you in the morning." That was the last time I seen him in life. That's right. He left a little afterward.
And I said, "Where's Hope?"
Said, "I don't know."
And I run over there, and I met a--one of the officers of the government. I said, "Sir, what become of the hospital?"
Said, "All washed through there."
I said, "Did all--did all them... Did any of them get drowned?"
Said, "No, they went out on a train to Charlestown."
And I run and got in my car and started out the highway sixty-two leading to the little city, Charlestown. And when I got out there, there was about five miles of water done come down through Lancassange Creek and cut it off.
And I went and got my boat, and I couldn't even pierce that water. I'd start through there, and it'd whirl the boat around like this. And I set the ... at this angle, and just give it all the gas that I could, and hit them waves like that. But it was so rough, you'd come around side of them woods, and throw my boat back down this way, and I come back out down behind the government. And there I was, caught on a little island like. And I'd set there for days upon that island, thinking.
Some of them said the trestles went out from under the bridge up there, and everybody that went on that train was drowned, wife, two children, and all.
I thought, "Oh, God." How nervous I got. I walked the floors, I didn't know what to do. I thought, "Oh, what will I do if they're gone."

55 And after while, as soon as I could get over--the water dropped enough that they could get me across. I got to Charlestown. I was looking.
I met old--an old friend of mine. He said, "No, that train never washed off." Said, "They went through, but I don't know where they're at."
I went down, the dispatcher told me, said, "A mother and two sick children? I put them off in Columbus, Indiana. But you can't get to them." Said, "The water's cut off this side."
I started walking back down the road, rubbing my hands crying, saying, "Oh, God. Take me. Don't let me suffer. Let... Take me, Lord. Don't let me have to go through this agony."
Walking down the road, and a man drove up to me in a car. He said, "I know what you're looking for." Said, "You're looking for your wife, aren't you?"
I said, "Yes."
He said, "Don't you know me?" Said, "I go with Mary May over there."
I said, "Yes, I remember you."
Said, "Your wife is dying in the Baptist church at Columbus, Indiana."
And I said, "Surely not."
Said, "Yes," said, "She's got tuberculosis." And said, "You wouldn't even know her. And the doctor says she's going to die. She's laying right next to my girlfriend." He said, "I know how to get you there if you want to go."
And I said, "Well, let's go, brother."
And I remember that night when I run into the building up there, the Baptist; they made a hospital. They had army cots everywhere. And I run in there, boots on where we waded the water. And I begin to scream, "Hope, Hope, where are you honey? Where are you?" Just beside myself. Directly I looked over there, and I seen an old bony hand raise up. It was her. I run over real quick to her and grabbed her up in my arms. I said, "Is the children alive?"
She said, "Yes." She said, "I look awful, don't I?"
I said, "No, honey. You look good." I said, "My, you're going to be all right."
I felt somebody tap me on the back. And I looked, and it was a--looked like a doctor. He said, "Come here." He said, "Are you her husband?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
"You Reverend Branham?"
I said, "I am."
He said, "Well, sir. I hate to break this news to you, but," said, "your wife's dying." Said, "Don't get her excited or anything."
I said, "Doctor, surely not."
Said, "Yes." Said, "She's going."
And I said, "Oh, what is it, doctor?"
Said, "Galloping tuberculosis." Said, "She'll just die right away." He said, "Just ma... Just make her feel good as you can." He said, "And both of your babies are sick. I'm tending to them over here in another home."
Well, I went back and told her. I said, "Honey, you look good."

56 And a little doctor friend of mine, Doctor Sam Adair there in Jeffersonville. Soon as he'd let me, I brought them back down home. And there, they laid there until the babies got well; the wife gradually went away. Finally we got her in the hospital. I had doctors to come look at her. There wasn't nothing could be done. She took pneumothorax treatments and everything. Nothing could be done.
And I remember standing there, and they bore holes down through her side, and put that tube in there and get collapsed one lung.
Listen. If I had it... She'd hold my hand and cry, and the tears roll down her cheeks. She'd look at me, just suffering. Never done a bit of good. If I had to go over it; I'd never go through with it again. That's right. As she's holding my hand...

57 But just to show you, the way of a transgressor's hard. I never will forget. I was trying to work to get the bill paid off. And then all of... One day I was out, and I heard a call come say, "If you want to see your wife alive, come at once."
I rushed out to the hospital. I never forget it. I jerked off my hat and throwed it in the truck; I run up through there real quick. And here come little Doctor Adair walking out. God bless his little old heart. He's a fine man. And he come walking out. We'd eat together, slept together, fished together, just bosom friend. And he come walking out. And he come walking down through the hospital. I seen him look at me, and I seen big tears drop off his cheeks, and he turned sideways. And I run into the room. I said, "What's the matter, Doc?" I said, "She ain't gone."
He said, "I believe she is."
I said, "Come, go in with me, Doc."
He said, "Bill, don't ask me to do that." Said, "Hope's like my sister." Said, "I--I--I can't go in there. Don't--don't--don't ask me to."
And the nurse come up, said, "Come, Brother Branham." Said, "Here, drink this little bit of medicine."
I said, "No, I don't need it."
He said, "Go ahead, Billy. That'll rest your nerves."
I said, "I don't want it." I said, "No."
He said, "Nurse, you go in with him."
I said, "No, I don't want anyone. I'm going in myself. I'm going in." I said, "I love her, and I'm going in." I walked to the door, opened the door, and there she laid all covered up like this, and blanket sheet pulled up over her face. I'd jerked the sheet down, and my heart just a breaking... I put my hand on her, her perspiration on her forehead kind of felt sticky. I said, "Hope, Hope, honey." I said, "Speak to me once. Well, just speak one time, won't you." I was shaking her.

58 Friends, if I'll live a hundred years, I'll never forget what happened. Those two big brown eyes looked up at me. She was so weak she couldn't say nothing. She was smiling. She took her finger and she motioned. And I got down, and she said, "Why did you call me, honey?"
And I said, "Well, they..." I said, "I don't know."
She said, "Oh I--I was in another land." She said, "It was so peaceful. I wasn't suffering." She said, "Great big birds like a great Orion." And she said, "There was man dressed in white, one on each side, taking me to my home."
Oh, friend. There's a land somewhere. I believe as she was dying, her eyes just opened up to see paradise beyond. She rallied for a little bit.
The nurse come in. And she said, "Nurse, come over." She said, "I hope when you get married, you'll have a husband like mine."
I said, "Oh, honey, I haven't done nothing."
She said, "Oh, bless your heart." She patted me on the back. Nurse turned around, walked out, crying.
She said, "Bill, I want to tell you a few things." Said, "I'm going." Said, "Don't cry."
I said, "All right."
She said, "Don't let my babies be pulled about from pillar to post." She said, "And some things I got to confess to you."
I said, "What is it?"
She said, "Do you remember one time," and said, "you were going fishing, and I called you. And that night we were going to Fort Wayne for a meeting?"
I said, "Yes."
She said, "You went got me some stockings."
I said, "Yes, I remember them."
She said, "Them was the wrong kind of stockings, honey. Them wasn't right."

59 Well, what it was, I'd been fishing. I went up home and we had to go to Fort Wayne. I was going to preach that night at Fort Wayne. Her father lived at Fort Wayne. So I was going up there to preach, and she... You... There's two different kinds of woman's socks that you buy. One's called a... Name them, somebody. Is it--is chiffo--chiffon? That's right. And what's the other kind? Rayon? Sa... Is it Raymond or Raymond? Rayon? Which is the best? Chiffon. Well, they cost sixty-something cents then. And she was taking a bath, and she said, "Billy, you run down at the--at Penney's and get me some--some socks."
And I said, "All right." And I was going down the street. And she said... Now remember, I didn't know nothing about women's clothes. And she was saying, "Get chiffon." I was going down the street going, "Chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
Somebody said, "Hello, Brother Branham."
I said, "Hello, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
And I met Orville Spawn down there, and he said, "Billy, perch is biting over on the [unclear words] about that..."
Oh, I said, "my..." I got talking to him, and I forgot about what she said.

60 Well, I wasn't going to Penney's, because I didn't know nobody there. But I used to have a little friend that come to my church by the name of Thelma Ford. She worked in a ten-cent store, and I knowed they sold them over there. And went over, the Thelma come up, said, "What do you want, Billy?"
I said, "I want some socks for Hope."
Said, "Now, Hope don't wear socks."
I said, "She sure does."
She said, "She wears stockings."
I said, "That's right. That's right." I thought, "Oh, I've showed my ignorance already." And I said...
She said, "What kind do you want?"
And I said, "What kind you got?"
She said, "I got chiffon and ray..." What's the, rayon the cheap ones? She said, "I got rayon."
I said, "That's what I want. That's what I want."
She said, "Hope want rayon?" I... All sounded alike, rayon, chiffon. I didn't know the different. She said...
"Yes." And so she gave me ... got them, put them in the sack.
I said, "I want the full style." You know that thing that got the thing behind them, you know, that... I don't know, you know. I said, "The full style" And--and so... Oh, fashion, full fashion, that's what it was. And I said, "That's the kind that I--I want."
And she got them ready for me. She put them in the sack, and it was only about twenty-nine cents.
And I said, "Well, give me two pair of them."
And she said, "Are you sure of that?"
I said, "That's what she wanted."

61 And so I went back, and I... Of course, you know how you men like to pop off to your women. And I said, "Looky here." I said, "I'm Abraham's son. I'm a little Yiddish. You go over the river shopping, I'll buy two pair of stockings for what you can buy one, and have money left." I said, "Just... I'm Abraham's son. I'm know how to do it. You see?" You know, going on like that.
And God bless her heart. She's in her grave tonight, and probably snow over it. But not altogether there. I still think of her. That's right. And she gone on.
And there, when she said she wouldn't have... I thought it funny when she got to Fort Wayne she wanted another pair of stockings. But she was lady enough not to say it.
And she told me. She said, "Billy, I give them to your mother. They was for an older woman than me."
And I said, "Well, God bless you, honey. I didn't know that." I said, "That was all right."

62 She said, "You remember that time you wanted to go hunting so bad, and we was at Louisville. You seen that little .22 rifle that you wanted? And it cost three dollars and something to pay down on it, and you didn't have the money to pay on it? It's been about two years ago?"
I said, "Yeah, I remember that."
She said, "Bill, I've always wanted to buy you that rifle." She said, "I won't be with you but just a few minutes longer now." But she said, "When you go home, look up on top of the old folding bed under that paper. I've been saving nickels to buy the rifle." She said, "Will you promise me you'll buy it?"
Oh, my. When I went home and found that two dollars and something laying under there, like to killed me. I said, "Sure." But I said, "Honey, you're not going away."
She said, "I--I hate to leave you." But said, "I must." She said, "I don't mind it." She said, "It's all right." Said, "Now, another thing I'm going to ask you. Don't stay single."
I said, "Oh, oh, don't ask me that."
Said, "Promise me. Promise me that you--that you won't stay single, my children will have a home to go to, not be drug around everywhere."
I said, "Honey, I--I can't do that."
And she said, "Promise me, won't you?" Said, "I--I--I can go a little easier."
And she didn't mind it no more than you mind taking a drink. She said, "I--I just..." Said, "I hate to leave you and the babies, but," she said, "oh, Bill, it's so wonderful to go like this."
And I said, "Well, I will do the best I can."

63 And she said, "Another thing." She said, "You realize why I'm going, don't you?" Oh, that's what hurt. She said, "If I wouldn't have listened to mama, and [unclear words] would listened to..." Said, "It would've been different, wouldn't it."
I said, "That's right, honey." I said, "Oh, what will I ever do?"
She said, "Do this. Don't be ashamed of this Holy Ghost religion." She said, "It's the greatest thing in the world to die by it." She said, "Stay and preach as long as..." Said, "Promise me you'll go right out into the fields where we was supposed to go." And said, "Promise me that you'll do everything you can." Said, "And tell everybody, that it's glorious when you get ready to leave here. It's wonderful."
And I said, "Oh, honey. It's so good to see you go like that."
And she said... I--I said, "Where do you want me to place you?"
And she said, "You take me up on the hill."
I said, "I will take you out to Walnut Ridge, and I'll--I'll bury you there at the hill, your body." And I said, "Honey, I promise you, I'm going, if God won't ... spare me, I'm going right out into the field, and I'll never stop until the last drop of blood or life is gone from my body, to do, or try to make an atonement." And I said, "I'll do everything that I can to live right; I'll do right." And I said, "Look."
And she said, "Goodbye."
And I said, "Are you going?" I said, "Look, on that morning," I said, "so we'll be able to get together now," I said, "i--if... On that morning, I want you to go to the East side of the gate," and I said, "I want you to stand there. And when [unclear words]. It'll be terrible down here." I said, "If--if I die before He comes, I will be sleeping out there." I said, "We'll get together. But if I'm somewhere on the field and be taken up," I said, "you go there and wait for the children, and stand there by the side of the gate. And then when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob coming in, start screaming, 'Bill, Bill, just as loud as you can." I said, "I'll answer you there."
She raised up her feeble hands. I kissed her goodbye. That was my last date with her. I'm on my road. That's right. Someday, someday, I shall go.

64 When we took her down to the funeral parlor, I went home. I couldn't be satisfied nowhere. I went over to mama's. I just... Oh, I was crying. I went home. And they said, mama said, "Stay over here."
I said, "No, I'm going home." We didn't have no furniture, but what it was was ours. And so I went home to lay down. And just then, Brother Frank Broy come up, said, "Billy, I hate to tell you something, son."
I said, "Well, I was just right there."
Said, "That's not it. Your baby's dying too."
I said, "Can't be."
Said, "Yes, it is."
And away they took me out to the hospital to see my little Sharon, my little girl. I couldn't call her... I wanted to call her a Bible name. I called my little boy Billy Paul after me and after Saint Paul. And then I wanted to call the baby a Bible name. And I couldn't call her the Rose of Sharon, so I just called her Sharon Rose.

65 And I went out the hospital, and the doctor met me. He said, "Billy, she's dying. Don't go in there."
And I stood there till after the nurse turned her back, and I run down there; and I went down to where she was at. I looked at her. And there the little thing, laying there... I never will forget. She's just eight months old.
And I remember, I used to come home, I... She'd set out in the yard, and I'd blow my horn like that, coming around the corner, and she'd go, "Goo, goo, goo," just reach... I just loved those little fellows.
And she was suffering so hard, till one of them little fat legs was moving up and down in a spasm. And looked like her little hand was a waving. And I looked at her, and I said, Sharry, honey, you know daddy?" And I was trying to make myself strong. And I said, "You know daddy, honey?" And her little lips got to quivering. And when she looked at me, she was suffering so hard till her little eye went crossed.
Oh, my. When I seen that tender little blue baby eye cross... [Gap in the audio.]

66 I didn't know it then, but I understand now. There's never been a cross-eyed child come in line, but what I think of that. There's never been one pass over the platform but what's been healed too. I didn't know the crushing had to bring it forth. But I never think of it till I see that.
That little eye crossing, and she was suffering so hard. And I knelt down. I said, "O Jesus, please, God. I'm sorry for what I do." I said, "Don't take her from me. I love her, Lord, with all my heart. Please God."
Looked like a big black curtain come falling down. I knew she was gone. I raised up, put my hand over on her head. I said, "God bless you, my darling little sweet angel. I'm going to put you in the arms of mother. And the Angel is coming to pack you home in a few minutes. But someday, daddy will see you."
I raised up my head, and I said, "God, You gave and You taken away. I don't know why You're slaying me." I said, "Yet You may slay me, I'm going to trust You as Job did. I'm going to believe You." And I said, "I... Somehow You're breaking my heart. I don't know how I'm going to hold up any longer." But I said, "God, I commit her little soul to You. Take it, Lord Jesus. Put it on the altar with the mother. And someday, let me come to see them."
And as I did that, the Angels of God sweetly come down and taken away her little breath, and bore her away to be with her mother. I placed her in--the mother, put them down beneath the ground.

67 When I stood there, Brother Smith, a Methodist preacher friend of mine, he got some clods in his hand, walked over there, and I was standing there; he put his arm around me; said, "Billy, brace up, honey boy."
I said, "Oh, Brother Smith, my soul is... Oh, I don't know what to do."
And I heard him say, with them little clods dropping upon the little casket, said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, earth to earth."
I thought, "God, what can I do?"
Sound like the wind blowed down through the pine trees, it sound like I heard a song saying:
There's a land beyond the river,
That we call the sweet forever,
And we only reach that shore
by faith decree;
One by one we gain the portal,
There to dwell with the immortal,
Someday they'll ring the golden
bells for you and me.
I turned from the grave, brokenhearted, went home; I couldn't rest. Days passed. I could give up my wife, but that ... oh, that baby was the choice of my heart. I didn't know what to do, little sweet girl...
And then I thought, "Oh, what will I do quickly now."

68 One day I went... I was working for the Public Service. I climbed up a pole early one morning to take off a pole meter. I was standing there, and I was singing:
On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross...
I was going... And I happened to look, and as the sun come up, me hanging there on that pole working on these cross-arms, looked out on the side, and there looked like my figure a wiggling on that ... looked like a cross out there. And I thought, "O Christ of God. Yes, it was my sins nailed You there. I'm sorry for what I done." Oh, I said, "God, how could You ever put up with a person like me. You'd broke my heart, You ground me down. But what can I do?"
And I got real nervous. And I had on a pair of rubber gloves. Many of you linemen knows [unclear words] twenty-three hundred. Running right by me run the primary. And I thought, "Looky here. I can lay my hand on that primary. In one minute's time I'll be with Sharon." I jerked my glove off. I said, "God, I've lost my mind or something." I said, "Sharry, honey, I can't stand it no longer. Daddy's coming to be home with you."
I said, "Look at them..." Twenty-three hundred running there, break every bone in your body, electric. I said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name." And the first thing you know, I was setting down on the ground. I don't know.

69 I believe that if that gift hadn't been foreordained, that'd been the end of your Brother Branham right there. But God had something else to do. He had to grind that heart out and let Him know, let me know that He's the One Who rules and reigns.
I went home. I couldn't stand it, couldn't work. Went over to mama's, and mama said, "Honey, come in. Let me make you quiet."
I said, "I'm going home." And I went home. It was kind of a cool weather. I took the mail out of the box and went around. I was trying to batch. We didn't have much in our house. I had an old cot setting back there.
But she'd lived there with me. We'd been together; that'd been our home. And it... No matter how little it was, it belonged to her and I. And it was us. The whole thing wouldn't have been three dollars worth of furniture. But it belonged to her and I. It was as worth as much as any of the good homes there is in the world, because it was ours.
And I went back there in the kitchen, cold frost coming up through the floor. And I never will forget, I opened up the mail. The first mail I opened up, it said on there, "Miss Sharon Rose Branham." It was her little Christmas saving. The banker knew that she'd never draw it, so ... dollar and eighty cents. He sent it to me. Oh, I just couldn't stand it. I broke down and started crying. It was getting towards night. I knelt down on the floor. And I started crying and praying. And I... Oh, what a hour.. I couldn't hardly stand it.

70 I went to sleep laying there. I dreamed. I thought I was out West. And when I was out West, I was walking down through the prairie, and I was whistling that song:
The wheel on the wagon is broken,
Sign on the ranch, "For Sale."
I was whistling like that, and I seen an old prairie schooner and a wheel broke down. And standing there by that schooner, stood the most beautiful blond-headed girl with her pretty blue eyes shining, dressed in white. And I had my hat on ... my hat. And I passed by, and I said, "Howdy do, miss," and put my hat back like that.
And she said, "Hello, dad."
And I looked around, and I said, "Dad?"
She said, "Sure."
I said, "Well, young lady, I beg your pardon." I said, "I--I... You're as old as I am. How could I be your daddy?"
She said, "Daddy, don't you know me?"
And I said, "No, ma'am. I'm afraid I don't."
She said, "You just don't know where you are, daddy."
And I said, "Well, I... What do you mean?"
She said, "Where's Billy Paul?" That's her little brother.
And I said, "I--I... What is this?"
She said, "Daddy, on earth, I was your little Sharon."
I said, "Sharon? My baby?"
She said, "Yes, daddy." Said, "Remember, we're immortal here. When we come here, we're not little babies no more. We're all one age."
And I said, "Oh, honey. Are you Sharon?" She said... I said, "Where's mother?"
Said, "She's up at your--the new home."
I said, "A home?"
Said, "Yeah."
I said, "Well, honey, something wrong here." I said, "Branhams never had homes. We're more like the vagabond people." I said that, "We don't have no home."
She said, "But, daddy, you got one up here."
I looked around over to my right, and there was a great big beautiful home. And there was lights shining up all around.
She said, "Mother's waiting for you. I'm going to wait here for Billy."
I said, "All right, honey." I took out running as hard as I could, my hat in my hand. I run right up to the step. When I got there, Hope would usually meet me coming out with her arms out. And I went up and run up the steps just hard as I could. And I got top of the steps, here she come dressed in white, that black hair hanging down. She come running up to me, she raised out her arms. I run to her, throwed my hat down, and just knelt down by the side of her. She put her hand on my head. She said, "Bill, what are you worried about, honey?"
I said, "Hope, I can't stand it any longer." I said, "I seen... Is that Sharon Rose down there?"
She said, "Yes, Bill." She said, "What's you worried about? You worrying about me and Sharon?"
And I said, "Honey, I--I just can't stand it. I..."
She said, "Stop worrying." Said, "Don't worry, we're lots better off than you are."
And I said, "That may be so." But I said, "Hope, didn't she make a pretty woman? Aren't we proud of her?"
She said, "Sure." She said, "Aren't you tired?"
And I said, "Honey, I just been preaching and praying for the sick so long." And that's the way I know I'll go. It had to come--it hadn't come yet. I said, "I just been preaching and praying for the sick till I'm so tired I can't hardly stand up."
She said, "Won't you sit down?"
And I looked, and there was a great big Morris chair setting there. And I looked at her, and she looked back at me. Said, "I know what you're thinking."
Down here one time, I... We had them three old chairs, or two old chairs at the house. And...

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Just ask if everybody can, just to leave the platform, just let maybe one or two that's going help the people. Then if anything does happen, then I'm--we're better prepared for it. You understand, don't you? Trust that you will.
I've done all that I could this past week to--or the both weeks to try to see our Lord help you dear people here. There's been many things that I've wished would've taken place, and may yet tonight. And I pray that it--that it will. And I have been trusting to see everyone healed at one time.
Then in the meeting, I see many things that's been done, many things that people... I see them setting out there sometimes, looking at me, trying their best. And I'll think, "Oh, I've seen that they were healed. But I'll test them in a few minutes." But it's done past my mind; I forget about it. And they're healed.

2 For instance, there was a little girl here the other night. She was in the building. She was suffering. She was... Probably wasn't over eight or ten years old. She may never be back in the building again, as far as I know. But the child had a burst appendix; the parents didn't know it. The appendix was bursted inside the child. That baby's healed, healed setting here in the meeting. I know that.
There's a lady here that's got a little baby that's got a affliction on its arm. And it's a very serious thing. They had it here last night. I seen the baby setting before me. That baby's going to get well. That's right. See, that's right.
But there's many of those things that I see, but I don't have time. But what it is, friends, that doesn't mean so much. The thing of it... As long as their faith will touch God, they'll see theirself that it's done. You see? So ... that it's over...

3 If I speak it, what I speak here confirms what I'm talking about. If I speak not God's Word... But I have a Witness, and God is my Witness. It... I'm thankful to have my brothers as witness of the Gospel. But I have a witness with my brethren and my friends. And I have a... The greatest witness is my heavenly Father who confirms what I'm saying to be the truth. And I'm so thankful for that. Then it isn't I that does the healing, which you know.
So if you say it to the people, as long as I see they got healed, that's all I care for (You see?), to see that they got the blessing.

4 Now, tonight will probably be the greatest of all the nights. The great anticipations, the great strain, the people are pushing, trying to get in, trying to get healed, will be the great time. And many will be healed tonight. I just have a feeling that tonight will be one of the greatest times of healing we've had in all the meeting. And I believe that it'll be tonight.
Now, as we're speaking today of "Life Story," I... While I'm telling my part of things... And I know that I have many fellow citizens here that have had like manner of things. And let us all...

5 How many people here is away from home? Let's see. This is not your native home, let's see your hands. You're from some other city, somewhere else. Oh, my, half of us, oh, more than half is away from home. And no matter what city we're from, or where we come from, if it's just a little...
As the minister said the other day, the little church in the desert he was pastoring. No matter what it is or how humble it is, it's like the old proverb, or the old song, "There's No Place Like Home." Isn't that right? No place like home...

6 And if you'll notice, always before a people die, you'll notice they'll always have a longing to go back to the old home place again.
My father, before he left, he hadn't been down to his old home place for many, many years, some twenty-five years, I guess. I seen him setting on the beam of the plow one day, he was crying. I was just a little lad; and I didn't know very much about it. I said, "What's the matter, dad?"
He come over, said, "You don't understand, Billy. But someday you will." He said, "I want to go home. I want to see the old home-place again." You know, it wasn't but a little bit till he... After he visited his old home, he went away.

7 My father-in-law, he went squirrel hunting one day, and I said--he said, "Brother Billy, you want to go with me?"
And I said, "No, Brother Frank, I don't want to go."
He was born up above Utica, at that place called Battle Creek, old home place. There's an arsenal up there now. Oh, my. And there's an arsenal, Indiana Arsenal's there. But that was just before the arsenal was built.

8 He went up there, and he come back down, and he was crying. And I was going with his daughter. And I said, "What's the matter, Brother Frank?"
He said, "Billy, I set upon the old place up there today," and he said, "where the old house used to stand," said, "the old spring along over on the side of the hill." Said, "I could just hear my old mother say, 'Oh, Franky.'"
Well, a few days, I buried him. Maybe it was a call coming from another land. He could hear the echoes across the earth.

9 Did you ever notice a person when they're going? I've stood by many a person, held them in my arms and watched them when they were going. I find it very strange.
Please, ministers, excuse this. This is not a doctrine. I don't want this congregation to think that this is a doctrine. But I often wonder if when we are going... I'll give my story first here.

10 I stood by a man not some five or six years ago when he was going. He'd just been saved a little while. He was setting in a chair. He was all swollen up with heart trouble. He belonged to a certain church there in the city. And I said--went to him; I said, "How do you do, Mr. Bledsow. Do you know me?"
He said, "Yes. I know you, Billy." He said, "Billy, I think I'm going."
I said, "Are you ready, Mr. Bledsow?"
Said, "Oh, yes, Billy. I've made my calling with God. I've answered the call." He said," I'm ready to go if He calls me." And said, "I believe He's calling me."
I said, "Well, if you're ready Mr. Bledsow, are you willing?"
He said, "Yes, Billy, I'm willing."
And I had prayer with him, and went out, was talking to his wife, setting there. And he was looking across the room, talking. And we'd just been in prayer, and the Holy Spirit was in the room. And he raised up; he said, "Mother, why, I haven't seen you for years."
Mrs. Bledsow said, "Dad, are you delirious?"
He said, "Well, don't you see her? There she is." He said, "Sis?" Wasn't a little bit till he was gone.

11 I went to a man here sometime ago, killed in an accident. He was just dying. Come out of the accident, like manner. I seen many of them going that way. And I just wonder, that if when we're coming... Even death is hard. Jesus fought against it: "Is it possible this cup should pass?" But when we're coming right down to the end of the road... And I watched my wife when she went.
And I wonder, when we get to the end of the road there, if God just doesn't say to mother or some of them on the other side, "Look, daughter's coming home this morning. Go down there at the bank of the river, watch for them."
We get to see them when these eyes are becoming transformed from the natural to the supernatural. In that vision, when it's catching on us... It's a fog just dries away there, and we can look the other side and see them coming down to the river. I hope that's so. I don't know. I couldn't say it's true; I don't know. But I've seen that many times. Our loved ones pass on...

12 Many of you here, most of you are more like myself. Seems like yesterday I was just a little bitty old boy. And here I am. I look at my hands, and I think, "Oh, my." And I see myself, as just creeping along. I'm getting up in the years. I've yet... Well, it seemed like yesterday I just a little boy playing marbles. But here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come whose Builder and Maker is God.
I think of when I was a little boy, we used to live in a little old cabin. There was a bunch of trees around it, a little old apple trees, and some big ones.
And I remember dad used to come home from work. He was a real full-blooded Irishman. His black wavy hair and blue eyes, small man about my size, but he's sturdy, husky built. He was a logger.
I'd see him roll his sleeves up like that, and his muscles in his arms. Oooh, my. I wanted to be like my daddy. And I thought my daddy will live to be a hundred years old. But he died with his head on my arms at fifty-two. We don't have any continuing city here, but we're seeking one to come.

13 I used to look at the little old house we lived in, little old log house boarded over. I thought that house will stand for a hundred years--hundreds of years. But there's a housing project there now. We don't have any continuing city here.
I used to see out in front of the door when a bunch of those Branhams... There was ten of us in the family, nine boys and a girl. And when there was about five of us, when we... I was...
To begin with my life story there, we used to have a place wallowed off out in front of the grass--or the porch. Look like where a bunch of little opossums had been playing, wallowing around, all of us.

14 Mama used to call dinner. And she would have a big old kettle. Did you ever see one of them big old kettles, had three legs? Great big old kettle, you put [unclear words]. How many ever seen one of the old kettles? Oh, my, just look at that. Ha. We all know what good eating is then, don't we? Just as slick as it could be on the inside.
And she'd cook mulligan stew. That's very Irish. How many knows what mulligan stew is? It's beef, barley, potatoes, yes, there you are, carrots. We chop it, put it all in together, cook it up, and then leave it set for two or three days, keep eating out of it. Last day it was better than the first, because the cabbage got the taste; and potatoes, potatoes, and cabbage, and licked it all up. Dip it out with a teacup. Yes, sir. Mama got a big old dipper.

15 And we had a spring down below the house. And I used to go down there, and had a gourd. Used to dip the water up in an old cedar bucket with a gourd. How many knows what a gourd is? Say, I'm not the only country boy here today, am I? No, sir. I feel better now. Makes my clothes fit me better. I know what you're talking about.
All right. Had an old gourd, lay on that old spring. My, what a time. And back under a rock, had the butter sitting there, you know. All right. Couldn't keep the cream there, because there's too many little Branhams, and that... Yes, sir. We all liked it.

16 So pop used to get seventy-five cents a day and a bucket of milk every night. Mama would skim the cream off of it to save for the butter. And so that'd keep as long. Sometimes it'd sour, nearly before you got to churn it. We used to churn it in a... Had an old churn, and had a lamp chimney sitting on top of it, you know. You rise it up-and-down. Did you ever do that? My, just looky here, brother. My, did you ever grind coffee? Have the coffee mill set... Oh, my, that does it. Well, how many's here from Kentucky anyhow? Let's see your hand. Oh, my. Well, anywhere along here... We're in a different day now, aren't we? You press a button, and the nation goes to work. That's right. So them was good old days, I guess. Anyhow, we had a little more brotherly love and feeling for one another in them days than what we do now. And...

17 I remember when dad used to make seventy-five cents a day, he'd come in home... Now, my daddy did that which was wrong. He drank. And he'd go pay off his bills, and what he had left, he'd drink it. And I hate to say that, and it's ... but it's truth. If I have to tell anything, I must tell the truth. No matter if it's black against me, why, it's black. That's all, see. If it's something scary to me, well, I might as well tell it here, because it's going to be on the canvases of the skies someday for everybody to look at. Not only had--would I confess it, but I'd been lying. So I'd just rather go right along and just tell the truth about it, and let it be just the way it is.
Daddy drank. Not only drink, but he made the whiskey. And when he would come in at home and drink right after he'd get his groceries all paid, so forth, he would--he would drink up what he had left. But I don't care what he ever done; I love him today in his grave. That's right. He was my daddy.

18 And look, young children, young folks, I don't care what it is; you always have a respect to your father and mother. I think one of the awfullest things that I can hear little children say, or young folks, "the old man" and "old woman." Listen. That's not the "old man" and "old woman"; that's your daddy and mother. And someday, when you see them going out of the room head first, and the wheels beneath the casket, squeaking, you'll know it isn't the "old man" or "old woman" then. That's right. You hear the preacher say, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," you realize the best friend you ever had on earth is going down.
The trouble of it is, you learn too late. Don't weep, and cry then, and send lots of flowers, give them to them now. Be a good boy or good girl.

19 I remember when old dad used to come in, his shirt patched upon patch. And he'd stand there, and sun burned his back into his shirt, till mama'd take the scissors and cut it loose from his back. Seventy-five cents a day in the log wood to make me a living? Sure I love him. Yes, sir.
Every time that I pass by the grave and see the snow banked up there, I just feel like if I'd just throw myself down there, warm up the ground where his body lays beneath there.
But he's not there. I had the privilege of leading my daddy to Christ before he left. And I seen him stare and fall back across my arms and looked up at me. "Honey." He went out to meet God.
I baptized my mother just a little bit after my conversion. And last Easter morning, I baptized my boy. I've got a little girl five years now; she's been dedicated. She's coming on. And if God lets me live, I'll do everything I can to see her baptized in [unclear words].

20 My little boy now, I took him right out of col--out of his high school. I'm going to send him up here if I can to this Assemblies of God, or whatever it is up here, around Dallas somewhere, to finish up his high school, and on to college; to get him in amongst Christian people where he can work and people that's got the Holy Ghost, that'll help him come through and put the right thing before him.
And if he goes wrong, he will go over the Bible, over the Holy Spirit, and over a daddy's prayer that prayed. That's right. He will have to cross over all that before he can ever go to hell. And I believe if you'll pray and hold on, God will answer your prayer.

21 And my daddy, just before he left, he called for me. He'd been... He'd... Poor old fellow, I hate to say this. It just kills me to say it here; he died hungry. That's right. My daddy died hungry. And he... It was during the time of the depression. We work--couldn't work, and couldn't find nothing to work, and he was sickly, and we was just barely making on it, just dividing what we could divide. But I know he was hungry, because we hadn't eaten since the day before.
And he had a heart attack, and I stood by his bed. And I picked him up on my arms, like that, and he looked at me, and went out to meet God. I believe someday I'll see him again.
Mother, she's getting aged. It won't be but very much longer. Every time when I leave her, her old quivering lips when she kisses me, she says, "Honey, someday, you'll return and mother will be gone."
I said, "Then mother, I will come where you are someday." That's right. I'll get there.

22 And so I remember one day we were getting mar... When they were young, when I was just a little bitty fellow... Daddy was eighteen years old; mama was fifteen when I was born, just children. And we was children with them, growed up with them. I think that's a good thing. I do.
My little girl, when she gets to be any age, and she finds a good Christian boy that she wants to marry, I'd rather she marry him and settle down, be a lady, than be out in some of these roadhouses running around and what they call, "having a good time." That's right. The Bible said, "Let your daughters marry young." Some's already turned aside after Satan.
And I ain't meaning for little bitty kids to get married now. Let your father and mother, they know. They're Christians; they can instruct you.

23 And I remember how we used to go to town on Saturday night, go in and pay the grocery bill... We'd all get a treat of candy. You remember when we used to get a treat? Oh, my, that old peppermint stick candy, remember that? Boy, wasn't that real candy? Oh, my.
I remember we'd all get in the little old jersey wagon, we called it up there. You all called it buckboard here, I believe. We put some straw in the back and a whole lot of quilts, and get in there, and all that bunch of kiddies. We had a little old mule. We'd drive about seven miles down to the city and stop. Dad would go in, he and mother, and get the groceries and come back out.
And I remember we used to have a two gallon can of coal oil. We burned coal oil lights. You've done that, haven't you? Many of you, burn the coal oil light. Did you ever get to a place where you didn't have enough oil for the wick to reach in there, pour water in it, and let it get up there so you... Oh, my. That's... Take a big old potato, and stick it over the stop, so going home, you know, wouldn't shake the coal oil out of the can, get it on the groceries. Them was great days, wasn't they? That's right.

24 So we remember going up, we'd set there. And when pop would pay the grocery bill, and come out with a little sack of candy. Mr. Grower would gave us a sack of candy when we'd pay the grocery bill each week. And then we'd come out. And maybe there'd be about five sticks, or maybe four sticks, and five little Branhams for it be divided amongst. Boy, there'd be about five sets of little blue eyes, every one of them watching that candy and if see it was equally divided. Had to be equally divided. We'd break that candy, you know, suck on it.
I had a little trick I'd do. Here am I. Monday wasn't a blue day for me. I'd take a suck on my piece of candy a little bit, wrap it up in a piece of paper and put it in my pocket. Then on Monday morning, mama'd say, "William."
Say, "Yes, mama."
"You have to go to the spring and get a bucket of water."
I'd say, "Humpie, if you'll go get the bucket of water, I'll let you suck on my candy till I can count ten." I said [unclear words]. I'd have this old piece of peppermint, you know. Oh, my. It was the real thing. Did you ever eat it with salted crackers [unclear words]. My, oh, my. Listen. I guess tomorrow, I could go and get me a whole box of Hershey's if I wanted to, but I... There's no candy like that. That's the best there is. Like when you're just a little kid, that old peppermint...
My, I'd get ... long as candy lasted, I loafed. I'd keep that candy and wait for the work, something hard I didn't want to do, you know, and then I'd get my brother to do it, some of them, you know. And they'd go ahead and eat their candy up, and I'd save mine.

25 I remember when daddy used to shave. He used to have a shaving brush made out of shuck. How many ever seen a shuck shaving brush? Well, some of you has. I shaved with them. Take the old shuck like that... Did you ever have shuck pillow, where you take the pillow, and strip the shuck and put it in there? Why sure, and a straw mattress... And take this old...
Had a little piece of glass drove up where we used to wash out there, you know, at the old wash bench. And them little fellows would slick their hair down so tight on those little [unclear words].
They had an old bench built back behind the table. And mother would call dinner, and all of them... We'd go under the table and everywhere getting up there. And she'd set the great big bowl out in the middle of the table, like this, and bake the corn bread in the pan. How many ever ate corn bread baked in a pan. Oh, isn't that fine?

26 And you know, I used to set right on the corner next to daddy. And we'd pass the bread, and I'd break the corner off so I get plenty of crust around, you know. That was good, down on the corner. Go around... And you know, we broke bread then. Now, you cut it with a knife. Well, then you'd--you broke bread. Used to say that Jesus broke bread and blessed it. He never cut it. So... And so that wasn't our reason of it; we'd just break it. Each fellow'd break him off a piece, and go right around the table.
And that great big old pot of beans there, with that big piece of jowl in it. Say, you know, that wouldn't be bad right now, would it? That would be fine, even right now. That's good eating. Yes, sir.

27 And then we would have a big day. And Sunday, we'd have a pudding. How many ever had the old sweet pudding, you know? You used to make it up in the pan. We had a little, some kind of a little dabs of stuff right out in the middle of the pan, you know. And that was a rarity. My, be glad to get a hold of that.
Brother and I used to argue who would sop the pan. Did you ever sop the pan? Oh, my. We're just a big bunch of kids growed up yet, aren't we. So we'd get out there and sop the pan. My, what a time we would have.
And I'll tell you; that puts me in the mind of an old-fashioned Holy Ghost meeting. But one good thing: we're not sopping the pan any more now, all this old... We ain't just getting a taste now. That's right. And God comes right down with us and gives us a foretaste of glory divine.

28 And then, not long ago, I was coming out of a meeting. I passed by and seen that old place. You don't know how it made me feel.
I remember when we used to go to school down there, a little old fellow. I didn't have no clothes to wear, and getting ragged. I remember I went to school all winter one time with a coat on. A rich lady had give me that. And I didn't have no shirt. I took this coat, it had a little old eagle on the arm. And I thought that was the prettiest thing. And I'd take this coat. And I had a big catch then, I'd pin it up like this. And so kind of got on till the springtime, and it was awful hot. Teacher said, "William, why don't you take off that coat."
I said, "I'm chilly." I couldn't take that off; I didn't have on no shirt.
So she said, "Well, you're probably catching a cold, William. Come over here to the stove." My. She put on that stove on over there, an old country school there, you know, and the sweat just run off of me. She said, "Are you comfortable?"
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
I couldn't get that coat off there, why, I had no shirt on, I just couldn't do it. I went home. And they had to be some arrangements made for that, you know, because I didn't... I'd... She'd see me... I'd just set all winter with that coat on, till...

29 I remember one of my cousins that come over to see us. And the... She... They had the three of them, two boys and a girl, and the girl was about my age. So she left one of her dresses there. See? I took the skirt part, cut it off real low down here and put it on for a shirt. I went to school, you know. And it had that little, you know, little stuff on it. What is it they call it? Riff-raft? That... Rick-rack. That's what it is. Little rick-rack all over the sides of it. [Congregation laughs.] I said something wrong there, didn't I? What is it? That's what it was. Yes, sir. It was all over it, you know. And so I... Some of them said ... laughing at me.
And I said, "Why, what do you think that is? That's part of my Indian suit." Sure looked funny with all that stuff on it. Oh, my, what a life.

30 I remember in 1917, we were in school. And come a great snow in Indiana, and the... Oh, the drifted sometimes as much as seventeen, eighteen feet high. And it started raining and sleet. It froze a crust, oh, some inch and a half thick.
And all the boys at school went sliding, you know, on their sleds and things. We was too poor to have any of that. We got something to eat, we done well. So they... We didn't have...
Brother and I didn't have any sled, but we got us a big old dishpan out of the dump. We'd put our legs around one another and slide. We wasn't in as much class as the rest of them, but we were sliding just the same. So we were--we'd go right on down the hill turning around, and around, and around in this old dishpan.
That served as a sled till the bottom come out of it. So we went down and got us a log. And we took pop's ax and we chopped it up like that, the end of it. We made us a sled. We'd pull this little log, you know, and go on to school. We got down there.

31 And I remember, that winter there was a--used to be a magazine they sold, called "Pathfinder." I don't know whether you ever heard of the old "Pathfinder." My, I might be talking to a lot of boys that sold it.
Anyhow, and that was of the time of war, and everything that was big enough to put on a uniform had a uniform on. Everything was... Oh, the highest respect was for a uniform.
When I used to see those soldiers come up the road. We had a big old sassafras pole out there, and we'd run the flag up on it. We'd get that flag up and see all those soldiers have to stop and salute that flag, 'fore they passed it at school, you know. And oh, my, we'd have a big time out of that.

32 And I'd see those soldiers, them wrapped leggings, you know, and everything. Oh, my, how I wanted to wear a uniform. I said, "When I get to be a man, I'm going to be a soldier."
Well, I was too little then. And when I this other war come along. I guess I wasn't man enough. I tried to enlist, and then they wouldn't have me.
So I finally got to join the army, a uniform. I might not show it on the outside, but I got it on the inside. That's right. I joined the ranks of Christianity. In there I have a uniform on called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I'm in a great battle, doing everything I can. And I might not be able to... I can feel it. I know It's there. And that's the main thing.

33 And Lloyd Ford, a friend of mine, he went to school down there. I guess Brother Curtis is laughing now, the boy that's here. One of my friends, remembers Lloyd. And he was selling this "Pathfinder," and he'd got him a little Boy Scout suit. And oh my, how he looked so nice in that scout suit. I said, "Lloyd, after you wear that out, will you give it to me?"
He said, "Yes, I'll give it to you."
My, how that old suit lasted. Went off a long time. One day I said, "Lloyd, what about that suit?"
He said, "Well, Billy, I'll see if there's--where it's at." He come back, and he said... Next day at school, he said, "Well, Billy," said, "I tell you." Said, "I wore it out, and my mama taken the part of the salvage and patched dad's clothes." And said, "And the--they made dog pallet out with the coat, and it's all gone." Said, "I haven't got a thing of it left but one legging."
I said, "Bring me that." I wanted something.

34 So he brought his little old legging, about that long, had a little draw string in it. Many of you remember what they was. I wore that around the house, and I thought, "Oh, if I could only wear that to school. Wouldn't I--wouldn't the kids look at me, (you know) this legging on?" So I went out to school, and I put it back in my coat.
I was riding down on the sled, on this old log sled, you know, down to the bottom of the hill; and the log turned over and over. And I wanted to get some excuse to put that legging on. So as soon... I said, "Oh, I hurt my leg." Not half as bad as I was acting like. I said, "Oh, my leg. It hurts." I said, "Um."
All the boys standing around, saying, "You hurt yourself, corn-picker?" Kentucky.
I said, "Yeah, I hurt my leg." I said, "Oh, it just reminds me, I've got one of my leggings to my scout suit here, that'll help it a whole lot. I put it on. They all got away from me.

35 And I went--I went to the board. You used go up to those old blackboards, you know, to work your problems? Just wash one hand, the one you had to hold up to the teacher, you know. So I got around like this, and I put both legs together like this so they wouldn't know, and hold out like this, and stand sideways to work my problems. Begin... Everybody looking at me with that legging on. All the kids got to laughing at me, and teacher made me go home. I got to crying, so she run me home. So I had to go home. I... Oh, my, that's...
As I say, God finally dressed me up on the inside. I'd rather have it on the inside anyhow.

36 I'm American; I love my nation; I'm willing to go to war any time it goes to war. There's just Branham after Branham laying dead around France there and Germany. That's right. Many of them are laying there waiting for the resurrection. And I'll... If it would come necessary for my country, I'd be very happy to lay myself with them, to keep freedom where we can have religion, and like we've got it now. No greater nation in the world than our America. I mean that from my heart.
Long may our lands be bright,
With freedom's holy light.
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King.
But dear Christian friends, I had rather be in the army of the Lord, than any place I know of. That's right. Because I know that someday we're going to a land where there's ceaseless ages; we'll live there forever.
And if I'm not man enough to be out in the army to fight with the armed forces, then God give me a job here to fight the powers of the enemy. And I am a soldier after all, one in the ranks with you, dressed with your type uniform and your brother in the service.

37 Now, how them old days, they really tantalize us. And there's many things happened that I wouldn't have time to tell you, along the road. But you know how it is in old school days. Wouldn't you like to go back there again? My, go back to just...
I wished I could live one day again. I wished I could get by that old table that my daddy built on top of a stump. And I would like to go back there, and set down there, and just live one more day. I'd give all, if I had a hundred million dollars laying on this platform. God knows my heart.
And I realize that night after night, I wrestle with demon powers, and I'm not immune from them. They can come to me.
Remember one time, some boys who thought they had a gift of healing? Said to a man who had epilepsy, "I adjure thee by Jesus who Paul preaches, come out of it."
The devil said, "Paul I know, and Jesus I know, but who are you?" Is that right? You have to watch what you're doing now. Be sure that you're called for these things. And the men was jumped on, stripped the clothes off, and run through the streets naked.

38 Now, if I had this platform laying full of money, millions of dollars, and could pass it every bit away, just to see one more scene; and that is, if I could see my old dad enter that tent right there, come walking right down this way, and reach up his hand, and catch me by the hand, I'd give it, everything I ever had in my life, or ever would have, if I could just hold his hand one more time.
The real things of life are right around you; you don't see them. That's all. You don't know it till it's gone. That's right. If I could just once more see dad, but I can't; he's gone on.

39 On down through life, many times I... You seen in my little book there how the Angel of the Lord appeared back in those days when I set right on a keg, when I was only about eight years old, or nine, watching the whiskey still run all night long, and get right up and started down packing water back to this still.
And it was right down my road back from the pump where the Angel of the Lord spoke to me, said, "Don't you never drink, or smoke, or defile your body in any way; for there'll be a work for you to do when you get older." Like scared me to death.

40 I remember one day, my daddy was going down to the river, he and another man. I was trying to find favor with this man, because he had a good boat. I wanted to pull the boat.
We got ten cents a dozen for finding bottles for them who was--the moonshiners that was fixing the whiskey. And I had a--an old paddle, and we'd... That river'd be up. We'd have to paddle, we didn't have no rudder on the old boat. And had to bail the water awhile and so forth, trying to get along to find the bottles, the brother and I.
And this man had a fine duck yawl. And I... He acted like he liked me, and I wanted to keep favor with him.

41 And we started across a little tree. And dad just set his leg across like that, to cross over the little blown down tree. And when he did, he stopped, pulled a little flat bottle of whiskey out of his pocket, handed it over to the next man to take a drink. And the other man taken a drink and handed it to me for me to take a drink. I said, "No thanks, I don't drink." I was about eight, nine years old.
He said, "What? A Branham and don't drink?" Most all Branhams died with their shoes on. So he... I said, "No, sir, I don't drink."
My daddy said, "No, I raised one sissy."
Oh, my. A sissy. I said, "Give me the bottle." And my daddy looked at me. I took the bottle, pulled the stopper out of it, just as determined to drink it as I am to finish up my service this afternoon. I turned that bottle up, and started to take a drink. When I did, I heard them leaves in that bush again going, [Brother Branham illustrates.].
That's the way it appeared to me when at first, just like a roaring of leaves. Looked up and seen about the size of a barrel going back and forth through the trees. And there a human voice spoke to me and said, "Don't never smoke, or drink, defile your body." And I... Now, He said to me, "Don't smoke or drink."

42 Now, I'm not preaching against one thing or the other. He told me not to smoke or drink. If you smoke and drink and say you're a Christian, that's up to you and God. But He told me not to do it (See?), not to do it. And so I didn't.
I've heard many people say, "Well, I drink a little bit, a sociable drink. And I... And I use... I smoke, and it don't condemn me."
Well, maybe you just ain't went far enough yet. That's right. That's all. You get a little farther on and you'll understand. That's right. That's right. You won't have no desire for that.

43 And so then when I was standing there, and I took the bottle just as determined to drink it as I could be. And I heard that going, [Brother Branham illustrates.] I dropped the bottle, and screamed, and run up across the hills through the fields. And they laughed at me.
Then along about... When I got to be about eighteen, seventeen, eighteen years old, like all boys I got a little girlfriend, you know. You know how that goes. Now, don't you men look at me like that. You did the same thing. See?
And you know how pretty she was. You know, she had eyes like a dove, and teeth like pearl, and a neck like a swan, you know. And there you are. And I just... You loved her, and the prettiest thing you ever seen. And oh, she was pretty.

44 And a little country boy that lived there by me, he said he could get his old daddy's--daddy's old Ford. We had to jack the back of it up and crank it, you know, with that back wheel, you know, going. We got us a couple gallons gasoline. I had about forty cents. And we got our girls, and going to go riding. So we went out.
I was so bashful. My, I set way over on one side of the car and looked at her. She was pretty. My. She was from the city, and she just moved out there. And I thought, "My, she's a pretty thing." And I looked at her, and I'd say, "Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am." Watch her, you know.

45 And so we stopped to get some sandwiches. And I went in, got the sandwiches: Get a ham sandwich for a nickel. So I got some Cokes and come back out. And we started eating the sandwiches, drinking the Cokes, having a wonderful time. I took the bottles back. And when I come back out, to my surprise, my girlfriend was smoking a cigarette.
Well, that was just about the time that girls started smoking cigarettes. Well, I've always had my opinion of a woman that would smoke a cigarette, and I haven't changed it a bit. That's right. It's the lowest, most degrading thing that a woman ever done was smoke a cigarette. Worse than being drunk on the street. Now, watch your face get red. That's right.

46 Listen. Let me tell you something. Brother, that's the biggest fifth columnist we have in America. I'm not afraid about Russia coming in and whipping us, or some other nation come in and whipping us, we're whipping ourselves by our own morals is degrading us... That's right. Brother, it ain't the ap... It ain't the robin that pecks on the apple, that hurts the apple; it's the worm at the core that kills the apple. That's right.
And I tell you, brother: You let a woman get an old time taste of salvation, and it'll straighten her up. That's right. It puts you in the ... or a man, either one. That's exactly right. Amen. That's right.

47 Well, I'm not here to preach the Gospel; these preachers do that for you. You see? You don't want me to go to preaching to you like that. I tell you, that's... You would hate me, sure enough. Because I believe in a real old fashion Gospel that straightens a man or woman up, and makes me puke up the devil (That's right.), and get right with God. That's just little... I oughtn't to... I mean vomit it up, and that, instead of that ... use that word. Well, I'm just as sick when I'm puking as you are when you're vomiting; I'll tell you that. So it's all just the same, you know. All... Some them fine words, I don't know much of them about it. But it's the truth anyhow.
I'll tell you though, you get God in your heart, and It'll sure make you fix yourself up. That's right. It'll bring the real thing out.

48 I wanted to find a girl that... Didn't want nothing to do with one that smoked cigarettes. And you know, sir, I get the statistics from the government. And they claim that eighty percent of the women that has their babies today can't raise them as mothers ought to. Cigarette smoking mothers, their babies don't reach eighteen months old. They take nicotine poison and kill them. They have to raise them on the bottle, on cow's milk. Talk about a fifth columnist. What all will America be?
Here not long ago, I was in a barber chair. And there was a fellow setting there, and he was just a shaking and a trembling. And he got up and said, "Aren't you Preacher Branham?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "I--I--I appreciate..." And just smoked as hard as he could, "I appreciate your--your--your comments the other--the other day on the cigarettes." Then he give me his story. He said, "My father and mother both smoked. And when I was born," said, "I cried the first six months of my life." And said, "They couldn't understand it. And one day when the doctor came," said, "stand there. My father lit up a cigarette and was smoking," and said, "I quit crying. The doctor said, 'Wait a minute here.' Said, 'Take that baby outside.' Took outside, I started crying, brought me back and smoking cigarette smoke into me." And said, "I quietened." Cigarette nerves... "They had to give him nicotine from that time." Said, "Looky here at me now; I--I just can't stop it. My daddy and mother, oh, said they was the cause of it."
What will his children be? There you are. There you are, brother.

49 I tell you: It's a shame and a disgrace. If you women smoke cigarettes, for goodness sakes, today, get away from it and stay away from it. Be a real lady right to the core. That's right. Yes, sir, stop it right now.
And I tell you now: If God don't think no more of you than the Angel of the Lord does against that stuff, you have a slim chance when you get to the gates of ever getting in. And that's right. You don't have to do that. There's no sense of it.
Now, if it's something to eat, or something like that it would be different. But that's something that's no need of, no sense of it.

50 Now, watch closely as we have to hurry. I'll get started over on the Gospel and forget about my life's story. But anyhow, I remember her setting there, you know, when she was smoking that cigarette. I said... She said... Blowing it out of her nose, you know. And that fire fly. If God expected you to smoke, He'd put smoke stacks on you. So she setting there blowing it out of her nose like that. Now, that just degraded her to me right then. And she said, "Will you have a cigarette, Billy?"
I said, "My." I said, "No, ma'am. I don't smoke."
She said, "You don't drink now, and you don't dance, and you don't smoke," said, "what do you like to do?"
And I said, "I like to go fishing and hunting."
Of course, that didn't interest her. So she was... She didn't care about that. She said... And she got to laughing at me. She said, "You big sissy."
Oh, my. My girl called me a sissy. I said, "Hand me that package of cigarettes." And I got a hold of one, just as determined to smoke it. God is my Judge, when I started to light that cigarette, before I could strike the match, I heard that come again, [Brother Branham illustrates.]

51 And they turned... I got out of the car, crying, and they turned the lights on me, and let me walk up that road, following me with their lights on me, singing to me and making fun of me, because I was too much of a sissy to smoke a cigarette.
It wasn't I was too much of a sissy, but God was preserving that gift for this day. That's all it was. And me, I was determined to do it. But it was God protected it in that day, course...

52 Thank you, honey girl. Thank you, sweetheart. Ain't that lovely? Let's say "Praise the Lord" for the little girl. God bless you, sweetheart. Fine, fine. God bless you, honey. God bless you. Look at her little [unclear words]. Well, bless her little heart. [A sister speaks to Brother Branham.] What... God bless you [unclear words]. Well, God bless her little heart.
I want to give this testimony here. The little girl was unable to speak or anything when she come four years ago. And she brought this as a little commemoration for healing, as she was healed four years ago. Let's say, "Praise the Lord," every one.

53 Going to get well? [The sister continues talking to Brother Branham.] What? What was the matter with him? Her husband was healed a few nights ago. Said he was setting near the post there and was called out with cancer. And he's healed. There he is standing in the aisle back there. Let's say, "Praise the Lord." [unclear words]. Let's say, "Praise the Lord" for that. How wonderful. Her husband. That's fine. Said he come up from down around Douglas, or somewhere, that the--from Brother King's church. All right.
We're thankful to hear of them. That's mighty nice, a little commemoration to come back just to give it me. I'm... A little Spanish girl. She was awfully afflicted, and she couldn't speak. And her little hands was just growed together, or something another, as little stubs then. I believe the child will be all right now.

54 Now, back to the life story, of when we were in the... That night, the girl, when they turned the light on me and let--made me walk up the road. And I went up and set down in a field and cried. And I was ready to try to take my life. I said, "Oh, I just don't know. I'm ready to end this thing." I said, "How in the world could I ever go through life and everybody against me?" Looked like when I'd go home, they'd have parties and so forth. Then when I would--when I would try to get out with people, I was misunderstood. I never was understood right until I got amongst this group of people. That's exactly right. Then I had people who understood me and loved me.
And then on down, some of you might wondering, being so backward and bashful, how I ever come to get married. I'll tell you about it as quick as I can.

55 Oh, my. That... After that girl done me like that, I just soured myself against the women. I said, "I didn't have nothing to do with them at all." And I thought that was horrible. I said, "I'll never have nothing to do with any more girls. I'll never go out with one as long as I live."
I'd go down the street, and I'd see one on one side of the street, I'd cross over and get on the other, if I thought she was going to speak to me. I was really against it.

56 So, one day I happened to be out making a high-dive somewhere, out of a tree. And a car drove up, and a young lady stepped out. And there it was again. So there it all started. She happened to be a Christian girl, my little boy's mother.
And she started me going to church. And I went with her for about six or--six or eight months. And she was such a nice girl, so friendly, and nice, and ladylike. That's the type of girl that I liked. Only her father was... Well, he done pretty well. He had a good job, making about five hundred and something dollars a month on Pennsylvania ... organizer on the Pennsylvania Railroad. I made twenty cents a hour. He drove a Buick, and I had an old T-Model Ford, backslid. So I... Quite a difference in the way we had to live.

57 So I liked her, and I went with her. So I remember... I know I had to either marry her, or ask her if she would marry me, or let somebody go. She was too good a girl just to take up her time like that. She'd make somebody a good wife. So I didn't... I wanted to be... I loved her well enough, that I didn't want to ruin her life like that.
So I said, "I got to make up my mind now, and I haven't got the nerve to ask her." So I said, "Now, what can I do?"
So I guess you wonder how I ever asked her. Well, I tried to ask her. And you know how that great big lump comes up in your throat here, and you can't swallow, you know, when you're trying to say anything? I'd say every time I'd go... "Now, I'm going to ask her tonight. Yes, sir, I'll do it." And I'd be telling her say, "Now, ten minutes more by my watch, I'll ask her." I'd say. Then she'd roll those eyes, didn't do any good. I couldn't ask her.
So guess you wonder how I ever got married. I wrote her a letter and asked her. Yes. I wrote her a letter, and I... Now, it wasn't a "Dear Miss..." It had a little more mush, as we call it, than that. And I wrote it.

58 And I remember I wrote it all out, and I asked her if she'd marry me. And I didn't have nerve enough to give it to her, so I just put it in the mail. So I put it on Monday morning, went on to work.
I had a date with her for Wednesday night to go to church. And so I... As Wednesday night begin to come along, I begin to think about it, "What if her mother got a hold of that letter, and that ... and she didn't get it?"
And then her dad and I were very good friends. Her mother too, but her dad was just a fine old Dutchman. And he... But her mother, she was a--she was kind of a little fritzie, you know, and she... I guess she thought I was a little trashy for her daughter. And so I... She was a good woman, but I was--just wasn't up in the place to marry her. That was all I know. And she didn't think so much of me. But I tried to treat her nice, but I just couldn't get on the good side of her somehow.

59 So I remember, I got to thinking about it, and I was scared to death to go up there that night. So I got my old Ford finally, dressed up with the best that I owned, you know, and went up there and stopped in front of the house. And I knowed better than to blow the horn. Oh, my. She was a lady. Yes, sir.
If your girl... If you love her enough to go with her, go in like a man and enough to get her. That's right.

60 So I'm... I knew better than to blow my horn. So I got out, walked out of the car, and walked up to the door. And I thought, "Oh, my, this is all of it." I [Brother Branham knocks.] knocked at the door like that. And oh, my heart was racing as hard as it could, you know. And I thought, "Who's going to come to the door." I could just see her mother come look at me, "William, I got that letter." Oh, my.
So I said... Hope come to the door, and she said, "Oh, hello, Billy."
And I said, "Hi, Hope." Her name was Hope. And I said...
She said, "Come in."
I thought, "Oh, oh. Uh-huh, they're getting me inside. And then I know I haven't got a running chance then. What--what will I do about that?" So I said, "Well, I--I--I will just wait out here. It's awfully warm."
And she said, "Oh, step in. Mother wants to see you."
And I thought, "Oh, no."
You know how Satan can lie to you, you know, and tell you, that's it. That's it. So don't never... Circumstantial evidence won't do every time (You see?), so...

61 I stepped in the door with my hat off, with all my Sunday manners. My, I was just best that I knowed how to act. And I said, "Sure is warm, isn't it? My." Just going.
She said, "Yeah, I'll be ready just in a few minutes."
And so her mother come in, and she spoke just as nice. And I thought, "Oh, oh. She never got that letter. Uh-huh."
So then I got feeling pretty good. And so, I went on down; we went to church, and she said, "Let's just walk to church tonight instead of going in the car."
I thought, "Oh, oh. She got it." Ha [unclear words].
So we went down and walked to church. I never heard a word Doctor Davis said that night. He preached and preached, and I was setting there thinking, "Yep, this is my last date. She'll tell me as soon we get out here, 'That's all off now. I got your letter, and that's...'" You know how [unclear words] think, you know. You keep thinking, it'll be a realizing to you after while, you know.

62 I could just hear her saying this was all, and I thought. "Oh, isn't she pretty. Isn't she a nice lady. Don't I hate to hear this time come." I didn't even hear what the preacher was saying.
After the service was over, we started walking on down home. She never said nothing. I go along. When we come out from under the trees, you know, the moon shining bright. And I'd look over in those dark eyes, you know. And I said, "I hate to hear her say it, but I--I..."
After while I got pretty brave. I thought, "She never got the letter. It just stuck in the box; that's all." Got to breathing better. I said, "She'd done named it to me before now, if she'd have got that letter." So I was going along, you know, feeling pretty good then. And I was walking right along.
We was walking along, she said, "Billy."
And I said, "Yes."
She said, "I got your letter." Oh... Oh, my. And then she just walked on, never said a thing.
I said, "You did?"
She said, "Uh-huh." That's all. Just went walking... You know how a woman can do, just keep you in suspense, you know. She said... Just walked on, never said a thing.
And I said, "Uh... Hmmph... Well, uh... Well, uh, did you read it?"
She said, "Uh-huh." Oh, she'd got it.
I said, "Did you read all of it?"
She said, "Uh-huh." That's all she said, just kept on.
And I thought, "Oh, girl, do something and [unclear words] kill me." And just on like that. And she just kept on going like that. And after while, oh, I said, "What'd you think about it?"
She said, "It was all right."
Well, we got married [unclear words]. We got married; that was it. So...

63 But one more thing. When she was... I remember she told me I had to ask her mother for her. Oh, my. I said, "Honey, look. Let's you and I make an agreement. See, we're supposed to be fifty-fifty on these things. You ask your mother, and I'll ask your daddy."
She said, "All right. Very well."
I said, "That's all right."
And so, I thought I could get by pretty well with Charlie, because I'd... He liked me real well. And I... He understood me more.

64 So that night, I remember I had to ask. I sat there and I... My, I wasn't having me a good time at all. He was playing the Victrola, you know. And I went outside. I got to the door, and she looked at me. You know, I was going to go without asking him, you know. And I said... And Charlie was setting there typing on the typewriter, you know, and it was nine-thirty. Time I had to go [unclear word] He said...
I walked to the door, and I said, "Hmmph, Charlie?"
He said, "Yes, Bill."
I said, "Uh--uh... Could I speak to you out here just a minute?"
He said, "Yes?"
He looked over at Mrs. Brumbach, and she looked at me, you know. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And I said, "Here's where it all ends is right here."
We went outside. Then I thought maybe that Hope had already told her mother, and her mother had done told him to say "No," you know. So I had it all fixed out how it was going to be.
"Well, how are you, Bill?"
I said, "Oh, pretty good." I said, "Sure is a nice night tonight, isn't it, Charlie."
He said, "It sure is, Bill." He said, "Yes, Bill. You can have her." I started... Oh, my, what... I like him yet today. He just went home to glory a few weeks ago. God bless his soul. You don't know what he saved me then.

65 I said, "Charlie, look. I'm as poor as I can be. I'm working down here in a ditch for twenty cents an hour." But I said, "I love her with all my heart. I can't clothe her, and feed her, dress her the way you can. But, Charlie, I'll say this: I'll be as good to her as I know how to be. I'll work until my hands run blood to make her a living."
He put his hand over on me, he said, "Billy, look. I'd rather you to have her and be good to her. After all, happiness does not consist of how much of the world's goods you own, but how contented you are with the portions that's allotted to you." That's right.
I said, "Well, Charlie, I'll be just as good to her as I know how to be."

66 And we was married. And when we got married, we didn't have nothing to go to housekeeping with. We was very poor. I didn't... I was the one married her, and she was the one taken me to ... 'for I to support. And we were happy, just as happy, some of the happiest days of my life.
I'd just... Along during that time, I'd just been ordained to be a minister. I didn't have no church as yet but we was just preaching around wherever I could in tent meetings and so forth. And I went to work.
And I never will forget how we set up housekeeping. We went and rented two rooms for four dollars a month. Who doesn't know, that wasn't much. And some lady give us an old folding bed. Did you ever see one, the folding beds? And I went down to Sears and Roebuck and got me one of these little breakfast sets without being painted. And I remember, I painted them. And right... On the seat and on the table, I painted a big shamrock, being Irish, you know. And so I painted a big shamrock. And we went to housekeeping. I went over to Mr. Weber's, Brother Curtis back there, one of his--some of his people, and he dealt in used goods. And I bought an old secondhanded cooking stove for a dollar and seventy-five cents. And I paid, I believe it's a dollar for new grates and put in it. And we started to housekeeping.

67 But we were happy. We were happy as we could be. We just had one another, and that's all we cared for. We loved the Lord with all of our hearts. And that's how we lived, just as happy as we could be.
And I remember one day then I wanted to go on a little fishing trip up at Mishawaka, Indiana. That was my first time to ever come in contact with any Pentecostal people. And I went up to old Brother Ryan's and went fishing. On my road back, they was having a... It was the P. A. of W., I believe it is, or P. A. of J. C. I think the organization's died out and gone now, but--or reunited with some other organization.

68 But anyhow, there's a preacher by the name of Rowe at Mishawaka, had the tabernacle. Some of you might know him, a Reverend Rowe. Well, yes, there's people with their hands up knows Reverend Rowe. Well, it was at his tabernacle.
I was coming back, and I seen such a crowd of people and heard such a noise, and I thought, "Well, where in the world's all that noise coming from." And I went down there. It was religious people. And they was a screaming, and shouting, and jumping, and running, and carrying on. I thought, "What kind of a bunch of people is that?"
So I drove my old Ford over to one side. I only had about a dollar and a quarter, and to live on. And so... Enough gasoline to get back home, about two hundred and fifty miles.
And I walked over there and went in. And those people, I never seen such church manners in my life. Umm, my. They were dancing; they were running; they were screaming.

69 Why, I said, "What kind of a people is this?" I thought, "I'll just slip inside the door and watch what they're doing." Why, they're clapping their hands, and they're screaming, and some of them beating the tambourine, and some running up and down the boards, and some dancing and running around." I thought, "Well, what's wrong with those people?" Never seen anything like that. So I got inside the door.
Now, it never rubbed off, but it begin to get on me. I begin to looking around; I thought, "Well, you know what? They're awful happy, awful free. They're just a little bit more freer than I am." So I said, "Maybe the Lord's got something that I don't know nothing about." So I begin to look at them.
And somehow, I begin to get a love. I seen they loved one another. And those women would grab one another, hug one another, and kiss each other; and the men throwed their arms around one another, and hugged each other. Why, I never seen that before.
I said, "Say, this is--looks good to me. Believe I'll just stay. They said we're going to have services tonight."

70 So I had a dollar seventy-five cents. And I said, "No. I've got to spend at least one more dollar of that to go home on. Now, it'll leave me seventy-five cents. I can't rent a room." So I went down and got me about two dozen rolls. And I said, "I can live off these for a few days. I'm going to look around here and see what this is all about." So I went out in the--got me a place in a cornfield located, where I could sleep that night.
I come back down to the service. And that night, he said, "I want all the preachers to come to the platform." And I guess there's three or four hundred preachers got on the platform.
They was having a conference. And they had to have it up there on account of the... Well, the southern states wouldn't let the colored and white together. So they was having it up there. And I noticed all them preachers.

71 And that night, they had their main speaker was an old colored man. They had to lead him out to the platform. Had on one of them little bitty--them cut away preacher coats, you know, the belt and collar. Just a little rim of white hair, and the poor old fellow come out there.
And all that ministers that day had been speaking about Christ, and how great He was and everything. I was listening to them.
Said, "All the preachers come to the platform." I went up and set down with them. "We only have time," they said, "just to have the preachers say who he is and where he's from."
I just raised up, and I said, "Billy Branham, Jeffersonville," set down. The rest of them along like that. Went on along down the line.

72 This old preacher come out to preach. He said he had--was going to preach the message that night. And the old fellow come out. And I thought, "Poor old brother. He was just all crippled up like this."
He come out. And he took his text from over in, I believe, in Job 7:27, or somewhere there. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?" Said he, "When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy." And instead of preaching what He'd been done out here on earth, he took Him up back yonder about ten thousand years before the world was ever formed, brought Him on down across through the skies, and come down the horizontal rainbow back yonder in eternity somewhere.
When that old fellow got anointed, he jumped up in the air, kicked his heels together, hollered, "Whoopie." Walked off of that platform, looked around. He had more room than I've got up here. He said, "You ain't got room enough up here for me to preach." Walked off.
I said, "That's what I want. If it'll make an old man act like that, what would it do to me?" I said, "That's the thing I want. That's what I want." I said, "My, what a wonderful people."

73 I went out that night, and I got down in the old cornfield, and I prayed and I prayed. Nobody knowed me. So I took my trousers and put them between the seats of the Ford and pressed them, you know. Took the back seat out and the front seat out, put them down. Probably you've done the same thing, pressed them overnight. I laid down over there in the grass, and I prayed nearly all night.
And next morning they said they was going to have breakfast at ten o'clock. I wouldn't eat with them, because I had no money to put in the offering. And I just had my rolls. So I eat my rolls, and come by a hydrant down there, and got me some water, come on down. Now, I'd been welcome, but I just didn't want to do it, because I couldn't help them out. So I didn't have the money to... But I was wondering what they had spiritually. And I...
And then that morning, they started singing that little song, "I Know It Was The Blood, I Know It Was The Blood." And oh, my, they was having a real time.

74 So after they got through with all the jubilee part, then he said, "Last night on the platform, there was a young minister by the name of Billy Branham."
I thought, "Oh, oh."
Said, "If he is in the building, tell him to come forth and speak for us this morning." Well, I never even seen a microphone before. And I was sitting back there with a pair of seersucker trousers on and a little T-shirt. I just hunkered down real easy, you know.
So they said... That fellow come up again, Mr. Kurt, you all may know of him. Yeah [unclear words] from Cincinnati. Reverend Kurt, he's a chart teacher he was there at the meeting. He said, "Anybody outside know where Reverend William Branham from Jeffersonville." Said, "Tell him to come up at the platform and come to the service."
I got down real low like this. I was sitting right beside of a colored man. He looked over to me; he said, "Do you know that guy?"
My, what was I going to do? I just couldn't lie. I said, "Yes, sir."
And he said, "Well, go find him."
Well, what was I going to do? I just couldn't lie to the man. I said, "Hold over here a minute, brother, and I'll tell you something [unclear word]." I said, "I'm he. But I can't..."
"You is?"
I said, "Yes." I said, "I can't..."
Said, "Go on up there."
I said, "Let me [unclear words]." I said, "I--I got on these seersucker trousers and this T-shirt." I said, "I can't go up."
Said, "Them people don't care what you dress like. Get on up there."
I said, "No, no."
And in just in a few minutes, he said, "Did anybody find Reverend Branham?"
That colored man said, "Here he is. Here he is. Here he is."
Seersucker trousers, T-shirt, talk about [unclear words]. Wonder what [unclear words]. My [unclear words] you know.
All them people looked at me, them people who really have their religion, you know. And me up there my old cold Baptist ways, you know, and the ... got up there, you know.
And I said, "My." I thought, "Lord, if You ever helped anybody, You help me." I said, "I'm grateful to..." I finally thought, "Well, what am I going to read? Or what am I going to do?" I was so nervous, I just couldn't hardly hold myself together.

75 And I got over here, and I jumped over to Luke there where it said, "The rich man lifted up his eyes in hell and then he cried." I just happened to fall on, "And then he cried." I took that little three words, "And then he cried." I started talking. Everybody got to hollering, "Amen." And then I cried.
First thing you know, about two hours later, become... [Gap in the audio.]
Outside. The next thing I know, It done got on me or something. I got out of that [unclear words]. [ Blank spot on tape.]
Some fellow walked up with a big pair of boots on, big Texas hat, said, "I'm Reverend So-and-so." Elder, I believe he called his name.
I said, "Are you a preacher?" Them Texas boots on, and a big hat. Well, I'm not so bad off after all. I said, "You a preacher?"
"Yes, sir. I'm a Pentecostal preacher. I..." Said, "Why don't you come down to Texas and hold a revival for me."
I said, "Me?" He said... I said, "Look--look, brother," I said, "I--I just don't know religion that good."
He said, "I don't care. Come on down, I like it," he told me.

76 About that time a fellow tapped me on the shoulder, said he was a preacher. And he had on a little old knicker-bocker golf pants like, you know. He was a preacher from Florida.
I said, "Well, my seersucker trousers are not so bad after all."
Well, I looked around like that, and they had [unclear words]. A woman come up was a missionary to the Indians. And why, I had all kind of places to... Why, my, you don't know the places I had to go.
And I went out there and got down in the cornfield, and I just praised the Lord for giving me the opportunity, jumped in my old Ford, making forty miles an hour: Twenty miles this way, and twenty miles up-and-down this a way. Down the road [unclear words].

77 When I come home... When I got home, my wife, bless her heart, she was waiting as usual. She'd run out and meet me. She seen me coming. She's real ... had a little old long black hair, pretty eye--brown eyes. She come running to me. She threw her arms around me, her and the baby. And she said, "Oh, I just know you've had a good time fishing and ... up there in the lake."
I said, "Honey, I want to tell you what I done." I said, "I--I met the best people in the world."
She said, "Well, what?"
I said, "The best people in the world. You talk about people that's not ashamed of their religion, you ought to see them." I said, "They clap their hands, and they scream, they run all over the floor, and everything."
She said, "What?"
And I said, "Yes."
She said, "Where they at."
I said, "Up at Mishawaka." I said, "I'm going to tell you something. Looky here." I pulled out a long piece of paper. I said, "They want me to hold revivals for them all over the country."
She said, "You?"
And I said, "Yes."
She said, "Sure enough. Is that right?"
And I said, "Yes, sir. They told me I could hold revivals for them."
And she said, "Well..."
I said, "Will you go with me?"
She said, "Sure." Bless her heart. She said, "Sure, I'll go." And that's a real wife, go with you through thick or thin.

78 Well, now, when I started out to hold the meetings then, I was going to go to hold them. And I went and told my mother. She said, "Well, God bless you, honey." She said, "Years ago down in Kentucky at the old Lone Star meeting house, we used to hear the people shout like that long time ago, and had that kind of a demonstration." Said, "But it faded out."
And I said, "Well, mama, these people, It ain't faded out of them." I said, "They sure have got a [unclear words]." And so she went [unclear words] things.

79 When we got to her mother--got to her mother [unclear words]. When we got over there, why there's where the trouble started, right there.
She said, "William Branham, do you mean to tell me that you'd take my daughter out amongst a bunch of trash like that?"
I said, "Well, look, Mrs. Brumbach. They're not trash."
She said, "That's a bunch of holy-rollers." She said, "And you take her out of here, she'll starve to death." She said, "Today she might have something to eat, and tomorrow she might not have nothing to eat."
But brother, I come to find out what she called "trash" was "the cream of the crop." And bless my heart [unclear words].
And said, "You mean to tell me that you'd take..." Said...
And Hope started crying. And she said, "Mother..." She said, "I--I--I want to go with him."
And she said, "Very well, Hope. If you go, your mother will go in a grave heartbroken. That's all." And then Hope started crying.

80 And there, friends, is where my sorrows started. I listened to my mother-in-law in the stead of God. He was giving me the opportunity. And there this gift would've been manifested long time ago, if I'd just went ahead and done what God told me to do.
But instead of that, I didn't want her to be angry, and I didn't want to hurt nobody's feelings. And so I just let it go like that. Just walked, I just said, "All right, we won't go."
And right there, the sorrows started. Immediately after that, my father died. My brother was killed a few nights later from that. I almost lost my own... I lost my father, my brother, my wife, my baby, and my sister-in-law, and almost my own life within about six month's time. And just started going down. My church, pretty near everything went down, down, down. Hope taken sick.

81 Just right after that, the 1937 flood come on. And when it did, the... I was--got a job then. I went to working for the conservation. And I was patrolling out in the... So when I--the floods begin to come up and you remember hearing it here. Many of you was there, and how people being washed away and things.
And Hope taken sick. She was going over to get me a Christmas present. And ... the Foxe's "Book Of The Martyrs," is what I wanted for a Christmas present. And she got me a little fish box.
And when I come in that afternoon, she was laying on the floor, fainted. And I called our family doctor, Doctor Adair. And he came up there, and he said, "Well, Bill, she's got pneumonia." So he said, "You have to stay up all night [unclear words] nights." And during that time...
Before that, a little girl baby, little Sharon Rose (Bless her little heart. She's in heaven too today.), she had been born into our home, just the sweetest little thing you ever seen, just a few months old.

82 And so then I remember that Doctor Adair told me, he'd say, "Have to stay up late, Billy, keep the children out of the room here." And said, "Stay up and give a lot of fluid that night." And I did.
And the next morning her mother wanted to take her down at the house. And she didn't care too much about Doctor Adair, and taken her out and throwed her into the tubercular.
So then, I remember the flood coming on; they rushed her out to the government depot, out there for the hospital. And, oh, that part of the night, it raining, twisting, blowing; and how brother, sister [unclear words] now.
Always mind God. No matter what it is, God says for you to do. And I tell you, today, that God in heaven, who looks down upon me standing in this platform, will forgive me. I know that many thousands of souls that I'll have to answer for at that day, for listening to somebody else instead of God. That's true.
Now, I remember out there that night. They taken her out to the government barracks where, used it for people who are in hospitals. And the floods were on.

83 And I was down trying to patrol. I slip out to see her. And she was sick, and both babies had taken pneumonia. And they were laying there sick and... And I'd worked back. They was calling me everywhere in patrol car I was in... I went downtown. And I was coming up the street along about eleven o'clock.
And the old dike had broke through up there. And down through the other part of the city it'd washed, just washed out. And they didn't know how many was killed or nothing. And such a horrible time.
And I remember I heard somebody hollering and screaming. I looked way over there past Chestnut Street, a big two story building and it was shaking like this. And there stood a mother out there with her baby in her arms, and the building going down, screaming for mercy.

84 Well, I lived on the river, and I thought I was a pretty good boatman. I'd get ... went and got my boat out of the back of my car, and set it in the water, the little patrol car I had. And I set the boat in the water.
And I got out there to her, and got her in and two or three other girls in the room. And I got them out. And just the time I got them to the bank, they heard... She said, "My..." She fainted. She hollered, "My baby, my baby. Get my baby." I thought she'd left her little bitty baby in the room, and I'd left it.

85 So I started back. And the water just a twisting; I couldn't hardly make it. And I finally got way up this way and come down, and caught a hold of the outside post and tied my boat, and went in. The baby she was talking about is the baby she had in her arms, about two and a half years old.
And then when I heard the building go out from under me... And I run out real quick, and I fell in the water, probably twenty-five feet. And I fell in the water, and just got a hold of the boat like this to pull the ... keep it from pulling my boat down too. And undone the ... loosed the knot in the rope, fell into the boat.
Then came freezing like that. I couldn't get the outboard motor started on it. Out into the river, I whirled right out into the main part of the current, me pulling and pulling. And it wouldn't start. Them great waves, almost as high as this building here, licking up like that, and that little bitty boat like that, and me out there [unclear words] Ohio Falls, just about a mile and a half below me there, going right to them, which meant death at any minute... And there, brother, I had to think it over, whether it was trash or not. I was going out to see.

86 There, pulling on that rope, and it wouldn't start, and I'd pull again, and it wouldn't start. Sick wife and baby laying out there, just lost my daddy and everything, I knelt down in the boat, and I said, "Oh God, have mercy. Have mercy. I don't want to die out here in this river like this. And I want to raise them children. Please, dear heavenly Father, if You'll just let it start, dear God."
And that boat rocking from side to side like that, me trying to pull then. I thought, "Oh, it can't be but just a little bit farther to the falls. I knowed that was the end of all of it then, because them big waves like that, and they're coming back this way, take me right into the whirlpool there. And it's seventy or eighty feet deep right straight down through there. In normal times if anybody ever goes in there, that's all of it. And hang on those big rock ledges down through there. And there seldom ever find their body.

87 And so I just praying out there, and I said, "God, I know I've done wrong. I know I oughtn't to have listened to what I did. Please, dear heavenly Father." Just trying to start. And just in a few moments, it give a couple of little sputters and started. "Oh, Lord."
Back in. I landed, come back and give it all I could, and heard ... cutting this way, and praying my gasoline hold out. Finally landed way down towards New Albany there, the other corner. And got in and went back and got my boat--or got my car.
And when I got up there and found out about the mother, and everything was all right. I slipped out to the ho--or the government hospital to find out how my wife was. I was going to talk to her about it. And I went out there, and they was just laying in little old army cots.
And when I got there, it was all covered over with water. Where were they at? Then I started screaming to the top... And I got excited then.

88 Major Weekly, a friend of mine there at the government, he walked up to me. He said, "Reverend Branham?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "I don't think your wife is gone." Said, "I think they got everybody out of there." Said, "I think they went to Charlestown, a city about twelve, fourteen miles above here." Said, "I think they went out in a cattle car." Her with pneumonia and it sleeting and blowing like that. Two sick babies and them with pneumonia, one of them just eight months old. I thought, "Oh mercy, they was on a cattle car."
Then I jumped in my truck and run out there towards--to get the road to go to Charlestown. There's about six miles of water where the Lancassange Creek had come through like this to get back. I run down and got my speed boat, and I'd tried my best to get through them waves. I'd hit like this and go plumb back around like that, and I tried to duck the waves.

89 And out there, I got cut off from everything, out there myself. And I set out there marooned for about eight days where they had to drop me something to eat. I had a lot of time to think over on who I was going to listen to, God or somebody else, let it be one who loves his mother or whoever it was. You listen to what God's got to tell you [unclear words].
I'd set there and I prayed and cried... [Gap in the audio.] Got to make your stand. And then instead of standing up against it, I thought more of some--what some woman respected than what my own conscience and God was planting in my heart. I said, "Oh, God, what can I do?"
I looked down there and I met another fellow, and I fixing [unclear words] " Did any of them in the hospital get drowned, you know?"
He said, "No, I don't think there was." He said, "I think they all escaped." And said, "Reverend Branham, I think your wife was on a box car, and they took her out to Charlestown when that boat went up."

90 Well, I run down to my car and got my speedboat, and come back up and put it on the back of my truck. Run up and started to cross. I set up there to [unclear words] was back to it, and about six miles of water just waves through there.
Some of them said, "That train?" Said "It washed off the trestles right up there." Oh, my. There it was again. I tell you, brother, back down in behind this heart, there is sorrows that you know nothing about...
Then I put that boat in the water, and I tried hour after hour to pierce that current. And I couldn't do it. And then the water cut me off, and there I was marooned out there for about seven days I set out there. I had plenty of time to think things over. When the waters got down [unclear words] I had two choices. I walked up there [unclear words] [ Blank spot on tape.]

91 They had on boots. I was going just as hard as I could. I run up to an old friend of mine, Mr. Hayes, called him Colonel Hayes, superintendent of the public service company. I went up to him, and I said, "Mr. Hayes." I said, "Did that train come through with that bunch of people fr..."
He said, "I don't know, Billy."
I said, "Let's go." We went on down through... Just a little bitty city there, about two or three thousand people. We went everywhere. Nobody had heard anything of my wife.
Oh, I thought, "Wife and babies are wound around some bailing wire or something or other down there in one of them swamps, and maybe plumb down in the south somewhere; swelled up, laying there in a bunch of bushes, drowned."
"Oh God," I said, "what can I do? What can I do?"

92 I went out. We went down to the railroad station. And there's a dispatcher there said, "Just a minute." Said, "I believe that train come through." Said, "The engineer of that train is here in the city today." Said, "He was supposed to be down here in a little bit to take a train out." Said, "I'll ask him." After while, he... I run to him as soon as they told me that was him coming."
I said, "Sir, did you drive the train from the government depot that come through?"
He said, "Yes, I drove that train."
I said, "Do you know Charlie Brumbach?"
Said, "Certainly." He said, "His daughter was on the train on back there with two sick babies."
And I said, "That's my wife, sir." I said, "Where're they at?"
Said, "They're--they're somewhere. I let them off at, I believe at--at the Kokomo, Indiana."
And I said, "You did?"
He said, "Yes."

93 And I started at foot to walk. Could... I was going to get there some way. I begin to come almost beside myself. I started off. I met a man. He said, "I know who you're looking for, Billy." It was a friend of mine. Said, "You're looking for Hope, aren't you."
And I said, "Jim, you know about her?"
Said... I mean at ... not at Kokomo, it's Seymour, Indiana.
He said, "She's laying up there in the Baptist church at Seymour, Indiana, dying with tuberculosis, laying by the side of my wife." And I ... or "my girlfriend."
And I said, "Dying with TB?"
Said, "Yes, Bill." Said, "I hate to tell you, but you wouldn't know her."
I said, "Is the babies alive?"
Said, "I don't know nothing about the babies."
Oh, my. I said, "Oh, can we get there?"
Said, "I got a secret road." Said, "I can take you."
And we got in there late that night, in the basketball arena where the Baptist church was fixed up for the refugees to come in. And they said she was down there. And I run through there screaming top of my voice, "Hope! Hope, honey! Where are you? Where are you?" And I looked.

94 Oh, I will never forget that. Back over there on this old government cot, I seen a little bony hand raise up. That was my darling. I run to her real quick. I fell down at her. Those dark eyes was sunk way back in her head. She'd falling lots of weight.
I said, "Sweetheart?"
She said, "I look awful, don't I?"
I said, "No, honey. Is the babies all right?"
"Yes," she said. "Mother has the babies." Said, "Billy's been awfully sick; Sharon's a little better." And she said, "I'm awfully sick."
I started crying, I said, "God, don't take her from me. Please don't, Lord."

95 I felt somebody touch me on the back. It was a doctor. "You're Reverend Branham?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
"Come here just a minute." Said, "Aren't you a friend of Sam Adair?"
And I said, "Yes, sir, I am."
He said, "I hate to tell you this, Reverend Branham, but your wife's a dying." Said, "Your wife's got tubercular. Sam told me to tell you just to make her comfortable, and not to be excited around her."
I said, "She dying, doctor?" I said, "She can't, doctor. That's all. She can't do it." I said, "I love her with all my heart, and I'm a Christian." And I said, "I just--I just know she ain't going to die. I just can't think of the thoughts to think that she'd be taken away from me here, and with these two little babies, how could I stand it?"
He said, "Well, I hate to tell you, but," said, "there's nothing can be done as far as I know."

96 I went back to her, trying to brace myself up and talk to her. A few days we took her home. She just kept getting worse and worse and worse. Went to Louisville, and they had specialists and everything. Took her out to the hospital. Doctor Miller from the sanatorium come down and looked. He called me out to one side, said, "Reverend Branham, she's going to die." Said, "There ain't nothing can be done for her." Said, "She's--she's going to die."
I said, "Doctor Miller, honest, isn't there something I can do? Could I take her to Arizona? Could I do something for her?"
Said, "It's too late now, Billy." Said, "That--that's a... That's galloping tubercular." Said, "It--it kills them right away." Said, "Her family's had it back behind there," which I knew later that they did. And said, "She's just broke with it, and it's got such a hold on her." Said he'd give her pneumothorax treatments and everything. And said...

97 And I'd hold her hand when they were boring that hole in her side to collapse them lungs. If I had it to go over, it wouldn't be done. And she'd hold my hand there, bless her heart. I'd have to almost pull her hand off of mine from suffering, holding where they'd bore that hole in there and collapse the lungs on the side. And that was tubercular traveling right on up like that. I knew she was going, and I was doing all that I could do.
And I'd work at night. I remember, I was out, and I heard a patrol sign come through. It said, "Calling William Branham. Come to the hospital immediately, wife dying."

98 I never will forget; I took off my hat. Setting in the truck, I held up my hands, and I said, "O Jesus, please don't let her go. Let me talk to her once more before she goes. Please do save her." I was about twenty miles away from home. I turned on lights and everything. I went down the road real swift, stopped in front of the hospital, and throwed off the gun belt, and into the place I went real quick. I started walking down through the Clark County Memorial Hospital.
As I started down through there, I looked, and I seen poor little Doctor Adair come walking down through there with his head down. God bless that man. And he looked at me like that when he seen me. He throwed his hands up like that and started crying and run in the halls. And I run up to him, put my arm around him, I said, "Sam, is it?"
And he said, "Billy, I'm--I'm afraid she's gone now."
I said, "Come, go with me, Doc. Let's go in."
He said, "Bill, please don't ask me to do that." Said, "Oh Bill, I love you." He put his arms around me. Said, "I love you, Billy." He said, "We've been bosom friends." He said, "I can't go in and look at Hope again." Said, "That's like my sister laying there." Said, "She's baked me pies and everything." Said, "How--how could I go in and see her going like that."
Said, "Come here, nurse."
I said, "No. No, let--let me go myself."

99 And the nurse said, "I'll take you in, Reverend." Said, "Here's some... Here's..." Tried to give me some little old medicine there to quieten.
I said, "I don't want that."
I walked on into the room, shut the door behind me. I looked over there. They done had the sheet pulled up over her face. I pulled that sheet down and looked. She was real thin, and she was drawed up like this.
I put my hands on her; perspiration's real sticky; her face was cold. I shook her. I said, "Hope, Sweetheart? Please speak to me once more."
I said, "God, have mercy." I said, "Never again will I think them people are trash. I'll make my stand." During that time, we'd both received the Holy Ghost. So I said, "Please, will You, Lord?" I shook her. I said, "Oh, please speak to me once more." And I shook her again like that.
Those great big dark eyes looked up at me. She said, "Come near." And I got down real close to where she was. She said, "Oh, why did you call me, honey?"
I said, "Call you?" I said, "Sweetheart, I thought you were gone."
She said, "Oh, Bill..."
About that time the nurse run in, said, "Reverend Branham, here." Said... "You had that little medicine?"
I said, "No."
She called the nurse, Miss Cook. She said, "Come here." She said, "Set down just a minute. I've just got a few minutes left."
And she was Hope's friend. And she was biting her lip.
She said, "When you get married, I hope you get a husband like mine." And that... You know how it made me feel. She said, "He's been good to me, and we've loved each other the way we have." And said, "I hope you get a husband like mine."
I turned my head; I couldn't stand it [unclear words] walked out of the room.

100 I walked over to her I said, "Sweetheart, you're not going to leave me, are you?"
She said, "Oh Bill." She said, "You've talked about it; you preached about it, but you don't know how glorious it is." Said, "Just before you called me, there was something in white was taking me home. I was going down through a great big place where there was pretty trees and big birds and swings. I was at perfectly at peace being taken my home." I believe she seen paradise as sure as I'm standing in this platform.
She said, "You've talked about that wonderful Holy Spirit, Bill. But you don't know how wonderful it is when you come to cross. That's the reason I'm going, brother. I know it's real. I've seen it at the end of the road." Yeah, you can call me holy-roller, if you want to but let me die one; that's the way I want to go. Yes, sir.
She said, "Oh, you don't know how wonderful it is." She said, "Sweetheart, you know I'm going, don't you."
And I said, "Yes."

101 She didn't mind going. She said, "Oh, it's all right, Bill. I hate to leave you and the children. But oh how wonderful that place is over there." She said, "I want to go back." And she said, "You know why I'm going don't you?" And oh, that's what killed me.
I said, "Yes, honey, I know it." I said, "If we'd have minded God instead of your mother, it wouldn't have been this a way." I said, "I'm going with them, don't you worry."
She said, "Promise me that you'll preach it as long as you live."
I said, "So help me, God [unclear words]." I said, "I'll do all that I can, honey."
And she said, "I want you to do a few things for me. Will you?"
I said, "Yes, I'll--I'll try." I said, "I'll do all I can."
And she said, "Remember that time when we was in Louisville, and--and you wanted to buy that rifle to go hunting."
And I just love guns. And she... And it taken three dollars to make a down payment on it.
And I said, "Yeah, I remember it."
She said, "We didn't have no money to pay for it then."
And I said, "No."
She said, "Sweetheart." She said, "I wanted to get you that rifle so bad." She said, "I've been saving for about eight months." And she said, "After I'm gone, would you go home, look up on the folding bed under that paper, and you'll find the money there. You'll..."

102 I think she had a dollar seventy-five cents saved towards it laying up there. You don't know how I felt when I picked up that dollar seventy-five cents and looked at it.
She said, "And another thing..."
One time I bought the wrong pair of stockings for her, I'd never--didn't know what kind of goods to call for, and I called for the wrong thing. And she told me about that.
Then she said, "I don't want you to live single. I want you to promise me that you'll take my children and promise me you'll get some good girl that's got the Holy Ghost, and get married, and she'll be good to the..." She said, "Then they won't have to be pulled about from pillar to post."
And I said, "Honey, I--I can't promise that." I said, "I love you too much to ever get married."
And she said, "Please, please." And I said... She said, "You can't take care of that little girl and little Billy."
I said, "Oh honey, don't make me promise that."
She said, "I made you promise me you'll do it."

103 And I seen her going fast. And I said, "Sweetheart, are you going?"
And she said, "Yes."
I said, "Is [unclear words]? If I'm alive, I'll be on the battlefield somewhere preaching the Gospel when Jesus comes. But if I'm not," I said, "I'll be planted by your side." And I said, "When the dead in Christ arise, if I happen not to be right with you, if I'm out in the field somewhere, and you go [unclear words]." I said, "You go over to the east side of the gate. You stand there. When you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob coming up, you scream, 'Bill' just as loud as you can." I said, "I'll get the children together, and I'll meet you there."
She said, "I'll be looking for you." She threw her hands up like that. And I kissed her goodbye. She went to be with God.
That's my date with [unclear words]. I'm living as true as I know how to keep it. Someday I'll be there by God's grace.

104 When I returned home, oh, how I felt. I just couldn't hardly stand it, how they'd taken her down to the undertaker morgue and then they embalmed her body and laid her out.
I was laying there that night; I happened to look. Somebody knocked at the door, Mr. Broy come up, he said, "Billy," said, "I hate to tell you the bad news."
I said, "Brother Frank, I know she's down there in the morgue." I said...
He said, "That's not all of it." Said, "Your baby's dying too."
I said, "My what? Sharon's dying?"
Said, "Sharon's dying." Said, "They just took her to the hospital, and Doctor Adair said she can't live but just a little bit longer."

105 I couldn't stand up. They picked me up. I set in a little old Chevrolet truck. We went out to the hospital. I jumped out of the car, started in.
Nurse said, "Reverend Branham, you can't go down there." Said, "That's... She's got tubercular meningitis. She's caught it from her mother, and it's went to the spine." Said, "You can't go in there on account of the little boy."
And I said, "Nurse, I got to see my baby."
She said, "You can't do it."
When she turned her back, I went in anyhow. And I went down there in the room. And there, flies was in her eyes. Just a little old hospital out there. And I took this little old mosquito bar, what it was, shooed the flies away from her. And I looked down at her. Her little fat legs was moving up and down. Looked like she was waving her little hand.

106 I remember when she used to... The wife would put on her the little three corners and set it out there in the yard. And I'd come along that... Just the way I touched that little siren, and she'd know it was me. And she'd just jump and go "Goo, goo, goo." And I'd pick her up in my arms, and she'd love me.
And I seen my baby going. Oh, God, I just couldn't stand it. I thought, "Oh, God, what could I do? What can I do?"
I knelt down, I said, "Heavenly Father, please don't take her. Take me in her stead." I said, "Let me go. You're--You're tearing me to pieces. Let--let me go."
Just then as I raised my eyes up, I seen a dark-like veil floating down through the... I knowed she was going. I raised up and looked down at her, at the bed at her, her little fat arms, waving. It was a spasm like. And I looked at her. Why, she was suffering so hard till her pretty little blue eyes were crossed, one of them was.

107 That's the reason I can't stand to see a cross-eyed child hardly. I seen four hundred and some odd cross-eyed children healed in three months time in my meeting. I've never seen one cross the platform without being healed. And then I think of my little baby. Sometimes God has to crush a rose to get the perfume out of it, you know.
I seen little Sharon, and her little eyes crossing, her little lips quivering. I said, "You know daddy, honey?"
And her little lips quivering like that. I seen her little mouth coming open. I knowed she was going. I laid my hand on top of her like this. "God bless you, darling. You're an angel. You're going to be with mama. Someday dad will see you by God's grace."
I raised my hand, I said, "Lord, I know I've done wrong. But as Job of old, though You slay me, yet I love You. I can't help it. I love You in my heart. You're just about to kill me, Lord." But I said, "I--I love You anyhow. Take her, Lord. Not my will, but Thine be done."
Felt like every bone in my body come unjointed. I [unclear words]. In a little bit, the Angels of God come took the little thing, took her home. I took her down, and put her in the casket ... her mother.

108 We took her out to the cemetery. The minister stood there. He took a handful of ash--of dirt. Said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and earth to earth." I heard the ropes squeaking as they let them down. Then like the breeze coming down through them old maple trees, said,
There's a land beyond the river,
That they call the sweet forever,
We only reach that shore by faith's decree.
One by one we'll gain the portals,
There to dwell with the immortals.
Someday they'll ring the golden bells for you and me.
I returned home. I couldn't be satisfied. I could see my wife going, but that baby, how could I give it up? What could I do about that?
My, I went on back to work. One morning I was climbing a pole working as a lineman. I hooked my belt like that. And I was singing up there, working around the primaries. I was singing,
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The sun was just coming up. That cross-arm on the pole made my shadow on the side of the bank look like a body on the cross the way I looked. "Yes, it was my sin and shame that put Him there. And I was the one who nailed Him to the cross, the Prince of Life."
I said, "O God, but in heaven somewhere, You've got my little girl." And there, I become almost frantic, almost a mental collapse. I took off my rubber glove. Twenty-three hundred was running right by the side of me. I said, "God, I hate to be a coward, but Sharry, honey, I'm... Daddy's coming to see you this morning," as I laid my hand down on that wire.
Why, it broke every bone in my body. How I don't know, unless God had foreordained that this gift should go forth.

109 The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the ground, perspiration running off of my face. I took off my spurs, put them in the truck, went down and went home. As I went around the house, I picked up the mail. Went around the house... And few months had passed, turned cold weather, frost was coming up through the floor there.
I wouldn't go nowhere. I said, "We didn't have very much, but what we had..." We--she and I had lived together with it. It was home sweet home to me. I don't care how it was, it was... It was her furniture, and I wanted to stay at home.
When I went in the house, first letter I looked at, Miss. Sharon Rose Branham, eighty cents, Christmas saving. Oh, my, it was all over again.
I knelt down on the floor there. I started crying. I said, "God, please have mercy upon me. I'll take my own life."

110 this gun. And I put the shells in it. And I pulled the hammer back on the gun. I said, "Lord, I--I'm... I've gone wild." I don't know. I was out of my head. I put it up beside of my head like this. I said, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name," squeezed the hammer, it wouldn't fall. I said, "O, Lord, I can't even take my own life."
I threw the gun down, shot it off through the house. Went on like that. I thought, "O God, why, I've gone crazy. I've lost my mind." And I [unclear words] on at work.

111 I went to sleep. And when I went to sleep, I dreamed. I thought I was out west here somewhere. I always loved the west. And I had on one of these big hats like the cowboys wear. And I was going walking down through the prairies; there's an old prairie schooner laying there and a wheel broke down on it. I was singing,
The wheel on the wagon is broken,
Sign on the ranch, for sale.
Going along like that, I looked standing there, and there stood the most beautiful young blond-headed woman standing there that wou--hair blowing; she was dressed in white. That's the prettiest girl I ever seen. I tipped my hat; I said, "Howdy do, sister."
And then she said, "Hi, dad."
And I looked around; I said, "Dad?"
She said, "Yes."
And I just said... I said, "Well, I don't understand this." I said, "You call me your daddy."
She said, "Dad, you just don't know where you're at." Said, "This is heaven." Said, "Down on earth I was your little Sharon Rose." Said, "Don't you remember your teaching of immortality?"

112 I teach that there won't be little bitty babies like that in heaven. We'll all be one age and one size, immortal. You have to always be that way. We'll just be... There'll be no real old people and no real little bitty babies; we'll be just one age, the youth forever.
And she said, "Don't you remember your teaching of immortality?"
I said, "You're not Sharon?"
She said, "Yes, daddy."
I said, "Well, Sharon, honey, I don't understand."
She said, "Where's Billy Paul?" That's her little brother, the one that's here.
I said, "Well, I left him just awhile ago. But I don't understand."
She said, "Daddy, mother's waiting for you up home."
I said, "Home?" I said, "Honey, I never had a home. Branhams are vagabonds like." I said, "I never had a home."
She said, "But dad, you got a home up here." She said, "Turn, look this a way."
I looked back there and I seen the glory of God coming up. And I seen a great big pretty mansion there.
She said, "That's your home, daddy." Said, "Mother's waiting for you." She said, "You go on. Mother wants to see you. I want to wait here for Billy."

113 And I took right up through there. I got to the door, and there she come out to meet me as she always did, not sickly, not all drawed up and eat up with tubercular. She come out with her arms out, that black hair hanging down her back, dressed in white. And she said... Held out her arms to me and I run to her, grabbed her by the hands and knelt down.
I said, "Oh, Hope, honey." I said, "I met Sharon. Didn't our darling make a pretty woman?"
Said, "Yes, Bill." She said, "You're worrying too much, honey."
I said, "Worried? How could I keep from worrying?"
And she said... She said, "Look." Said, "You're just worrying about Sharon and I." Said, "Don't worry about us. We're so much better off than you are."
And I said, "Well, honey, everything's been going wrong, and everything..."
She said, "I know all about it." She said, "Now, stand up."

114 And I stood up and I looked at her, and oh, she looked like she did the night I married her. And I looked at her building. She said, "Won't you set down?"
And I looked, and there's a great big Morris chair setting there. And I looked over at her.
She said, "I know what you're thinking."
When we didn't have any chairs... We had the old hickory bottom chairs. You know what they are, cane bottoms? We had two or three of those. And I wanted a Morris chair to set in. They could finance us fifteen dollars, and I paid three dollars down and a dollar a week.
And I got one; and I paid up to about eight or ten dollars on it. And I just couldn't make the payments. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't shave that dollar out. And I went about two or three weeks behind, and I... They sent me a dun; they was going to come get it. And I wrote them, told them they'd have to come.

115 And I remember the day they come and got my chair. Wife baked me a cherry pie, and she had it all fixed for me when I come in: a real wife. God bless her. Her grave may be white with snow, but I still love her.
And then she... When she had this pie, I thought there was something happening. I went in; she was talking. She said, "Now, I had some of the boys to dig some fishing worms." Said, "We're going down to the river." She knowed I love to fish. Said, "We're going down to fish tonight."
I said, "Well, honey, what's the matter?"
She said, "Nothing."
After supper, I felt something. I said, "Let's go in the front room."
She said, "Bill, let's go fishing first."
I knowed what it was. And I walk--got up and started walking to the door, and she come put her arms around me. They'd come got my chair. I'd work all day and preach half the night, then I'd set in this chair and study when I'd rest and go to sleep. And they'd come gotten it. I owed money on it and couldn't pay it. They had to come and get it, and I never will forget how we felt.

116 And she'd recognized that when we were standing talking. She said, "Do you remember that chair they come and got?"
And I said, "Yes, honey."
She said, "They'll never come get this one. This one's yours." She said, "Set down." Said, "Promise me you won't worry."
She put her arms around me, and I said, "Honey, I promise you I'd never worry again."
I woke up and I was in the room, and I could still feel her arms around me. But from that day to this, I haven't worried about it. They're beyond the blue.

117 Someday, I got to go too. Each one of us has to make that journey here. Oh, my, a life, brother, sister. Scars and cuts, and went through that stream of poverty, and tears that paved the way [unclear words]. You don't realize. No wonder that sometimes it saps the very life from me.
But today, I'm trying to be as reverent as I can be before you. I'm trying my best, coming right back serving that same people that was considered trash at one time. They're my brother and sister, and I love them with all my heart. And I'm taking that gift and going day and night. We been here two weeks when it's nearly got me to a place I have about an hour and something sleep last night.
What do I... I was keeping my promise to God. Yes, sir [unclear words] into all the parts of the country wherever I can go with a reverent, sincere heart. I want to serve God until the day He calls me home. There's a beautiful home, oh, over the sea somewhere.

118 Some woman said to me not long ago, said, "Brother Branham, when you going to get some rest?"
I said, "When I cross over the river. I got a home over there and loved ones. I got a chair to set in. I'm going to cross over one of these days."
She told me, said, "You're so tired and [unclear words]."
I said, "Yes."
Said, "You been praying for the sick so much." I never prayed for the sick like that before.
So one of these days, setting on the platform like this, God will open up the windows. I'll be a--maybe an old man shaking on a cane. But He won't turn me down. I'll cross over as sure as I'm standing here, if I can only prove faithful to my Saviour is my plea. He will bear me away in that day. Don't you believe that? We'll be faithful. That's right.
Time is filled with swift translation,
Naught on earth unmoved can stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand.

119 Friends may come and go. When the way growing drear, precious Lord, lay Your dear hands. When my life is almost gone, at the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hands. Blessed Lord, take my hand and lead me home. Let me [unclear words] my Saviour. If I'm faithful to Him, someday He will guide me to the other side.
I trust that every one of you here, friends... If there's one here who's not ready to meet God, listen to me as I speak to you in the name of the Lord. You've got the good opportunity now. You've got a wonderful time to come and accept Him. With my Bible over my heart, someday, everything that you've ever done in this life will be naught unless you give your life to Christ. Come with me. If you love me, let's us go together.
There waits for me a glad tomorrow.
(Sing it with me.)
Where gates of pearl swing open wide,
And when I cross this vale of sorrow,
I'll stand upon the other side.
Someday beyond the reach of mortal kin
Someday God only knows just where or when,
The wheels of mortal life shall all stand still,
Then we shall go to dwell on Zion's hill.

120 O God, someday these wheels are going to stop this old body, all of mortal life will stand still. Then oh, like a tooth coming from a body, been extracted, He's going to go [unclear words] on will break through, and our souls will plunge into an eternity. Help us, God. Help us today. Grant it, Lord. May sinners without a way come in today, Lord, and be saved. Come to the fold, come to the Shepherd, find faith and shelter. And may they see that by Your poor disobedient servant's mistakes that they can be blessed.
O God, I think years ago if I'd have went on and done what You told me to do, how many more people'd been saved today. I'm sorry, Lord. Help me now, will You, Lord? Bless everyone that's here, and the sinners here, bless them, Lord.
While we have our heads bowed, the sister's playing there ... the brother, "There Waits For Me A Glad Tomorrow," I wonder how many sinners in here, put up their hands and say, "Brother Branham, pray for me. I--I'm unsaved and I want to be saved." God bless you. Oh, my, hands up everywhere.

121 Look, if God will hear my prayer to heal the sick, don't you think He will hear my prayer to help save your soul? How many now, while we're singing that song in a few minutes, "There Waits For Me A Glad Tomorrow." Will you come down here and shake my hand, stand here at the altar just a moment that we have prayer. Don't you love Him? Oh, what could you do?
Here the other day, a young fellow come hear me in the meeting. He set here, and he just give his life to Christ, and went out and was killed instantly on a tractor. Another man standing the other night holding his hands went home and died in a little bit.
Oh brother, if you know not God, how about coming down. Won't you come right now while we stand and sing, if you be will. You that wants to find peace with God, believe that He is, my brother. If you need something from God--salvation--won't you come just now.
All right. All right. Give us... All right, that's... All right, that's okay. That's all right. "Almost Persuaded." All right. "Almost Persuaded." God bless you.
Almost [unclear words]

122 Just comes down and shakes my hand. Come all the way from South America to meet this time. Won't you come too? Come down. God bless you, sister. That's the way to come. Now, remember, friends, this may be [unclear words] your opportunity. God bless you [unclear words]. Oh, that's all right. Come, stand right here.
Just stand right here. Come right around and stand. God bless you, brother. That's wonderful. God bless you, sir. Oh, my, look at them coming. Won't you come? [unclear words]. God bless you, brother. Oh, that's marvelous. Come right ahead. All of you today that needs, come right here. Gather around the altar in an old-fashioned altar call.
Now, everybody together now while we sing. Come right on down. We'll get down here with you people. I believe God will save everybody that's unsaved [unclear words].
.............. now to believe;
Almost per..................
Come right down this way, brother, so I can see you just in a moment. Won't you come now?
... to receive;
Seems now some soul to say, "Go, Spirit, go Thy...
God bless you, young lady. That's right. Come right on in.
...most...........
Christians, pray, everywhere now. Everybody not stirring, less you're coming to the altar.
... on Thee I'll call."
Friends, God is here. He's calling for you. If you're backslidden, come on. You need God, come on. This is the time. Make your calling now. What a wonderful time to know right in this revival you were saved, resurrected in by the Holy Spirit here [unclear words].
... Oh turn not away;
Jesus ... (Come down to the altar. That's...)
[Unclear words] dear Lord, Angels are lingering near,
Prayers rise from hearts so dear;
O wand'rer, come.

123 Won't you come now? People coming. Just think, what if you could step over and open up the gates of hell and look down in there. There's a people set right on them same benches where you set. Yes, sir. [unclear words]. They had the same opportunity that you have.
Mothers and daughters are weeping. Fathers and mothers holding each other's hands. Won't you come? You're invited now, Christian, today.
We believe that the Holy Spirit's going to fall in here in a few minutes. It's a great... Isn't this wonderful? Can't you feel that, friends, that heavenly atmosphere around the people now? Angels of God mingling near.

124 Won't you come? This is the hour... You've always wanted to be saved, haven't you? This is the time to fulfill the things that you've promised God. Remember when He took the baby? Whenever it died, or some of them, you said, "I'll be a Christian." You haven't fulfilled that yet, won't you come on down? Take your stand. Come on now while we gather around, everyone. Everyone, backsliders, and sinners, gather around the altar now for an old fashion altar call.
Christians, pray now. Reach to somebody setting near you. Ask them if they're a Christian. Say, "Come on down at the altar." We want those who are backslidden. Here's many of the Spanish standing around, Indians.

125 Oh, Jesus is concerned about this. What's this meeting been going on for? What's the Supernatural showed? Here He is. He's here now. Hear me, believe me. Everybody that'll come here believing, will be saved right now if you'll just come. The doors of mercy is open now. In the morning may be too late for you. Won't you come?
How many here has not received the Holy Ghost, let's see your hands, that wants the baptism? A few of you, walk right down [unclear words]. Come right down the aisles. Come right on down. Won't you believe He will [unclear words] give you the Holy Ghost now? Without being born again you're lost. That's right. Come right on down the aisle. How wonderful.
Christian, get your sinner friend, come up around the altar here where [unclear words] one of the greatest times that you've ever witnessed, I believe.

126 Here comes a poor boy walking on crutches. God bless you, boy. Have faith in God. Give your life to Him right here. Throw your old crutches away and walk out without them. God will heal you while you're standing there.
Come near now, you that has a need of Him. Oh, my. Just look now, coming down the aisles [unclear words]. Gathering in closely everybody now.
I believe God is going to pour the Holy Spirit upon this building here in a few minutes. The Glory of God will be falling. People will be coming through with the baptism. Sinners will be saved, backsliders returned. It's here. Walk up, dear friends, a little closer. Come a running [unclear words]. Now's the time.
Sinners, ask God to forgive you. Raise up your hands and say, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, for Christ said it." Oh, my. Here it is all over the building, everywhere now. Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus. O God, baptize them with the Holy Ghost. Forgive these sinners of their sins, Lord. Return faith that they'll [unclear words] the glory of Jesus.

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Thank you, Brother Baxter. Good evening, friends, or afternoon, rather. Down in the south, this would be evening; and then when it gets a past seven o'clock, it's night. I think this... I never can get that all fixed up. And when they tell me I'm eating my dinner; it's seven o'clock. Mom used to call me in from plowing, why, it was dinner time at twelve o'clock. Different parts of the country they call it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then I feel like I got beat out of a meal somewhere, so I... Just, I guess the way we were raised, don't you think so?
Well, I'm happy to be here this afternoon. It's awfully warm in this auditorium, and I trust that God will meet with us and give us of His blessing. And tonight, the closing night of the service, of these services, we're going to go from here to Erie, Pennsylvania. And we, all are cordially invited to come anywhere, any time; we're always happy to see our friends anywhere.

2 I just met the ushers a few moments ago. And so I always go into the meetings; I don't get to meet no one. And then just about time you get to knowing a few of the brethren or something, then you have to say, "Well, so long; we got to go somewhere else." But this is the last of this.
When I return back, if our Lord is willing, we come back from overseas, from Africa, I never intend to have another itinerary. That's always been the thing that's hurt me. Right when I'd be at a place... Now, like right here, I think if God wants us, stay right here. Now, that's right. But now, there's an itinerary: you got to go somewhere else. And that's always what hurts. I never want it that way; I'd rather stay right here till God said, "Now, I'm through with you here; you go somewhere else." See? Then right at the time here, when the interest of the people just getting build up now in five or six nights, till where they really begin to see, they begin to have faith...

3 I believe the last two nights in this series of meetings, has been the ... some of the ... one of the greatest anointings I've ever felt on myself in any meeting at any place. And night before last, I never had anything to surpass that. When He walked to me face to face. I just... I don't know when I left the platform. The first thing I knew I was in a garage out here somewhere. And it's a--it was... I asked the brethren the next morning; I said, "Was there any sick people left?" Huh. It looked to me like it just ought to got everybody. And maybe you wasn't exactly looking for it just at that time.

4 I seen one time at Vandalia, Illinois, in the first beginning of the ministry, that when it hit like that, and there wasn't one feeble person left nowhere. They just piled up the wheelchairs, and the crutches, and the stretchers, and everything in the corners, and hauled them away. They was just... Everything hit at one time. Oh, I'd like to see that again tonight.
I look down here and see many; here's about... Some of them has been healed that was crippled and different ways. And many times looking at the people I can see what's wrong with them, but that isn't it. The thing of it is; the reason that I call the people that look like their healthy... That's the phenomenal side, when they look healthy, and then here's something wrong with them.

5 But if you'd say to somebody that's something wrong with them, and you see they're crippled, you say, "Well, you're a cripple." Why, sure, anyone can see that with their natural eye. So I might see that they're crippled and maybe something like that. But I very seldom say anything to them unless I see they're healed. Then when I see they're healed, I call them. And God has already done the work for them; they're faith has just reached a spot; that's all.
I don't think you can hear very good behind this, does it? It's got a terrible voice, but it all goes that way.

6 Now, Brother Baxter said this afternoon, that I believe with the, talk on my life story this aft... How many here has heard that story, let's see your hand? That... Well, just a very few. You would pardon me then if I... You'd forgive me for just, not using vain repetitions or repeat something, if I would sketch it over again for those who hasn't heard it; you will forgive me for it if you will. Just in order... It's nothing to be proud of, no, it's something to be ashamed of, the way that I have treated my Lord. But I trust that as I go back over a few pages of it, and I won't try to just, the highlights places on account of the heat of the, intense heat here.
But I want you to make my blunders, stepping stones for you to Christ, that you'll bypass that, and especially the young people that's coming on and got life yet before them, until they become of the age... Now, you just look at my mistakes, and don't try to pattern after them, but you just say, "Now, what Brother Branham did, now I'm going to get past that."

7 You can't hear back there, can you? I thought that would be. Wonder if this microphone here's alive? If it was, maybe I could set one back this, well, it wouldn't carry back there, it'd go forward too, if there's no speaker. My, it's too bad. Well, I... All right, if you got... I was going to say, take your chair, so I don't think you could do it. Oh, that's too bad. Some, one of these days I'm going to build me an auditorium, so I can say this is the way I--the way I want it, so they have it around like that. Say, maybe that's right. Thank you.
You know, being that we're speaking like that, I kind of have a little idea that that's what's the Lord's a dealing with me right now, to have a central location somewhere in America so I can be there all the time and let the people come from wherever they wish to, to the place. You see? And then I can stay there day and night. See [unclear words]. That may be the will of the Holy Spirit when you see it moving in the people. Now, that was just in my heart to think that. You see?

8 And now, I feel like this Christians, now tonight... I come today, I haven't even, nothing but just my, pray two or three times today, haven't thought to be under the anointing, because I knew I'd either preach or tell my life story this afternoon, which Brother Baxter asked me to do that. And I feel that it might be a good thing.
And now, while we're talking on that, now when you see that... Somebody say, "Brother Branham hasn't got any more meetings." Well, don't think it's because that I've backslidden or anything like that, but I'm seeking after the perfect will of God. There is a permissive will and a perfect will. Isn't that right, brethren? And I feel like for a long time, I kind of been in the permis-- (Is that better?) kind of been in the permissive will and not in the perfect will.

9 Now, there's a perfect way and a permissive way. And I feel that if God, here on the platform, can show me things that has been, and in my rooms and so forth, He's able to tell me just where He wants me and what He wants me to do. But I feel as long as I've got it all hooked up, or I feel like then He won't put His hands on it, as long as I'm doing it.
And that's the way it is, anything. As long as you're going to do it... If someone talks about you, and you talk back about them, God can't fight your battle; you're fighting it yourself. See? Just let loose and let Him do it. And just commit it to Him. The greatest weapon that I know of a Christian today, is a committal to God. When you can't do nothing about it, just commit it to Him, and God will take care of it. Don't you believe that? So while I'm away and overseas, if God willing, I'm going to depend on you people to be praying for me. And especially if we get into Jerusalem.

10 Now, just think of the hundreds of thousands of Jews that's in there, that didn't even--never knew that Jesus was there on earth. And now, while they sent over millions of Bibles to them, and they read of Him; they say, "Let us see Him do a sign of a prophet, and then we'll accept Him as the Messiah." Oh, my, that's what we want, isn't it?
Now, if God will just move down and bring His presence of the resurrected Christ down among those Jews, and the Holy Spirit will deal and go out there and tell them things that they've done down in their old countries and so forth like that, then I want them to accept Him then as Messiah, as their Redeemer. And that's going to be the thing I believe that'll bring maybe the Jews, them people that's hungering and thirsting...

11 You know that's one of the greatest signs we have today of the coming of the Lord, is see those Jews returning from across the world. It's a wonderful. I used to sing a little song about nations are breaking, Israel awakening, the signs that the Bible foretold. Something about the fig tree budding and so forth.
My, I was talking with an infidel not long ago; it's been about five, four or five years ago, he said, "Looky here, preacher, I can prove by the Bible and by Jesus Christ's Word, that you call Him, that He told something was wrong."
I said, "Oh, no."
He said, "Yes, He did," said, "I can prove it in the Bible." He said, "He said, over there in Matthew 24, He said, 'All these things,' said, 'when they come to pass, why then, they--that generation would not pass until they had seen all things fulfilled.'"
I said, "That's just what He meant."
He said, "Well, that generation's been dead long ago, long ago."
I said, "No, not that generation, but the generation that sees the fig tree putting forth buds, that's the generation that's not going until... He said, 'When this generation,' the generation He was speaking of, not speaking to, speaking of. And when that generation sees this, will not pass until all things be fulfilled."

12 And I believe--I believe I'm talking to people who are looking for the Lord to come. And I believe we're right in the shadows of His coming, right now. Oh, what a glorious time to know that some blissful day He will break through the eastern horizon, come down to receive His Church. I'm so happy today that by grace that He's numbered me with you all. I believe you're going there. And I believe, by His grace, that He will let me go with you. And then we're going to have plenty of time to talk, won't we? For just forever.
Now, I'm going to hurry just as quick as I can. I'm going to lay my watch out, so I won't be too long of speaking, and I'm just a little late to start. I'm always late, because I never want to get in a hurry about anything. You know, that's the trouble of us today, we're in too much of a hurry. And I... When I got married, I was--I was late at my wedding. And someone said, "You'll be late at your funeral."
I said, "I hope I am." Ha-ha-ha.

13 There was a fellow trying to tell me, said... He was trying to sell me insurance, and he said... I didn't have any insurance and so I... Not as I got anything against it, but I think many of the American people are insurance poor. So, I said, "Oh," I said... He said, "You haven't got bit of insurance."
I said, "Oh, yes."
"Oh," he said, "excuse me, Billy, I didn't know that you had insurance."
I said, "Yeah."
Said, "What kind of insurance you got?"
I said, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh, what a foretaste..."
And so he stopped and looked a little bit, you know, and he standing among some people. He said, "But Billy, that won't that won't put you in the graveyard up here."
I said, "I know it, but it'll get me out. I'm not worried about getting in there." [unclear words]. We're not worried about getting in there; it's getting out, isn't that right? So, the Holy Spirit is God's insurance Agent here this afternoon, giving policies out to whosoever will receive them, you can have one. If you're not saved and know not the grace of our Lord Jesus, accept Him today. "He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me, has passed from death unto Life, and not come into condemnation." Oh, I think that's marvelous, don't you? [Microphone makes loud noise.] That thing's really loud, isn't it?

14 All right, now we want to read some of the Scripture, because I do not think that any service is complete without the reading of the Scripture. How many here's away from home, let's see your hands, away from home? Oh, my, looky there. That's... There's no place like it, is there? No place like home, be it ever so humble. And I want to talk about home this afternoon, a home that I had and have, and a home that we're going to. Home was instituted by God in the garden of Eden. And now, for this we're going to read the Scripture out of Hebrews 13, beginning with the 10th verse:
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve ... tabernacle.
For the blood ... bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

15 Can we bow our heads just a moment now? Blessed Saviour, Thou will guide us till we reach that blissful shore, where the Angels wait to join us, in His praise forever more. That's the words of the poet. And we love Thee today, Lord. And we realize that men that ever amounted to anything on earth, were men who trusted You. You thrilled the hearts of the poet, spoke to Your church, made the weary to be happy, the lost saved, the sick to be well, those without hope are given a hope, and given us such a great a promise that there's a... This is just the negative, the shadow, and someday that death shall develop the picture from the negative to the positive. And when we go through that terrible acid of death, then we'll know as we're known and see face to face.
And while we're here, Lord, today, preparing ourselves by singing psalms, and testifying, and reading Thy Word, we pray that You'll meet with us. And grant today, that if there be any here who does not know Thee, that they will become Thy servant today. And we pray that You'll just bless us together, and may the Holy Spirit now, just get a hold of every heart.
And dear God, as I fear the moment to go back down through that long, bloody, tear-stained journey that I traveled, and review that over in my heart again, my heart is troubled. But then when I think of it, I think of the song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind, but now I see. Now, Lord, help us today, and may the Holy Spirit be here and bless us in this gathering. For we ask it in the name of Thy Beloved Child, Jesus. Amen.

16 Now, I want to speak about my, part of my life. Probably Brother Baxter has referred to you many times, and in my book about how the Angel of the Lord came to me and how that He led me through life. But I want to approach it on the other side this afternoon, from the side of just a human life.
My father was a very uneducated person, and he probably wouldn't have knowed his name if it was wrote before him, no education, none whatever. We were raised in the mountains of Kentucky. My mother, her father was a school teacher, and she got a fairly good education. But if there's anybody here from down that part of Kentucky, and around in Burkesville, and where I come from, well, down there when the creeks got up, school ended. And the most of the children got their education in the cornfield with the gooseneck hoe cutting out freebers and weeds. And we had a very hard time, raised very poor.

17 And the little cabin I was borned in had two rooms in it. I taken a picture of it recently to put in my book back there, little log cabin. My father left Kentucky in his early days, at about twenty years old, I suppose; I was about three years old. And he moved to Indiana. We lived up on the Utica pike, just above Jeffersonville, going northeast of Jeffersonville. I had my schooling there on the Utica Pike School, the old ground stands today. The tree's still around, I can't hardly pass the place without breaking down in my heart, to think of the boyhood days. And there's no days like that.
My daddy's gone; he laid on my arm. As his locks dropped over my arms, he looked up at me, and smiled and closed those blue eyes, and went out to meet God, years ago. My mother, as far as I know, today is a living. She's getting aged now; each time when I start to leave, I see the poor old thing; she'll start crying and quivering. She said, "Someday you're going to return, Billy, and mother won't be here."
I said, "But mother, just wait at the gate; it won't be long; I'll be coming along too."

18 And she's always kind of worried about me flying on planes; she doesn't like for me to go on planes too much. But let's all of us today, most all of you have a boyhood or childhood, rather, experience. Let's all of us just drop back down home a little while. Wouldn't you like to go back to the old days? Oh, my, I would just give anything.
Today, if I had a million dollars, and if I had it, it'd sure go in the Lord's work, right away, just as quick as I could get it. I'd build that Tabernacle and things we was talking about and what all I had, was talking. And put every cent to the Lord's work. But if I had it today, and it was to be mine to enjoy the pleasures of this life, why, if I could lay it down and once more see my old dad come walking down that aisle, and just walk up there and say, "Good evening, son," and disappear, I'd give every penny of it to see him. And I just... You'd do the same thing for some of your parents that's gone on. But those days are gone.

19 And young people here, you don't know what a good friend you got in your mother and dad until they're gone. When they're gone, then you really know who they were. And I heard many, the children these days say, "The old man and old woman." Oh, my, don't never do that. You don't realize who that is. They know what's best, and you don't.
When I seen him when he was laying in his casket, and I seen it begin tinting gray a little around the edge at fifty-two years old, I thought, "Many a worried about me had put those gray hairs there." And how I wish I could brush them back, but it's too late then. So don't do nothing now that you would regret in the future. If you only looked for today, you'd be a miserable person; look to the end out there, and then live for that, out to the end.

20 When we were little children, we lived up on the hill in a place where we had a little old, kind of a huge looking affair, half clapboard and half weatherboard, rather, and half log, the house was. But it was so strong, logs and weatherboard been put over it. I thought that house never would go away from there. Or it'll be there forever. But here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
When I entered Toledo and went down some of your streets here where your lovely homes are, back over this way on...
The other day I was riding and stopped my old truck, and it's about half back, or I wouldn't say backslid, it's got a hundred and fifty thousand miles on it. It's just wore out; it's not backslid. So I went down some of those creeks there and how beautiful it looked. And I thought, "The lovely homes and the people just looked like lived in a paradise."
And this is a lovely city, right here near the lake. Would like to live here myself. But friends, there'll be a time when there won't be any more Toledo here. That's right. One of these days an atomic bomb will strike this place; there won't be anything left of it. Now, you know that's right, we're living on up in that age now. And it's later than you think. That's right.

21 And here not long ago when I heard that expression, I was thinking of when those people there in Belgium and around, returned back from the war. And it was... They had out there at nighttime, lanterns, little children run along packing the lanterns. And around on the Russian borders they were pulling at the harrows and things, scratching the ground; they couldn't disk it up. And just scratching it enough to get it stirred up to get the grain in before the snow fell. For if they didn't get that grain in before the snow fell, there would be no harvest next year and there would be... Everybody would starve. And they worked day and night, just scratching the ground to get the grain in.
And my minister brothers, I wonder if that ain't true in the spiritual sense today; we'd better be going day and night to get this grain sowed in the heart. It's later than we think. The harvest is coming. Let's be, day and night, after it.

22 And now, all of us, going, as I said, a little trip back home this afternoon... I remember the little old place where we was at; there was a bunch of apple trees stood around outside, and we used to come in there. Pop would... We call him papa, and so he'd... I thought he never would die because he was such a strong little fellow; he was a logger. He had big strong muscles and used to roll his sleeves up to wash out under the old apple tree. Did you ever have a wash pan set on a little bench under an apple tree? There was an old cracked piece of glass laying there, you know, to wash, and the soap laid up on one of the limbs [unclear words] everybody laughing. You must've had... I'm not the only country boy.

23 How many ever slept on a straw tick, let's see your hand? Well, my, I going to take off my coat; I'm at home. A straw tick, why, that's wonderful, my, shuck pillow? My, that's right. Well, that's just as America as hickory smoked ham and sorghum molasses, isn't it? I tell you, marvelous.
Well, we had the old... I never will forget one night when we just filled the ticks up new after thrashing, you know, the thrasher came through, and one of the big old steam roller affairs. And I got scared, there was something in bed with me. Come to find out, mother said the tick had got a grasshopper in there. He jumped on me, and I thought something done had me, a grasshopper in a new straw that we put in the tick. And, but there's no days like them new days, is there?

24 And I remember the--dad fixing the table, he put a board, a bench behind, built a bench where all this bunch of little Irish would run over under the table, and get to their place, wash their face, comb their hair just a slick as it could be, you know, your little old face like, slick as a peeled onion. And set up behind this table there. And we'd have pot dinner where'd they cook everything, mulligan stew. How many knows what mulligan stew is? Oh, my, that's when you boil everything, even the dishrag, I believe, and put it together and pour it out in the plate, you know, as you go around. Did you ever eat cornbread baked in a pan? Oh, my. Isn't that fine? Just right at home now. You don't mind me saying, "hit and hain't and carry and fetch," and all them country words then, do you? And so just right at home.
And [unclear words] Mom used to cut it in half and the pone, you know, and lay it on the plate, and I'd set next to dad, and every fellow broke his own piece as it passed by. And I'd always get the corner, because it had a lot of crust on it, and I liked that with my beans soup. You know, you know, a big bowl of bean soup and a piece of onion about like that, and cornbread, and a big glass of buttermilk out of the spring, wouldn't that be fine this afternoon? Umm um, my. That would just be fine. We used to go down to the spring down there and get that old cold buttermilk, you know, where the water tumbled over the old can. That was wonderful.

25 And now I remember when dinner time would come and all of us gathered with our dad at the table, and he... Wonderful to live in those days. I'd like to set down there again this afternoon for a while. And but as days pass on by, and I...
We used to go to town on Saturday night. Remember when we used to go get our groceries on Saturday night, everybody? We had a old Jersey wagon, and pop would put some straw back in there and all of us kiddies would get back there, and he and Mother would set up front. We drove a little old mule; we'd go about seven miles down to the city. And pop made, I believe it was seventy-five cents a day, and he would buy all the groceries and things to last us through the week. And when he'd pay the grocery bill, Mr. Grower, the grocery man, why, he'd give us a little sack of candy, and, stick candy, old peppermint. And oh, it was good. And so...

26 The thing of it was, there's about eight of them little Branhams, and maybe he give about six sticks of it, you know. So there's just about eight pair of little Irish eyes watching that candy to be broke just equally among each one. We'd set out there, you know, it'd be cold weather. We cover up in quilts; we get that candy, and all the boys would go to eating their candy. And I kind of played a little trick on them; now don't you boys try this, because it might not work. So, I'd take my candy and act like I was eating it, and then get a piece of the paper sack off of the--something, you know, and wrap it up, put it in my pocket. I'd wait until Monday. And mother would say, "William."
I'd say, "Yes, ma'am."
Say, "Go to the spring and get a bucket of water."
Big old cedar bucket and a gourd dipper, you know, and I'd have to go down to the spring; that thing was heavy. And I'd say, "Edward," I called him Humpy, was his nickname, brother next to me. I'd say, "Tell you what I'll do; I'll let you lick on this stick of candy till I count ten if you'll go get that bucket of water for me." Ha-ha-ha. Very few chores I had to do on Monday, so as long as that candy lasted. I was a businessman. Ha-ha-ha. Lick on that candy, and I'd, oh, I'd count, I'd say, "One, two, three..."
"Not so fast."
I'd say, "Two, three."
"Now, you're counting too fast."
Start over again, and he'd get a couple of extra licks, you know, and so, then he'd keep that candy there, wrap it back up till I had something else to do, you know. Had it easy then on Monday; I was a man of leisure. My, to go back to those days again. That was good candy. You know, maybe tomorrow I could go out and get a box of Hershey's, but it wouldn't taste just like that did, you know, that was really good.

27 Did you ever eat it with salted crackers, them old barrel crackers, big ones, did you ever eat that and peppermint candy? Did you ever eat brown sugar with it? I tell you, the second thing I ever stole in my life, and the only thing that I know of, was a handful of brown sugar from my daddy. They had some brown sugar in a box, and made molasses for breakfast. Did you ever eat brown sugar molasses? Oh, my. So, I'm going home with somebody for dinner after while.
I went in, my brother said to me, said, "If you'll go get the sugar, I'll get the cracker."
I said, "All right."
Mother and Dad was hoeing in the garden. And I went in and got a big handful, enough for both of us. I was walking out with that; you can't even look straight when you're telling a lie, you know. So I walking along like that, down along the garden, only way I had to get out. And dad turned around, said, "Where you going, William?"
I said, "Sir?"
He said, "Where you going?"
I said, "I'm going down at the barn."
And uh, he said, "What you got in your hand?"
And I thought, "Oh, oh." I changed; I said, "Which hand?" You know. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
"Come here." Oh, my, ha-ha-ha. I didn't want no more sugar for a long time. Ha-ha-ha. Sure tasted good though. I'm talking about the sugar yet. Ha-ha-ha. When my father gave us a whipping, he had a razor strap made out of a piece of belt leather. Oh, my. I'd... He had up over the door, the golden rule, and it had all Ten Commandments on it; it was out of hickory. A limb about that long, you know, with them ten branches out on it. We got our education out in the woodshed, just running around daddy as hard as we could go, like that. [Gap in the audio.] More dad's like that would be better off. Amen. That's right. Instead of pleasing your child and giving him fifty cents to go to the picture show on Sunday afternoon. That's it.

28 Come into a place not long ago, was going to pray for a sick person. Little boy come in, and a little Mary, you know, stomping her foot, she said, "I'm not going to eat this." Said, "Well, mother..."
And the little boy said, "I don't know what to do with this orange." And he grabbed it and threw it against the...
Said, "All right, son."
Oh, my, ha-ha-ha. He ought to have been the son of Charles Branham. Ha-ha-ha. He wouldn't be able to eat an orange for a week or two. He would've cured him; he'd take ramrod right out of the old musket, as he used to call it, "Beat the devil out of us." So I guess maybe that's what it was. We thought it went out anyhow when... But he was... I love him, he never--he never give me a whipping I didn't deserve, and I love him today. That's right. Wished I could set down and talk to him. I hope to someday. I believe when we get over there we'll know each other, don't you? I believe I'll know you just as you--I know you now, only we'll be immortal, and we'll know each other.

29 Why? They knowed Elijah and Moses. And Peter, James, and John recognized them. And we recognize Jesus after He returned back to His glorified body. The Bible said, "It does not yet appear what we shall be," but we'll have a body like His, for we shall see Him as He is. So we will have one like that. And He was eating and so forth. Now, I just believe heaven's a real, real place that we're going. Amen.
Now, I remember when I started into school. Not long ago I stood by the old place where the schoolhouse was and looked at it, and oh, I looked like my heart would break. I remember when we used to go down there at school, and we didn't hardly have any clothes to wear, poor little old kiddies. Dad was a strictly an Irishman; every penny it didn't take to pay the grocery bill, he drank with the rest of it. We went to school without clothes. I remember all one winter. Now, it's no disgrace to be poor, but I didn't even have a coat to put on--or shirt to put on. And I had a coat that Mrs. Wathen, a rich woman, had give me, had a little eagle on the arm, and I kept it pinned up like this and I went every day to school. And we'd have to borrow a piece of paper, didn't have no books to study out of; no wonder I'm ignorant. And didn't have, or illiterate, rather, so I did... No paper, no books, or nothing. And they didn't have it like you do now, where the community furnishes it, or the school. And we were...

30 I remember, that year I wanted to study, but I just didn't have the opportunity: the books and things to study with. I remember it come spring of the year; I'd been all winter without a shirt. And it got kind of warm weather there, and 'fore school let out, and teacher said to me one day, she said, "William, aren't you warm with that coat on?" Said, "Take that coat off."
I couldn't take that coat off; I didn't have any shirt, and it was just the skin. So I was, I said, "No, ma'am, I'm just a little bit chilly."
She said, "You're chilly on a day like this?"
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
Said, "You better come over here and sit at the fire."
My, that big old stove, and she fired that thing up, and the perspiration just running off my face. She said, "Are you still cool, are you still chilly?"
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
She said, "You better go home; you're sick." I wasn't sick, but I didn't have any shirt on; and I couldn't take that coat off.

31 So I wondered how I was going to get to go back to school; I waited a couple of days. My father's sister that lives across the hill there a piece from us, so we... They used to come over; he had a gi... They had a girl about my age; she'd left her dress there. So I figured out one day that I could get a shirt out of that. So I cut the bottom part of it off here, and I took the other part and just stuffed it down in my trousers, and I went to school with it. Its little sleeves up like this, you know, and, so it had all that there... What is it you call that stuff that runs around on it like that? Oh, yes, rick-rack. I had all that kind of stuff all over it like that, you know. And so I, they said, "That's a girl's dress."
And I said, "That's my Indian suit." Ha-ha-ha. Indian suit, it was that rick-rack all over her dress, you know. And kids would laugh at me.

32 And I remember, that winter at school all the kiddies... It was 1917; there was a big snow in Indiana, I guess you got it over here in Ohio too, any of you can remember back that far. So there was a... Sleeted, and sometimes the drifts would be seventeen, eighteen feet deep. And so, the most of the children had sleds, and they could sleigh ride. And brother and I didn't have any sled. So we got us an old dishpan out of the dump. And we'd get in that dishpan. It was all sleet on top, you know, and I--we'd sit down and wrap our legs around one another and down the hill we'd go, just. Now, we wasn't as much class as the rest of them, but we was sliding just the same. So we... That did all right till the bottom come out of the pan. So we had to hunt another sled.
So we got a log, and we chopped it off a little ways. So we had to chop, bring our wood from the river, and out of the woods to burn. Each evening when we get home from school, have to saw wood till plumb dark. Then remember we got the old log, and we were going down along the--a sliding on the ice. And there's a boy went to school there.

33 If I'm not mistaken some of the folks from the Tabernacle is in here the afternoon, from my church, I heard they were. It was Lloyd Ford, is who it was, to you that... And I'm sure Brother Ryan knows who Lloyd Ford is; I just seen him here awhile ago, I guess. I was talking to him the other day, and tell him about that.
It was during the time of that First World War, and everything that's big enough to put a uniform on, had a uniform. And oh, I wanted to be a soldier so bad. And when I got old enough then to be in the army, they wouldn't take me. So, after all I got to join the army and put on a uniform. You might not see it. It's not on the outside; it's on the inside, that meant a Christian rank. God give me the Holy Ghost, and I'm in the war today, in the battle against right and wrong, and I'm for the right. And I feel my uniform whether you see it or not.

34 Now, this boy, I said, "When you..." He had a Boy Scout suit, and he sold this "Pathfinder Magazine." I said, "When you wear that out would you give it to me?"
And he said, "Sure."
Well, I never seen a suit last so long. But after while, after he... Finally I missed him wearing it for a long time; I said, "Lloyd, what about that suit?"
He said, "Why, I'll ask my mother."
And so he said, "No." Said, "She taken the coat and made a pallet out of it, and the trousers, she patched some of dad's trousers with it," and said, "I haven't got a thing left but one legging."
I said, "Bring me that."
So I got this one legging, a little draw string on the side. Well, I wanted to wear that legging to school so bad, and I didn't know how I was going to do it. So I put it in my coat one day, and when I was riding on this log going down the hill, I act like I hurt my leg, and I said, "Oh, my." I said, "I hurt my leg so bad." I said, "It just remind me; I got one of my scout leggings in here." I pulled that legging up, and oh, I thought I was something then.

35 And I remember we went up to the old blackboard. Did you ever go to country school? How many went to country school where they had eight grades [unclear words]. And I stood by the blackboard like this, to work the problem, you know. And I had that legging on that side, and I stood like this and worked sideways, like this. See everybody look at that one legging. All the kids got to laughing at me, and I got to crying; teacher made me go home. Ha-ha. Oh, it was a hard struggle back there.
I remember one day around Christmas, Mama popped some corn. That was really a rarity. We couldn't, brother and I couldn't take our lunch like other kiddies; their mothers would bake that old oven bread, and oh, my, it was dandy. But we... They had sandwiches, make sandwiches. Or what we had, we had a little molasses bucket about this high, and on one side would be a little jar full of greens, maybe the other side, a little jar full of beans, a piece of bread, of each sticking between it, and a spoon. We were ashamed to eat before the other children, because they could have sandwiches, and cakes, and cookies, and things. And we'd go over the hill from the school and set down there. And we set these little jars between us. And God bless his heart, he's in glory today. But we would set and eat one with another, like that.

36 And I remember Mama popped some corn to go on a Christmas tree. We'd get an old cedar tree and wrap popcorn around it. She had enough left, till she give us little bucket, little extra bucket full of popcorn. We took it to school that day. And I begin to wonder just how good that would taste about ten o'clock. So I raised up my hand, and the teacher asked me, and I said, "May I be excused?"
She said, "Yes."
And as I went out through the cloakroom, I took the lid off and got a great big handful of that corn. I went out and stood back behind the old chimney, and I eat that popcorn, my, it was good. When it's dinner time, why, I knew he was going to miss that. So, we got over on the hillside and set down. We want to eat the popcorn first, you know how kids would be. So we opened it up and about half of it was gone, that handful I got. My brother said, "Say, something happened to that, didn't it?"
I said, "Sure did."

37 Not long ago when I was coming from Texas in a revival, one of the meetings. I remember, we got away from the house, and some people, and there. As soon as we could get free, we went riding up the road, and I had the baby, my wife. We stopped by the old schoolhouse, and they were picking violets, my wife and baby. And I wanted a drink from that old pump again. I was drinking, and I will tell you, this country may have beautiful scenery from Florida and Arizona, but we've got the water around here, haven't we? Yes sir, there's no better water in the world than what we have right here in central part of America, that limestone quarry. Drinking, I was drinking that water; I leaned against the fence like this, I looked up across where the old schoolhouse used to stand; it was gone.
And I remember in time of the war when all of us kiddies would stand there, and her... What socks we have on, maybe be down, our toes sticking out of our shoes like turtle heads, and our hands on one another, shoulders like that, and the teacher with that big stick, you know, lining us up, you know, tramping like that, going in.

38 I begin to come down the line; I thought, "Yes, Ralph Fields, he's in eternity. I called three or four more of the boys, "William Hensel, in eternity." I thought, "Who stood next to him? I did. I thought... Who, say... Who was next to me? Edward, in eternity. I look right behind me, and seen Bill Ault: eternity. Behind that, Howard Higgins, in eternity..."
My, I looked up across the hill where the old home place used to stand, and there was a housing project; the home was gone. The old place wasn't like it used to be; the old spring was stopped up, the fields had become people's lawns, just in a little twenty, something years. There I begin to cry, I thought--I said, "Oh God, here we have no continuing city." When I thought, "Dad, how I used to see him come across the field, his black hair wavy, and coming across the field; he'd meet mother out at the gate and all of us kiddies, and take us up in his arms and walk into the house." But he's past; it's already fallen in. "Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come, whose Builder and Maker is God."

39 I stood there, and I got to crying. I thought about the day that I took the handful of popcorn away from my brother down there. I just... First time I was ever... When I got in need I'd even eat a heel; that's the truth. I'm not just saying that, but that's the truth. I'd always... Somebody would buy me a sandwich or something, I wished I could buy it back, and I couldn't do it. And I'd had a few meetings; I'd have an offering or two. And I'd say, "Oh, God, how I wish You could lift me up here and let me take that handful of popcorn up to him today. I'd give anything, Lord, anything, if You'd let me give him that handful of popcorn." He died at nineteen years old, when I was out west working on a cattle ranch, and he died calling for me. And they could hear him from the hospital plumb into the streets, saying, "Let me see my brother Bill once more before I go. Tell him to be a good boy."
There he was gone, and I had that stain on me of taking that handful of popcorn from my brother. I think of his grave, when we buried him, oh, we were real brothers. I remember I got one of Mama's blankets when it come the first snow; I went up there and throwed it over his grave, for I thought he'd be cold. That's before I was a Christian. But now I realize he's not there; he's gone on.

40 How I begin--I begin to crying, my wife, little girl heard me, and they come over there and said, "Bill, now I thought you come home to rest." And they got me and put the baby up on my shoulder, and I looked back at the old place, and I said,
Precious memories, how they linger,
How they ever flood my soul;
In the stillness of the midnight,
Precious, sacred scenes unfold.
I looked there, went around, we got in the car and drove on. When I was a lad I was more or less a bashful. There's many of those things I'll just let go. I was more or less bashful, and you might think this strange, but I really didn't like ladies. I haven't... Didn't like the girls at all.
Because, my father, they'd go down on the river where they drink and everything, and I'd see women come up there, married women, their husbands not with them, and see how untrue they could act. I said, "If that's the way they are, I never want nothing to do with any of them." And I made my mind, that I wasn't going to never be married, never have anything to do with women, I was going to be a trapper. I love hunting and trapping.

41 And I guess you wonder how I ever got married. But I remember the first date I ever had, after I got to be about seventeen, eighteen years old. As all boys you know, you meet that first sweetheart, you know, eyes like a dove, and teeth like pearls, neck like a swan, and you know how it is: prettiest thing you ever seen in your life. And I met one. So I thought she was so pretty, my. And so the boy that lived pretty close to me, he said, "Tell you what..." He had a girlfriend too, and he said, "We'll get them together." They was in school, you know. Said, "We'll get them together, and I'll get dad's old Ford." And we had to jack the back end of it up, and put a little gasoline and crank it, you remember how you use... So we got enough to buy two gallons of gas. And we could ride a long time on that. So we got our girlfriends and was going to take them a riding.
And I never will forget that night we went out. And I stopped at a little place to get some sandwiches and some Cokes. And so, I remember when I went in and got the sandwiches and we came out, and we drank the Coke and ate the sandwiches. I was taking the bottles back. And that was just when the girls first begin to be smart alecks, start smoking and things. When I come back out, to my surprise, my little queen was setting there smoking a cigarette.

42 Well, I've always had my opinion of a cigarette smoking woman, and I never have changed it. It's the lowest thing she can do. That's right. Now, I'm not here to preach the Gospel to you; these men do that. But let me tell you something, sister: That's the worse fifth columnist that America's got. Doctors' statistics prove that eighty percent of the children if they're breast raised children, die when they're eighteen months age with nicotine poison. That's statistics, I get that from the government. And it's the nicotine [unclear words].
And here not long ago, few hours ago when I was eating my breakfast, I set in one of the little luncheon places here, and there set a lady there, fifty years old, with enough manicure on her face to ... or ever what you call that stuff that, and all over her face, it would've painted a barn. And she was setting in there, and she had her cigarette in her hand going [Brother Branham illustrates.] I felt sorry for the woman, so degraded and polluted.

43 Well, listen brother, don't you fear about Russia coming over here and whipping us. We're whipping ourselves. That's right. Our own morals are degrading us. It isn't the robin that pecks on the apple that hurts the apple; it's the worm at the core that kills the apple. That's where it's at now. Termites, they're eating our nation's foundation out. Now, don't get up and go out. Listen, I tell you. If you do, women, if you do use those things, for Jesus' sake, don't no more. Let this be the day and cease from right now on. For if the Angel of God, whose servant I am, if you're not thought any more by doing it, when you get to the gates of heaven than what it's revealed to me by Him, you'll certainly stand on the outside. Now, remember that. You accept me as God's prophet, you keep away from such things as that, if you expect to go into the gates of glory. That's right.

44 I know when He met me when I was a little boy, the first thing He said to me, "Don't you never drink, smoke, or defile your body in any way; there'll be a work for you to do when you get older." Now, when the Angel met me in the bush down there, as you know of...
There that little thing was setting there, pretty little lady, smoking that cigarette. And I... She said, "Have a cigarette, Billy."
I said, "No, ma'am, I don't smoke."
And she said, "Now, you said you didn't dance." They want to go to a place to dance.
I said, "No."
Said, "You don't dance; you don't drink; you don't smoke," said, "what do you like to do?"
I said, "I like to hunt and fish..." [Gap in the audio.]

45 I just got up, and went up over the hill, and set down up there in a field that night, the moon shining down; I said, "I can't have friends; I'm a black sheep among the boys. And Lord, somebody, let me die. I don't want to live like this. I'm a prisoner and I don't know what to do."
But what I see now, is all in God's great program. I might've lost a lot of friends then, but He's giving it back ten thousand times more today, by doing that what was right, to holding on to Him. And I said, "Oh, I don't know. I just might as well try to end life."
And a little later on, I remember then, I went on, thought, "Well, I'll stick it out." Time passed; many things happened.

46 When I got married... I met this girl. I'm so happy, my boy setting present this afternoon to know this about his mother. She was a lady, every ounce of it. She was a Christian girl. And I met her, and she was very nice. And I started going with her. And she neither smoked, drank, danced, or went to places like that. So, only thing we would do, we would go riding at night, and we had to be in at a certain time, nine o'clock. And I'd come back; she's very lady, nice parents.
So I thought how nice she was, but her father was a organizer on the Pennsylvania Railroad, making about five hundred and something dollars a month, during the time of the depression. I made twenty cents an hour digging ditches. What's something to take a girl like that? But she was very lovely. Her grave today has some flowers that I just planted on it. She lies beneath there, her body. Her soul's in glory with my baby. I love her yet today with all my heart. And she's... What a lovely person.

47 And she came into my life. And I knew it got to a place where I had to either say, "Now, you must..." I must marry her, or I must let her alone, let her somebody. A girl like that, a lady will certainly find somebody that'll be good to her, and I didn't make enough money to take care of her." So I said, "Well, the only thing I got to do: I've got to tell her good-bye and let some other boy that can take care of her..." I loved her enough, even though I had to sacrifice being with her, let somebody take a hold, take her that would take care of her and make her a good living.
So I tried to make up my mind, and I said, "Well, I... Maybe I can. Maybe I could make a living for her." I said, "It's so hard to do, to ask her that." So finally I thought, "How will I ask her?" And I guess you wonder how I did. I... For about a month I tried to get up enough nerve to do it. I don't know whether you brethren have that much trouble or not, but I had an awful time. And I'd look at her, and I thought she was pretty, and she was a good girl. And why do... I thought, "Oh couldn't we be happy together. We might not have very much, but we could be happy." And so I thought, "How will I do it?"

48 So I'd try to ask her, you know, and I... You know how you feel, that real funny feeling, you know, and I'd just... It'd choke me up, and I couldn't do it. So you know how I asked her to marry me? I wrote her a letter and asked if she'd marry me. And so I...
Now, it wasn't Dear Miss, it was just a little more, what do you call that, mushy, than that, you know? And I asked her if she'd marry me. And I wrote it all out one night, you know, and I put it in a letter; and the next day I was going to work, so I dropped it in the box. And I know I was going to take her to church Sunday night, or Wednesday night.

49 And so, when Wednesday night begin to come I begin to get nervous, because I forgot and put it in the box and thought, "What if her mother got a hold of it?" Now, her mother's a fine woman, and she may be here this afternoon. And I'm not saying this for any harm, but her dad was just a real good; he's a real German, Brumbach. And her mother was Scot, and so I could get along with Charlie all right, her dad. But her mother and I just--we didn't see things the way we ought to. She was kindly, you know, kind of little classical, and I was just one of these here plow boys. So I thought, "Well now, maybe what if her mother got a hold of that, oh, my. I'll get something when I go up there."
So come Wednesday I was so nervous I couldn't hardly go up. I had an old backslidden Ford, and it really was backslidden, that one was. And I could almost make forty miles an hour in it. That was twenty miles this way and twenty miles up-and-down this way, you know.

50 So I remember, it was that Ford that I visit Brother John Ryan for the first time in Dowagiac, Michigan; you remember this story, Brother Ryan. So I remember, I thought, "Oh, my." I believe this is the first time Brother Ryan ever set present when I was telling my life story, far as I know of. This is going to include him in a few moments.
And then I remember at the... I thought, "Well now, what will I do if her mother got a hold of that; there's going to be some trouble."
So when it come Wednesday night I drove up out front; I knowed better than to blow the horn, for I think this boys, if the girl is worth going with, is worth going in and get her (that's right.), not set out front and blow the horn.
So I went up to the door and I knocked on the door, and she come to the door, and she opened the door; she said, "Why, good evening, Billy," she said, "come in."
I thought, "Oh, oh, going to get me in there now, and shut the door, and then I would be in an awful fix, getting me in the house." I thought... I said, "Thank you, Hope," I said, "may I set out here on the porch?"
Said, "Oh, no, come on in."
I thought, "Oh, me." So I walked in, and held my hat in my hand, I said, "You about ready to go to church?"
She said, "Just in a few moments." She said, "Mother, would you talk," oh, "to Bill while I finish in there?"
Oh, my, she come, Mrs. Brumbach, come in and set down. And oh, talk about perspiring. I said, "Sure fine weather."
"Yes, it is, Billy."
Set there a little bit; I thought that girl never would get ready. And so, after while she come out; she said, "It's such a lovely evening, let's walk down to the church."
I thought, "Oh, oh. There's goes the time." I thought, "I'd better look real good, because this is the last time I get to be with you. So, I know that. I done had it... You know how Satan will lie to you. He will have you believing anything." I thought "This is all; she's going to tell me the finish."
So I went down and I never did hear what that preacher said that night. I was setting looking at her; I just thinking about how pretty she was, and how nice she was, and how I hoped she would get somebody would be good to her. And I looked at her, and I thought, "My." And Brother Davis is up preaching, you know, and I never heard what he said. He dismissed, and went outside; I thought, "Now's when I get it."

51 We started walking home, moonlight night, you know, we'd walk under those shades of the trees, you know, when you come out she come out she had real dark brown eyes, when she'd look around, I could just... You know how you feel, that funny feeling. Now, you all did the same thing [unclear words] that's right. I just admit mine. Ha-ha-ha. Now, isn't that right? Sure, raise up your hand. Now, that's better. Yes, sir.
That feeling you know, and I thought, "Oh, my," why, I thought after we got close to home, I thought maybe she forgot it, never got the letter, you know. And I thought it got stuck in the mailbox. I got pretty game then; I was talking pretty lively going down the street. And I just talk about next Sunday night again, you know, come walking down the street. Why, I was feeling fine. And just about the time we got about a city block from the home, she said, "Billy."
And I said, "Yes?"
She said, "I got your letter."
Oh, my, There it went again. I said, "Uh, uh, You did?"
She said, "Uh-huh."

52 Well, I kept on walking; nobody said nothing. And I thought, "Woman, say something." You know how a woman can keep you in suspense like that, you know. Well, I thought, "Surely, a man ought to say amen then." Be a brave man. Ha-ha-ha. So then she said... just... I thought, "What will I do?" And she wouldn't say a word. And I thought, "Well, I've got to say something, because we're just a few doors from her house." And I said, "Did you read it?"
She said, "Uh-huh." That's all she said.
I thought, "Oh, say something, and tell me; I--I can't come back or run me away, or do something, because I'm--I'm under a big strain here." I said, "Did you read all of it?"
She said, "Uh-huh."
I said, "What'd you think of it?"
She said, "It was all right," and we got married." Ha-ha-ha. That's the way it happened. Married over here at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

53 And so we got married. And I never will forget when she told me then I had to ask her parents for her, said that was just... Oh, my, here it all... I thought I got by good there, but here that was before me. And I said, "Look, Hope," I said, "You know I believe we're supposed to be fifty-fifty." See? I said, "I'm supposed to be... We're going fifty-fifty on these things," I said, "let's just start it right now, what do you say?"
She said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "You being the girl, I believe it'd be best for you to ask your mother, and me being the boy, I'd ask your dad."
She said, "Very well."
I said, "Yeah. Well, you let me ask your dad first, will you?" If I get his promise, you know, first...
She said, "Well, you ask him tonight."

54 Well, I just couldn't do it that night after going through all that. So then I waited, next time I went up we were, went back. I set back there on the porch with her awhile, and we come in, her daddy was setting typing. And we walked in the house, and she said, "You'd better ask dad tonight because we got to make ready."
And I said, "Yes, that's--that's right."
So, I went in, and he was setting there typing, and I talked to her mother a little bit, you know, and looked around. I started out, and she looked at me; and I said... I motioned to her; I hadn't forgot it. So I said, "Mr. Brumbach?"
Said, "Yes, Bill."
I said, "Could--could I talk to you a little bit?"
He said, "Yes, go ahead." And he turned around.
I said, "I--I mean out on the porch. I seen him look around to Mrs. Brumbach. I thought, "Oh, oh, here it is." So I walked out to the porch, and he walked out there. I said... I just couldn't say it; I just couldn't get them wor--I'd just get real weak every time I go try to say something, you know. I said, "Sure is a pretty night, isn't it Charlie?"
He said, "Yes, it is, Bill." Set there a little while.
I said, "Been awful warm."
He said, "Yes," said, "you can have her, Bill." Ha-ha-ha. Why, I love him today.
I said, "You mean it?"
He said, "Yeah, I do."
Oh, my, I wanted to hug him right then. Said, "You can have her."

55 I said, "Look, Charlie," I said, "I know you give her a good home." I said, "You can get her anything she wants; I can't." I said, "I'm only making a small wage." But I said, "Charlie, she couldn't find anybody that thinks any more of her." And I said, "I'll work as long as there's breath in my body to work, and make her a living. And I'll do everything that I can to make her a living."
I never will forget; he's gone on too now. But he laid his hand over on my shoulder, and he said, "Bill, I'd rather you'd have her, and I know you love her, and I know she loves you. I rather you'd have her, then somebody maybe had plenty and wouldn't be good to her." Said, "After all, life doesn't consist of how much the world's goods you own, but how contented you are with the portion that's allotted to you." That's right, too [unclear words].
I said, "Thank you, Charlie. I'll do all that I can."

56 Well, we got married; we moved into a little two room place that we rented. I never will forget what we went housekeeping on. Many of you remember the depression, don't you? Oh, my. [Gap in the audio.] About two dollars, is what the stove cost me. I went down to Sears and Roebucks and got a breakfast set that hadn't been painted, and I painted it. And I put big shamrocks all over it. I was [unclear words]. She's German and me Irish, you know, so I said, "We'll make that, paint it red with big green shamrocks on it, just ... we just... We were so happy. We didn't have much of the world's goods, but we were happy. It was home.
I remember the first time that I went then... We were real happy, she was working at a shirt factory, and we were trying to get enough money together to get us some furniture. And we'd been married, oh, several months. After about a year, little Billy Paul come on the scene. Oh, she almost died. And how I walked up-and-down the floors when the little fellow was being borned. And just as soon as he was born, I heard him cry, and I screamed; I said, "Thank You, Lord, it's a boy, and his name shall be called Billy Paul." [Gap in the audio.]

57 Doctor came out in a few minutes, said, "Well, reverend, I'll charge you for this linoleum you wore out all up-and-down here," he said, "but you got a boy."
I said, "Yes, his name's Billy Paul."
And I become acquainted with Brother Ryan during that time; I met him at a service one day, and heard him testify in Louisville. So, he invited me, and that's when he come to my house, and he set there one day. Now, Pentecost was a strange thing to me, and how many times he tried to tell me about it. And he was setting there, and he just raised up; he threw up his hand and begin to speak with an unknown tongue. And he stopped, looked at me right straight, walked to me, laid his hand over on my shoulder, and said, "Brother Billy, you're just a lad now; there's a lot of youth to you yet. But someday that's going settle down, and Almighty God is going to use you to stir the nations." He walked out.

58 There's the man setting there now that did it. I love the old fellow. And he went away, went to his home, and I'd visit his home. I remember we saved our money; I never will forget how much money I had; it's six or seven dollars to make the trip, that we saved. I was tired; I'd been, as a minister and was preaching, had the little Tabernacle there. I went on a vacation; I went to see Brother Ryan, went to Dowagiac. And he, we went fishing out on the lake. On the road back I was coming home and I come down through Mishawaka. And that was my first time to ever get acquainted with the denominational Pentecostal people.
And I passed by, at I believe Mishawaka, I guess, and there was a big tabernacle there, and the people was all crowded out on the streets and everywhere, they was... I thought, "What is this?" And I seen they had "Jesus Saves" and everything on the back of their cars. So I pulled my old Ford up and stopped, and thought, "What is this?"

59 And I went in and seen what it was, and it was a religious service. But oh, did I ever see people that didn't have manners. They were screaming, and shouting, and jumping, and that was awful for a Baptist. So I seen them people how they act; I thought, "Isn't that awful? Well, they haven't got any church manners at all."
So, but there was something got a hold of me. And so I... That night I wanted to stay all night, and I didn't... I counted my money, and I had enough money to get enough gasoline to get home. And I went down and bought me some stale rolls. And I knowed I could stay a couple days on that. So I didn't have any room, no money for a room, so I went out in a cornfield to sleep that night.
But however, they asked all the preachers come to the platform, and they was having a conference. And then, that night he said, "All the preachers here, we haven't got time for you to preach, but we want you to just raise up and say your name and where you're from. When it come mine I said, "Billy Branham, evangelist, Jeffersonville, Indiana," Sat down.

60 So then there been many of the young ministers preaching that day, but when they brought the minister out that night to preach, a colored brother, and he was real old, and he had just a little rim of white hair around the back of his head, and a great big old long preachers coat on, big velvet collar to it. Poor old fellow come out walking like this. And he got there, and first time I'd ever seen a microphone. And he was preaching, just started to speaking; he took his text over there: Job, I believe, 7 or 8, somewhere there, "Where was you when I laid the foundations of the world? Morning stars sing together, and sons of God shouted for joy..."
And the old fellow, I felt so sorry for him; I wanted to go up and hold his arms to keep him from falling while he was preaching, and he was so old. And I thought, "Why didn't they put some of them young fellows up here?" They'd been preaching all day, you know, about what Jesus done.

61 But he went back yonder from about, and brought Him back across the skies like this, and down the horizontal rainbow in the second coming. And about the time he got down there, that old man hollered, "Whoopie," jumped up and clicked his heels together, went tipping off the platform, said, "You ain't got enough room up here for me to preach."
I looked at that, I thought, "Brother, if that Holy Ghost will make an old man act like that, what would it do for me? That's what I want; that's just exactly; that's what I want."
And I walked off the platform, you know, saying, "My." Said, "You ain't got room for me to preach." I thought, "Woo, my, he's been to a fountain of youth somewhere." I thought, "I want that."

62 And that night out in the cornfield, I wanted to press my trousers, and I laid them between the two seats, you know, like that, seersuckers, and I put them down there, and I prayed. I said, "God, that's the most wonderful people; give me favor before them. Let me find some kind of grace like that; they got what I'm wanting."
So I remember, the next morning I washed up and come in; it was about ten o'clock. I could've eat with them, but I couldn't put in nothing in their offering. So I didn't want to eat with them. I had my buns, or rolls. And I come on in, you know, and got me a good drink at a hydrant, drove my old Ford up and stopped, and went in. And they were singing that little song they sing and clapping their hands, singing, "I Know It Was The Blood; I Know It Was The Blood." And oh, every one of them just a screaming and a running. I thought, "Well, what do you know about this?"

63 And I sat down by a colored brother. And I sat down there; they had the conference up in the North. So they couldn't have it in the South on account of the mixing of the colored and the white. And so, I sat down by a colored brother there. I had on a little T-shirt, you know. Nobody knowed me, so and a pair of seersucker trousers. I was sitting there listening, and a man, I believe, from Cincinnati by the name of Kirks, and he came out. Now, he belongs to one of those Pentecostal organizations, don't know which one it was, but best I remember, the man's tabernacle is named Raugh, R-a-u-g-h, a German, Raugh, Raugh, or something like that. And it was a... I got sat down there, you know, and I thought, "I'm going to enjoy this well today."
So this minister walked out; he said, "Last night on the platform there was a young preacher here, I believe the youngest we had in the audience; his name is Branham. Billy Branham," said, "If he's in the audience? Well, we want him to bring the message this morning."

64 My, I hunkered down real low so, seersucker trousers and T-shirt you know; so I got down real low, you know. And he announced again, said, "Anybody outside know anywhere of Billy Branham is, from Indiana, down at Jeffersonville." Said, "Tell him to come to the platform."
Oh, I wasn't going up there before all them preachers like that. And I... Why, I couldn't preach, my old sassafras, slow, Baptist ways couldn't think of it that fast, so, way them fellows was preaching. I just set real still like this. And so, got down low in my seat. This colored brother looked over, said, "Say, you know who that guy is?"
Oh, I was on a spot. I said, I had to say something then. I said, "Look fellow, look; I'm he, you see," but I said, "don't tell them people." I said, "Look, I got on these seersucker trousers here, and this T-shirt."
He said, "Them people don't care what you dress like; get on up there."
And I said, "No, I can't go up; you keep still."
He said, "Anybody know what ... and the where, Reverend Branham?"
That colored brother said, "Here he is!" Whew. "Here he is." Seersucker trousers, T-shirt.
Said, "Come on up, Mr. Branham."
Oh, my, I looked back at that brother, and he's just laughing, you know.

65 I started, and I thought, "Lord, I prayed, now what am I going to say when I get up there?" I started sneaking up the platform, my ears real red, you know. And I thought, "What am I going to do?" And I was afraid of that microphone hanging down there, you know. They had a hanging on a wire hanging down. And I got the Bible, and I was trembling so I couldn't hardly take a hold of it. I remember I got my text from, "The Rich Man Lifted Up His Eyes In Hell And Then He Cried," and then he cried, and then I cried. Ha-ha-ha. Something got a hold of me. I didn't know nothing for about a half hour; they had me outside. And all the screaming I ever heard in my life.
Here come a fellow up from Texas, had on cowboy boots and a great big hat, you know, said, "Say, I'm--I'm--I'm preacher so..." Well, I thought, "Them seersucker trousers' not so bad after all, then. I looked at him; he said, "I heard you was a evangelist; I want you to come hold me a revival in Texas."
And another fellow walked up, had on these little old golf pants, you know, that you, knicker-bocker pants. He said, "I'm from Florida; I have a big bunch--a church down there with so many people in it, will you come?"
Well, I thought, "Well, my T-shirt's not so bad, these are just home folks." So I believe...

66 And a lady come up, she was teaching the Indians somewhere. And the first thing you know. I begin to put down invitations like that, and I had a whole line of them on the back of piece of paper. And I jumped in my old Ford, and down the road I went, my, oh, my. And I run home... When I got in... She's always was lovely, Brother Ryan, you know that. You... She would come always... She had long black hair, and she'd come running out the door to meet me, and she said, "You look so happy."
I said, "Honey, I found the greatest church in the world." I said, "A bunch of people that's not ashamed of their religion, they scream and shout and everything else."
She said, "Where you been?"
And I said, "Let's see, up around Mishawaka up there." I said, "Oh, you talk about a church," I said, "you never seen such. And believe it or not, let me show you something." I pulled out, I said, "I got an invitation to come to churches enough to keep me the whole year going."
She said, "You, honey?"
And I said, "Yep, me."
And she said, "Well..."
I said, "Would you go with me?"
She said, "I promised to go with you anywhere until death should separate us." That's a real wife. God rest her gallant soul today. Then said, "I'll go with you anywhere."
I said, "All right," I said, "Now, we'll go tell our parents."

67 I went and told... She was to tell her mother. I told mama, and mama said, "Well," said, "Okay, Billy." Said, "I remember them kind of people down in Kentucky when I was a little girl," said, "they used to have the Old Lone Star meeting house up there." Said, "People get down at the altar, and they would pray and scream and run," that's old Missionary Baptist, and said, "They've got away from that today in these churches out here in Indiana, and around."
And that's a shame that we do it too. That's right. I tell you, this here kind of Baptist we have now that you shake hands and put your name on a paper; that's not the way I got it, brother. We got down at the altar and beat one another on the back, till we come through; we got something when we come out of there. Yes sir, it wasn't shaking hands with the preacher; we got saved.

68 And then I remember, then when we started off, her mother said, "Well, Hope," she said, "You can go, of course, that's said, but I'm telling you," said, "if you do your mother will fill a grave with a broken heart."
Oh, my. There it was. And here's where I made my mistake, friends. I listened to my mother-in-law in the stead of listening to God. And if I would've went ahead then, this great thing would have been manifested before this, and the Church had been farther along. But listen to my mistakes; here's where sorrow started.
Hope said, "I'll go anyhow."
I didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings, and her mother said, "Why don't you go up there at the church until you get it paid for, and then get a parsonage, and act like somebody's got some sense, in the stead of [unclear words]. You think I could let my daughter be drug around across the country, and today she eats, and tomorrow she doesn't eat? And never have a change of clothes on her back," and said, "and drug around with that bunch of trash."
And I found out, and I don't say this, but nothing but to tell the truth. What she called the trash, I find to be the cream of the crop. That's exactly the truth. That's right.
Said, "My daughter be drug around such as that..."
Brother, by my mistakes we had to bury her a little after that.

69 Now, I never forget; trouble started when... My father took sick, died on my arm just a little bit after that. My brother was riding on the side of a car, fifteen years old. The man that he was hitch hiking and picked him up, was drinking, hit his head up side of a post, broke his neck, turned his liver over, and he died in my other brothers arms. And I was standing in the platform preaching when it happened. They come and told me. There, I tell you, the way of a transgressor's hard. Don't you pay any attention to what anybody in the world tells you; you do what God says do, no matter what it... I don't care if it's...
One person come to me not long ago and said, "Brother Branham, I have 'Thus saith the Lord'; I know the Lord wants you to quit doing this and quit doing that."
I said, "Now, my brother, I love you with all my heart, but don't come to me with that." I said, "Because that's not Scriptural."
She said, "But I'm a prophet also."
I said, "If God... I'm on speaking terms with Him, if He wants me to know anything He will tell me." That's right. I said, "Well, there was one time there was two--two prophets. One of them went down, and he was young prophet, and he prophesied against the alt... I believe it's I Kings 13, and he prophesied against the altar and healed the kings arm after he'd been paralyzed. And another prophet said, "The Lord said for you to come by my way," after the Lord told him to do something else. And two prophets, you remember that? No matter who it's a prophet, or who it is, when God tells you do anything, you do what God says do. Let everything else go (See?); you just mind God.

70 And there was sympathy and feeling; I said, "Well, I tell you honey, we'll just let the thing go, and then we'll go ahead and..." She said, "Bill, I'll go with you; I'll do anything that you want to do."
I said, "Well, we'll just let it go, and we'll--we'll--we'll finish paying for our church, and maybe after while we--we'll be able to go." And sorrow set in, one thing after another; trouble set in, everything.
Now remember, then immediately that 1937 flood came up. I remember poor old Brother Ryan was in the city at that time, how the flood coming up, and the workers on the wall... I had an old boat there, and used to go out there. And you'd get in that boat, and stand in that boat, and float down the river, and preach to them people on the flood walls. Then over back up the river, and then come back down the river preaching to the people on the flood wall. I remember the last time I seen you, Brother Ryan, there. I thought you were gone and in eternity here a few weeks, a few months ago. I never knowed what become of him.

71 And little old Brother George, the night come, I remember it was just day before Christmas; wife went over the river to get the kiddies Christmas presents. During that time, been another year, and a little over a year, about a year and eleven months it was, between... It was eleven months between the two children; a little girl was born. I called her Sharon Rose, after the Bible, the Rose of Sharon. Sweetest little thing, she just got big enough till she could just goo, and she was so sweet. And I just love little kiddies.

72 And then, I remember the flood came along, and she went over the river to get some things for the kiddies for Christmas, and I was working. And I come home, and there she'd fainted on the street and they'd brought her in. And I rushed in, looked at her, and I... Little friend of mine, Doctor Sam Adair at Jeffersonville, I thinks one of the best doctors in the world. We were schooled together, and buddied together, fish together, and you know. We did run around together. Live neighbors right now. And he... I called him; I'd just taken him down one of those--a lamp for Christmas, for a Christmas present; it was night, day before Christmas. And I called him, I said, "Sam, Hope's fainted." And I said...
He said, "I'll be right up, Bill."
He come up, and said, "Oh, my, she got a fever of a hundred and five; she's got pneumonia." And said, "You'll have to stay up all night, Bill, and give her fluids to drink."
Well, I did. And that night I knelt down and begin to pray, and pray for God to help her. And when I did, I was in prayer; I seen a black sheet come down before me. I seen the 1937 flood rise and twenty-two feet come over Spring Street, begin to prophesy. People said, "You're crazy; you're off at your head." Down at Falls City Transfer Company when I gave that, down there to them, they said, "Oh, Billy, go on home."
But less than six weeks from then, twenty-two feet of water measured over Spring Street, just exactly the way it said.

73 And there, I seen this sheet fall, and I went to my church; I said, "I believe that my disobedience has brought sorrow to my heart. My wife was going to go."
And they said, "Oh," said, "that's just your feeling for your wife."
She got worse. The flood came in, broke through that night, that terrible night, Brother Ryan. You remember when the people were walking the streets and crying and everything. And I had a little old patrol wagon there, that I was working with, trying to get people out of the flood. And I went down, and there was a... My wife had been moved out to the temporary hospital at the government depot; everything else was all under flood. And I went out there to see her; and I was looking around. And I run into Brother George DeArk; he's in glory today. And he said, "I..." he said, "I just seen you down there by the United Brethren church."
I said, "Have you seen Brother Ryan?"
He said, "Down by the United Brethren Church."
And Brother George put his arms around me, said, "Brother Billy, if I never see you no more; I'll see you in the morning."
And that's our next meeting time; he left during time of the flood; in glory today. When he was dying he looked, when he said, "Oh, if I could only see Brother Bill one more time. Oh, if he could only be here." He said, "Oh, where are you at?" He looked at the window, said, "Oh, Jesus, I knew You would come." Threw his arms out and went to meet God.

74 Then I went on down, this flood was about ready to break through the dike up above there, at Chestnut Street. And some of them called me up, said, "Hurry down there right quick." I was raised on the river, and thought I was a pretty good boatman. I got my boat down there real quick. They said, "A woman's trapped out there." And I looked out there and heard a woman screaming, standing out on top of a porch with a baby in her arms screaming, "Have mercy, have mercy," the house shaking like that, and the flood coming down, sweeping through, eighty mile stretch of water through there.
And I got my boat and started up through the alleys of the... Like this, and got it so I could get down and fall in behind the place in the current. And I landed against the place; and the woman had fainted; I picked her up and got her in the boat (About eleven o'clock that night.), two or three little girls. I got back away and got to the bank. When she come to herself, she kept hollering, "My baby, my baby, oh, don't leave my baby." And I thought she had a little bitty baby over there. The baby she had was about two years old. And I took back to try to see if we'd left a little baby laying on a bed or something, because she fainted on the porch when I picked her up.

75 And when I got there and tied my boat, and I went in and looked all through the house. But the baby she was talking about was a two year old baby. And just about that time the house washed from the foundation. And I ran out real quick and jumped in the boat, threw my hands down in the water and pulled the slip knot, ice, sleeting, cold, the wind blowing, blizzarding. And I got into the boat; I tried to pull the string on the starter. I couldn't get it started, and the current caught me this way, got me out onto Market Street, swept me out into the river. There's the Ohio Falls crushing just below there, the waves high as this building here, romping like that with such a current. And me standing in that boat pulling that string trying to get that motor to start, and it wouldn't start. Seemed like I could hear somebody say, "Now, where's that bunch of trash at?"

76 I tell you, brother, the way of a transgressor's hard. Don't you let no one call you trash, no. I pulled that string, and it wouldn't start, and I said, "Oh, God, I did that which is wrong. Please, I don't want to die out here in this river, my baby and wife laying out there very sick. Please God, don't let me die."
And I was pulling that string and it wouldn't start, and I turned around, and the boat was half full of water almost then, going on towards the falls. I know just ten minutes longer it'd be too much. I pulled again; I thought, "Oh, God, forgive me for my sins." And I pulled again; and when I pulled that time, the motor spluttered; I pulled again and it started.
I whirled around like that in the boat, got back, come out way down around by Cane Run Creek, down towards New Albany. I got back up to Jeffersonville again, walked back up. I said, "I'll go out and see my wife."
Said, "Your wife" said, "where's she at?"
I said, "The government hospital, out there."
Said, "That whole thing's washed away."

77 Oh, my, then I jumped in my boat and ra--or my car, and run it as quick as I could, the little patrol truck I was in, and went out to the government out there. I met Major Weekly, a friend of mine, I said, "Major, is the hospital washed away?"
He said, "Yes, it's all under water down there, reverend," he said, "but I think all the patients got out."
I said, "Do you know where my wife did or not?"
Said, "I don't know."
And went and seen someone else who said, "Yes, your wife and all the rest of them got in a cattle car, and they've gone towards Charlestown."

78 Well, I run the car out towards Charlestown, the Lancassange Creek had backed up, four miles of the swiftest water. I went, got my boat. I couldn't pierce that stream to save me; it would fly back. I met some of them there, said, "You know, when they crossed that trestle over there, the train washed off the track," between Charlestown and Jeffersonville. And there me trying to get there, and got marooned out there by myself. And I had several days to set out there and think it all over.
Then when I could cross and get over again, I got to Charlestown; they said at there, "We hadn't heard nothing of my wife." I met an old friend of mine, we went walking down the street together; he said, "We will ask that dispatcher."
Dispatcher said, "Why, yes, I put off a sick mother and two children at Columbus, Indiana."

79 And when a friend picked me up and took me to Columbus, then when I run into the Baptist church there, the gymnasium room being used for--a auditorium there for sick--where they put their sick. I went in there and the people crying and walking over each other, and the little old cots setting around. And I begin to scream; I got frantic. And I begin to scream, "Oh, Hope, where are you sweetheart? Where are you?" And I was running through there, "Where are you?"
And way back over in a corner, I'll never forget it; I seen a bony hand raise up like that [Gap in the audio.] ... my darling dying. I went over there to her real quick. I looked down at her, those dark eyes was sunk way back in her head, and her beautiful smooth face had drawed in. And she looked at me. And oh, I couldn't stand it. I just sunk down the side of the bed, and I said, "Oh, God, have mercy."
And she said, "I look horrible, don't I?"
And I said, "No, you're all right, honey." I said, "Where's Billy Paul and the baby?"
Said, "They're in... Somebody's got them down here in a room."
I said, "Are they alive and all right?"
Said, "Yes."
And just then I felt somebody tap me on the shoulder, and it was the doctor, he said, "Reverend Branham?"
And I said, "Yes."
Said, "Aren't you a friend of Doctor Sam Adair?"
And I said, "Yes."
Said, "Come over here just a minute." I walked over, and he said, "Now, Reverend Branham, I want to give you the shock so you'll know," so you can get over it, said, "you wife has developed galloping tuberculosis; she can't live but just a little bit." Said, "She's dying now."
I said, "Doctor, that can't be so."
He said, "It is so." Said, "Now, don't you let her know it, but you just go on, because Doctor Adair knows about it, and told me to tell you, he didn't want to tell you."
And I said, "All right."

80 And I went back over there knowing she was going, and oh my... And I asked the doctor, after it dried up and I could take her home? We come down home; we done everything that laid in human power to try to save her life. But we couldn't do it. I give her pneumothorax treatments, went and got a pneumothorax machine. They didn't even have one in town. When she'd hold my hand, I'd have to pry her fingers loose from my hands. They bore a hole in her side and collapsed them lungs. If it was to go over again, I wouldn't do it. And there, how she was, suffered and suffered.
Finally a great doctor from Louisville come over, by the name of Miller. He called me off to one side, said, "Reverend Branham, she can't live but just a little while longer; she's going on." Said, "She can't live."

81 Now, I remember, I had to the patrol, I went on... That's when I became into the conservation, working as a game warden. And I had to work; I was in debt everywhere. She was laying at the hospital waiting for the last of it. And I remember being up one day, and I heard it on radio, calling me to come in. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. I stopped, took off the belt, laid down the gun, and the hat. I bowed my head before God, looked like my church had gone. Everything was gone, I just--I was just all out. Life didn't mean nothing to me. And I said, "Heavenly Father, please don't let her die till I can see her one more time." I was about twenty miles away from home. I said, "Please don't let her die, that I can see her once more."
I turned the lights on, siren, down the road, stopped in front of the hospital, went running up the steps just as hard as I could. And I looked, coming down through the aisle, come poor little old Doctor Adair. I love the man; there's just something about him that I love. He's been a buddy to me. We been buddies ever since we were kids. He come walking down with his head down, he looked up and seen me and the tears just rolled down his cheek, and he turned sideways and started running to the side, and I said, "Just a minute, Sam." I walked over; I said, "Is she gone?"
Said, "I think she is, Bill."
I said, "Come, go with me, buddy."
He said, "Oh, Bill, don't ask me to go; don't ask me to go." Said, "I--I can't go in there," said, "Hope's baked a many pie for me, and we've eat together." And said, "That's like my sister, Bill; I--I done all I can do." said, "God knows I done all I could do." Said, "I done the best I could for you, boy, but" said, "she's gone."
I said, "Doc, can't you go with me?"
Said, "I just can't stand it any longer, Bill."
I said, "I'm going."
He said, "Don't... Wait, take the nurse." And the nurse come around; she had a little old medicine there; she said, "Take this medicine just a minute," said, "it'll quieten you nerves."
I said, "No, I don't want it."

82 I walked into the room by myself, and she said, "I'll go with you."
I said, "No, I want to go alone." I pulled the door in behind me, like that, and walked over there; they had a sheet over her face. I pulled that sheet back. When I looked laying there, there laid my darling. I looked at her, and she was drawed up like this. I put my hand on her head, and it was sticky. I couldn't see any breath, or [unclear words]. And I shook her, I said, "Hope, sweetheart, please speak once to me." I said, "I love you with all my heart, I've always did, and I always will. Please speak once more to me." And I shook her like that. I screamed at her, "Hope." And then she--her eyes come open, those great eyes staring with death in them, just like a angel's eyes. She looked at me, and she started to smile; she motioned for me to get down, and she said, "Oh, why did you call me?"
I said, "Call you?" I said, "Why, honey, I... She's... Have I done wrong?"
She said, "No, you haven't done wrong," she said.
Just then the nurse come running in; she said, "Reverend Branham, you'll have to come out."
And she said, "Come here, Hilda," it was a friend of hers. And here's what made me feel. She said, "I hope when you get married you have a husband like mine. He's been so good to me, so understanding." You know how it make you feel.
I said, "No, honey, I--I--I hadn't been able to do for you like I want to, and we'd have to figure out maybe to buy her a calico dress once every three or four months." I said, "I--you worked and help me to make a living for the kiddies." And the girl started crying, went out of the room, the nurse. I said, "Why did you tell me I done wrong by calling you back?"
She said, "Oh, Bill," said, "You've preached about it, honey, and you've talked about it, but" said, "you don't realize what it is." Said, "I was being taken home by a group of white Angels." Said, "It was like a oriental thing with big birds flying from tree to tree, so peaceful."
I believe with all of my heart; her eyes come open to see the vision; she was going into paradise. I don't know whether you believe this or not, but I stood by the bedside and seen saints going, hear them talk to their loved ones that's gone on years ago. You've done that. I just wonder this, friend; now, this is not a doctrine; it's just a thought. I wonder if that morning when death is so hard anyhow.

83 I was standing by the side of a man here a few years ago; I just... He'd been a Christian for a long time, and he said, talked to me, he said, "Billy..."
I said, "Is everything all right, Mr. Bledsoe?" He was about eighty years old.
Said, "Oh, everything's okay, Billy." Said, "I want to see my Lord so bad. My life is all worn and gone." Said, "I want to see Him." He standing there talking to me, his wife there. He said, "Mother, why," he said, "I haven't seen you for years." He said, "Billy, do you see her?"
I said, "No."
He said, "Do you know, mother? Mother, this is..."
Oh, Miss Bledsoe said, "Honey, you're..."
Said, "I'm not beside myself." Said, "Sis," she been gone for years. And I just wonder, if that great hour when we're going down, God knows that this soul's coming from the body like a tooth being abstracted from the mouth. I wonder if God don't say to mother, "Go down and stand by Jordan; son's coming over this morning."
And our eyes, when it's breaking from the natural world into the spiritual world, then it becomes a visualize there, and we actually see them standing.

84 I thought she was entering paradise; I said, "What did it look like, honey?
Said, "Oh, it was so beautiful." She said, [Gap in the audio.]
"What is that, honey?"
She said, "I must hurry back." She said, "I guess you know why I'm going?" Oh, that's what hurt me.
I said, "Yes."
She said, "You shouldn't have never listened to mother."
I said, "I know it." I said, "I know I shouldn't have listened to your mother." I said, "Honey, someday I will make up for it, so help me."
She said, "Bill, if you'd have went ahead and done what God told you do, it might've been different today."
I said, "That's right," but said, "Sweetheart, you couldn't help it, you were trying to be good hearted." I said, "I know that, honey."

85 And so, she said, "Will you promise me something?"
I said, "What is it?"
I don't want to be a baby folks, but oh, when I think of what I done to Christ, the wrong that I've done. And I said...
She said, "Promise me something."
I said, "What is it?"
She said, "Promise me that you will preach that same Holy Ghost Gospel until death shall set you free."
I said, "I promise."
And she said, "I want you to promise something else, that you'll not live single."
"Oh," I said, "I can't promise that, honey; I can't promise that."
Said, "I've got two children," and said, "I don't want them drug from pillar to post. You find some good girl that's got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you marry her so you can make a home for the kiddies."
And I said, "I can't promise that, sweetheart; I love you too well."
She said, "There'll be somebody come along, Bill." Said, "Promise me that, will you?"
And I said, "Well, I can't promise that."
She said, "Don't let me go without promising."

86 She said, "Another thing," said, "you remember that time when you was in Louisville, and you wanted to buy that little rifle to go hunting with?" I just love guns and fish and things, and I was going away, and she said, "You know that little rifle you wanted to buy, and it cost three dollars down."
And I said, "Yes." Think it cost about seventeen dollars.
And said, "You didn't have money to make the first payment."
I said, "I remember that."
She said, "Bill, I wanted to get that rifle for you so bad." She said, "The allowance that you give me," she said, "I never bought anything, but I've been saving it." Said, "After I'm gone, when you go home, look under that old folding bed up there, at the top on that paper," and said, "you'll find it laying up there."
When I went home found that, about two dollars and eighty cents laying there, where she'd saved to pay that payment on the rifle. You don't know how that made me feel. She was a real girl.

87 And she said, "Another thing, I want to apologize to you." Said, "I did something wrong."
And I said, "What's that?"
She said, "I kept something from you."
And I said, "What's that, honey?"
Said, "You remember that time you bought me them stockings?"
And I said, "I don't know."
Said, "We was going to Fort Wayne."
I said, "Yes."
She said, "Them was the wrong kind of stockings."

88 What it was; she was taking her bath, and we were going to go up to Fort Wayne. Her dad lived at Fort Wayne at that time, and we was going up there. And I was at the, you know where the Rediger Tabernacle is, I just had service. Bert Williams was preaching there then. And we was going to go up there for that night. And she said, "Go down and get me a pair of stockings."
And I never designed clothes for women, and I... She give me about sixty or seventy cents, what it cost to buy a pair of stockings. And I went... She... There's two or three different kinds, one kind called, what is it, chiffon? Is that right? And the next is called, something another like that, rayon, right? Raylon, yeah. Which is the best? Chiffon, isn't it, that Chiffon? And I was... That's kind she wanted.

89 I was going down the street. See, if I remembered, I said, "Chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
Somebody said, "Hello, Billy."
I said, "Hello, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
And I passed Orville Spawn, he said, "Billy," said, "over on the pier out there, perch is biting that long," said, "oh, you," said, "you ought to see it."
And I said, "Sure enough, Orville?"
And I got talking to him, and I forgot what it was. And so I went down; I knowed they had socks at the ten-cent store. So I knowed the girl that worked there, and I went down there and I said, Thelma come up and I said, "Hi, Thelma."
And she said, "Hi, Brother Bill." Said, "What do you want?"
And I said, "Hope wants a pair of socks."
And she said, "Why, Hope don't want socks."
And I said, "Yes, she does, she wants a pair."
Said, "She won't wear socks."
I said, "She does; she wants them full style. That thing, you know, that's got that little thing in the back of it, you know. And then," I said, "she wants it full style."
And she said...

90 Well, that's wrong; that ain't full... What is that? Fashion. Yeah, right. I don't know much about them things, so, and I said, "She wants that kind."
And she said, "Well, them's stockings."
And I said, "Oh, all right."
Said, "What kind you want?"
And after I done been so ignorant, I hated to show more of it, so I said, "Well, what kind you got?"
She said, "We got anywhere from rayon."
I said, "That's what she wants." I never heard the two different kinds; they all sound the same to me. And so I said, "That's the kind I want."
She said, "Hope want rayon stoc..."
I said, "Yes, ma'am."
And they only cost about twenty cents a pair, something like that. She got it; I said, "Give me two pair if that's all they are." So she give me two pair of them. And so I went home. You know how you have to crow to your wife when you got a bargain, you know. And I said, "Oh, I thought I'd tell you, it's--just--just--just..." I said, "I'm Abraham's son," you know, going on to her. I said, "You women go and ribbon shop all day for bargains, and I go downtown, buy two pair of socks, have enough left over to buy a third pair if I wanted to. Had money left over, just two pair. You all shop in Louisville." I said, "Just, you know, you have to be Yiddish, like me, you know." Just going on like that.
And she said, "Did you get rayon?"
And I said, "Yes, ma'am!" They all sound just the same to me.

91 So I thought it was something funny when she got to Fort Wayne, she had to get another pair of stockings. But she told me; she said, there in her dying hour; she said, "Bill, them was for an older woman; I give them to your mother." She said, "That," she said, "I kept that from you, because I didn't want to hurt your feelings, that you got."
Oh, my, you don't know how that made me feel then. And I said, "Bless your heart, honey."
And she said, "Now, promise me will you, that you'll not..."
I said, "I don't..."
She looked up, she said, "I'm going, Bill."
And I said, "Are you, honey?"
She said, "Yes."
I said, "Sweetheart, when you go..."

92 Now, we don't believe... Whatever... You believe anything you want to. I don't believe a Christian dies; there's no Scripture for it in the Bible. No, sir. "He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me, has passed from death to Life, he... I am the resurrection and life," says God, "he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." That's right.
I said, "Now, honey, I'll take your body out here, and I'll bury it up there in Walnut Ridge. And if Jesus tarries, I'll be in the battlefield somewhere, if not, I'll be buried by your side." I said, "That morning when the sun refuses to shine, the moon turns black like blood," I said, "the world's all cold and waiting." I said, "You go to the city gates if you go before me," I said, "You go over to the city gates on the east side, and you stand there, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, them, coming in," I said, "go to screaming 'Bill' just as loud as you can." And I said, "I'll get the kiddies together, and I'll meet you there at the gate."
And she raised up them bony hands and embraced around it. I kissed her goodbye. She closed her eyes and went out to meet God. That was my last date with my wife. And by the grace of God, I'm trying my best to make double time; that's the reason I try so hard to preach day and night in one campaign after another; I'm trying to make up for what I lost back there.

93 Oh, it was hard when I went home. I went home, tried to go to bed. Mother wanted me to come over home; I couldn't. And then I remember, I went over to our little old place. There wasn't nothing there, and we didn't have nothing. I guess, ten dollars would've bought everything we had in the house. But it was ours. She kept it clean; and it was ours; and there was no place like home. I don't care how humble it is, there's no place like home. Mother's place doesn't seem right, nowhere else.
And I went over there, and laid down, tried to go to sleep that night. I never forget it. And I know, a little old mouse had got down in the--a grate where we had some papers up there, and I heard. And it--she used to lay there and she'd have her some candy. And I sound like hands... And I got crying. And I shut the door together, and hanging on the back of the door was her kimono, hanging on the back of the door. And oh, my, there it was all over again. And while I was laying there crying, someone knocked at the door, it was Mr. Broy. He come, and he said, "Brother Billy."
Said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "I got some bad news for you."
I said, "Brother Frank, I just took her to the morgue."
He said, "That's not all of it; your baby's dying also, Sharon Rose."
I said, "Surely, not."
Said, "Doctor Adair's taking her to the hospital now." Said, "He thinks she's dying."

94 And I couldn't hold it no longer. I got up, and I tried to walk; I couldn't do it. My strength was all gone. They'd held me by the arms. He set me in the old truck, and he took me out there at the hospital. And I walked in, and here was Sam standing at the door; he said, "Billy, don't go to her." Said, "She's dying, sonny boy." Said, "She's contracted from her mother this tubercular meningitis, and it's went to the spine." And said, "She's dying." Said, "You can't go in to see her," said, "on account of Billy Paul."
I said, "Doc, I got to see my baby." And I said, "Let me see her, won't you, Doc?"
He said, "Bill, I can't do it on account of Billy Paul," said, "It's meningitis, son," said, "if you carry in you clothes somewhere else..."
I said, "Doc, let me go down there or give me chloroform and let me die with her." I said, "Life, what is it to me now? Everything I've got's gone." And he started crying. I... And the nurse stood there and said, "Now, I can't let you go in there, Brother Branham.

95 When she turned her back I slipped around anyhow and went down into the basement, the isolated place, a very cheap like hospital. And there, down there they had a little cheesecloth laying over her face to keep the flies off. And her little spasms she was having with that meningitis had [unclear words]. And the flies was in her little baby eyes, and I shooed the flies off of her eyes like that, and looked down at her, said, "Sharon Rose, honey, you're not going to leave daddy are you?" And I looked at her little old fat legs, her little cripple hand, like this [unclear words] on like that as she was drawing, quivering. And she was looking at me, little old lips quivering, I said, "Sharon, are you going to leave daddy?"
And looked like she was quivering so like that, and I had... She looked up at me; she was suffering so hard till one of those little baby eyes... Her little eyes was crossed like that. Looked at her suffering so, and she was, looked like she was trying to reach her little hands to me. Oh, it just tore my heart out of me. Oh, and I thought, "Oh, God." From that day... That's the reason, cross-eyed children, oh, I just can't stand to look at them. You know, God does those things; sometimes He has to crush something to get the good out of it, isn't that right?

96 I seen that little thing; I knelt down on the floor, and I said, "Oh, dear God, I'm sorry that I did what I did." I said, "You took my wife, my darling away from me, now You're taking my baby. Oh God, please don't take my little girl; I love her with all my heart." I said, "I'll serve You; I've done all I know to do except go when You told me to down there." And I said, "Please don't take my baby." I said, "I love her. Oh, no, please tell me God." I said, "Take me instead of her."
As I raised my eyes, looked like a black sheet coming unfolded. I knowed she was going then. I raised up and looked at her; I said, "God bless you, honey." I said, "You're daddy's darling." I laid my hand over on her head, and I said, "Oh, God," I said, "I don't know why You're tearing me up like this." But I said, Still that doesn't change my faith in You." And I said, "As Job of old, though You slay me, yet I believe You with all my heart." I said, "I trust You, Lord." I said, "Sharon Rose [unclear words] God be with you, honey. In a few minutes the Angels will come pack your little soul to Mother. And I'll pick you up from here and lay you in Mother's arms and bury you tomorrow." I said, "Lord, I've done all I can; it's not my will now, let Thy will be done."
I laid my hand on her little head like that; I couldn't hold myself no more. I felt myself slinking and went down to the floor. The Angels of God come picked her, and took her little soul away. Her little mouth quit quivering, and her little legs straightened out. God taken her away, and I stood there, my heart mashed to pieces. But I thought, "O God, oh, mercy," I said, "Lord, why don't You just take me, Lord. Just--just let me..." I said, "When I was a kid everybody laughed at me, called me sissy, and I went hungry, and went without and everything else," I said, "here it comes out to a place You give me a little home, and I tried to live right. Then You give me a little home; don't take it away from me. God, let me go with them." I said, "Don't let me stay here any longer; I don't want to stay."
I cried and [unclear words] I said, "But God, in my heart there's something, that I love You, no matter what You've done, I love You." I lift my hands to Him.

97 The nurse come in, looked at the baby and crossed its little hands. She come picked me up, went out. Few days later we took her up there on the hill, Brother Smith, the Methodist preacher standing there preaching the funeral. When they went to lower her down with her Mother, I looked at her. He got some clods of dirt in his hand, walked around, looked over at me, and turned his head; he just... Oh, I just couldn't stand it. Had little Billy Paul leaning on my arm here, eighteen months old. I said, "Billy, honey, someday you and I will go see Mommy and sissy." I heard him throw that clods on top of that casket, saying, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, earth to earth." Oh, my, it seemed like coming down through the little maple trees, the breeze started blowing, saying, "There's a land beyond the river, that they call the sweet forever; we only reach that shore by faith decree; one by one we gain the portal, there to dwell with the Immortal; someday they'll ring those golden bells for you and me." I turned from the grave.
I thought, "Oh, poor little old Billy, setting over my arm, didn't know what it was all about. I'd get his bottles, and put them in my pocket, and pack him like this, and walk the streets. Back and down to the... One night it'd like to kill me. I'd walk him in my arms like this; he's crying for his mother; didn't have any mother to go to. And I was walking back to the yard like this, he said, "Daddy, where is my mama?"
I said, "She went to see Jesus."
He said, "When she coming back, I want her?"
I said, "Well, honey, I don't know. She'll come back."
I started walking like this, I turned the tree where my old folks used to set. I had a little hunting dog out there; I was going to go pet it. He looked at me, said, "Daddy, I thought I seen mother up there inside that cloud."
Oh, I almost fell with the little fellow; I was staggering around, fell on then. Oh, I just couldn't get up. Hour passed, poor little fellow, setting there crying for his mama. I thought, "God... Oh, I know I've I done wrong, but I... Someday it'll be different, surely.

98 I went on, tried to go to work. And I remember one morning, I went to work, Public Service Company, working on lines. I climbed up a pole one morning, and I was singing real early. I was singing,
On the hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame.
While I was there I happened to look up, and the sun was coming this way, and my, the sun shining against me and on them cross irons of that pole, there it was, like a body moving, the shadow on the side of the hill of the cross. I thought, "Yes, that's right, my sins put Him there. Oh," I said, "God." I just couldn't stand it; I could understand my wife going, but my baby. I couldn't get that baby, why did God take it?
I looked down; I got real nervous; I pulled off my rubber glove, twenty-three hundred running right here by me. I said, "God, I hate to be a coward, but Sharon, daddy's coming home to see you in a few minutes." I pulled the glove off, intending to put my hand on that wire. It'd broke every bone in your body. I'd just got beyond myself; I was going crazy. I couldn't settle myself. And how I ever got off of that pole, I know not yet. But when I come to myself, I was setting down by the pole all hunkered down like this, a crying. And great drops of sticky perspiration was all over me. I believe if God hadn't foreordained, I believe in foreordination. [Gap in the audio.] [ unclear words]. I'd have died right there.

99 And I went home. I quit that morning. I went on. I just couldn't stand it. Went over to mother's, and that evening, I was going home. And I reached around side of the door there, and picked up some mail, and when I went inside, the first letter I got said, "Miss Sharon Rose Branham," her little Christmas savings, eighty cents. There it was all over again. I knelt down by that old army cot that I was sleeping on out there in the kitchen. It had gotten cold weather, frost was up over the floor; I knelt down and I said, "God, please let me go, or something; ease my heart; I can't stand it like this."
And while I was praying and crying, I went to sleep. I dreamed that I was out west somewhere. I had on one of those big western hats; and I was going down across the prairie, whistling, "The wheel on the wagon is broken." And I happened to look, and there was an old prairie schooner there, and one of the wheels was broke, hanging down. And standing there was a beautiful young lady in her teens, had blond hair, blowing, her blue eyes, beautiful. I passed by, and I took off my hat, and said, "Good morning, ma'am." Started walking on, whistling the, "The wheel of the wagon is broken."
She said, "Good morning, dad."
I looked around, I said, "What'd you say?"
She said, "I said, Good morning, dad."
I said, "Well, lady, you call me your daddy; you're old as I am."
She said, "Dad, you don't know where you are."
And I said, "I don't understand."
She said, "On earth I was your little Sharon."
I said, "Sharon?"
She said, "Yes, there's no little babies up here, daddy," said, "we're all the same age; we're immortal."
And I thought, "Oh," I said, "where's--where's mother?"
And she said, "She's waiting for you."
And she said, "Where's Billy Paul?"
And I said, "Well, I just left him awhile ago." I said, "I don't understand this."

100 She said, "Mother's waiting for you up at your new home."
And I said, "New home?" I said, "Oh, honey, there's something wrong here." I said, "Branhams are vagabonds; we never have homes," I said, "We're just poor."
And she said, "But dad, you got one up here."
I turned to look, and there was a great palace, the glory of God coming from around it, she said, "That's your home, dad." Said, "Mama's waiting for you there." And I turned, started up the walk going like this, going towards the home, singing, "My Home, Sweet Home." There she come out to meet me again. Heaven's a real place. She stretched forth, her lovely being, her arms as she always did, that black hair glistening, those eyes, once again in perfect health. She stretched her arms, and she said, "Bill."
I went up to her, and I fell down like this. Many times when I come in from meetings and be so tired, she'd put her arms around me and always pat me. She said, "Oh, honey, you've tried so hard; I'm afraid you're going to break your health down while you're young," and patting me like that, on the back. And I fell down at her knees; and she put her arm around me; she said, "Bill."
And I said, "Honey, I don't understand it?" I said, "I met Sharon down there."
She said, "Yes, she said she's going down to wait for you."
I said, "Didn't our girl make a beautiful young lady?"
She said, "Yes."
I said, "She's waiting for Billy Paul, she said."
Said, "Yes, won't you come in?"
And I said, "Honey," I raised up, and I said, "I'm so tired, I can't hardly stand it." I said, "I've just been praying for this sick, and praying for this sick." And I hadn't had these meetings then, remember.
And she said, "I know all about it, Bill."

101 Praying for the sick, that's the reason I believe that sometime my going will be from the platform. See? And I had... I said, "I just been praying for the sick; I'm so wore out I can't hardly stand it."
She said, "I know." She said, "Won't you set down?"
And I looked around; there was a great big Morris chair setting there. And I looked over at her, and she looked at me and smiled. She knowed what we was talking about.

102 I went one time... I... We just had old hickory bottom chairs; I don't know what you know what they are or not, laced across with across with hickory; we had two. And there was one of them there, and I bought me a Morris chair, paid fifteen dollars for it. I paid a dollar down and a dollar a week to pay for it. And I paid about five or six dollars. I just couldn't make the payments. You know how things get hard, and you can't make ends meet; you know what I mean. And I just couldn't make the payments, and they sent me a dun; they was going to come get it.
And one day I come in, and she had me a cherry pie baked, bless her heart. And she met me at the door, and she said, "Oh," want me to go fishing or something that night. And she had this cherry pie baked for me; she said, "Oh, I got you the best cherry pie." She knew I loved cherry pie. And I thought there was something wrong.
And so after supper she said, "Now, I had the kiddies to dig some fishing worms," said, "We're going down the river to fish."
And I seen she was all excited. And after supper I said, "Let's walk in the front room a little while."
She said, "No, no, let's go out..."
And I put my arm around her, I said, "Oh, honey, you're a lovely wife."
And we walked through the door, and she put her head on my shoulder and started crying; she said, "Bill, I tried hard to keep it for you."
I said, "I know, honey, but we couldn't help it." I come in sometimes so tired I couldn't hardly stand it, set down in that little old Morris chair, that little footstool. I set there reading my Bible till I'd go to sleep. And it was gone then; we didn't have it. I couldn't pay for it. And I would be wore out. And she looked around, said, now when I see her in this vision, she said, "You remember that chair?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "The finance company come got?"
I said, "Yeah, I remember, honey."
She said, "But Bill, they'll never come get this one; this one's already paid for. It's yours, set down, rest a little while."

103 Oh, Christian people, one of these days, I know beyond the reach of mortal ken, someday, God only knows just where and when, the wheels of mortal life will all stand still; then I'm going to make a trip to Zion's hill. There I'll see her there again, and I'll see Jesus. I'll see my baby; I'll see my loved ones.
There waits for me a glad tomorrow,
Where gates of pearl swing open wide,
When I've crossed this vale of sorrow,
I will rest upon the other side.
Hallelujah! I love Him today with all my heart. I don't want to be a baby. Oh, God, have mercy. And this old [unclear words] has crossed the streets, the tears and heartaches and troubles. Oh, Father, and I've served the Lord all of my life... Why did I [unclear words] before. And I've tried with all my heart, dear Jesus, to live for You, to do the thing, no matter what this cross is, or how scornful it seems to be. I love You, dear Jesus, you've broken my heart over and over, but I love You for it. And I pray now, dear God, that You'll help me to fulfill the commission that You have given, that I might finish my course with joy. And someday when life's ended, and the treads that I'm walking on now with the [unclear words]. My life is more than half gone [unclear words]. Someday my soul's got to turn back yonder. Stand by me, O Morning Star, at that time.
Crossing the country and meeting lovely friends and ministers of the Gospel [Gap in the audio.] ... praying and the sick and afflicted, see them little bedridden mothers, oh, how I hate that demon of TB, how that broke my family to pieces. O God, help me. Help me to be faithful to the calling, Lord. And someday when it's all over, grant that this little group here this afternoon, oh I [unclear words] the multiplied thousands of others. When the last battle is fought, the last sermon's preached, may we stand in Your presence, Lord, rejoicing, crowned with immortality to meet our loved ones.

104 And many here today seen the sad streets of life; their loved ones, their mothers and dads, children, has gone on; they know what it is to go home, if it be home. Many men here knows what it is to go home and no mother for his kiddies. Many know what it is to see their little infant playing in their mother's arms put beneath the sod. And God, we're looking forward to the day when Jesus shall come, and the graves will be opened, and those loved ones will be presented again in immortal bodies. Oh, how we love You, Lord, keep our faith solid.
If there be some here today, Our heavenly Father, who does not know Thee in the forgiveness of their sins, has never accepted Thy beloved Son, the only Mediator between God and man, may they today sweetly and humbly slip up their hands and their hearts to You, and say, "Dear Jesus, here I am. Receive me just as I am, that I might give my life and serve Thee. And by Brother Branham's mistakes, I'll never do those things that You have to pull me through the gutters like that. But I'll bypass it by Your grace by touching You now. Grant it, dear heavenly Father. Bless this waiting audience.

105 Now, while we have our heads bowed, just a moment. I don't mean to be a baby, while Christians are praying, oh, to live those horrible hours over again. [Gap in the audio.]
Oh Lord [unclear words] here that would come forward now to give their life to Christ? Is there someone here? If you believe that God is in our midst... [Gap in the audio.] is there some that'll just raise up their hand, and say, "Brother Branham, I haven't as yet been saved." Will you raise your hand and say, "Pray for me. I want you to ask God to have mercy on me"?
Isn't there one in the building? God bless you, brother. One sinner who... God bless you, brother. God bless you; I see your hand. Someone else? Say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham, I want you to remember me in prayer."

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Good evening, friends, or afternoon, rather. I'm happy to be here this afternoon. And if there is any good thing, let it be for the glory of God.
If Mr. Jackson is in here from South Africa, Brother Jackson, if he is in the meeting this afternoon, Billy wants to see you at the book concession right away, Brother Jackson, about arrangements for tonight on leaving, if you will. He told me to announce that he wanted to meet you at the book stand right now. All right. And Billy, wherever you are, why, Brother Jackson will go to the book stand right away.
Now, to the audience, I wish to address you this afternoon in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As God has given me this privilege, along with you, to be His representative, His servant, and His child, by grace, through Jesus Christ. Many of us have many things that we would ... could tell. Each one could get up here and tell a life story. Many of us probably would be full of victory and power, and many of us would be full of heartaches and disappointments.

2 And we each one have a life that God has given us, and we must live it. And I ... to my humble opinion, if you will get this, I think the most best life in the world, no matter whether it is up or down, if we will find God's path and walk in it, where God has ordained for us to walk. If we always, we find victory no matter ... I think of blind Fanny Crosby when she was sitting there in the darkness, the question was once asked, "What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He?"
And I think of all the men, and great men down through the ages, any man that ever amounted to anything mostly, were men and women who believed Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? And I think of how the prophets wrote of Him and how the ancient men, they foretold of Him, and how the patriarchs, how they ... the rulers who raised against Him was brought low, and so forth.

3 And I think down through the age, I think of the father of our nation, George Washington, how he trusted God. I think of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, of course, I don't ... not a politician, but Lincoln was my favorite amongst all the presidents we have ever had. He had to come up the hard way, maybe because I had to come that way is the reason I sympathize with Lincoln: splitting rails, and writing in the dirt, and so forth. And the only books that we believe that Lincoln ever had until he was twenty-one years old, was the Bible and the Foxe Book Of Martyrs. That's what molded that character.
Let me see what you read, let me go in your office, in your house, and see what you read, I will--I will tell you what you are. That's right. Everything is with nature. And you keep the Bible laying close for your children, read it yourself, be an example. That's what I didn't have in my younger life. But by God's grace I want to put that before my children. And if there is another generation, may they put it before theirs. And now, if we could think today...
I heard you when I come in last night. My heart was thrilled when you were singing: All Hail The Power Of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall.

4 Just late, Dr. DeWitt, when he was dying, he was standing before his congregation, he was trying to represent Jesus Christ, "Isn't He the greatest of all, He was God, He was Immanuel," and how His power should be in the church and would make them quit their selfishness. He was a pastor of a great church. And his congregation even was against him. They were waiting here for conference so they could vote him out, and so forth, and send him away.
But his heart was a bleeding. And so then while he was preaching his heart out one day, he had a heart attack, and fell forward. There happened to a physician in the church, come to him and said, "Dr. DeWitt, you just have a few minutes longer to live. You can't make it."
He called for two faithful deacons who held up his hands. And he got his hands up and steadied to his feet, and said, "Let me stand on my feet, as long as there is breath in my body."

5 Behind him was the cross that represented the cross--the cross of Christ, back there, by his baptistery. And he stood up like that, he said, "If I have one word I want to say, is this, all hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all." He started staggering backwards like that, when he went backwards, he throwed one arm around one side of the cross, and one, the other, and throwed his head down, and went to meet the Lord. Hallelujah. That's the way to go.
I think of Paul Rader, that great gallant hero who stormed Chicago, about the last revival you've ever had in Chicago. When Paul Rader stood there, went out there and he was among his own people had put him to grief, and sorrow, and upset which gave him a cancer. And after while, died. The people that was against him, and doing so was the ones who done it. When he was... Little Moody Bible Institute over here had the little quartet, as I understand, out there singing for him. They had the window shades pulled down, and he was dying. And Paul was quite a cut up. Puts me in mind of Brother Bosworth. He's always has a little sense of humor.

6 And so he looked around, he seen the curtains all down, he come to himself, looked around and said, "Say, who's dying here, me or you?" Said, "Raise them shades and sing me some good Gospel songs; snappy." And they got to singing: Down At the Cross Where My Savior Died," or something like that, he said, "that sounds better."
Says, "Where's Luke?" And Luke was back in the other room, they brought Luke in to where he was. He took hold of his hand, and said, "Luke, we've come a long ways together, brother, down through the shady lanes." But said, "Think of it. In five minutes from now, I will be standing in the presence of Jesus Christ, clothed in His righteous." He died.
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
With partings, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.

7 Part of his brothers travel... Think of Lincoln, when he was shot there because of his gallantry and standing for humane and what was right for God. Told when he was going to die, when they ... the bullet that went through his ... below his ... in his body there, and he was smothering to death, he said, "Turn my head towards the setting of the sun." He said, "Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thine will be done," repeating the model prayer as he went out to meet God. Oh my! What are we? Men and women...
Look at Eddie Perronett there. He was a persecuted and everything, and what he thought. He wrote the... One day there, when the inspiration hit him, he picked up the pen and wrote the inauguration song: All Hail The Power Of Jesus' name.
I think of [unclear words] there, when he wrote the "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." I think of blind Fanny Crosby. "What could God promise you, you never seen daylight in your life? You were blind all your life. What do you think about Jesus Christ?
She said, "Pass me not, O gentle Saviour, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. Thou the stream of all my comfort, more than life to me, whom have I on earth beside Thee, or whom in Heaven but Thee?"
Let us, be up and doing,
With a heart for any strife;
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero.

8 Each one of you is a Christian. You are a born-again Christian, then let's stand up. No matter how bad the background has been, let's look forward now to the Coming of our Lord, when this mortal will take on immortality. Back to...
A few moments now. Try not to keep you no longer. Already, I'm past time; twenty minutes after three. I'm ... Go about an hour. I will try to be finished if I can. I ... Many of you here has probably has heard the life story, things that I hate to go back over, but I...
One of my greatest altar calls I ever made in America, I had two thousand sinners to come to Jesus Christ in Pensacola, Florida after the life story one afternoon. I trust to God, that was next to the Durban where we had thirty thousand.
Now I want to read a portion of Scripture, always God's Word, because my word fails, but God's Word can't fail. Now, found in the 13th chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the 10th verse, and reading the 14th verse inclusive:
We have an altar, whereof they who have no right ... which serve ... tables.
For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burnt without the camp.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

9 How many of you is away from home today, let's see your hands; away from home? My, just looky here. As I think, if I had time we would sing that song: we're pilgrims and we're strangers here, were seeking a city to come, is that right? No matter where you ever roam, there will be no place who ... that will ever take homes place. Is that right?
Wouldn't you just like to take a little trip today? Most all of you here are my age, or maybe a little above. And wouldn't you just like to go back to childhood, just spin a little wheel and go back and live another day in childhood? Wouldn't you love to do that? Oh, how I would like to. Even though, with it's sorrows, and tears, and disappointments, I'd like to live one more day of it, just to go back.

10 I remember the little old place where I come from, and no matter how humble it was ... Everyone of you here can remember the old place where mother used to stand under the tree, perhaps, on an old cedar wash tub with a wash board, you was a little girl or boy, playing around. Many time ... you remember that, the many heartaches, and sorrows that went through, how you pulled unto her an old spotted apron. like to see her again today, but that can't be now. No, she's gone on.
Like to see old Dad, when I used to see him come from the field with that red handkerchief sticking in his pocket. See him get up of a morning, on a cold morning, go back and make a fire in a big old drum stove. I used to hear him sing:
Oh, where is my boy tonight,
My heart overflows
For a loving he knows,
Oh, where is my boy tonight?
I seen him stand by the little old wash bench with his sleeves rolled up, and washing his face and hands; and he had real black wavy hair. He would look around. Oh, how I would like to see him once more. But I can't, he's gone on. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. If you could go back to the home where you was raised at, it wouldn't be the home that you was one time.

11 Here, a few days ago, I was taking someone who came to visit me up to where the old home place was. Why, there is a housing project. Well, it isn't the old home anymore. We have no continuing city.
I remember when I ... First little old home we lived in was a log house. There was about three or four of us little Branhams out there. We didn't even have a floor, just the dirt. Papa, in the.. right in the middle of the floor, he had a stump that had been sawed off and laid in there, some rock laid on top of it; and old drum stove sitting there. And how that the table, what it was made out of: an old bench that he got some boards off of a barn down there, and sawed a bench out like a church pew like, and set it behind the table.

12 And Mama had a little old, what we call a monkey stove. Anybody know what a monkey stove is, let's see your... Oh, my, that's fine. And old-fashioned coil lamp. Did you ever clean a lamp chimney? Let's see... Well ju... I'm not the only country boy here. I'm going to take off my coat, and feel right at home. That's right. Yes, sir.
How many of you ever slept on a straw tick? Let's see your hand. Well, say, Chicago is not a big place after all, is it? That's right. My, my, how many times have I slept on an old straw tick. And first time you put in there, maybe feel the grasshopper kicking, have to get up and find him you know, when he was down in there. Why, many times I've done that. Sure.

13 Seen Mama take that big old stick she had hanging on the wall, a piece of an old... Well, she done ... used to ... she would use to poke her clothes with out in the--in the yard when she was boiling her clothes. Did you ever boil your clothes? Thank God. Oh, my. Lye soap, you know? And she would use that to put your clothes in. She had a string in it, she would hang it up on the wall.
Now that was herb on that side, but the other side was the--was the golden rule that hung on the other, right over the door, you see. It was a hickory about that long with all the ten commandments wrote out on the end of it. Little boys must behave, and dad believed in the golden rule in that way. So then, if that ever come up missing, there was a razor strap laying back in the back there. That took its place. I tell you, my education was pretty stiff. Dad, I inherited that Irish eyes; flashed like Stonewall Jackson, I knowed something was in for me when I done wrong. But I love him today with all my heart. He never give me half the whippings that I deserve.
And then, I remember mama used to take that stick and smooth out the bed, you know, mash it down, you know, and smooth it out. How many knows what a bolster is? It's a big... Well, what do you know. Say, is anybody here from Kentucky, raise up your hand. Well, my, my, that's really something, isn't it? All right.

14 Down in Indiana, or this is Indiana. Down in Southern Indiana, it's some, I laughed there one day in my church, I said, "How many here is from Kentucky," and about two-thirds of them stood up. Some one said ... I said, "I don't get it."
And of them said, said, "Brother Branham," said, "ground hogs in Kentucky just took the country." So, coming across from over the other side.
But there, in the front of this little old log cabin, I remember, I used to look at them old chinks, mud in the cracks like that, and I would say, "My, that house will stand forever. Why, it can't go down, what a wonderful place it is." But my, you should see it now, see. Here we have no continuing city.
And around in front of the door was a place wore off, it was just bare slick where we, little bunch of Branham's played out there like a bunch of little opossums, or something, around there. Little bitty fellows, wallering around over one another. Say, I'd like to live that over again. I really would, I say.

15 I remember the old spring where I used to go down there and lay down on my stomach and drink and drink. Come back up, go out and take dad a jug of water out of the spring back out to the field where he was in harvest or something; worked so hard till I seen my Mama cut his shirt lose from his back from sunburn, where it would stick to his back; seventy-five cents a day to take care of me.
Look, it's true. You have read my life story, out there. My dad did drink, but I don't care what he done, he is still my daddy. And let me tell you something young folks, this afternoon. Don't you never get little enough to call your mother and dad "the old man and woman." You don't never do that, no matter what they are. No matter what they are, you respect them as your dad and mother. You'll never know what, how you love them, till you hear the cat ... squeaking of a casket going out, and knowing that's the last of it. It won't be the "old man and woman" then.

16 A lot of times they are right, when you think they are wrong. Always, "Honor thy father and mother, which may lengthen the days upon the earth, the Lord thy God giveth thee." That's the first commandment with promise. Be kind to your mother and dad.
I remember my daddy died. He was just beginning to gray a little bit at the temple. When he laid there in the casket and I picked up his head, which had died right on my arm ... And I picked up his head and his locks of hair fall down, I thought, "Oh, dad." I looked at his hand. He had had his finger cut off there in the shredder one day. I thought of all the heartaches that I had caused him. It wasn't "the old man," that was my daddy. I don't care who else, what they thought about him, he was still my dad. And I loved him. And I love him today. I had the privilege of leading him to Christ. Now...
And my mother, also. My mother is a living. She is supposed to arrive here this afternoon. And I trust that she will, get here.

17 Now, back in those days, I remember some of the little things, just for details. I remember one thing that out-stood in them days, was, every Saturday night go to town to get the groceries. Did you ever have to do that, go in on a Saturday night and get the food for the week? We lived in the country, and I would work hard all week. I got a dime, when I was a great big boy, twelve, fourteen years old. I got ten cents. Dad said, "Don't spent it all in one place; ten cents." Billy says, "Daddy, you got five dollars you can let me have?" How things have changed. Certainly have.

18 I remember that ten cents, I would go to town, and, my, go into this store. And I would get my dime's change, and I would get a penny's worth of Redhots, about that many in a sack. They wouldn't even let you look at them, hardly, for a penny now. Then I would go over to get a penny ice cream cone, little bitty old ice cream cone. You get it for a penny. What a day that was. But now it's different.
Then, when we were little bitty lads, I remember when we was all at home, you know, playing around the house, I used to see dad come home, and on Saturday evening, we would all, afternoon, he would get a little old buckboard of affair, jersey wagon; we had a little old mule we hooked to that wagon. And if it was winter time, we would put straw in the back of the--of the wagon, little covered over wagon. And we would get blankets and wrap up.

19 And dad and mother set in the front seat. And down the road they would go, and mother and dad talking you know, they was about twenty-five years old a piece, I guess. And they was sitting up there talking, you know, driving this little old mule. Why, we was in first class. Wasn't our mule or wagon, but we were going somewhere, to the store.
Dad would get about three dollars and a half for the week and he would go down there to spent every bit of it nearly for groceries to feed all those kiddies through the week. We didn't have fried chicken and so forth, but we had to get things that really stuck to the ribs: potatoes, and things like that, that really hung on, went a long ways.

20 And so I remember when papa pay his grocery bill on Saturday night, that was a treat for the little Branham's. He would get a sack full of candy, little old peppermint stick candy. Say, you know, that was good. I remember when he would come out there, maybe he would have... Maybe there would be four good-sized sticks, and there was five Branhams to divide it between, everyone looking to see if he got his share. Them sticks had to be broken up and divided just exactly the equal among them, because all eyes was turned on that candy.
I guess I cheated little bit on it. All the kiddies would get all they could eat, you know, and they would just eat, and all... They couldn't eat their candy up. I licked mine a little while, you know, and I would reach over and get a piece if that old brown paper sack the meal was wrapped in, and pulled off a little piece if it, and rolled it up, put it in my pocket; I wait till Monday. And so then, I... Monday come along, and Mom would say, "Billy?"
I would say, "Yes ma'am."

21 "Take the bucket." It wasn't one of these little old galvanized buckets, it was big cedar buckets, and an old gourd dipper. How many ever seen a gourd dipper? Oh, that's right. All right, and go down in the spring and pull up the water, you know, and put into the bucket. My, that was a job.
I look over to my brother, I would say, "Tell you what I will do. If you will go get that bucket of water, I will take ... I've got my candy yet, I will let you lick it till I count ten slow: one, two, like that." I was a business man. Sat back in the shade, you know, while my brother went and got the water, licked on the candy. Oh, my, I tried to make that ten just about as good as I could, you know. And you ought to seen him lick. My, my. He got more than ten licks off of it all right.
Well, Monday would be a pretty day for me because I keep that piece of candy, you know, just work right on that candy. And they knowed I had it too, you know, so I... Oh, my.

22 I guess today, I could go out and, not on Sunday, but some other day, and buy a box of Hershey's, but it would never taste like that candy. How many of you eat peppermint and old-fashioned barrel crackers, let's see you hands? Oh, my, say, I'm telling you, that wouldn't go bad right now. That's right.
And oh, for meals we would have mulligan stew, was Irish to the core, you know. And my, how many knows what mulligan stew is? Say, that's when you boil everything in the kitchen even to the dish rag almost. Just put everything in a pot and boil it. That's right, get everything in there and boil it up; the turnips, see, the carrots, and the potatoes, and the beans, and the meal. And just put it all together and boil it. Well, almost... That mulligan stew would have to last two or three days, we had it on Sunday. Had beef in it, you know, so it had to be good; quarters worth of beef, my, chunk that big. So then it... Mama would dice it up.

23 Puts me to mind of Buddy Robinson, when he said he... One time Uncle Buddy said, "I tell you," said, "I went out West and they was having a depression out there." And said, "A great drought was on, had nothing to eat." Said, "The only thing we had was dry apples." Said, "I eat them for breakfast, drink them in water for dinner, swell them up in time for supper." So that's about the way that mulligan stew lasted, just constantly all ... till about Wednesday it was played out, had to ... then we went back to something else. Great tale.

24 My, I remember how that back in those days, going to school, I remember brother and I, the one next to me, he's in Glory, too, and how we went to school together. And we would go to school, and we were about the poorest kids there was. We would come across the river from Kentucky, and the Indiana people are just a little more wealthy than that are down in the mountain part of Kentucky, anyhow, where I was borned at. And I, being the only Kentuckian among them, I sure had a hard way to go, I mean I did. they just teased me all the time about being a corn cracker.
And so, I talk real funny, you know. I... It even ... I didn't talk plain, maybe not yet, but I ... little better job out of it. So I was kind of tongue-tied like, you know, and I would talk funny, and they would laugh at me. And oh, I had an awful time. And ragged? Oh, my!

25 And I remember, there was one thing about my dad, he would ... Now, if he owed a grocery bill, he would go pay that bill. But if he had ten cents left over, he would drink it. Everything he had, he drank up. And that's the reason today I'm so firmly against drinking. The reason I'm so firmly against that stuff is because I knew it ruined my home, and spoiled me from a love that ... I always wanted to be loved, if somebody to love me. And even my people in that [unclear words]. Well, I was ... I it just didn't have it. And we went to school half-naked. And what a horrible life we had all because of drink. My daddy was a--was a real man, if he just hadn't to have that habit of drinking.
And I know that it is one of the curses of the nation, and I'm against the thing. You say, "Will a little beer hurt you?" You just get born-again and go ahead and drink all the beer you want to, after you get born-again. That's right. You can just drink all you want after you get born-again. But you get born-again first, and that's all you have to do.

26 So then I remember in school one day when I seen, reading in my history, I was looking there, and no one was sitting there, and kiddies laughing at me, being so ragged, my hair hanging down my neck. And they would laugh at me. And I was reading a book where Abraham Lincoln got off of a boat down in New Orleans, and he was ... he seen a colored man being auctioned off. He said, "That's wrong." He said, "That's wrong. And someday I will hit that. If I takes my life, I will hit it." And he did, and it took his life. Exactly. And I scooted my geography book ... not mine, but one I had borrowed, I didn't have any of my own. I pushed it back, and I said, "And drinking is wrong, and someday I will hit if it takes my life." Against it? Yes, sir.

27 And I say this in regards right now, that any person that's really had a touch of Jesus Christ is finished with drinking. That's right.
I got my first Bible. People used to say, "Is it wrong to do this? Wrong to smoke? Wrong to drink?" I made ... put a little slogan in the back of my Bible. I picked it up here a few days ago, and was looking at it, a little bitty old Bible. I said:
Don't ask me foolish questions,
Just make this up in your mind,
If you love the Lord with all your heart,
You don't smoke, chew, or drink any shine.
And that's right. That's still the thing to do and that's been twenty years ago since I wrote it in there. A man that's born again has no use for the stuff. Now, look what it has hatched out here in America. You can see whether there's any harm to it or not.

28 One time we had probation, 'course we had gang wars and things. But what did they do, just like fooling around with an egg: go to fool with the middle of it, you have the whole thing everywhere. And I'm not, I say I'm not a politician or nothing, it's none of my business what they do, that's their business. Mine is to preach the Gospel. But here's one thing, brother, that when ... just as we went back and put whiskey in all these places, we took the prostitute off the role, and the drunken gambling places, and stuck right in our refrigerator.
I seen a picture one time of old John Barleycorn. They call him "the whiskey man." He had his hat sitting on the back of his head, and if he wasn't a horrible looking scarecrow. They painted him up now, they put him in bumpers, but he is still old John Barleycorn, the same old fellow. That's exactly right. It's like trying to paint a hog up, and wash him up, and try to make a good different creature out of him, he will go through the waller just as hard as he can go; till you get his nature changed.

29 So the thing that men and women has got to do now, is get their nature changed. God changes a man's makeup, changes his nature, makes him a new creature in Christ. I know you believe that.
Now, but, I never come here to preach, though I tell to you my life story. But just to think of how that those days, how that was...
I remember sitting in school. I went to school one complete year without a shirt on. I didn't even have a shirt to my name. Mrs. Watham, a rich woman, she's in Glory today, a Catholic woman, yet if ... Oh, I know she was a Christian. And she give me a coat. And I wore that coat. I did ... I had on an old pair of tennis shoes, and my feet was ... the tops of them was out, and my toes stuck up like turtle heads out of a pond when ... to see my feet sticking up, that snow coming down, and coming to school. I would sit there, and this big old coat on.

30 It come spring of the year. And I remember one day, awful warm, and the perspiration just a running down my face. I thought, "My, it's hot!" Mrs. Temple, and she might be sitting present for all I know, she doesn't live too far from here. If she is, God bless you, mother Temple. She's been a lot to my life.
All right. What I'm going to say here ... I called, maybe see if she is here, if you are, I still love you, sister. She said, "William." I had my coat collar buttoned up like this. She said, "William, aren't you hot with that coat on?" The kiddies begin to say, you know, and it didn't smell so very good, I suppose, wearing it all winter. And said, "Aren't you hot with that coat on?"
I said, "No, ma'am, I'm--I'm a little bit cold." Cold! I couldn't take that coat off, I didn't have no shirt on.
So she said, "Well, sonny, you must be taking a cold, William." She said, "You better come over to the stove."
So she built up the fire, sit me down there. And I sit there, and the perspiration just a pouring off of me. She said, "Aren't you warm enough to take that coat off yet, William?"
I said, "No, ma'am, Mrs. Temple. I'm still cold." I couldn't take it off, I didn't have no shirt on.
So she said, "Well, I believe you are sick. I better send you home." And she sent me home thinking that I was sick and I was cold, but I just didn't have on any shirt. I couldn't take it off.

31 And I went to school with mama's shoe on one side, and papa's on the other one. That's exactly right, a boot-n-gegger [unclear words] if you know what I am talking about. Like a... And when great big boys, just because of Satan and sin.
And when we were eating, I remember, we couldn't eat with the rest of the kiddies. They would all have sandwiches, the light bread. You remember when used to have the old loaf bread that you would get it and save the tags off the back of it for certain things, safety razors and so forth? And I remember when they used to have that, and the women, most baked their bread. We couldn't do that. We couldn't afford it.
And they would all take sandwiches, and make little sandwiches. But brother, and I couldn't do that. We had this ... We had a little half a gallon of molasses bucket, about like that. And in there, we had a little jar, and it would be full of greens, the next one full of beans, two pieces of cornbread, and two spoons. We would slip off. We was ashamed to eat before the other children who had cakes, and cookies, and things.

32 And we would go down next to the river, and sit down there, and sit this out on the log, and sit there and eat, both of us. We ... I'd take a bite out of the--out of the little jar of beans, and brother, take a bit. Then we would take a bite out of the greens. Not to much, we had to make it, divvy it up between us. And two pieces of cornbread, hoecake cornbread that mom had baked for breakfast, and cut in little slices like that, just had to go a long, with the rest of the kids.
Oh, I remember one time around Christmas time. I hate to get into these things. But around Christmas time, we had a Christmas tree. And the kids down at school would take and cut little white strips of paper, and blue ones, and green ones, and made little chains, you, know, how they used to do in school. And we took ours home. So mama thought, she went back out in the field, we did, and cut a little Christmas tree about like that.

33 And papa went down. And he had got some popcorn that they had raised. And they popped the corn and made strings, and mom strung it up with a needle and thread to put around the Christmas tree where we was going to have a Christmas tree. We were hanging up our stockings on Christmas night, and next morning maybe have an orange, and three pieces of candy laying out, and a little piece of paper laying to one side, maybe little bitty pieces of candy.
And if we had an orange, and a piece of candy, and a apple, oh, what a great fellow Santa Claus was to come bring that to us. How happy we was. My, we would eat those oranges and dry the peeling and then eat the peeling. Many times I have packed peeling in my pocket for week after week and eat those orange peelings. Yeah, we wasted nothing of it.

34 And I remember very well one time when mama had popped some corn. She had another little half-a-gallon syrup bucket and she put that full of popcorn. And my brother that's in Glory today, when we took it down, set it in the old cloakroom, country school. And I got to sitting back there, and I thought, "Oh, what I would..." That was some ... what we call a rarity, you know. My, it's something very rare. And I thought, "Wonder if I could just before dinner time get a good handful of that, see, before dinner time comes." So I fit it all up, so I raised up my hand, asked the teacher, "May I be excused?"
"Yes."

35 And so we ... I went out to the cloak room, I opened up this bucket, reached down in there and got a great big handful that corn. Put the bucket back, went around, the bucket lid, rather, went back and stood behind the old chimney back there, and eat that popcorn. Oh, it was good. I come back in and wipe my mouth real good, and my hands, you know, so my brother wouldn't notice it.
So when dinner time come, we went out, picked up our bucket, and went out to eat. After we'd... We won't eat the popcorn first, you know, because that was better than what we had. So we opened up the bucket, and about a third of it was gone. So my brother looked around, he said, "Say," he said, "something has happened to that popcorn."
I said, "Sure has." I knowed what had happened.

36 And you know, friends, not long ago I come up from Houston, I was having a meeting there. And I had been so tired. I just couldn't, I would just pass out. I stayed eight days and nights without leaving the platform. I said, "I will pray for everybody comes." And I stayed there, and praying in the line till I was so unconscious, they packed me to the car. And I ... they would...
I would lay against the pulpit and sleep a little, and then I would wake up, the prayer line still waiting. I don't know where it was out there on the street, I just keep on praying for one, the other. Then they would bring me something, I would eat a little bit, and then maybe pray till I would get so sleepy I would lean against the pulpit like that; for hours after hours. And I had gotten so worn, they tried to put me to bed, then I couldn't go to bed. Then I couldn't sleep.

37 I started home. And I never will forget, on the road home, I was driving along and I would wake up. I had an old Ford. That has been about five years ago. And it was backslid and it was ... Well, you know, what I mean, it was all right, it just been treated pretty heavy. And so, I didn't have any side in the thing where I beat my leg against it trying to keep awake, and pulled all the hairs till I don't have hair, just on the back of my hand, trying to keep awake, praying for the sick, trying to keep awake to make my lines go on.
I found somebody who loved me, somebody who loved me, and I loved them. And I was trying to minister my heart out to them. And I remember waking up. I... And the cars would be blowing, and I'd be asleep over on the other side of the road. And after a while, the funny part of it, I woke up, I stopped, I couldn't get to myself. And I had my hands out the window. And I was in a cow pasture, I had my hands out the window, saying, "Only believe, sister, that's the only thing you have to do. Just believe." And I said, "What's the matter with me?"
I got out. I done run off the road out into a cow pasture, asleep on the road. And I come home. And oh, my, when I got home, and there they was. And before, we kept the people from the house, and there they was lined up there, a hundred fifty, two hundred of them, sitting before the place.

38 Wife ... I had prayed for as many as I possibly could, it was coming long toward daylight. And I heard her. Now, if there's many of these people might be here today. She got me to bed, and I was getting quiet. I'd wake up and after a while I would have my arm around a pillow, standing out in the floor, saying, "Now, who's next? Now if you will just believe. Jesus Christ said if I could get the people to believe," praying with my pillow in my arms.

39 And wife would sit down and cry. She is thirty-two years old, turned snow-white almost. If there is any credit goes to the Branham family, give it to my wife. She is the one deserves it, not me. And standing there, I remember, she...
I had just got asleep. I heard the rattling of a noise, and it was an old Chevrolet, drove all the way from up here in Ohio to come down. A little baby, crying, hadn't ceased for days. The doctor didn't know what was the matter with it. And I heard the wife say, "Now, if you will just sit down." It was long about, I guess three or four o'clock in the morning. Said, "If you will just sit down," said, "I will--I will fix you something to eat."
Said, "No, we have had breakfast, Sister Branham, but the only thing that ... we just thought."
Said, "Well, we just got him to sleep." Said, "Don't wake him up right now."
And I was laying in there. And I hear that little baby going just like, you know, wheeze and funny noise, crying, till he just couldn't cry no more. Do you think I could sleep and that little thing laying in there, and think maybe a prayer would help it? I couldn't do it.

40 I staggered out into the room. And she started crying, went over and sat down. And I said, "Mother, do you believe?" And she... We have two little rooms where we were living. And she laid the baby up there on the table. And I said, "Let's kneel around the table." And we started praying.
While we were yet praying, the little baby quit crying. About an hour from then, they left. It was cooing and laughing to its mother. Went away, it was a little different.
She said, "Before the crowds get gathered in, let me take you somewhere." So we got out in the car, and went somewhere, up to Green's Mill, where I seen the vision, where I was commissioned at. We came back down along the evening. We passed by this old school house, where it used to stand. I stopped there.
I remember the old well that I used to drink from. And the kiddies was ... little girl. My little Rebekah was picking some violets. She was just about a year old, or something, year an a half. And she was picking some violets out there, playing. And I went and drink from this old well. I thought, as David said, if he could just drink from that well.

41 And I went and leaned my arms over against the old wooden fence. I looked across there, I looked up across the field where I used to play. I remember out there how one day, dawn of the first, 1917, when a big snow come on the ground, there I remember all the boys with sleds, out riding. They could ride. Brother and I didn't have no sled.
I seen the old hill where we used to coast down. I didn't have no sled. You know what we used for a sled? We went down in the old country dump pile down there, and got an old dish pan. And I sit down, we would sit down in that dish pan, put our legs around one another. There was sleet on top the ground. Many of you remember the 1917 snow. And I would sit down in this dishpan, we would put our arms around on another, down the hill we would go, around, and around, and around, in a dish pan. We wasn't as much class as the rest of them, but we were riding just the same. So what difference did it make?

42 We were riding down the hill in this old dish pan. And after a while, the bottom come out of it. I went and got me a log then, and we got on a log. And I remember coming down just above the hill. We had a little old log I had chopped with an axe, the front of it. And we would get down through there.
And there was a boy... That was the time of the World War I. Everybody wore a uniform that was able to put on one. And a boy friend of mine named Lloyd Ford, he used to sell these a pathfinders, and so he got him a boy scout suit. And oh, how I longed for a boy scout suit. My! And I would look at him in that boy scout suit. He would wear it to school, and how I liked that. I made an agreement with him, I said, "Lloyd, when you wear that thing out, would you give it to me?"
He said, "Sure, I will give it to you, Billy."
I said, "All right."
Well, on and on it went. And after while he quit wearing it. And I asked him about it. He said, "I will see what happened to it."
Well, the thing had been destroyed. The only thing he could find was one legging. So I asked him to bring me that. So he brought it to me.

43 And I remember riding down the hill one day. I wanted to wear that legging so bad, I didn't know what to do. Coming down the hill one day, I had that legging stuffed in my coat. And I hit the bottom of the hill, and I raised up. And I said, "Oh, I hurt my leg!" I hadn't. I said, "Oh, my leg!" I said, "It just reminds me, you know, I've got one of my leggings to my boy scout suit!" I put that legging on. That was an excuse, you know. Here I was walking along with one legging on, you know.
And I went to the black board. You remember how you used to stand up at the old country schools, the black board, you know? Well, I got picked. I put this leg, the one that didn't have the legging, I already had it figured out, next to the board. And I put this, had the legging like that, so they couldn't tell I just had on one. I stood sideways like this, working the problems, see if everybody was watching that, one legging.
All the kiddies got laughing at me, and making fun of me and everything like that. And I started crying, teacher made me go home. There was my legging, you know.
And I always wanted to be a soldier. When I got old enough to go in the army... Of course, there was no war then, I remember when I was seventeen I signed up for the navy. My mother taken that out of me when I got home. Then when the next war come, why, they wouldn't have me.

44 But you know what? I finally did join the army. You may not see my uniform, it's on the inside. I joined the Christian ranks of Jesus Christ to be a soldier of the cross. How thankful I am to wear that uniform this afternoon that represents Heaven, to join with the rest of you.
I was standing there looking at that, and thinking about those things as I was leaning across the fence. And I begin to think of brother, how I took that handful of popcorn from him. When we used to put our hands on one another's shoulders, stand there, and the flag would go up; the teacher, with that great big pointer, point, making us get in line. We would stand tramping like that, go into the school.
And I thought, "Well, look, you know, I used to remember Ralph Field. What happened to him?" Yep, he's gone. And I said, "There was Howard Higgins." Yep, he used to stand by me. What's happened to him? He got blowed up down at Colgate. I said, "Yes, that's right."

45 I remember the different ones of what had happened to them. I said, "Now, my brother, Edward that stood right behind me and put his hand on my shoulder, the one I took the popcorn from," I said, "What happened to him?"
Years ago, he died calling for me, said, "Tell Billy," I wasn't a Christian yet, said, "tell Billy, that I love him and some day I will meet him in Heaven." I was... And I remember when the ranger rode out on the prairies and I climbed out of my saddle. Said, "Is your name Branham?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "William?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "I have a message for you." And he handed it over to me, and I read the telegram: "Your brother, Edward, died last night." Hum. All that began to renew. And I was standing there looking across the fence, I could see that handful of popcorn.
Don't ever do nothing wrong, it will come back to you someday, no matter how little it is.

46 And I stood there, tears began to run down my cheek, I thought, "God, I would give the world, I would give the rest of my mortal life, if You will let me take that handful of popcorn and walk up to the door, and say, 'Edward, buddy, here's that handful of popcorn I cheated you out of that day.'" How I would give anything if I could have took it to him. But he's gone.
I looked up across the field where the old house used to stand up there. Why, there is a housing project. The spring is dry and gone.
I used to think of when we used ... we had an old piece of a mirror that we drove nails around it in a tree, and a little old wash bench. When dad used come in there, about a hundred and sixty pounds, about five foot, seven or eight inches tall. Man? Oh, my, logger, muscles hanging on him like that. I can seen him roll them sleeves up, that old blue shirt, that old hickory shirt mom made herself, for him; rolled it up like that. When he would go to wash, and the muscles swelling back and forth, I would stand off, I said, "That's my dad. That's my dad. He will live a hundred years. That's my daddy. When I am an old man, I will still be patting my daddy with big muscles," see. He died at fifty-two. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek One to come.

47 I knowed the old house there, was chinked up, and what a great house it was; torn and gone, a housing project. Where's that big fine bunch of boys? Nearly every one of them is gone.
I thought of Rolland Halloway a friend of mine. He used to stand there, little red-headed fellow, enough temper to fight a buzz saw, died in prison. He shot a man in a crap game.
I looked over here to Wilmer, thought what become of ... Wilmer [unclear words]. I thought, "What happened to him?" Yes, that's right. What happened to him? He got into a knife fight with a fellow and he cut his throat with a knife.
I looked back over here and I seen ... thought of Willis [unclear words] " What happened to you, Willis?" Yeah, I seen what happened to him, how he went out in a disease. It stripped his body.

48 I looked down yonder and seen each one. And I seem them all, and I thought, "O God, here I am left alone. Who am I? Where are they at?" The first thing you know, standing there, I was screaming out to the top of my voice, "O God, let the Angels of God come get this poor tired bulk, pack me away from here. This world is not my home any longer."
I just come out of that meeting where I had been mentally tore up for eight days and nights at the platform; I was shaking. And all those things running over. I thought, "Here we have no continuing city, but we are seeking One to come now." I thought, "O God." Wife come put her arm around me, Said, "Now look, honey, you come out here to rest, and here you are standing here crying like a baby. Don't do that."
I said, "Sweetheart, if you knew what was traveling through my heart and mind. I remember standing right here at that house when little Sharon took sick."

49 She said, "Now don't think about that." I've got a real wife. And she called me away and picked up the baby and set it around my shoulders, and we went out in the car and drove away.
How, thinking of things. Sometimes you look, say, "Oh, Brother Branham, I bet..." You think, you don't know what's behind here brother. You don't know how many times this poor heart has been mashed, and crushed, and broke, and twisted. You don't understand it. That's right. It looks like a flowery bed of ease, but don't you think that Satan would let me get by like that?
It would take a week to stand here and tell you what's all the things happened, how I been right down to the age of death's door, then God would spare me. How Satan would set snares everywhere, and he's still got them set, going right down to the door. But he will not be able to take me till God's finished with me. Then I want to go when He's finished.
When I preach my last sermon, the Bible is closed for its last time on the pulpit, my last prayer has been offered up to God, I can't do no more for Him, then I want Him to come take me away. That's right.

50 As a boy, I had a very peculiar thing happen as a little lad. I was called one day after school, about seven years old, by an Angel, which told me never to drink, or to smoke, or to defile my body.
And I don't mean this to you sisters now, you see, but if there ever was a woman hater, I was one of them. My, I seen how they come when my daddy run that bootleg place. And I would see woman come there, young woman, with somebody else's husband. And the way they would carry on, I said, "If that's the way it is, I wouldn't have one of the varmints if they would [unclear words] to one of them. That's right. I ... that's true, I thought it. I even...
The only respect I had for any woman was my mother. And that's right, and I knowed she was a lady. I seen her set on the door step with the babies in her arms, and cry, and cry, and cry because she was locked out of the house.

51 When my dad, which was a real man when he was sober, but being drinking, how ... what he would do. And I had a tough life to come up in.
I thought, "No, I won't have..." I didn't... When I was even seventeen, eighteen years old, I would pass down the street. And if I seen a girl that I [unclear words] to, I thought she was going to speak, not because ... I just didn't want to have nothing to do it, wasn't twisting myself up with them. I went on the other side of the street. I didn't have nothing at all to do with it all. So I said, "I will..."
Here was my thoughts, "When I get to be of age, when my mother is well, the boys are settled down, and everything, and I can get enough money somewhere to help take care of my mother, I am going to Colorado, or to Washington State, or Canada, and I am going to be a trapper. I am going to get me a bunch of dogs, I am going to get me a bunch of traps, and I'm going to get my rifle, and Ill live there until I die, right in the mountains; trapping.

52 My grandfather was a hunter, on my mother's side. And he ... I was natured after him. And so, I said, "I just ... that's what I am going to do." I had it in my mind. I said, "There isn't going to be any woman connected in it at all." So, isn't it funny how you can change your mind? Strange.
One day there was there was ... as a boy, there was a little girl come along. And you know, teeth like pearls, eyes like a dove, neck like a swan, prettiest thing you ever seen. She looked at me, said, "How do you do, Billy?" That was it. Another...
She knew another boy, friend of mine, he told me, said, "Oh, she likes you."
I said, "Well, I kind of made a promise you know." Well, I was willing to give in.

53 And so he said, "I tell you, I will take my girl friend, and you take your girl friend," and said, "we will take them riding in my dad's old Ford," said, "if I can get the thing started." Said, "How much money can you rake up?"
I said, "I don't know." So we raked up enough to get two gallon of gasoline. We had about forty cents between us.
He said, "Now, we got to get them something, some soft drinks, or ice cream, or something."
So I said, "Well, you do the driving of the Ford, and I will do the buying." So I put the forty cents in my pocket. So he took ... he was going to drive the Ford. And we got our old Ford and jacked the back wheel up, you know. And you know how you used to have to ... spinning the crank? My, my. We got her started, and down the road we went, and got our girls.
Well, I sit in the back seat, you know. And my, I looked over there, thought, "You know, maybe they are not all that way." But ... I was changing my mind. So, she would look over, she said, "It's pretty tonight, isn't it?"
I said, "Yes ma'am."

54 So we stopped at a little place, just about a square from where I live right now, a little old place called ... a little old drive-in of affair. So I said ... I ... Jimmy Poole and I, we had it all made up what we was going to say, you know. And I said, "Jimmy, I am kind of thirsty." And I said, "Don't you think we ought to stop?"
And he said, "Yes." And so we pulled in. So, he says, he said, "I will go get it." And he didn't even have a dime, and I had his money, and I said, "Never mind, Jimmy. Just a minute, I will go get it," see.
So he and I go. Sandwich for a nickel, great big baloney sandwich for a nickel, you know, and got onion and everything on it. So we come back out. And I had some Cokes, you know. And oh, was we--was we somebody then. We sat there and drink these Cokes, you know, and eat these baloney sandwiches, the girls and all of us; we talked, you know.
And so, then, I went back to take the Cokes back, and it was just about the time that girls begin to act smart, begin to come smart alecks, smoking cigarettes. When I come back out, to my surprise, my little queen was smoking a cigarette. Well, I've always had my opinion of a woman who would smoke a cigarette, and I haven't changed it yet. It's the lowest thing she ever done. And that's right. It's just as bad as drinking.

55 Go ahead, I see your faces getting red. But let me tell you something, let me tell ... Mama... It will be good for you, it will help you. Now don't get up, I will know, and the rest of them will know you are guilty.
Look, let me tell you. Mama used to tell me ... When I was a kid, we had to ... we ... to get our grease we would have to boil meat skins in a pan, you know. And we would have to take a lot of medicine, and every Saturday night, a bath, in an old cedar tub, and hold your nose and take castor oil; every Saturday night. I can't even stand the thoughts of the thing now.
And I used to hold my nose and gag, I said, "Oh, mama, please, don't. Please don't! Please don't. That big old spoon that old greasy looking stuff. Oh, mama, please don't, it makes me so sick."

56 She said, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good." Maybe this will help you some too, make you right good and sick and you will stop it then. That's right. All right. She said...
And I remember, here sit my little girl sitting there smoking a cigarette. Oh, my! I kind of... She sure dropped in my estimation them. I said... Now she said ... Begin to blow smoke like that, you know. And I thought, "If the good Lord wanted you to smoke He would have put a smokestack on you, see." And I looked over at her like that, "Uh-huh."
Looked in front, here was Jim's girl sitting there doing the same thing. Well, Jim smoked himself. So I looked around.
She said, "Will you--will you have a cigarette, Billy?"
I said, "No ma'am, thank you. I don't smoke."
She said, "You don't smoke?" Said, "Now, you just got through telling me that you didn't dance."
I said, "No, ma'am."
Said, "That you don't smoke?"
"No."
And she said, "Well, what do you like to do?"
I said, "I like to go fishing. I like to hunt." That didn't interest her."
So she said, "Well, you big sissy."

57 A sissy! My daddy had called me that one time because I wouldn't take a drink of whiskey. And I wanted to, but there was Something wouldn't let me. So, I said, "What was that?"
And she said, "You are a big sissy."
And I said, "Give me them cigarettes."
And I took that cigarette just as intention to smoke it as I am to finish preaching this service this afternoon. I took it in my hand, trembling like that. I said, "Give me the material with it." And she give me the thing that you light it with, you know. And I got I all fixed like that, and I started to put it in my mouth, shaking like that, and I heard Something going, "Whoooosh." And I stopped, and I looked around, I thought, "Now that wasn't right?"
She said, "What's the matter?"
I said, "Nothing-nothing." I said, I--I'm--I just trying to light it." And I started up to my mouth again.
You heard me tell my story the other night, how that whirl in the bush back there. There it was repeating again, "Whooooosh." I dropped the cigarette, I started crying.
She said, "Now I know you are a sissy."

58 I was... Closed that little old tin door on the Ford, and started up the road crying. Jim drove along in front, said, "Come on, get in, Bill." I said, "Nope, no."
I started walking up the road, she said, "Why, Billy," she said, "you great big sissy, you." Said, "I thought you was a man."
I said, "I thought I was too." And I just went on up the road like that; walking.
I cut across the fields, went up there and sat down in the field, and I said, "Oh, if there was some way that I could die here. Nobody wants me. I'm not fit for nobody." I said, "And the boys, they all like to go to dances and big times, and the girls like to smoke cigarettes, and here I am with ... slave of circumstance. What I--what's the use ... what's for me in life? What do I live for?" And I sat there in that field and cried till nearly daylight. On down...

59 I have to hurry to get out of here in time that I promised you, just skipping the high places.
I guess you wondered how I ever got married if I was that bashful; backwards. I...
Finally I met a girl was my boys' mother. If there ever was an angel, that was her. I love her yet. She was a lovely girl. I met her, she was going to church. I looked at her, there was something different from anyone else. I knowed nothing about Christianity; I was already about twenty-one years old. I looked at her, she seemed to be every speck of a lady, the way she carried herself, and the respect she had. She was going to a Baptist church.
And I went out with her and started going with her. And I was the ... went to work for the public utilities of Indiana. And I had gotten a hold of a little money and I had bought me an old car, and I thought, "Well, that was a real opportunity."

60 But her father was the President of the Brotherhood on the Pennsylvania Railroader. Many of you railroaders here might know him, Charlie Brumbach; just recently went to Glory. And a very ... had a good job. And he made about five hundred dollars a month. I was making about twenty cents an hour in a ditch, digging. And me go with a girl like that, I thought, "Uh-oh, something wrong here."
So, I went with her for while and I seen that she was every bit of a lady. And I knowed I had to make my choice now. I couldn't let ... take that girl's time. I loved her too much for that, that I couldn't take her time, to me, because it wouldn't be right to spoil her life like that. It ... I thought enough of her if I...

61 As poor as I was, and I didn't have no dad at that time and so forth, and ten children to take care of, and ... Dad left her nine, ten, with myself. And I thought, "How, then would I--would I ever be able to support someone like that?" And I thought, "I've got to make up my mind. I've got to either ask her ... to marry her, or I've got to let her go, and let some good boy that will take a hold and she will go with him, and marry her, and make her a good home and everything, and she would be happy.
And along in that time, I begin to study. And I just ... While I was going with her I had come to Christ and had found Him as my Savior, and was studying in the ministry; the Baptist church. Then, a little ... an old ... time kept going on and I was ordained then as a local elder, the exhorter. Then they had my ministerial license. And I thought, "Maybe, if I go to preaching altogether, could I make her a living?"

62 So one day, I thought, "I believe..." Made up my mind, I was going to ask her if she ... [Gap in the audio.] how was I going to do it. That was the big problem, how was I going to ask her to marry me? So I said, "Well, I will ask her tonight."
Well, I would go up, you know and I would talk, and when I would get right down to that spot, I just wilt away, I couldn't do it. I couldn't ask her to marry me, there was too many circumstances there. And I said ... So I thought, "Well, how in the world will I ever get it over to her? Maybe I could ask somebody else to ask her if she would marry me, you see." I thought, "That wouldn't be just exactly right. She might refuse me on them terms."

63 So you know how I done it? I wrote her a letter and asked her if she would. So I wrote a letter. And now it wasn't 'Dear Miss,' you know, it had a little more than that. It wasn't a business letter, yet it was in one way. But I wrote and told her how much I thought of her, and asked her if she would--she would marry me.
And then I thought I would just hand it to her some night. And I thought, "No, I believe I will put it in the mail." So I put me a stamp on it and I was going to work, and I stuck it in the mail box. I was to meet her on Wednesday, and that was on a Monday morning. So I wrote the letter, and put in the mailbox, went on to work.

64 And all that week I was waiting for Wednesday to come to go get my girl friend. We was going to church. So that night, I remember, when I started up towards the place to where her people lived ... they lived in a lovely big home up there. And I thought, "And here I lived. Oh, my! And I thought ... Well, I drove up in front. And I thought...
I knowed better than to blow the horn. I know her mother and dad would both be out on me. And I think that is right. That's cheap for you boys to go up blow the horn for the girl to come out. If you don't think enough of her to go in and talk to her, and bring her out, and talk to her mother and dad, you ain't ... you oughtn't to be with her anyhow. That's right. Go, be a man.
So I walked up on the door, and I thought, "I will stay outside tonight." And I happened to get to thinking.

65 Now her father was, he was one of the finest man, and her mother is a good woman, and I'm not too sure, she might be sitting here this afternoon, see. We don't live far from here. And if I say anything wrong, now Mrs. Brumbach, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I just want to tell this truth, you see. So if...
So I remember we were--we were ... I went up on the porch.
Her mother, at that time ... She likes me now, but she didn't care to much about me. And she was raised in one of those society churches, you know, that stands up, "Uh-huh, " the doxology and oh, my. You know all that there is going on. Well, that was just a little bit too much, I couldn't digest that. So I ... She thought that I was a just a little bit narrow-minded, I guess.

66 So I thought now, happened to go to thinking, "What..." before I got to the house, "what if her mother happened to get a hold of that letter and read it, then what would happen?" Oh my! And you know the devil is there to make me believe that she got the letter. So I said, "Oh, what will I do if she got that letter?" Hum!
I thought, "You know what the best thing for me to do, instead of ringing the doorbell tonight, I believe I will knock on the door and just leave my Ford sit with the door open, see, because I was going to get away from there."
And I can just hear her say, "William Branham!" mother and daddy, who was a fine Dutchman. And so I went up to the door, and I knocked on the door, and the first thing you know, here come Hope to the door. Her name was Hope. And so I... She came to the door, she said, "Hello, Billy."
And I said, "Evening."
She said, "Won't you come in?"
I thought, "Uh-oh, you get me in there where your mother is at now, and you both been reading that letter. No."
I said, "Thank you. It's very warm," I said, "I will just sit on the porch."

67 She said, "Oh, step in." Said, "Mother and dad wants to see you." And oh, my! I knew then it was up. I thought, "Here it is, 'Won't you step in?'"
And I said, "Well, Hmm!" I thought, "Oh, my, I know it's over now." So I said, "Thank you."
I stepped in, took my hat off, and stood at the door. She said, "Come on out in the kitchen where mother and dad is," said, "I will be ready just in a few minutes."
And I thought, "Oh!" I walked out, I said, "How do you do, Mr. Brumbach! How do you do, Mrs. Brumbach?"
Said, "Hello, Billy. Won't you come out and have a glass of ice tea?"
I said, "Thank you," I said, "I will--I will sit in here if you don't mind."
"No, come out and sit down."

68 I thought, "Oh, my!" My heart was just a jumping as hard as it could. A few minutes ... I began to see then. They never mentioned it, they was talking about something else. I thought, "She never got the letter. It's all right." Well, then I thought...
Now the next thing, we better get to church. And so that night, Hope said, "Let's walk down to the church."
And I said, "Uh-oh!"
So that night we walked on down to the church and went in. I never did hear nothing Dr. Davis said, He was preaching a good sermon, but I was sitting there wondering, I thought, "Boy, she got that letter. The reason she wanted me to walk is because she is going to tell me this is my last night, see. I know it. And I was sitting there looking at her. I thought "Oh, I hate to give her up. My, but I guess she is right because I couldn't--I couldn't make her a living like her daddy could, and there it is." And I said, "She's got that letter."

69 And oh, my, I never heard nothing the preacher said. I just sit there wondering. And oh, I look at her, and she looked more beautiful than she ever did, and I knowed she was every wit a lady. And I thought the woman that... She doesn't smoke, she doesn't go to dances, she doesn't have ... she doesn't use any kind of bad talk. She's just--she's just an angel. And I thought, "My, that was her, but I guess it is all over now."
So after church was over, I started going home, you know, walking along, she was walking along. And I was looking up, when we would pass under the trees, the moonlight come down upon her black hair, and her brown eyes. I thought, "Oh, my, isn't she pretty?" Walking along. I thought...
Well, we begin to get kind of close to the house, and I got brave. I thought, "The letter hung up the box, none of them got it, see." I was just feeling pretty good, you know. I said, "Nobody got that letter so I'm all right. Say..." Going on like that.

70 And she was talking, you know. And I reached over and took a hold of her arm, you know, was walking along. Oh, my. And I thought, "I have a little more grace. That letter, I hope it did hang up and there wasn't nothing happened to it." And I was done made up my mind then that if she knowed anything about it, she done said something about it."
So we was getting pretty close to home, directly she looked down to me, she said, "Billy?"
And I said, "Yes."
She said, "I got your letter."
Oh, I felt something move up and go down, you know. I said, "You did?"
She said, "Uh-huh." Just kept on walking, never said a word.
I thought, "Woman, say something before I faint. Do something, now. I can't sit like this all the time." We was getting to close to the house, she never said a word. I thought, "Well, I ... say something."

71 She just ... You know how woman can keep you. Excuse me. No, no, I mean--I mean, you know what I mean. So, never said a word, just walked along, you know, looking along up towards the moon and the stars. Oh, my, such suspense.
And I said, "Did you read it?"
She said, "Uh-huh." Kept walking on. That was all I could get out of her.
Well, I thought, "My, my, now what?" I said, "Did you appreciate it?"
She said, "Uh-huh." That was all I could get out of her, just "Uh-huh."
Well, we got married. So there you are. We got married.
And I never will forget, she asked me just before we was ... when we was ... before I got her a ring. And I remember, I paid eight dollars for the set.

72 And so, I was very happy about it though. My, I remember we drove out there under the tree, and I put that engagement ring on her finger, how happy I was. And had the other one down in my pocket and put me a great big catch pen there so it wouldn't get out. I was keeping her right there, boy. That one, she was going got be mine.
So I went on, you know. And she said, "Billy." Before I put the ring on her finger, she said, "don't you think it would be kind of gentleman-like if you would ask dad and mother?"
I thought, "Oh, my! Here it goes again." And she said ... I said, "Yes." I said, "Look, Hope, I want to tell you something." I said, "Now when we get married, it's always to be a fifty-fifty, isn't it?"
She said, "That's right." She said, "I will keep my part."
I said, "I will mine." I said, "Let's start it now. See?"
She said, "What do you mean?"
I said, "You ask your mother, and I will ask your daddy." I could get by with her dad, but I didn't know about her mother.
She said, "All right. That's all right."
And I said, "Well, look," I said, "perhaps you let me ask your dad, first." Because I knowed if her dad said so, I had that much of a promise, see, and I could hold to that.
So, I remember she said, "Well, you better ask him tonight."
And I thought, "Oh, kind of quick, but I guess I better."

73 So that night we walked in, and he was sitting at his desk, typing out something. And I sat there. And she kept nodding her head to me, you know. See, it's nine o'clock, time ... I had to go home at nine o'clock. And I thought, "It's late." So I got up and I started to the door, and she looked at me kind of strange, why didn't I ask her daddy?
[Brother Branham sighs.] I done like that, and she knowed what I meant. And her mother sitting back there, doing writing, or doing something. I thought, "Oh, my, I can't ask him right here, I would be asking them both, man. They would have it out right here, and them I would be left blank."

74 So I walked to the door, and she walked over to the door with me. And I said, "I will come up Wednesday for church?"
And she said, "Uh-huh," and she just kept squeezing my hand.
And she pointed to her dad. I said, "Oh, I couldn't do that." I waited a little bit, I said, "Well, I got to."
I said, "Ahem. Mr.--Mr. Brumbach?"
He was typing along, you know, he said, "Yes!"
I said, "Could I speak to you out here just a minute?"
He said, "Yes, Bill, why? What do you what?"
I said, "Could I talk to you out here just a minute, Mr. Brumbach?"

75 And he said, "Sure." And he looked over to his wife, and his wife looked over at him.
I thought, "Oh!"
So I seen Hope walk over towards her mother, so I walked out on the porch; I got out there. And I done got too much nervous shock then, you know. So, I said...
He said, "What do you want, Bill?"
And I said, "Sure is warm tonight."
And he said, "Sure is."
And I said, "But, Charlie, it's a pretty night, ain't it?"
Said, "Yes it is."
I said, "You know, um, uh," I said, "I was a..."

76 He said, "Yes, you can have her, Bill, you can." I think a lot of him yet today.
I said, "Do you mean that I can..."
He said, "Yes."
Oh, my. Took a hold of that big old fat hand of his, I said, "Charlie, look," I said, "you know I am pauper." I said, "Your girl can dress nice, and everything, and I have one suit of clothes." I said, "But all my life I have been a vagabond, I've been in search of someone that I thought was a queen, one that I thought was a lady." I said, "I found that in Hope." I said, "I can't make her a living like you will, certainly not, Charlie, you make five hundred dollars a month and I am making about fourteen dollars a week."

77 I said, "I got nine down there in the family, some of them beginning to work now," I said, "which will give me a release. But Charlie, I thought that there was no need in me taking much more of her time. As soon as the other boys get jobs and things can help me with ... take care of my mother, I will--I will do everything that I can. I will work, Charlie, as long as there is breath in my body, I will slave and do everything I can, because I really love her. And I will do all that I can to be good to her. I will live true to her, I will do everything I can."
I never forget, the man's gone on now, he put that big arm around me, pulled me up close to him; just about the size of Brother Baxter. He reminds me a lot of him. He pulled me up to me like this, he said, "Billy," he said, "I would rather you would have her on them grounds than somebody that would mistreat her, no matter how much money he had." Said, "You will be more happy." He said, "Happiness does not consist of how much the world's goods you own, but how contented you are with the portion that's allotted to you."
"Thank you, Charlie, thank you."

78 She had asked her mother. And I don't know what happened in there, but anyhow, we got married. So...
When we got married, it was--it was a marvelous little old ... I remember we was married down here in Fort Wayne, Indiana; we went home. I didn't even have... You know what, we...
I rented a house for four dollars a month. You can imagine what kind of a house it was; four dollars a month. Someone give us an old folding bed. How many knows what an old folding bed is? My, I seen Brother Ryan put up his hand. He slept on it enough, he ought to know. So he give us an old folding bed, and mama give us a little old iron bed stead little later on. We... First we had two rooms.
And I went down to Sears and Roebuck and got me a breakfast set that didn't ... was painted. I think it cost us about three or four dollars. And I painted it yellow with a great big green shamrock on each one. And she was laughing at me, I will never forget it, about being an Irishman, painting the shamrock on it, and so forth.

79 And we didn't have very much of the worlds goods. I went over to Mr. Weber, a junk dealer, and I bought me a stove for seventy-five cents and it cost me a dollar and a quarter to put new grates in it. I fixed it up and we went to housekeeping. Well, we were happy. We didn't have very much of the world's goods, but we sure had one another and the love of God was in our heart, and that's all we cared about. And I tell you, that's what really means something now. Yes, sir.
I look around, I heard somebody say, "Isn't that a beautiful home?"

80 I said, "I don't know." Home is the not the house, it is the order of the house that makes the home. That's what makes home. No matter if it is a shanty, whatever it is, if the order is right on the inside, and godly, it's more of a home than if you had a palace somewhere. I would rather live in a shanty and be happy, then to live in a palace and be unhappy. That's right.
So I remember then, very well, we went ahead. And after a while, God gave us one of the greatest little gifts about a year after we were married. My, poor little boy, which is standing in the back of the building now. He ... little Billy Paul, he came into the world.

81 And I remember how we would go on. I was cutting up with her, and I said, "Now look, you know what we are going to call this? I said, "I believe he will be a boy. If it is," I said, "Now, for German..." She was a German, and I was an Irishman. And I said, "We will call him [unclear words] for German, and Michael [unclear words] Michael."
She said, "Oh, Bill, my, that's sounds horrible." So I ... we went ahead and we was going on like that. And when God brought us the little boy how happy we were together. Went on, and life went on.
After while John Ryan, back there come into my life. I met him. He asked me to come to Dowagiac one day where--where he lives over there in Dowagiac, Michigan. Said, "Go on a little vacation." We saved out money and everything. And I had about oh, maybe ten or twelve dollars saved up.

82 I'm fixing to come to the end of the story now, just in a little bit. I'm know I'm holding you, it's just I got about ten, twelve more minutes to be out on time. But we come to Dowagiac. I've tried to hold myself up and hit the high spots now, now pray for me.
When I went to Dowagiac with Brother Ryan back there, I went to his home, a little humble home about like I live in. His wife, but she would sware by him. He had a fine boy. And so they made me very welcome.
And on my road back home, going home, I come through Mishawaka. And I looked out there and there was the groups of people swarmed out there, and cars, and Cadillacs, and Fords, and cops, trying to keep order around. I thought, "What's going on here?" And I hear this singing, you know, and going on. My, everybody screaming and hollering. I thought, "Well, is it a funeral, or what's going on?"

83 It was in a church house. And I stopped and drove in. Come to find out, it was a convention where there was a group of the pentecostal people was holding a convention over there. And they had to hold it in the north because of the race conditions they couldn't hold it, and it was an international convention. And they was holding it in a big tabernacle at Mishawaka.
So I never seen the Pentecost before, so I thought, "Well, believe I will go and see what it looks like. So I walked in and there they was all clapping their hands [Brother Branham claps his hands five times] like that, and a screaming and a singing. I thought, "What manners! Never seen anything like that in my life. What are they all talking about?"
And here was a colored man up there, and he was singing, and he was singing, "I know it was the blood," and all the congregation saying, "I know it was the blood." And here he would run down through there and grab somebody up and hug them like that. White, colored and all, saying, "I know it was the blood for me. One day when I was lost, He died upon the cross. I know it was the blood for me, running up and down the aisle." And I thought, "I never seen anything like that in my life." And how ... I said... And somebody would jump up and scream and speak in tongues, and I thought, "Say, what is this anyhow?"
And then a preacher got up there and he got to preaching about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And it looked like... And his finger was about that long, and he pointed me out right back in the back. He was talking to me. And I thought, "Say, how did that guy know anything about me?" See? And oh, there was hundreds and oh, it was thous... two or three thousand, I guess in the ... all together, in the meeting.

84 And some group from up here at Chicago, colored group, they come up; called Locust Grove, or Piney Wood, or something like that, a quartet that ... I never heard such singing in my life. Why, I thought, "There's one thing you have to say about them people, there are not ashamed of their religion. That's one thing sure. Their not ashamed of it."
So I thought, "You know, I believe I will come back tonight. And I went out and counted my money. I had just enough to get enough gasoline to come back, and twenty cents left. Well, I knowed how much gasoline it would take, and I couldn't get a tourist court. So I thought, "I will sleep out there in a cornfield." So I went down and got me twenty cents worth of stale rolls. And I thought, "I can live on them for a couple days, but I want to find out what this is all about." So I went out and got my rolls and put them in the back of my car, and went over.

85 That night, He said, "I want all ministers," the spokesman said, "I want all ministers to come at the platform." There was just about, I guess about a two or three hundred of them at the platform. They were all white, colored, and all sitting on the platform. He said, "Now we haven't got time for you to preach, we just want you to come right down the row, and say who you are, where you are from." When it come my place, I said, "Evangelist, William Branham, Jeffersonville, Indiana," sat down. Next, next, next, on like that.
Come to find out, I was the youngest man was there, twenty-three years old then. I was the youngest man at the--at the platform. I didn't know it at that time. The next morning...
Well then we went on that night. And I want to tell you what happened that night. I heard all them ministers preaching that day about, oh, the deity of Christ, and the great messages about His walk on life, and His sacrifice, and so forth, and all the different things.

86 But that night they brought an old colored man out, just a little bit of rim of white hair around the back of his head here, great big, long, felt preachers coat on, one of the old-fashioned, long frock-tailed coats with the velvet collar. Poor old fellow walked out there like this. And I thought, "That poor old man. Isn't that a shame?" I said, "Poor old dad." I said, "I guess he has preached a long time." And he stood there.
And I never seen a microphone before. I was a country preacher. So they had a microphone hanging up. It was something new then, you know.
So this old fellow got before, there, and he said, "Dear children." Uh-oh. He said, "I's wanting to take my text tonight from back in Job." Said, "Where was you when I laid the foundation of the world? Declare unto me where these ... they are passing to. So when the morning stars sing together and the sons of God shouted for joy."

87 I thought, "That poor old fellow. His preaching days are about finished. He's old." See?
Instead of coming down on the earth with it, like this, brother, he went back yonder about ten million years before the foundation of the world was ever laid, he climbed up into the skies, and he preached about what went on in the skies, the sons of God shouting for joy. He come on down through the dispensations and brought him back on the horizontal rainbow, back here, back over in the Millennium.
And about that time he got all happy. And when he did, he went, "Whoopee! Jumped up in the air, kicked his heels together, said, "Glory to God," said, "Hallelujah, there's not enough room here for me to preach." And off the platform he walked like that, like a kid.

88 I said, "Brother, if it will make an old man act like that, what would it do for me? I want that. That's what I want. That's what my heart hungers for, if it will make an old man act like that." I... That's what I wanted. I said, "Oh, my, them people has got something."
That night I went out in the cornfield, I thought, "I better press my trousers." So I took the two seats of my old Ford, and put them together, laid my trousers back and forth like this, and put the seats down to press them, laid down in some grass over at the side of the field out here somewhere in Indiana, out here.

89 And I laid there under that little old cherry that night. And I prayed, "God, somehow or another, give me favor with them people. That's what I want. Baptist or no Baptist, that's what I want. That's what my hunger ... heart feeling for. That's what it's reaching for. There's a people that I have wanted to see all my life."
Next morning I went down. Nobody knowed me, you know. So I put on my little old seer-sucker trousers, and put a t-shirt on. Nobody knowed I was a preacher, so I went down. And I sit down. And when I sit down, here come a colored brother up and sit down the side of me; and over here sit a lady. And I sit down there.

90 And when I got up that morning they was playing the music and everything. And there was a brother, his daughter come out and played a trumpet. Whitherspoon, I believe was his name. And he... That girl played the most beautiful of Blue Galilee that I sat there and cried like a baby. And I was sitting there.
Then up to the platform come a minister by the name of [unclear words]. He said, "Last night at the platform, the youngest minister we have here was an evangelist by the name of William Branham," said, "from Jeffersonville, Indiana." Said, "We want him to speak this morning."
Oh, my! My congregation! And I thought, "And seer-sucker trousers and t-shirt." So I just hunkered down real low like this, you know. In a few minutes ... He waiting a few minutes, he got to the microphone again he said, "If there is anybody here knows where William Branham from Jeffersonville, an evangelist, was on the platform last night, we want him, this morning, to bring the message this morning. Tell him to come to the platform."

91 I scooted down real low, you know, like way down low. I thought, "Seer-sucker trousers, you know, and t-shirt." So I got real low. And I didn't want to get up before them people anyhow. They had something that I didn't know nothing about, so I just sat real still.
Directly, that colored man looked around me, said, "Say, you know him?" Uh-oh. Something had to happen. And I didn't ... I knowed ... I didn't want to lie to the man. I said, "Look, fellow, listen, I want to tell you something." I said, "I am he, see."
He said, "I thought you was getting down there kind of low about something."
And I said, "Well, look," I said, "are you a minister?"
Said, "Yes, sir." I said...
He said, "Go on up there, fellow."

92 And I said, "No--no--no--no, look, look." I said, "I want to tell you something." I said, "I--I--I've got on these seer-sucker trousers and this t-shirt," I said, "I don't want to get up there."
Said, "Them people don't care what you dress like, man. Get on up there."
And I said, "No--no, thank you, sir."
And somebody said, "Has anybody ever found Rev. Branham?"
He said, "Here he is! Here he is! Here he is!"

93 Oh, my! I got up, and my ears red, you know. And I had my Bible under my arm, and I walked up to the platform kind of sheepish looking, you know, and scared to death. I walked up, I thought, "Oh, my. Last night I was praying all night He would give me favor, now God is going to let me get up before them. If I ain't going to get up then how am I to get favor?" So I got up.
Not a thing on my mind, I was scared and trembling. I never ... didn't know how close to stand to that little old microphone hanging with a string, handing down like that. I didn't know how to stand by that. And all this great big tabernacle, you know. And I said, "Well, folks," I said, "I--I don't know very much about the way you preach and things." I said, "I just ... I was coming up the road..." And I didn't know.
And I happened to turn over there to Luke to the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell. And he seen Lazarus far off, and then he cried. I took my text: And Then He Cried.

94 And I got to talking, and I said, "Then the rich man... Down in hell there was no church, then he cried." I said, "There was no children, then he cried. There was no songs, then he cried. There was no God, then he cried." And I got started. People go to screaming, then I cried.
Away it went. And The first thing you know everybody on their feet, then he cried, and then he cried. And the next thing I knew, I was out in the yard. Well, I don't know what happened. And everybody was blessing God and carrying on, the congregation screaming and shouting. I don't know what I done, I just lost myself somewhere.

95 First thing you know, up come a great big fellow from Texas, a big ten gallon hat on, and cowboy boots; walked up, said, "Say, are you evangelist?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "How about coming down Texas and holding me a revival?"
I said, "Are you a preacher?"
Said, "Sure." I looked at them big high-heel boots, and that great big cow boy hat, I thought, "Maybe it doesn't make any difference what..."

96 Next thing, a fellow walked up, had on little golf pants like this. He said, "Say," said, "I'm from Florida." He said, "I have so many saints down there, at a church, or somewhere." Said, "I would like for you to hold..."
I said, "Are you a preacher?"
He said, "Yes, sir."
I thought, "Well, my seer-sucker trousers and t-shirt ain't so much out of line after all around this place around here. So I began to look at it. And we had a clerical coat and collar, and everything they wore, you know. So they ... I thought, "Well, that's all right."

97 So then a woman stepped up from up around somewhere way up in the northern part of Michigan. She was with the Indians. She said, "I just know ... while you were preaching the Lord told me that you should come and help me up there with the Indians."
I said, "Just a minute. Let me get a piece of paper." And I went to writing down these names and addresses. And my, I had a string of them that long, last me a year. My, was I happy. Out of there I went, jumped in my old Ford, and down the road we went to Jeffersonville as hard as we could go, sixty miles and hour; thirty this way and thirty up and down that way, just as hard as he could go, right down the road a flying as hard as we could, to go to Jeffersonville.
I jumped out of the car, and as my wife, always, she come, run to meet me. And she said, "What you so happy about?"
I said, "Honey, you just don't realize." I said, "I met the happiest people in the world."
She said, "Well, where they at?"

98 I told her all about them. And I said, "Looky here. Let me show you something. You wouldn't believe that this preacher boy friend of yours, looky here. All them people asked me, this whole line, down through Texas, Louisiana, and everywhere, come preach for them. See there?" I said, "I prayed all night under a cherry tree out there, and God told me..."
Said, "What kind ... what do they act like?"
I said, "Oh, don't ask me." I said, "They just act any way."
And so she said, "Oh, my!" Said ... She said...
I said, "And they asked me to go. I'm going to quite my job and go to preaching right out with them, leave my church."
She said, "Well..."
I said, "Will you go with me?"

99 God bless her heart. She said, "I promised to go with you anywhere, and I will go anywhere that you go." That's a real wife. She's in her grave today, but still I'm glad that ... I can say this, and her son, her and my son standing, listening. His mother was a queen.
And I said, "Well, look," I said, "We..." I said, "We will tell our parents."
I went and told mama, I said, "Mama looky here." And I told her about the people.
She said, "You know what?" She said, "Billy, a long time ago, down in Kentucky, we had what you all call the old lone stare Baptist." And said, "And they used to shout and scream, and carry on like that." She said, "That's real heart-felt religion."
I said, "That's what I believed in all my life." And I said, "You ought to see them."
She said, "Well, the ... I trust that God will bless you, Bill."
And I said, "All right." So we went to tell her mother then.

100 And during this time, her mother and father had separated. And I said... We went to tell her mother. And I said, "Misses ... Mrs. Brumbach," I said, "I have found the wonderful people," like that.
And she was sitting on the porch, you know. Now don't get mad at me if you are here. So she said ... She was sitting on the porch fanning. She said, "William, I will give you to understand, I will never give my daughter permission to go out with a bunch of holy-rollers like that." Oh, my! She said, "That bunch of trash." Said, "She would never have a decent dress to put on her back."
I said, "Well, Mrs. Brumbach, it isn't a dress proposition." I said, "The thing of it is is that I feel that God wants me to do it."

101 And she said, "Look, why don't you go up there at the church where you have got a congregation coming, and think about getting yourself a parsonage and a place to take your wife and the baby to, instead of pulling her out: today she's got something to eat, and tomorrow she's got nothing. And things like this." She said, "Never indeed, will I ever permit my daughter to go like that. And if she does go, her mother will go to a grave broken hearted."
And Hope said, "Mama, do you mean that?"
And she said, "That's just what I mean." That settled it.
Hope started crying. I put my arm around her and walked away. I said, "But Mrs. Brumbach, she is my wife."
She said, "But she is my daughter."
Said, "Yes, ma'am."

102 I walked away, went down. She looked at me, Hope did, she said, "Bill, that is my mother, but I will go with you." See? I said ... God bless her heart. She said, "I will go with you."
And I said, "Honey, I..." I said, "I guess I'm carrying water on both shoulders." But I said, "I don't want to hurt her feelings." She said ... I said, "What if something would happen to her and then you would be worried all your life, you--you broke your mother's heart." I said, "Maybe we will just put it off a little while."
And friends, there's where I made the worst step I ever made in my life, right there. We put it off.
About few weeks after that, things begin to happen. The flood came on later from that. And the first thing you know, wife got sick, Billy got sick doing that wrong. Right after that, little girl ... just eleven months difference between Billy and his little--his little sister, which was Sharon Rose.

103 I wanted to name her a Bible name. So I couldn't call her Rose of Sharon, so I called her Sharon Rose, and I named her that. She was a darling, lovely little thing. And the first thing you know, the flood come up. She was laying there with pneumonia.
And our doctor, Dr. Sam Adair, came. And he is a brother to me. He looked at her, said, "Bill, she is seriously ill." Said, "Don't you go to bed." Right at Christmas time. He said, "Don't you go to bed tonight. You give her orange juice all night long. Make her drink at least two gallons tonight to break that fever. She got a fever hundred and five." And said, "You must break that fever right away."

104 I said, "All right." And I sit up and gave her orange juice all night. The next morning the fever was a little lower.
Her mother came up. And she just didn't like Dr. Adair at all. She liked another doctor there in the city. And she said, "I'm going to take her down home. This house is not equipped with heat and stuff for her to stay.
I said, "Well, I would rather ask Dr. Adair if we should move her."
She said, "He ain't got sense enough to know how to come in out of the rain." She said, "I wouldn't ask him nothing." Said, "I will get a doctor, a doctor..."
I said, "But look, we shouldn't... We don't..."

105 And I called Dr. Adair. He said, "Bill, don't you move her." Said, "If you do, it will kill her." Said, "Take her out in that cold, it's sub-zero weather right now, plumb down to that place, and change them rooms for her." Said, "Don't you do that." But, course there it was.
And I called him, I said, "She is going to do it anyhow."
He said, "Then I will get off the case, Bill. I love you as a brother, you know that, but I will have to leave the case and turn it over to Dr. [unclear name]."
And I said, "Well ... I ... Doc, you know where my feeling is." I said, "But I..."

106 So I went down there and I knelt down and prayed. I went over to the church. When I started to pray, looked like a black sheet come moving down the in front of me. I went over, I said, "I don't think she will ever come from the bed."
And all of them said, "Oh, Billy, you just think..."
I said, "The same thing that happened about that flood," I said, "is the same thing that is telling me about my wife." I said, "I don't believe she will come from the bed."
Said, "Oh, I believe it's your wife and you just ... that's the way you feel about it." But oh, my, a little later on, I will never forget how that was. Oh, it went on for a little bit, she got worse, worse.

107 Finally the flood come up, and I was on a rescue party out there. I had a speed boat and I was trying to get people out. And I remember one night they took--they took her to the hospital then put over her in a--in a place that ... at the government. And her and both babies were sick, horribly sick.
And I will never forget that fatal night when the flood walls broke through down there, I heard a scream way back over on Chester Street. And I had a speed boat, and I got out there and tried to get a mother out of there. Just as I picked her up, she fainted. I picked her up in my arms and put her in the boat about eleven o'clock; put the babies in there. And when I got her back to shore, she began to scream, "My baby! My baby!" She had a baby there about two years old, and I thought she meant she had another little baby out there in that place. And back I went to try to get the baby.

108 I tied my boat up the side of the pillar of the porch, and when I went up into the room, to try to look around for the baby, I heard the house giving away below, and I run down real quick just in time to jump into the water and hold on to the end of my boat, and pull the... And it sub-zero, sleeting and snowing.
And I pulled the rope like that and got in my boat. The waves caught it and swept me out into the middle of the current, out into the river. And I got back in there and I couldn't get my boat started, the old chain, it will pull on the outboard motor, you know, the old-timers, where you have had a whirl on the top of it. And I pulled and pulled, and I couldn't get the thing started. And there was the Ohio falls roaring just below me. Oh, brother! A way of a transgressor is hard. Don't you never think that.

109 And I pulled and it wouldn't start. And I pulled again and it wouldn't start. And I tried, and I got down in the boat, I said, "God, it isn't but a few more jumps down here that I will sink beneath those falls there," where they were roaring and bubbly, miles of water stretching through there. I said, "I got a sick wife and two babies laying out there in the hospital." I said, "Please, dear God, start this motor."
And I could think, "I will never let my girl go out with a bunch of that trash." And I say this with all due respect to every church, I find out what she called trash is the cream of the crop. That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

110 And I pulled on that, and it keep roaring in my ears. And I pulled again, and I... Just a few minutes and it started. And I had to pull right back upstream and give it all the gas that it could. Finally, I landed down almost to New Albany, just whirling the edge of those falls.
I got back in, and run back up to the hospital to see where my wife was, and the flood had done took this thing away, it was gone. Now where was my wife, where was my babies? Wet, and cold. I run out there. And I met Major Weekly. I had...
Brother Ryan had just left somewhere, I don't know where he went. I think you went with Brother George and them on out. And I met Brother George. The last time I seen him in life, he put his arms around me, said, "Brother Billy, with all my heart..." And he was a converted medium. And he said, "With all my heart, I love Jesus Christ, and if I never see you again, I will see you in the morning."
I said, "God bless you, George," as he went on. He was trying to find Brother Ryan then, somewhere, because he was in the city.

111 And then I tried to find Hope. I couldn't find her. Some of them said, "No, there was no one drowned in that group." Said, "They all got on a train, and went out to Charlestown." Well, I jumped in my car and started to Charlestown, when I did that creek back there had cut off about five miles of solid water down through there. Some of them said, "No," said, "the train got half-way out there and was washed off the trusses out there. They all drowned out there, off of that trestle." They had went out on a cattle car.
My wife, her father, one of the heads down there on the railroad, and his daughter with double pneumonia and two babies with pneumonia laying in the cattle car. And the sleet and rain a blowing on the road there, somewhere, and washed out in the water.

112 I tell you, brother, there's a whole lot. When God calls you to do anything, don't you let no one stand in your way. You keep God first.
And I tried to find ... I couldn't get a way, got my speed boat, and tried to get out into ... towards Charlestown. I couldn't even touch the waters, the whirl would swing me plumb back. And I thought I was a pretty good boatman. And I tried it after times, it was almost breaking day. No success at all there. It was gone.
Then I was in a room, then, found myself on a little island sitting out there. For three or four days I sit alone there where they had to drop me something to eat. I had a long time to think over whether that was a bunch of trash or not, whether to mind some woman, or to mind what God said. No matter who it was, you listen to what God has got to say.

113 There, after a while, after I got across the waters, it dropped enough, I went to see where my wife was. They told me she was in Charlestown. Got there, she wasn't there. And old Colonel Hay just went to Glory recently, he put his arm around me, said, "Let's go down to the railroad station." When I went down there, broken-hearted, crying, I didn't know what to do. Oh, my, I thought, "Babies are probably laying, drifted off yonder somewhere in some brush pile. The wife may be laying down there, also." Oh how I cried, and begged, and repented, and told God.
Look, friends. I believe if I had went on right then, where I was mixing up with that bunch of people who believed in the supernatural, the Angel of God would have come to me and revealed that thing, it would have been thousands times thousands of more people in glory because of it. See, that's the reason I go day and night, and never worry of putting my whole strength, because I have got to redeem the time, I have got to do it.

114 So when I... Finally someone come and got me, said, "No, they are not drowned, Billy, I know where they are at. They are in Columbus, Indiana in the Baptist church." And I ... They take me up there and I run down through that hall that night, screaming to the top of my voice. I didn't care who heard me, "Hope, Hope, where are you, honey?" Way down through there.
And all the refugees back there on little old cots and blankets, hanging up. And I happened to look way down there at the end, and I seen a bony hand holding up like that. I rushed real quick, pair of boots on, fell down there, and throwed my hat off, looked down there, and there laid my sweetheart, dying. Her hand moving up, her jaw sunk back, about three weeks or more before I had found her. Her eyes were way back.

115 I just put my hands over on her. She said, "I know I look horrible, Bill."
I said, "Honey, you look all right."
She said, "Now don't tell me that, honey."
I said, "O God, have mercy." I said, "Where is the babies?"
She said, "Mom and them has got them over next building."
I said, "Is Billy alive?"
Said, "Yes."
I said, "Sharon alive?"
Said, "Yes."
I said, "Oh, thanks be to God." I said, "I heard from mama and mama is alive. She is over at some other place." I said, "I heard by radio, but I couldn't hear from you no where." And I said, "Oh, honey." And she said ... I said, "You..."
And I felt somebody tap me on the shoulder, I looked up. He was a very smart looking man. He said, "Rev. Branham?"
And I said, "Yes sir." [unclear words]. And I walked over there. Said, "Aren't you a friend of Dr. Sam Adair?"
And I said, "Yes."

116 He said, "Your wife, I'm informed to tell you ... I'm the doctor here." He said, "I'm informed to tell you, your wife has galloping TB. She just has a few days to live." Said, "She is going to die."
Said, "No, Doc. No--no, that isn't so."
He said, "Oh, yes it is, Rev. Branham, it is."
"Oh," I said, "it can't be, doctor. You mean she is..."
He said. "Yes." And said, "You will be a very lucky man if your children pull through." Said, "I am tending to the children, also."
And I said, "O God, have mercy."
He said. "Now, don't break down before her."
I said, "All right, sir. All right." I said, "Thank you very much. Where is Dr. Sam?"
He said, "I don't know where he is at."
And I said, "Thank you, doctor." And I said, "I ... Let me go back to her," I said, "just to be with her as much as I can." I said, "I won't break down."

117 And I walked back nervously. I looked at her. Those pretty black eyes setting way deep back there. And her hair and her forehead. Oh, I seen she was going. I looked over her, and I said, "Hope, sweetheart, you look all right."
And she said, "Oh, maybe God will have mercy and let me live, Bill."
And I said, "I hope He does, sweetheart."
And so, after a few days, I got her out of there, got her down to Jeffersonville to the home. And she kept getting worse, and worse, worse and worse. The two children began to get better, but she got worse. And after a while...

118 Dr. Adair, he tried everything he could. He sent to Louisville to a specialist of TB, brought over, said, "Well, if you have an pneumothorax machine." I went and borrowed the money and got a pneumothorax machine, and we give her the treatments. You know what pneumothorax is: they collapse the lung, you know, like that. And I would hold her forehand and it would grip so they poured that oil in there and pump out the lung. If I had to do over again, I would never let her suffer like that.
And so, trying, but they were working hard to save her life. Finally took her out to the hospital for x-rays. Here it come, right on up that tuberculosis pneumonia was coming right out off the left lung. He said, "You just got a few days, Rev. Branham. There's nothing in the world can be done. She's going to die."
I said, "Almighty God has called for her to answer."

119 Oh, how could I stand that? How could I believe? How could I do it? I looked down there and there laid my little Sharon Rose, a little suckling baby, about eleven months old. Here was little Billy Paul just about eighteen months old; little bitty fellow. And them, with out a mother; and me. Oh, what could I do? I just couldn't believe it hardly. I walked the floor, I cried, I done everything. You ... I tell you, brother, you better mind God when God speaks to you. You do what He tells you.
And I walked back and forth. Finally come the hour. I was out in the car. And I heard them call me that I must come to the hospital at once, my wife was dying, said she couldn't live any longer. I rushed to the hospital real quick, threw off my coat, run up the steps. And when I did...

120 I will never forget it. Little Dr. Adair, a fine little fellow, and he come walking down the room. We fish together, we hunt together, we slept together, we were bosom buddies. And he's a specialist. And he come walking down the hall with his head down. He happened to look, standing down there, and he seen me, and tears rolled down his cheeks, and he stepped off into a room.
I run down the hall real quick, pulled open the door, he put his arm around me, said, "Billy, boy..."
I said, "What is it, Doc?"
He said, "I just can't tell you, Bill." Said, "Just go ahead out and let the nurse tell you."
I said, "Come on, Doctor. What is it?"
He said, "She is gone."
I said, "She isn't gone, Doc."
Said, "Yes, she's gone."
I said, "Doc, go with me to the room, will you?"

121 He said, "Bill, I can't do that." He said, "Hope, how we ... why we was just like my sister." He said, "I--I can't go in that room again."
So just then the nurse come in. She said, "Rev. Branham, here is some medicine. I want you to take this."
I said, "I don't want your medicine." So she said...
I went out to the room. She said, "I am going with you."
I said, "No, let me go alone." I said, "Let me go in and see her." And I walked in. I said, "Is she gone?"
Said, "I--I think she is." Said, "Dr. Adair left a few minutes ago, and said there was nothing more could be done, she was gone."

122 So I opened the door, walked in. And I looked laying there and she had her eyes closed, her mouth was open, her little body was drawed down to about a hundred pounds, less than that, oh, like this. And I put my hand over on her forehead, it was sticky like. And I said, "Hope, sweetheart, will you answer me?" I said, "Do you... Will you--will you answer me, honey?" I said, "Will you speak to me just one more time?"
I said, "God, I know I have been wrong, but if You will just let her speak to me one more time. Will You, Lord? Please let her speak." And while I was praying, I looked. If I live to be a hundred years old, will ... I will never forget that. Those big dark eyes opened up and she looked at me. She motioned for me to get down. I looked at her, I said, "Sweetheart, you are all right, aren't you?"

123 She said, "Why did you call me, Bill? Why did you call me?"
I said, "What do you mean?"
She said, "Oh, I was so easy." She had been suffering so hard.
And I said, "What do you mean, easy,' honey?"
She said, "Well," she said, "Bill, you know I am going, don't you?"
And I said, "No."
She said, "I am." And she said, "Bill, I don't mind it." Said, "You know why I am going, don't you?"
And I said, "No."
She said, "Bill, you remember the day we went up to mother and that bunch of people?"
I said, "I know it, honey?"
She said, "We oughtn't not to have did that." Oh, then grinding my heart.

124 Just then the nurse run in the door, said, "Rev. Branham, you better take this." She motioned to the nurse. She took me by the hand, she said, "Louise," we knew them all well. She said, "Louise [unclear]," she said, "I hope, when you get married, that you have a husband like mine." She said, "He has been so good to me." She said, "I hope..." And Louise, she just couldn't stand it. She sit the medicine down, and went out of the room.
And I said, "Honey, are you going?"
She said, "I was being taken Home, Bill." Said, "There was someone dressed in white standing on each side of me. And I was going down a big beautiful path." And said, "It was peaceful, and the big palm trees like an Orient, and the big birds a flying from tree to tree." Said, "It was such a beautiful place."

125 You know what I think? I think God let her break into Paradise just as she was going over. And she said, "You know, Bill, that religion that we have been talking about since we received the Holy Ghost?"
And I said, "Yes."
She said, "Don't never cease to preach That." She said, "Stay with That." She said, "That's the Thing.
And I said, "Honey, if I would have probably listened..."
She said, "Yes, Bill." She said, "Now look, honey," she said, "I am going fast." She said, "But remember, that wonderful Holy Spirit that we have received," she said, "It's taking me through." She said, "Promise me this, honey, that you will never never cease, you will never let up, you will always stand true to That." She said, "It's wonderful in death."
And I said, "I will."
She said, "I got a few things for me to promise."
I said, "What is it, honey?"

126 She said, "You remember that time when we was in Louisville and you was going on that hunting trip, and you wanted to buy that little twenty-two rifle."
I said, "Yes."
And said, "You didn't have enough, three dollars, to made the down payment?"
I said, "Yes." I'm very fond of rifles and things, it's just a sport to me and a recreation, I should say. And I said, "I remember that."

127 She said, "Honey, I've tried my best to save our nickels and things to get it for you." She said, "After I am gone, you go home, and right on top of that old folding bed where Brother Ryan slept," she said, "right up on top of there, under the newspaper, you will find the money that I saved." She said, "I have cut that out of allowance for my clothes and things that you would let me have," she said, "to save it so I could get enough for a down payment to get you that rifle."
You will never know how I felt when I looked in there and seen two dollars and seventy cents, in nickels and dimes, to buy the rifle.

128 She said, "There is another thing." She told me about some stockings that I had bought her one time that ... I didn't know how to buy stockings, and I called it socks, and I got the wrong kind. And she told me that it was the wrong kind, and she had give them to my mother because it wasn't the kind that she wore.
So she said, "Another thing, I want you to promise me."
Said, "What's that?"
She said, "That you won't live single."
And I said, "Oh, oh don't, please! Please don't ask me, honey!"
She said, "Look, Bill," she said, "in Heaven there will be no marriage or giving in marriage." She said, "Now, I got two little babies here I am leaving you with." And she said, "I don't mind going, but I hate to leave you." Said, "I hate to leave Billy Paul and Sharon." She said, "But Billy, if they are raised up, and you in the ministry, and they would be pulled about from pillar to post," she said, "find some good girl, some good girl that has got the Holy Ghost," said, "let her be in my place as a mother."

129 I thought of a twenty-two year old woman, going like that. I couldn't promise her. I said, "Honey, I--I--I just can't promise that. I--I--I can't do it."
She said, "You wouldn't let me go unhappy?"
I said, "No." I said, "I will just do the best I can."
She said, "Bill, I think They are coming back." Said, "Don't think I am beside myself, I'm not," she said, "but I feel Them coming near. They are coming after me."
I stepped back, looked at her, I said, "Sweetheart, if you are going, all right. I will take your body out here on Walnut Ridge grave yard, and I will make a mound, and I will put you in there." And I said, "Then, if Jesus comes before I go, I will be somewhere on the battlefield preaching the Holy Ghost Gospel." And I said, "If I sleep, I will be by your side." And I said, "Look, honey, for my last date with you, my sweetheart," I said, "when the great pearly white City comes rolling down from God out of Heaven, and the moon and sun stand there together, black, dripping with blood..."

130 We don't believe in death of Christians. You can't prove to me that a Christian dies. The blood of Jesus Christ takes away sin, it doesn't cover it. The believer goes in the presence of God now.
Now I said, "Honey, if I am asleep that day, if I am awake, you will come first, for they which are dead in Christ shall rise first." I said, "You run quickly up to the side of the City gate." And I said, "When you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and them coming," I said, "you start screaming then, my name, to the top of your voice, 'Bill, Bill,' as loud as you can." And I said, "I will get Sharon and Billy and get them together, and I will meet you there at the gate before we go in."
She took a hold of my hand, she squeezed it. I raised down, and kissed her goodbye. She ... Them angel eyes looked up at me again as she was taking away, she said, "I will be waiting for you at the Gate."
God took her precious soul to Glory. There I stood, looking down. What could I do, my sweetheart gone, the very part of my heart pulled away? I went out of there to go home, took her body down to the undertakers establishment. She was embalmed. And I went home, try to go to sleep, I couldn't do it.
After a while, a man knocked on my door, said, "Billy?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "I hate to tell you this."
I said, "But Brother Frank, I was right out there when she died."
He said, "That's not it." Said, "Your baby is dying also."
I said, "Who, Billy?"
Said, "No, Sharon."
I said, "Surely not."

131 Said, "Dr. Adair has just come, got her, and took her to the hospital. And she has tubercular meningitis. There's not a change. They say she will be dead in a little bit."
She was perfectly healthy. I rushed, just as fast as I could. They had to hold me, sit me in a old Chevrolet truck, he and his boy. I just couldn't hold myself together, my heart was breaking.
Away to the hospital I went, went in. There sat a nurse, said, "Now Rev. Branham, you can't go down in there. We got her in a isolated ward." Said, "You will give Billy Paul the same thing. Said, "You can't go."
I said, "I must see my baby."

132 She said, "You can't go, Rev. Branham, it is tubercular meningitis. She has picked it up from her mother. It's in the spine and she is dying now." And said, "If you go in there," said, "it's dangerous to take that to the Bi... your boy." And said, "You can not go in." And she said, "Go in the room."
And I went to the room. When she shut the door, I went right out behind the door and went right on down to where it was. Very poor hospital. I looked there, and they had put a little rag over the sides, little mosquitoes bars they call it. Flies had got in his eyes.
I was down in the basement in a isolated ward. I walked in and looked at my baby. There she laid, my sweetheart. Her little teeny baby blue eyes looking up at me, her little leg, little fat leg laying there with her little corners on, you know. And she was.. Her little leg was moving up and down like a little spasm, her little hand like it was a waving to me. I said, "Sharon, you know daddy?"

133 And her little lips started quivering, And she was suffering so hard till one of those little blue eyes crossed over like that. Oh, my! When I think of it ... I can't stand to see a cross-eyed child. You know, sometimes God has to take a flower, to crush it, to bring the perfume out. I ... every time I see a cross-eyed child, I think of that. I never seen one yet but what God healed.
Then I noticed that little eye moving over like that. I thought, "O God!" I fell down on my face, I said, "God, please don't take her. O God, are You going to..." I said, "Take me first. Let me die. I'm the one that has trespassed." But God knows just how to get into your heart. Yes, He does.

134 And I said, "I'm the one that has done wrong, Lord. Oh, don't take my baby. Take me, Lord. My wife laying yonder in the morgue, and here You are going to take my baby. Please don't do it, Lord. I--I've served You, I--I'm ashamed of myself that I listened to somebody instead of You. I will never do it again, Lord. I--I want to live for You, I will do all that You want me to do. Them people is not back-washed. They are not trash." I said, "I will go. I don't care has called me holy-roller or whatever. They might do it. I will serve You if You will just let my baby live, Lord. Please do." begging like that.

135 And I looked down. And just as I looked down to where ... Here come a black sheet moving down. I knew that was it. I knew she was going. I looked over at her like that. And her little mouth begin coming open. Her eyes crossed over. And I said, "Sherry, you know daddy, honey?" And she was making a little funny noise. And I laid my hand over on her head.
Then Satan moved to me, and said, "Will you trust Him now?"
I laid my hand on her, I said, "God, You gave her to me, You are taking her away from me. Blessed me the name of the Lord." Said, "God, I can't deny You, I can't say that You are unjust. I duly deserve all this punishment. You are still just, and I still love You. I will still serve You with all my heart. Now, to my baby, Lord. I've begged You, I have tried to get You to keep her. But, nevertheless, not my will, let Your will be done."

136 Just then I felt my human strength giving away, my body crumbling down to the floor. I held on to the side of the bed. The Angels of God come and got her little soul and packed her to her mother. They took her little body, laid it on the arm of the mother, there I looked there, and oh, my. Took her out to the graveyard, lowered her down. And Brother Smith standing there, the Methodist preacher, preached her funeral, put his arms around me, picked up the clods of dust, sprinkled them upon the casket, said, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and earth to earth." My heart went down in there, too. My sweetheart, my baby.
Then Billy Paul took sick. He was laying right at the point of death, eighteen months old. Last time he seen his mother, sitting, my old baseball cap on, out in the yard, like that, and her going down in the ambulance, her [unclear words] saying, "My baby! My baby!" little fellow sitting in the yard. I know... Excuse me. She... We was going down the street... And Billy was at my mother's house, and he was looking at her. Didn't know [unclear words] his mother [unclear words] to her death; and her trying to wave through the ambulance window at her baby there in the yard. Poor little fellow.

137 I looked down. They had buried her. It seemed like come whispering down through those trees, seemed like I could hear her voice say:
There's a land beyond the river,
That they call the sweet forever,
We only reach that shore by faith's decree;
One by one we gain the portal,
There to dwell with the immortal,
Some day they will ring those golden bells
for you and me.

138 Here not long ago I was taking Billy down to the grave to put a flower on it at Easter. The little fellow was packing the flower. And we come along, got close to mother's grave, just... It was breaking day. I see the little fellow take off his hat as I did, we set the flower on mother and baby's grave. We started to kneel down. I put my arm around him, I said, "Sonny, boy, looks like we've been mother and daddy both to you." For years I loved single. I would pack his little bottles here in my coat to keep them warm, lay them under my pillow at night so my head would keep his milk warm. I said, "I have done all I can to raise you up to be a good boy." I said, "There lays the dust of the earth where mother and sissy come from. But honey boy, beyond this veil, in Jerusalem, there is a empty grave. They, were dead in Christ, some day they will come forth from that grave." And we... Little fellow snuggling, we knelt, prayed at the grave.

139 I remember trying to go to work after that, a little later on. I thought I'd... There's no place like home. If you ever had your home broken up, there will never be no place to take it's place. I have found no peace no where. One day even was ready to commit suicide. When I went into the room, I just couldn't stand it any longer. It just ... I got up. I was on the line, and I got up on the post. And I was ... One morning I was singing: "On the hill far away stood an old rugged cross." And I happened to look. And that cross arm on the post me ... swinging back in my safety. My shadow on that hillside where the post was, looked like the cross. And suddenly I thought, "Yes, it was my sins that hung Him there.

140 And I looked over, and I said, "O God, I can't stand it anymore." I said, "Sharon Rose, honey, I am coming to see you this morning." I took off my gloves. I was a lineman, you know, twenty-three hundred hundred volt gloves. I pulled my rubber glove off. Here run the primary running right by me, twenty-three hundred volts; touch it, would break every bone in your body. I said, "Sharon, honey, do you hear me? Daddy is coming Home to see you this morning." Then I pulled that glove off, and I said, "God, this is a cowardly trick but ... [Gap in the audio].

141 And I passed by, as always, tried to be a gentleman. I took off my hat, and I said, "How do you do, young lady?"
She said, "Hello, dad."
I said, "Dad?" Why I said, "I am as old as you are, how could I be your dad?"
She said, "Dad, you just don't realize Where you are." Said, "This is Heaven?" She said, "Where is my brother, Billy Paul?"
And I said, "What is this?"
She said, "Daddy, down on earth I was your little Sharon Rose."
I said, "Sharon, and you are a lady?"
She said, "Yes. Little babies don't be Here, dad," said, "we are all of one age." Said, "Mother is looking for you."

142 And I said, "Where's mother?"
She said, "Up at your new home."
And I said, "New home?" I said, "Why, I haven't got no home, honey." I said, "Branham's don't have homes. They are vagabonds."
She said, "But dad, you got a home Here." She said, "Turn this way."
And I looked. It looked like a hill, a great mansion sitting every where, the glow of God coming up from around it. She said, "Mother is waiting for you up there, dad." And I...
She said, "I am going to wait for Billy Paul. Mother wants to see you."

143 And I started running up, like that, the steps. And as I got up, as usual, there she stood. Not sick anymore, beautiful dark hair hanging down to her shoulders, her black snappy eyes looking at me, dressed in white. She reached out her arms, and she said, "Bill."
I run up real quick, fell down at her feet, took hold of her hand. And I said, "Honey, I don't understand it."
She said, "Stand up, honey." I stood up. She said, "Look."
I said, "I seen Sharon. Honey, she is a beautiful girl."
She said, "Yes, she is." Said, "She's waiting for Billy."
And I said, "Hope, I--I can't understand all of it."

144 She said, "I know you can't, but you will wake up after while and then you will understand." Said, "Bill, you are worrying yourself to death." Said, "Don't worry about Sharon and I. We are better off than you are." Said, "Everything is all right." Said, "You just go on and do as you promised."
And I said, "Well, Hope, I can't understand all about this."
She said, "Won't you sit down?"
And I looked, and there was a great big Morris chair. I looked over at her. She said, "You remember, don't you?"
And I said, "Yes."

145 One time when I had preached. I worked all day and preach every night. And I would come in and I wanted a place to rest. And I got an old Morris chair. I paid fifteen dollars for it. And I paid a dollar down, and a dollar every other week. And I got five or six dollars paid and I couldn't make the payments. And one day when I come home, she told me that ... I had a [unclear words] there. And we just couldn't make the payments. I just had to let it go back. I ... It was the only piece of furniture we had in the house was worth anything. And we had it about one-third paid for.
And that evening when I come in... She was a sweetheart. She know... She had baked me a cherry pie, she knowed how I liked it. And she had baked me a cherry pie. And she said she had some of the little boys to dig some fishing worms. And we was going down to the river fishing and she was telling me all... And I knowed there was something wrong. And after supper she said, "Now let's go down to the river right away, Bill." And she didn't like fishing but she knew I did. So she said, "Let's go to the river."
And I said, "Honey, what has happened today?"
She said, "Nothing."

146 And I could see the tears in them big eyes. I knowed there was something wrong. I said, "Let's go into the front room." I thought something wrong.
And they... I had already sent them word to come get it. So they had took my chair. When I went to the door. She looked over, and she put her arms around me, she said, "Bill, I tried hard, honey. I tried. It isn't..."
I said, "No, sweetheart, it isn't your fault. But some of these days things will be different and someday God will make a way, and we will have a nice chair. And don't you believe that?"
And she said, "I hope we do, Bill."

147 And just then, in this dream, she pointed to a big chair. And then she looked at me, I said, "You remember that chair?"
Said, "Yes." She said, "But honey, they will never come and get this one. This one is already paid for. They will never come after this." Said...
I know, my Christian friend, somewhere beyond the skies yonder, when this mortal life of mine shall fade out into a tomorrow ... I know that there is rest for me beyond the river. I have a chair over there, a home, a place. I love them with all my heart. It is truly with all my heart. And my sad mistakes that I made back through life, you let them be stepping stones.

148 My time is past. Would you just do this: if you have never made your peace with God and you realize that someday... Maybe your experience wasn't as mine. I hope it wasn't. But remember with every mortal in here has got to face God some day yonder. And I remember the last kiss I put on her lips. Someday I will meet her yonder beyond that just as sure as I am standing here. The grace of God saved me. It keeps me day by day. And I live so your...
One woman said to me not long ago, about a year ago or two, she said, "Brother Branham, when in the world when you are home, the sick people pouring in, when you are out here in the meetings, when do you ever have any rest?"

149 A few years ago, you look in the book back there, and you wouldn't know I was the same man. When I returned home after my first great meeting, even my baby was scared of me and run from me. I lost most of my hair, had come out. My shoulders had shrunk down. Something had happened. What's the matter? It's by the revelation of the vision of God that moves down, and I know it's sapping my life daily.
I looked the other day, when I was standing, using my razor. I thought, "Oh, how can it be that these few years has made such in you, boy?" But one of these days when I cross over on the other side, things will be different then.

150 I love you. I am here at this place of Hammond, Indiana to do my very best to help you. I am here to pray with you, I am here to do all I can. And you see me laboring with all my soul to try to get people to believe on Jesus Christ. At that glorious day when I come up before Him there, I would like to look back and see this whole mass of people standing there, and say, "Lord Jesus, that's the best that I could do." To hear Him say, "It was well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joys of the Lord." That's where I expect to be someday. One of these days when it just draws out, I will--I will be done, and I will have to stand before Him. Let's bow our heads just a moment.
Heavenly Father, as I look back, trying here, knowing that I got a service tonight, realizing that I must hold myself together with all that I have got to minister to the people. As I think back down along that life's journey there, all the sorrows, and heartaches, and hungers, and mistakes...

151 God, there may be a young man sitting here today, or a young woman, just stepping out on the crossroads of life. There may be some or woman that spend the most of their days and yet never has accepted Thee.
How thankful I am when I walk over to the grave of my loved one laying there, knowing this, that that is like a corn of wheat that fell into the earth, that in there lays a germ of immortal life, that it too shall come just when the Son comes. When the Son of God shines His righteous upon the earth, then will my little Sharon Rose rise, then when I embrace her in my arms, say, "Darling baby, God knows best. You knowed I had no way to take care of you. He knowed what was best. Maybe you would have got out here in some of these road houses or something and been like some of the modern girls. He took you. I know where you are now, sweetheart; with mommy. And someday, daddy will come."
O God, I pray today, as Your servant, I pray that if there is that person here that doesn't know You just at this time, that they will say, "This is the hour that I am going to bypass all those troubles. I am going to accept Christ as my Savior. I am going to be filled with His Spirit, and I am going to live for You." If there is a young couple here, Lord, that doesn't know You, I pray that this will be the hour of their decision. Grant it, Father.

152 Excuse me for being a baby, Lord, but just the memories of old times, how those sorrowful days of sweat, and tears, and toils, and heartaches, and death, and hunger. God, may Your Spirit now speak peace to some heart.
And while we have out heads bowed, if there is anybody in the building that is ... would like to become a Christian just at this time, would you raise up your hand. Say, "Brother Branham, I believe that God hears your prayer, I want you to pray for me. I want to now accept Christ."
God bless you, you, you, someone on down here on the lower floors again. Someone else wants to accept Christ as personal Savior, wants to be remembered in prayer, believe that God hears my prayer. Would you come forward? Would you just raise your hand, first?
Up in the balcony, to my left, is there a sinner up there would like to accept Christ? If you see the miracles of God, and see that God answers my prayer, would you accept Him now as your Savior, believe it? I'd just remember you in a word of prayer. Will you raise you hand, as you are all sitting up there. You may all be Christians, I don't know. God knows your heart, I love you.

153 To the balcony, to the back, if anyone back there would want to say, "Brother Branham, remember me, I am a sinner. Just pray for me that I will be saved." Would you raise your hand? God bless you, sir, I see your hand. And God bless you, sis, I see your hand.
Someone over to the balcony to the right, would you raise your hand, say, "Brother Branham, remember me in a word of prayer. I believe that God will hear your prayer?" If ... you ... I... If you are not a sin... are a sinner, rather, and wants to accept Christ? God bless you, I see your hand, sister. Someone else? I see you, yes. And you, young lady, I see you.
Down to the bleachers here to my right, would you raise your hand and say, "Remember me!" God bless you, sir, I see your hand.

154 Someone now in the center, the right hand aisle here, raise your hand, as we go through. Any sinners in here raise your hand. In this aisle through here, would you raise your hand? If there is not, I will pass over to the left aisle. That is between you and God.
Now, in the left aisle raise your hand, you that's sinners, and say, "Brother Branham, remember me in a word of prayer, if you will." Will you raise your hand in the left aisle, here to my left?
All right. In the left bleacher, would you raise your hand? God bless you, you, you, you, you, you. Yes have many sitting along there. God bless you all.

155 Way back in the back, standing out in the room, are you sinners today and would like to say, "Brother Branham, remember me in a word of prayer. I want to become a Christian. And truly, I believe there is a Heaven, and I have had troubles too in my life, and I want to accept Christ now as my Savior that in me might become a germ of life, a new birth." Would you raise your hand and say, "Remember me!" All right.
All those now, who would like to be remembered in prayer for this prayer, would you stand to your feet just now while we pray for you? Just as a witness. "He that will witness Me before man, I will witness him before My Father and the holy angels." That's right. Look, standing up everywhere, over in the balconies and everywhere that you can. You that wants to be remembered in closing prayer, would you just stand to your feet, and say, "Brother Branham, I now, I wa... I want to be remembered in this prayer that Jesus Christ will..." That's wonderful.
Somebody else? Someone else? That's right. That's wonderful. Oh, I am so happy to see you do that. Mother with the little baby, God bless you, sis.

156 I wonder, I wonder. You know what I would like to do? I would like to shake your hand. I would just love to shake your hand and pray with you here at the altar. I wonder while the music's a singing, or the music's a playing, and we are singing, lowly: Almost Persuaded, now to believe, I wonder if you, down there, if you will slip right up here at the altar? Come right down out of the balconies, would you, right down here, and let me stand here and pray with you, right here, before you ... I can lay my hands on you. Will you do that? You here that wanting to accept Christ, now, as your Savior? I want to see.
Sisters back there, if you walk up here, I will happy to pray with you, if you will just come forward. That's fine. God bless you, that's wonderful. Come right down out of the balconies, out of the bleachers, you ... And come right up here now. And we want Jesus to hear us. Oh, how marvelous.
"Almost persuaded" now to believe;
"Almost persuaded" Christ to receive;
Seems now some soul to say, "Go, Spirit, go Thy way:
Some more convenient day, on Thee I will call."
Look. One of these days God is going to fade the light from before your eyes. Oh, mortal being, won't you come now? If you believe that God hears prayer, won't you come here, stand right here in His presence to make a confession that, "I now believe Jesus Christ and accept Him as my Savior?" Won't you come?
What a marvelous times. What a time for sinners to come. That's right. Just look at them gathering here around now, an old-fashioned altar call. Isn't it marvelous? Still people with enough breaking up in their hearts. No matter how starchy the people has got, still the Holy Spirit moves and breaks up the heart and brings them right down to the altar.

157 How many knows that song: Oh, Why Not Tonight? Do you... Have you ever heard it? Not many of you? All right, organist, would you give us the chord of it, "Oh, Why Not Tonight?" Do you know it, sister? All right. All right, let's all sing now.
Oh, why not tonight?
Oh, why not tonight?
Wilt thou be saved?
Oh, then why not tonight?
Tomorrow the sun may never rise,
To bless thy long deluded sight;
This is that time, oh, then be wise,
Oh, saved, oh, tonight.
Oh, why, tell me why, not tonight?
Won't you come while the people are moving down gathering up? You are going to see the Holy Spirit fall, I believe in a few moments here, something like you... If He will heal the sick, surely He will saved the lost.
........be saved.
Then why not tonight?

158 Listen while they are coming. The organ, continue if you will, sister. Every Christian be praying. I looked down here a while ago into the audience ... I wouldn't say this unless the young man was standing here. I seen a soldier boy in a uniform. I know God was speaking to that boy's heart. If I have the right [unclear words] of that boy, heading across the waters starting June. God saving that soldier boy now.

159 I see a young lady sitting in the audience. I'm not calling her name. But God has spoke to her, I know she should come. I trust that she will, that's who I'm waiting on. There is others maybe somewhere else. Won't you come? Even the young folks. This is the hour, this is the time. Now is the hour to be saved. While we call one more 'Why Not tonight,' will you rise and come? I... Just before we do that, let me pray.

160 Father, I believe with all my heart that this may be the final decision for some people. God, I pray that this person that You are speaking to me now about, I ask You to be kind once more. Speak to that person's heart just now and send her up here. It may be this time separating, crossing between mercy and judgment. God, if that be so, I do not know, Lord, Thou knowest. But if it is, I pray that this ... that ... the woman will walk quickly to the altar right now. Grant it, Lord. Bless now all others through here that You are speaking. I commit it to You now, Father. While we sing once more, may the Holy Spirit call; while Christians are praying.
Oh, why not tonight?
Oh, why not tonight?
Wilt thou be saved?
Then why not tonight?

161 Jesus of Nazareth, we pray now in Thy name, speak now. "These," Thou hast said, "that will come and confess Me before men, them will I confess before My Father, and the holy angels."
While we all have our head bowed, is there any in the building that would desire the baptism of the Holy Spirit now, that you would like to come and be filled with the Holy Spirit? If you would line right up with these here, would like to receive the Holy Spirit. It might make such a difference. If you are here a sinner, a sick person, you come except Christ, it might make such a difference. Now is the hour.
Marvelous! Look at those who are hungering for God. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled." God, be merciful. Just look, friends. "Except a man be borned of water and Spirit, He cannot see the kingdom."

162 Not upon the strength of my dead wife. No, sir, upon the strength of God's Bible. I'm saying this, friend. If you haven't the Holy Spirit, don't you try to face eternity without being borned again. God have mercy on us. Marvelous.
That's right, young man. The young lady ought to have come too.
All right. Everybody together now while we sing: Have Thy Own Way, Lord. Come on, together now. All right. Give us the chord, sister.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am yielded, yielded and still.
[Brother Branham begins humming: Have Thine Own Way, Lord.]

163 All right. Now, for all that's gathered. Personal workers, where you at now? All right, personal workers, gather right in behind this audience just now, right in behind this crowd; personal workers, ministers of the Gospel, gather right around.
You are going to see the glory of God fill this place. I feeled it right now in my heart. God is moving. He was telling me for a long time, "Hold up now, just a moment. There is many," He said, "is coming now seeking for God that's going to be filled, sent away rejoicing. And tonight will be the greatest night that you have seen yet."
Let the personal workers gather right in along, close now, where they can be ready. All right.
Now, while they are gathering, let's all bow our heads everywhere. Now, I want the sinners, those who have not yet accepted Christ, that you want to be saved, I want you to look this way to me. That's not the ones seeking for the Holy Ghost; just the sinner.

164 Jesus Christ died for you, He wants each one of you to be saved. And some day, my friend, I must meet you up yonder to stand in His presence to give an account for what I have told you. God forbid that I be found a misinterpreter of God's Word. Now Jesus said, "He that comes to Me, I will in nowise cast out. And whosoever heareth My Word," that's the Holy Spirit calling, "and believeth on Him that sent Me," that's God, has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but has passed from death unto life."
Aren't you happy you come this afternoon, friend? You were the one I was speaking about. Now look, Something spoke to your heart. Here is the boy over here. All right.

165 Now, is that the Scripture? Now, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? You believe that Bible story, His virgin birth? You believe That's the truth? And do you now accept Him as your Savior [unclear words] you will right now renounce all sin in your life and you accept Him as your Savior, and to the best of your knowledge, you will live for Him the rest of your days? If you do, raise up your hand, sinner. You now accept Him.
Now, while you bow your heads, I'm going to say something. And what I ... what prayer that I say, you pray. This is what it takes to cleanse your life, you see, this prayer that... You repeat what I say only I'm just saying it. You pray it to God, not repeating behind me, but you pray it to God. Now, while we all have our heads bowed, let the sinner say this...
Almighty God, I now come to Thee as a sinner, accepting Jesus Christ Thy Son as my Saviour. I believe in You, God, and I believe that You sent Jesus to take my place at Calvary. In that that I could not do for myself, being a sinner, I accept what He did for me. And I believe that in His death, You was pleased to receive me by His obedience. Therefore, Lord, nothing in my arms I bring, none of my righteousness, nothing that I can do, only I believe Your Word, and I accept It into my heart now. Receive me, O Lord, for I am sincere, and from this day hence, I will be Your servant. And in the hour of my death, may Jesus Christ come down through the valley of the shadow of death, and light up the way, and bear my weary soul to a haven of rest. Until that time, I will search after Thee and seek for the Holy Spirit until Thou hast give It to me. And I'll make my life, the best of my knowledge, a pattern or a salt to the unbeliever, that they might see my work by my faith, and come to You. Receive me, O God, in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Now, while your heads are bowed... Father, Thou has heard their confession. They believe truly that You have spoke to them in their heart. The Holy Spirit that called Adam in the garden of Eden has come down through this building today and has called these people right around this altar here to accept You. You're on the platform, You and this host of Angels who are standing near. And You said, "Him that will confess Me before men, him will I confess before My Father and the holy Angels. Then, Lord, according to Your Word, their sins are gone. You've heard their confession. They've come publicly and openly and accepted You as their Saviour. And now, Father, I pray that You'll enrich their life with the Holy Ghost. Grant it, Lord, and may each one of them be filled with the Holy Ghost while these others here, are seeking Thy blessing of the Holy Spirit. May they too be filled with the Holy Spirit this very hour. Grant it, Lord, in Jesus' Name.
Now, while you all have your heads bowed, you with the Holy Ghost, now you--every one of you that believes and accepted Jesus as your Saviour, while the rest of the audience looks this a way, raise up your hand. Raise up your hand, you that accepted Jesus as your Saviour. Now, there's a witness. Now, according to the Word of God, God witnesses to you in heaven. A hour ago, you'd have went to hell. Now you'd go to heaven if you died. That's the difference between death and life, by your faith in Jesus Christ. Is that right? You are alive now; you are made a new creature. I--if I know God, if I am His prophet, I know that there has been Eternal Life given to people standing right here now. That's right. I feel it; it's moving through me to... Look at the bumps like all over me like that; I know there's something happened right here in this audience. You are saved by your faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, while these are seeking the Holy Ghost, I want you to pray too. Not upon the prayer that... I want you to lift your hands and give God praise for saving you. And you that wants the Holy Ghost, I want you to lift your hands and say, "Lord, now I believe. I'm offering to you the fruits of my lips, giving praise to Your Name." And that's the way they was on the Day of Pentecost; and the first one that feels the first move of the Holy Ghost, let Him have His way. You'll get It right there.
All right, in all the audience, you without, you outside, stand up. Stand up. All right. Let's lift our hands. Let's lift our voices in a word of praise.
Almighty God, as Solomon when he dedicated the temple, the Angel of God came down through the buil--come down and moved in behind the Holiest of Holies, and the Spirit of God filled the room till there was no way to minister. O God, may Jesus Christ send the Holy Ghost right now upon these people, Lord God, that You saved and got ready here now. May they receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Oh, Satan, move out of the way. Holy Ghost, come into them in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I ask it.

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 "I can't stand it." I said, "I can't..." She... "Oh," said, "she went on."
Said, "I can't get over my baby... what God taken my baby, and why would He do it?"
All right. In a year and six month's time, and even previous to that. I lost my father, my brother, my wife, and my baby in just a little bit, right straight one, two, three. And that's just the last of it all. My daddy died in my arms. And my brother's killed on a--a telephone pole, right in front of...
And that night coming home, I told mother. She was all broke up too. Dad had just recently went. And so I went over to home then to go in. I tried to pass... I just want... My mother wanted me to stay in her house, and--and my mother-in-law wanted me to come down there. And if you ever have a home of your own, there's no... then there's just no place satisfies more.
And I went up over there, and I tried the bassinet. It's cold, and I had this one little stove out in the kitchen, a--a--a room out there. And--and frost and snow was coming up through the floor. And I'd go in there of a night and try to cook. There was little old cot laying there. And I went in.

2 That night, I'd never forget it. And I went around the corner. I picked up the--the paper, and the mail in the box, and went in, went in the house. There wasn't... We didn't have any furniture. But they wanted me to get rid of it. But friends, it wasn't very much. But what it was, it belonged to her and I. And we had it together. No matter how poor I was, it was ours. I didn't want to get rid of it. We had lived together; she had taken care of it.
I seen her clothes hanging up behind the door. I just couldn't forget. And I got my mail and went around. I was staying in an old cold room. I been working. First one I opened up, it said, "Miss Sharon Rose Branham," little eighty cent Christmas saving, and it sent back to me. Oh, my, there was it all over again. I couldn't stand to think I couldn't go any farther...
I knelt down and started crying and praying. I went in the next room, got down in the box, and pulled out my revolver, thirty-eight revolver, put six shells in it. I'd been hunting. Come back in the room. I said, "God, I--I'm going insane. I don't want to bring a reproach. I'm going insane. I'd rather commit suicide than to go insane. So I'm going to meet you now." And I meet... "Father, You forgive me for the sin. I can't stand it any longer; You're not consoling my heart. I can't stand it any longer."
And I pulled back that hammer; I put it up side of my head. I knelt down there by that old dirty cot, said, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name." Begin to squeeze on the trigger... "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done." I squeezed with all my might, and the hammer wouldn't fall.
And I said, "Oh, I can't even take my own life." I threw the gun, it went off, but it went out through the house like that. I thought, "Oh God, what can I do. I was--I'm dying it looked like." I threw my head over on the bed; I went off to sleep. Just a few moments to close.

3 I went off to sleep. And I dreamed that I was back out West again. I thought I was... had a... walking down the prairie and I was whistling a song. "The wheel on the wagon is broken..." You've heard the song. I looked, and there was an old prairie schooner, and the wheel was broke down on it. And I thought, "Well, what do you know." I--I looked, standing there and there stood a beautiful blond-headed girl, long blond hair hanging down, dressed in snowy white. I had on a great big hat. I took it off and I said, "How do you do, miss." and started walking on.
She said, "Hello, daddy."
I looked around; and I said, "Dad?"
Said, "Yes."
And I said, "Why," I said, "Lady, you're as old as I am. How could you--I be your daddy?"
Said, "Well, dad, don't you remember? You teach immortality." I don't teach they'll be little bitty babies in heaven. I teach a immortality. You don't get old if you was a little baby when it gets there, it'll be a little babies forever... Immortality don't decay there.
And she said, "Don't you remember your teaching on immortality?" She said, "Down on earth I was your little Sharon Rose."
I said, "Honey, you're not Sharon?"
She said, "Yes." Said, "Where's Billy Paul?" That's her little brother.
I said, "Oh, how that she's... Honey, I don't understand it."
She said, "Daddy, you just don't know where you're at."
And I said, "Well, if it... Am I not on the prairie?"
She said, "No. Turn to your right, and look."
And I looked back and there was a great beautiful light coming out of the most beautiful place like I never seen.
She said, "This is heaven, daddy." She said, "Mother's up there at home waiting for you."
And I said, "Home? You mean I--I got a home?" I said, "Honey, there never was a Branham was ever rich and never had a home of their own." I said, "You mean that--that I got a home?"
She said, "But daddy, you got one now."
That's the reason I... Even if I happen to remembered two room shack. I'd rather live in that two room shack than have to stay with God in the best home you got in Miami here.
And I said, "Oh, honey, that ain't my home."
Said, "Yes, it is. Mother's looking for you."
I started walking up towards it, singing that song, "My Home." And I thought... The lights was coming up around a great beautiful palace. I walked up the steps, and I looked, coming walking down through there, and here she come, snowy white clothes on, her black hair dripping down around her shoulders, her dark eyes looked like the splendor of youth. She died at twenty-two years old. She come walking down to meet me. She held out her arms. And I run to her real quick and bowed down my head. And I said, "Oh, honey. I don't understand."
She said, "Did you meet Sharon?"
I said, "Uh-huh." I said, "Isn't she a pretty girl?" Didn't she--didn't our little honey, make a pretty girl?"
Said, "She sure is." Said, "Where's Billy?"
I said, "Honey, wait just a minute." I said, "This..." There's something wrong here, just as natural I'm standing here. I said, "There's something wrong." I said...
She said, "Bill." Said, "You're so tired, aren't you."
I said, "Yes."
Said, "You been praying for the sick."

4 And I hadn't prayed for the sick in them days. So that's the reason I know. Sometimes I pass out here in the pulpit, friends. The other night when I was with you here, I passed completely out among you. I passed out for as many as twenty four hours at a time. And I know one of these nights, I'm going. That's true. I used to weigh a hundred fifty-eight pounds. I weigh a hundred and twenty-something now. Used to wear a thirty-eight coat, here's a twenty-four. I'm going. It's true. But I want to be faithful, and not do them things again that I did do.
She said, "You're tired and been praying for the sick."
I said, "That's right."
She said, "Don't cry now." She used to console me, and I'd think things'd go all right. Come home and cry about it. She'd put her arms around me, go to patting me. She'd say, "Billy, don't cry."
She said, "Stand up." And I raised up. She said, "Won't you set down?"
I looked over there, and there was great big pretty chair setting there. I looked at that chair. I looked back at her. She said, "I know what you're thinking of.

5 And down on earth one time we... I went and bought a chair. I'd get so tired working, then preach half the night, and make altar calls and things. And I bought a chair; it cost fifteen dollars and ninety-five cents. And I paid two dollars down on it, and I could pay a dollar and a quarter a month, I believe it was, on it.
And I... You know, friends, all of you know how that you get, you know, in tight places. And I missed two or three month's payments, and I couldn't pay my dollar and a quarter.
And that--that's the only good piece of furniture that we had in the house. And I used to like to go there, and sit down in the chair, rest at night, maybe twelve, one o'clock, rest a little while, and maybe read my Bible. And I got behind, and I couldn't make... They sent me a notice, they was coming to get the chair. And I remember how she dreaded to give me that notice. She was a real girl. And she's gone. But I love her just the same. That's right.
And she--she said, "I hate to have to say something to you, honey." We didn't have nothing else we could sell or make the payment."
I said, "Sweetheart, oh, I don't care about the chair. Just let it go."

6 Finally she kept it as long as she could. Finally, she had to tell them come get it. And I remember the day when she--when they come and got it, that night she had me a cherry pie cooked. It was... Always liked cherry pie so well, and she was trying to make me... you know. And she had the boys to dig some fishing worms, and she want...
And I know there's something wrong. So after supper was over, we went into the room. I said, "Let's go in..."
She said, "No, let's go fishing." She didn't want me to see the chair gone.
So then when... I said, "Let's go in the room." So I just put my arm around her and walked into the room. When I walked in then, the chair being gone. She leaned her head over and commenced to crying. I said, "That's all right."

7 She said to me then and there, said, "You remember that chair that they had to come to get?"
I said, "Yes"
She said, "But honey, they'll never come get that one. It's paid for."
Oh, friends. Look... I guess you think I'm a baby. But look. Someone said to me, said, "Brother Branham, when do you ever get any rest?"
I got a place to rest. One of these days I'm going cross over on that other side. I got a chair there to set down in... your time left. Oh, forgive me.

8 O God, have mercy. As my mind goes back to those days. To think today that her grave is covered with snow, my precious darling baby laying there... I'm thinking on Easter morning how her little boy, Billy and I kneeled by the side of the grave where dad placed the flowers.
I promised her... God, I promised You, if You forgive me, I'd do all that I could do for You. Help me, won't You, God? It's so hard till it's... people will see, Father, and believe. Oh won't you help me now? Thou knowest I don't want to be a--a baby before these people, but O God, I pray that You will let me be faithful until that day that when You call me to come home. Rest her precious soul, rest the soul of my baby. God, let me be the father, the husband, the child of Yours that You would want me to be.
Dear God, this afternoon, while we're here, if there is some here who doesn't know You. I pray that You will forgive them also, Father. For we ask it in His Name.

9 Excuse me, friends. I just can't go on with this, but... I'm tired and weary today. Got to drop in plane after service tonight, maybe the last one to ever get in.
But there waits for me a glad tomorrow,
Where gates of pearl swing open wide,
And when I cross this vale of sorrow,
I want to camp upon the other side.
Don't you want to go over too? How many is in here today would like to meet me over at the other side? Is that a promise? Is it an appointment? I wonder, from the depths of my heart, I very seldom do this, but I feel to do this. I wonder if there's an unsaved person here now, would just say--stand up and say, "Brother Branham, pray for me now. If God hears..." God bless you, brother. Somebody else? God bless you, sister. You, you, and you, stand up. That's right. All you that has not received the Holy Spirit, stand to your feet. Say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham." That's right. God bless you.
Look at the audience... Just stay remaining standing just a moment. Just remain, every one of you. Unsaved... Oh mercy.
There's a land beyond the river... Just remain standing. There's a place that we meet again. Some fifty, seventy-five people now. I wonder here, if God hears my prayers to open the eyes of the blind, to heal the deaf and the dumb, don't you think He will hear my prayer if I pray for you? Don't you think He will? All right.

10 How many more in here would like to be joined in this prayer, just raise up? How many in here (that's right) unsaved, raise up? While the piano plays, I wonder if you would just rise up here and let me shake your hand at the altar? Let me shake you hand, stand here and let's pray together. God wants to save you. Come here and let me shake your hand while this--while the music is playing through.
God bless you, sister. God bless you, sister. Just remain right here where you're at the altar. God bless you, sister. God bless you, sister. God bless you. God bless you too, and you. God bless you, sweetheart children; God bless your little hearts. God bless you. That's right. God bless you. God bless you, brother. God bless you, and you, each one of you. God bless you. God bless you, sister. God bless you, my dear brother and sister. God bless you. Oh, rich blessings.
Oh, my, won't you come and gather around the altar, won't you come too? Unsaved...

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Thank you, very much, friends, and good evening. You may be seated, if you will. I'm happy to be here tonight, happy to greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus. Been looking some time, to be here to minister to you, and I trust that this will be a great time for us all.
I was sorry to be late at the beginning, but I'm usually late, anyhow. Here some time ago, I come into a church, and the minister of the United Brethren Church, in New Albany (I was to speak for them that night.), he said, "I'm going to introduce you to the late Mr. Branham."
I said, "I was late, but I didn't know I'd passed on."

2 Well, we're happy to be in this lovely city tonight. Looked forward to it for some time with great anticipations. Just a little tired. We drove all the way from Phoenix, and stayed home one day and come on up. Been very strenuous the last few months in the meetings, or at least the last six weeks, I'd say. Because we was going to India... Supposed to be in Africa and India this month. And the Lord appeared to me and told me not to go until September. So I got this time off, kind of go around and speak to my friends and preach to them. And so, I'm happy to get to share the fellowship of you people here for the next few days in this lovely city, to meet your pastor here, Brother Collette, and 'course, I suppose, there'd be many more of the ministering brethren.

3 And I come in just for the cold weather, didn't I? Coming from Arizona here, I liked to froze coming over. My blood had done got thin. Yet I'm a southerner to begin with, so I guess I was just born with thin blood. But when I was born the second time, I got a different kind of blood. That's right. That's right. When I got the new birth, I got a new blood. And so He's taken away the old and gave the new. So you know, when He gives you new, He just makes you new all over, like putting wine in an old bottle, He said it would perish. So we got to get made over new.
And now, it's always a great privilege to get to come to a church for the first time. But usually you have to kind of get acquainted with one another and kind of get all the spooks away, you know, so we can kind of get down to talking to each other.

4 I was talking to our Brother Collette when he came to my place awhile ago, when we come in. And we'd given out the meetings as "The Gospel Preaching Meeting." Brother had said that there'd been many people had come in to be prayed for, for a healing campaign ... or, healing for the sick. I told him, maybe the first night we'd better have that then, so that we could get that over with in the beginning. And so he said they'd come down, give out some prayer cards, and the boy (my son with me), he come down and he said, "Daddy, they didn't have but just about three hundred give out."
He had to take those up, I believe, because that would last till... If we was to be here another month, we'd never get them through the line, the way I have to pray for the sick. It's by vision. Many of you has been in the meetings. And that would deprive everybody else that come in. We'd be obligated to take care of them first. So it would... Anyone else would come in, emergency or something, we'd have cards out ahead of that, and the emergency would never be able to be prayed for during the time of the meetings.

5 The way we do it is: Every day, give out cards and just pray for them that night. And the next day, if your cards wasn't called ... your prayer card wasn't called, you can have a prayer card the next day, see. And everybody has the equal rights---chances---every time, every day. So if you just give them all out at one time, then you're... And then here's another thing, the pastors, when they give them out, then the people if they don't get it, then they think hard of the pastor about it. So we've kind of had a long siege of experience, along those lines.
And now, we trust that God will meet us tonight in the exceedingly abundantly, and bless us greatly. Now, being it's going to be a prayer service for the sick, we will kind of address it in that manner.

6 I think tomorrow night we're going to get (or a night or two), we're going to get to a large auditorium or somewhere, brother was saying. And these little church meetings is kind of hard to get to the people. Yet, I'd rather have a meeting in a church than anywhere I know of. Because no matter how lovely the auditorium is, there's always worldly amusements and things go on there, and it's just... You may kind of class me to be a fanatic when I say this, but, absolutely, evil spirits hangs in those places. That's right. I don't know whether you believe it or not, but it is the truth. And in churches, you find Christ.
So it's always best to have it, only if... You got spirit all around you (see), and things, and then you can't control or take care of the audience the way you should when you've got more room. Everybody's crowded and cramped, and they're wondering this and that, and it just upsets you, terribly.
But how many's ever been in one of my meetings before? Let's see your... Well, I'm not a stranger at all here, am I? Well, God bless you. I'm sure glad to see you put your hands up like that. That's very fine.
And I trust that we'll be in many more together, and then, that great one at the last day. Oh, my! When all the saints are sitting at that great Wedding Supper, we'll look across the table to one another; won't that be a wonderful time? And I'll assure you one thing: There won't be one sick person to be prayed for. No, sir. We'll just simply let down our collars, as it was, and rejoice. I want to make an appointment with you for a thousand years, each one of you, see. Just a little few moments, you know, that'll be easy in eternity, just to talk things over that we didn't get to talk over down here.

7 The meetings usually... I was talking to Jack Schuller a few nights ago. Many of you know him. It's a brother; he has great campaigns, along with Billy Graham and them. And Brother Schuller said, when he went to Fort Wayne, he said, "Brother Branham," said, "the first thing when I got there," said, "the Methodist people had kind of jumped on you about having a healing campaign." And said, "I went right down with Mr. Billings and got a girl that had been in the insane institution for about five years." (A maniac, would jump through windows and everything; well acquainted in the city. And she was brought to the meetings, put in her right mind by the Lord Jesus.)
Said, "I brought her up on the platform and said, 'Now looky here. How many knows this girl?' He said, "Now, I want you every one to shut your mouth about divine healing from now on." So that kind of cut it out. He said, "Well..."
I said, "I'm trying to preach out here, Brother Schuller."
He said, "You can't do that, Brother Branham." Said, "Everywhere you go, they expect you to pray for them." Said, "A lot of people said to me," said, "'Jack, why don't you quit doing so much dramatizing?" (Everything he does, it's in a drama, you know. "The Return Of The Prodigal" and everything.) Said, the fellow was talking to him, he said, "Well, are you a fisherman?"
He said, "Yes."
He said, "What do you use for fish-bait? T-bone steaks?"
He said, "Why, no."
Said, "What do you use for fish-bait?"
He said, "Worms."
Said, "You don't like them, do you?"
He said, "No, but the fish does."
He said, "That's what I thought." What the people wanted, that's what the Lord wanted him to do. And that's what we have to do (Isn't that right?); just whatever the Lord calls us to do.

8 Now, as praying for the sick... There's some strangers with us. Not strangers; they're fellow citizens of the kingdom. You all are. And we're all of one kingdom.
Now, I'll just tell you a little religious background, and then, an experience of how preaching ... why I'm praying for the sick. And we'll talk a little, a few moments, on the Gospel, and then pray for the sick tonight.
And I trust that while these few nights of being here, that it'll be a very pleasant stay. I trust to God. And I believe it will. And I know if there's anything that you people (as I've always seen amongst God's people, since I got among them), that they always try to make me welcome. And everything that can be done to make the pleasant stay; they always make it. And God's people, wherever they are around the world, you find them the same way. And I know they're no different in Ohio, because I've been here before.

9 And now, I've... Well, as doctrine, I don't have very much about that. I don't know the Book too well, but I know the Author real well, and that's the main thing. I don't try to preach doctrine. I let them ... it's up to those who like to do that. I have... Christ is my Head. The Bible is my textbook. And the world's my church. So that's about all I have.
I believe that Christ died to save sinners, and I believe His death at Calvary was for a compound purpose. He was wounded for our transgressions, and with His stripes we were healed. And I believe that as far as in doctrine, of that... That many of you, I'd say tonight, "When did you get saved? When did Christ save you?"
You'd say, "Last year." "Last week." "Forty years ago." But He never did that. Christ saved you nineteen hundred years ago. You just accepted it last week, and forty years ago, see. The price was already paid. He saved you. And now, the only thing you had to do is just accept it; is that right?

10 Well, now look. He was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed. You were healed forty years ago, or...? No. Ten years ago? Tonight? You were healed nineteen hundred years ago. The only thing that you can do tonight is accept it. Is that right?
Now, as far as healing: There's not a person in the world that can heal. There's only one in all of the ages there ever has been, that could heal. There's no doctor can heal. There's no doctor will tell you he can heal. If he does, he's just about as much quack as a preacher is, that tells you he can heal. 'Cause there's just... There's only one Healer; that's God. "I'm the Lord who healeth all thy diseases."

11 A doctor claims to assist nature, not heal. They can cut a place in your hand, and if they'd... If you'd fall dead, and they'd take all the medicine in the world, that hand would never heal, because the life's gone out of your body. Life builds the tissues. They might pull a tooth, but they can't heal the place that the tooth came out. They might cut appendix out, but what about the place where the appendix was taken from? Who heals that? They might set the arm, but they can't heal it. God has to produce the calcium and stuff to heal the arm. So healing is God alone.
I've been interviewed at Mayo Brothers twice. So they said, "We don't profess to be healers, Reverend Branham; we only profess to assist nature. There's only one Healer; that's God." And that's correct. No minister can heal you. No. People who claim to have gifts of healing... Gifts of healing don't mean you heal people; it only means you have faith in the Word of God.
Preaching... It never was a preacher saved anybody. He only pointed them to the One that did save them nineteen hundred years ago. Is that right? Then no man could heal you... If Jesus was standing here tonight, with this suit on that He gave me, He couldn't heal you, because He'd tell you He'd already done it nineteen hundred years ago. You'd have to accept it on those grounds. Is that right?

12 Now, the only thing a minister can do would be point you to the One who did save you; or, the Healer: point you to the One that has already healed you. Now, in doing so, God set in the church, first apostles, and teachers, and prophets, and all kinds of gifts for the perfecting of the body. You believe that, don't you?
Now, that's what I believe, that God has set these in the church: some that can preach like some of the ministers here, and others are great teachers and scholars in the Word. Some are seers that sees visions. Some are those who speak with tongues. Some are those who interpret. Some are those who have great faith in healing; that's called gift of healing ... or, gifts of healing. There is no such thing as "the gift" of healing, 'cause it's in the plural: It's "gifts."
God works in many different ways to heal the sick: sometimes preaching the Word; sometimes a neighbor sitting by you, he just lay his hand over on you, feel like he should do so. Always do that. Whatever a born again child of God feels to pray for the sick; that's the Holy Spirit moving in you to do so. No matter who's going to pray for the person, you go ahead and pray for them anyhow.

13 We just had something that to happen in Louisiana a few nights back. It was a big auditorium. The people... I wasn't going to be there till nine o'clock. And about seven, a lady got a prayer card, and she had a little baby, and she was rocking the little baby. And another poor, little mother sitting down there, and she felt so sorry for the little mother with a baby on her arm.
And she said, "Well, I..."
Something just told her, "Go, pray for that baby."
"Oh," she said, "I couldn't do that. Brother Branham will pray for that baby. They got a prayer card." And so it just kept going, pushing her to go pray for the little baby. She said, "Oh, I ... I..."

14 After while, the lady come back around again. She seen the baby again. The Holy Spirit said again, "Go, pray for the baby."
So the timid, little mother, you know, walked up to the lady and said, "Sister, I see you have a prayer card. Perhaps Brother Branham will pray for your baby tonight."
She said, "We're hoping that the number will be called, sister."
And she said, "Would you excuse me if I said something to you?"
Said, "Certainly, sister."
She said, "I'm a Christian too." And said, "I'm a mother. And just to relieve my conscience," she said... "For the last thirty minutes, since you've been standing there," said, "I feel that God wanted me to pray for the baby. Would you mind if I just prayed for it before you took it up?
She said, "Why, certainly." And she let the little baby out. And the mother prayed for it, and said, "Thank you."
Walked back, very timid, little southern mother, sat down. And when she went back to sit down, someone had got the seat. So she had to go way up in the balcony.

15 And so, that night on the platform, sure enough, when the... She was in the prayer line, when the prayer was called. And then, when the lady come up on the platform, when she got near...
Now, of course, in praying for the sick, all of you know how it happens. I don't know what I'm doing, just a subconscious condition. And looking back over the recordings that was being taken, the lady was told by the Holy Spirit, said, "Your baby had a certain-certain disease."
"Yes."
But said, "There was a woman today dressed a certain way, prayed for the baby, and it's been healed." And there was the little lady, sitting up there in the balcony, just screaming, see. Now, God had ordained that that woman should pray for that baby. You see how it was? So the Holy Spirit... The Bible said, "Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another (Is that right?), that you may be healed."

16 See, there's no individual person can heal. And there's no person could save you against your will or heal you against your will. It has to be your attitude towards Jesus Christ, what determines your healing.
Now, God has sent ministers to preach the Gospel. He put His Word out here, but He put ministers to preach it. He put the different things. But His church... But He's got members in this church ... or, people in this church that... God has set the church in order. If the people would just get in the place where God put them, and then the church would be in order.

17 Now, I believe this, that only through that, and since I've been with the Pentecostal people... And I explain that as a doctrine. I believe that gifts and callings are without repentance. See, there's no way at all for you to do anything... I believe in the election of God, that God does the electing; God does the calling. You, taking thought, cannot add one cubit to your statue, see. That whatever God has determined to be, it will be. And you are called by election.
I've heard people say, "Oh, I sought God day and night." No man never sought God at any time. God seeks man, not man seeking God. The very nature from the Garden of Eden, God... Instead of man running through the garden hollering, "Father, Father, where are You?", it was God hollering, "Adam, Adam, where are you," see. And today the sinner does the same way.

18 Well, we could take much time on that, but just to show you that it's truth: Jesus said, "No man can come to Me except My Father draws Him first." So man don't seek God; God seeks man. And God calls men by election (see), foreknowledge of God. Like when, Jesus Christ, when He was born, He was the Son of God. He couldn't help 'cause He was the Son of God. He was foreordained the Son of God. Before the world began, He was the Son of God. And He was the woman's seed from the Garden of Eden that was to bruise the serpent's head. He had nothing to do with it; it was already planned out.
When Moses was born, he was a proper child, not because he was Moses, not because he had done something, but because God chose him before he was born.

19 John the Baptist, seven-hundred and twelve years before he was ever in his mother's womb, Isaiah saw him, and said, "He's the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight." Jeremiah 1:4, God told Jeremiah, said, "Before you was even conceived in your mother's womb, before you came from her belly," said, "I knew you, and sanctified you, and ordained you a prophet to the nations." What did Jeremiah have to do with that? Nothing. God did it. So it's God's sovereign grace that He does things. God has a church that's going to appear without spot or wrinkle. He's already said that. That church is foreordained.
I trust tonight that we're every one members of that church. And here's the way I think you become a member: "By one Spirit we're all baptized into one body," and we're members of that church. I believe that with all my heart.

20 Now, Jesus said... Here's His words in Saint John 5:24: "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life." Is that right? That's His words.
Now, "he." Didn't say the Methodist; he, the Baptist. "He" is a personal pronoun, means the individual. He, the Pentecost? He, the Full Gospel? No, just "he," see. "He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me hath (present tense) everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but hath (past tense) passed from death unto life." You believe that? That's the way you're saved, is by believing that and accepting it the same way. "Has everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but's passed from death unto life."

21 Now, now, for a personal experience now, before we read a little out of the Word and go right into the healing service. 'Cause we're running just a teeny bit late. In the next ten minutes I hope to be ready to start the prayer line, the Lord willing.
Now, as I make clear then: The doctrine, that I don't believe that, or discuss, or argue with people about their religious belief. If they believe anything, let them believe it. That's perfectly all right with me. As long as they've accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and been borned again of the Holy Spirit, it's my brother and sister. Whether they're ... whether they're Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Holiness, Oneness, Twoness, Threeness, Fourness, First Rain, Second Rain, Middle Rain, Latter Rain, all the Rains together, don't make any difference to me. I'm strictly interdenomination, believing we're all brethren. That's right. We are brethren. We differ in ideas, but in purpose, we're one in Jesus Christ. That's right.
And that's why I've tried to keep my meetings absolutely, strictly interdenominational. 'Cause it's a brotherhood, to stand in the breach and try to say, "We are brethren." And when the whole ransomed church of God sees that with one accord, the Millennium will be on. That's right.

22 You're the greatest, you Full Gospel people, I think that's got... Now, of course, you know I was brought up and raised in the Baptist church and was a Baptist minister. Never did leave or anything else; I just come over here, because I thought you had... I know you had the deeper light of the Bible. That's right. It's the truth. The Angel of the Lord that appeared to me has sent me to you. And that's exactly the truth.
Now, I don't come as a fanatic. I do not believe in fanaticism. I wouldn't stand for it. And I know you don't believe in fanaticism. You believe in the truth, and truth will always speak for itself. That's right. You never have to strain truth. Truth will always be truth. And so, I trust that God will bless us now.

23 And now, religious background, I had none. My people before me were Catholic. My father and mother both are Irish. Anybody can be forgiven for that; there's a chance for all of us, isn't there, for being Irish. Mother and dad both were Irish. My mother is a Harvey, my father a Branham. So I was born in a little cabin up here in the mountains. We will have the books---but not to sell on Sunday---on some other day in the week. And the different literature and stuff will be after a bit.
Now, friends, I can only testify to what's truth. It may seem a little strange to some of you. But if I tell the truth, God will testify that it is the truth. And if He doesn't, then I haven't told the truth. Let God do the judging.
And I'm told that when I was born, in a little mountain cabin up in Kentucky... We didn't have windows like you have here in your homes here; it was just a door you push out, and a little door for a window; no rug on the floor, not even a floor, just the dirt. And we had a stump, cut off, pegs in it, for our table, and a bench we sat on to eat at, at the table, they said. My father and mother were very poor.

24 I was born on a little straw tick with a shuck pillow. I guess none of you in here ever slept on a straw tick. Oh, is there? Is somebody...? Why, I'll just take off my coat and feel at home now. If you know what a straw... How many ever drank from a gourd? Let's see what...? Say, the country's moved right into the city, hasn't it? That's all. Yes, sir. Well, that's... You won't pay any attention to my "hit," and "hain't," and "fetch," and "carry," and "tote," and all those grammatic mistakes that I make. So, that's very fine. Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better now. All right.
There was no doctor within forty miles or a city of where my dad was a logger. And there's a midwife; I'm sure you're acquainted with what that is. The old midwife came over. And my mother was fifteen years old when I was born. My dad was eighteen. Two children.

25 And when they opened up the window... We had an old grease candle, they said, to make light. I don't whether you've ever had a little can of grease with a ... and a pine knot. And burn the old pine knot through the night to make the light. And when they opened the window up, the morning, at five o'clock in the morning, when I was born, there was a light (We have the picture of it.) circled in the room and hung over the bed where I was standing.
Now, you'll see why I have to believe in the foreordination of God, see. Out of a sinful family, none of them even went to church; none of them professed religion on either side. But God in His grace, by His mercy... The mountain people was disturbed; they didn't know what would happen.

26 The first thing I can remember nearly: I was about three years old, when He come to me and I saw a vision, and told me where I'd be raised at. At seven years old, it appeared to me, and told me never drink, smoke or defile my body. I never. "There'll be a work to do."
About twenty-one, I was converted, went into the Baptist church, preached for several years. Visions, just as they'd appear to me, and tell me things that was going to happen. The ministers told me it was the devil. Said, "It's the devil doing that. Don't you pay any..." Said, "You're going to be a fortuneteller." Well, then one night... It scared me to death, brethren. I didn't know what to do. I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart. And I didn't ... I didn't want to get messed up with something like that. And it would just keep a come to me, and everything it told me was the truth, every time, just the truth.
So I said, one night I was... See, I worked, pastored the Baptist church there, tabernacle. And I worked twelve years while I was pastor, and never received one penny of money. I don't take money. I'm not up here for money, friends. I'm up here to help you to love the Lord. If it was money, I wouldn't be here. And I don't do that.

27 We just told Brother Collette awhile ago, I said, "What our expenses is, pass the collection plate. Don't never (The manager is not along, and they know better than to do that.), never put a string on." What the Lord wants me to have, He's always supplied my needs. And that's the way I live. He takes care of me. I don't have nothing tonight. I don't have nothing or expect to have. If I had it, I'd give it to somewhere else, so it'd go out for the Gospel. I've got one purpose; that's to see the kingdom of God come on earth in power (That's right.), see Jesus Christ return.
I think we've miserably failed, friends, to take the Gospel that Jesus told us to preach. He said... "What will be the sign of the end?"
He said, "Well, you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars, that... Don't be terrified." All these other things that happen. But He said when this Gospel has been preached to all the world, then He'd return.
MARK16:25

28 He never ordained us to build any church. He never ordained us to make a hospital, to make a school, or have a seminary. He never one time commissioned us to do that. All them things are good, but yet He did commission us to preach the Gospel to all the world. And we've built schools and seminaries, and taught theology; and one third of the world is all that's heard about Jesus yet.
But after all, passing tracts is not preaching the Gospel. "The Gospel came not in word only," said Paul, "but through power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost." See, not just teach the Word, but preach, make manifest the Word. The Word has to be made alive. It's a dead letter until it's made manifest and then it's quickened, and it's brought to pass, what God said about it. That's the Gospel in action, the New Testament Christianity.

29 One night while in prayer, away, there was a man come walking to me on the floor. And I seen Him; this was not a vision. It was a Man. I'd heard His voice many times, saw Him when I baptized at the river, and I was first ordained a Baptist minister. Had my revival, baptized five hundred---my converts---after two weeks meeting at the foot of Spring Street. And right there all the local papers packed the article of it: "Mystic Light Hangs Over Minister While Baptizing." And it came just like a pillar of fire. And it hung down there and they...
And then, the people asked me about it, and they got me scared, and told me it was the devil. And one night while I was in prayer---many years later, just before coming to the Full Gospel people---I was praying, "God, take this thing away from me." I said, "Lord, You know I love You, and I don't want it no more, please." I went to pray all night about it. And I heard someone walking. I looked coming over to this side; there come a tall man, big, long hair. It didn't look like the picture of Jesus. I believe---I say this reverently ---I believe, by vision I seen Jesus twice. It was a little Man, but it doesn't look much like the artist paints Him. But I fainted when I looked at Him. He was standing off to my side.

30 But now, in the world of visions, this Man was not a vision. He walked up to me. I heard His feet as He walked. He walked up and spoke to me. And I was shaking like this, and He said, "Do not fear." And when He said that, that was the same voice I'd heard since I'd been a baby---the same Man. But He was a Man now. I'd seen Him in a cloud, in a pillar. And I'd seen Him in... I heard Him in a whirlwind in a bush, talking to me, but I'd never seen Him as a Man. But here He was as a Man. He said, "I'm sent from the presence of Almighty God to tell you, that your peculiar life and birth was for you to go to the world and pray for the sick people." Said, "Your ministry will scatter all over the world and, in this, will bring the Gospel and the power which will bring the second coming of Christ."

31 So then, when He stood by me talking, well, He was a... I looked at Him. And I said, "Well, Sir, I'm uneducated, and I only have a grammar school education. People wouldn't..."
He said, "As Moses was given two signs of vindication of his ministry, so will there be given you two signs." One would be: Take a person by the hand, just stand there, and you know what was wrong with them. The next was to know the very secrets of their heart. And I questioned that. And He referred back to Jesus of Nazareth, and the same thing. Then I said I would go, and then the light that was above the Being, He went up in the light and went away.
And then I started and it's been ever since. Then the picture was taken, authentically, many times, by a newspaper reporter. You'll perhaps see it, right here at the platform before the meeting's over. And it's a light.

32 And here, not long ago in Houston, Texas, it was taken, in a debate, where a Baptist minister came and said that I was a religious fanatic and ought to be run out of the city; he should do it. And I wouldn't fuss with him. But Mr. Bosworth, taken the challenge, and that night where thousands of people gathered in the Sam Houston Coliseum, they discussed it. And, of course, he never even got started. Mr. Bosworth just asked him one question; that settled it. Said, "Was the redemptive names of Jehovah applied to Jesus, yes or no?"
If He wasn't Jehovah-jireh, He wasn't the Lord's Provided Sacrifice, He wasn't Jesus Christ, the Son of God, so we're still in sin. And if He was Jehovah-jireh, He's Jehovah-rapha also, 'cause them compound names is inseparable: Jesus Christ the Healer, the same yesterday, today, and forever. So that just settled it forever, for once.

33 And then he kept saying, "Bring forth that healer and let me see him." Now, I wasn't supposed to be there, but I was up in balcony thirty---wife, and brother, and I. And the Angel of the Lord come, said, "Go down." Five hundred ushers put their hands together; I come down, went to the platform. I said, "I don't want you to think hard of Brother Best. He has a right to believe that---as a believer." I said, "As American citizen, he doesn't have a right to say the Bible doesn't teach it, because he hasn't got nothing to say now." But I said, "I only testify the truth. If I tell the truth, God will testify the truth." And here He come, coming right down.
So they had the Look, Life, Times, Colliers, and all those magazines there. And the Douglas Studios of Houston, Texas, a member of the American Photographer Association shot the picture ---one a Catholic and the other one a Jew. Took it in that night and developed the picture to see if it absolutely was authentic. And the man had a heart attack when he looked at it.

34 The next day it was sent to Washington, DC, copyrighted, brought back, and we sent and got... George ... or George Lacy, which is the best in the United States. He's the head of the FBI in fingerprint and documents, and he kept it in the Shell Building under observation for three days and called us all in, said, "Who is Reverend Branham?"
I said, "I am."
He said, "Reverend Branham, you'll die like mortal beings," But said, "As long as there's Christian civilization, your picture will live on." Said, "I've often said that was psychology too, but the mechanical eye of this camera won't take psychology. The light struck the lens. It was there."

35 And so, the picture now is copyrighted. Of course, they sold it and everything else. I'd get it from them, give it out, just as I get it. And one hangs in Washington, DC, in the Religious Hall of Art, as the only supernatural Being that's ever been proven, that there was a supernatural Being scientifically.
And He is the One who sees the visions. It's not me; it's Him. And we got some of the pictures (a very few). They'll have them here, maybe tomorrow night, or whenever, we go to the other auditorium. And the books and so forth, you can read the rest of the story.

36 And now, just for a moment now before we call the prayer line, I'd like to just quote a Scripture, if you'll listen, just a moment. Just so it... My words will fail. I'm a man. But His words can never fail.
Let's take it from here. There was some Greeks come to see Jesus one time. And they said, "Sirs, we would see Jesus." Now, how many Christians is in here? I want you to raise your hand. Just so I can see. Well, that's a hundred percent, just about, I suppose. We're all interested in knowing ... to see Jesus, aren't we? That's why we're here.
Now, friends, Hebrews 13:8 is always my theme. It's Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, do you believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead? You do? Well, then if He... What He was here on earth then, He is just the same today, or we are living in perfect ignorance, or we're living under false pretense. Now, let's make it right or wrong.

37 Now, Dr. Reedhead... Many of you know him, you Baptist people here. He's the President of the Sudan Missions, the biggest in the world. A few months ago, came to my house... Bishop Pilai, the Archbishop of India... Is he here tonight? [Someone answers.] He is. Yes, he's coming down; he's going to be in this meeting. Dr. Pilai, the Archbishop of India, come and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And this Dr. Reedhead come to my house, and he said, "Brother Branham, I have been taught in all the theology. I've learned... I got so many degrees; I don't even know where they all belong." He said, "But where is Jesus Christ in all of it? All of our learning, and our scholarships, and things, we still don't know Jesus." And he said, "I was so dumfounded. A young Indian..."

38 Now, friends, you won't meet this here in this city. You won't meet it in America, but you go out across the world where you meet the heathens, the witch doctors and other religions. Remember, Christianity is third in line. The biggest religion in the world is Mohammedan, second is Buddha, and third is Christianity. We've let down.
And this fellow, an Indian educated in America, he said, "Well," when he was talking to Dr. Reedhead, he said...
Dr. Reedhead said, "Why don't you renounce your own dead prophet (which was Mohammed) and receive the resurrected Lord Jesus?" As any Christian would exalt Jesus.
And so the Mohammedan said, "Kind, sir, what could your Lord Jesus do, any more for me than what my dead Mohammed can do?" Now watch, now, Christians. That's the reason I asked you if you was Christians.
"Why," he said, "our Lord Jesus raised from the dead."
The Mohammedan said, "Did He?"
Said, "Why, yes."
He said, "Where is your proof?"
Said, "Oh, He lives in my heart," see.
He said, "So does Mohammed live in mine." Said, "You see, we studied psychology same as you did."
He said, "Oh, we have happiness and joy."
He said, "So do we."
He said, "Well, we..."

39 Said, "You claim that your Jesus raised from the dead." He said Mohammed only promised life after death." He said, "That's what Jesus promised." And said, "We believe we're going to have life after we die." And said, "They both wrote Bibles. We read them and believe them." Said, "Now, what more could your Jesus do for me than Mohammed has done for me?" He said, "You said your Jesus rose from the dead, and you've had two thousand years to prove that. And only one third of the world knows about it." He said, "Let Mohammed raise from the dead, in twenty-four hours, the whole world will know about it." The man was right.
Now, he said, "The whole world will know it when Mohammed raises from the dead." He said, "Mohammed ... Mohammed never promised things like Jesus did." He said, "Mohammed just promised us life after death. But Jesus said in His Word, in His Writings..." Said, "I've read the Testaments." Said, "He promises that the things that He did, you'd do also." Said, "Let me see you scholars produce that. Then we'll believe Jesus raised from the dead, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

40 And the man was right. Exactly he was right. "Oh." Dr. Reedhead said, "Well, of course, you know," said, "Mark 16 from the 9th verse on, where you are referring to," said, "is not just exactly inspired."
He said, "What kind of a Bible you got? part of it inspired and part of it not?" Said, "What about the things He said, when He said, 'The things that I do, shall you do also, greater, for I go unto My Father.'" Said, "Was that inspired? What about Mark 11:24: 'Whatsoever things you desire, when you ask, believe you receive it and you shall have it.' Is that inspired?" And Dr. Reedhead said he shook his foot on the dust and changed the subject in the front of a Mohammedan.

41 How weak Christianity has got, to theology, teachings, schools, reading, writing, and arithmetic. That's all right. But, brother, it don't take the place of the Holy Spirit to make manifest the powers of God and the... The world's hungering tonight to see Jesus Christ.
Standing in Durban, South Africa, a few months ago, when I was standing there and Jesus Christ made manifest, thirty-thousand raw heathens come to Jesus in one altar call---thirty-thousand converts at one time. When they'd read about it? But when they seen Jesus Himself moving.
Now, let's just... If we'd want to see Jesus, if He is risen from the dead, then He's living among us tonight. Do you believe that? Now, let's go back and see what kind of a person He was. I'm butchering up my talk, because I know it's getting late. But just so that you'll get the idea, when we get over in the other place, we'll have healing services, the Lord willing, and you'll see what I mean then.

42 Look, it's got to be right or wrong. There's no middle grounds. It's either right, or it's wrong. This is either the Word of God, or it's not the Word of God. It's either inspired, or it's not inspired. Jesus either meant what He said, or He didn't mean what He said. And He's either the same yesterday, today, and forever, or He's not the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's either Almighty God, or He's nothing. Is that right? If He's Almighty God, He can do all things. If He can't do all things, He's not Almighty God. Is that right? So that's just the whole thing, friends.
And if I couldn't believe Him for every word in here, I wouldn't be up here preaching tonight. I was a state game warden of Indiana when I was called into this and loved my work. But I know that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and lives in His people tonight. And He's just the same as He ever was. Let's drop back and get a view of Him.

43 When He come on earth... If we was going to go around through the city here, tonight, Columbus, and look for Him, what type of person would we look? A high scholarly, polished man? No. He never, as far as I know, He never had a day of schooling in His life, 'less His mother taught Him. Strange? Would we look for a man that had his collar turned around, and all ... big robes, and flashed up, dressed different from other people? No, sir. He dressed like a common man, like the man on the street.
Would we look for a man that had excellency of speech, that He knowed how to ... His grammar was so perfect? The Bible is written in the regular street language. That's the reason the translators get mixed up on it so much. One says the Greek Word says this and the Hebrew Word says this. And they disagree on it, because they are trying to apply a different meaning. It was taught right in regular language like you and I use here---just a regular language.

44 You wouldn't look for a scholar.
Well, what type of man was He? Was He a man walking around with a great big, wide shoulders and a fine seven-footer? The Bible said there's was no beauty we should desire Him. Yes, sir. There was no beauty of Him we should desire ... probably a little bitty Fellow. So, He didn't look like any king, yet He was King of kings.
But notice now, another thing, watch Him. He wasn't... We wouldn't look then to find a man... Did He claim to be a Healer? No. Did He claim to perform miracles? No. He said, "It's not Me that doeth it; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Of Myself, I can do nothing." So He didn't take any praise. Went around... "The Man of the hour," or anything, was He? He didn't take no praise at all for anything. He said, "It's not Me that doeth a thing. I can do nothing of Myself. What the Father..." He never claimed to heal one person. And He never healed one person.

45 I want to give you... Do you believe He was full of mercy? Do you believe He was love and full of compassion? I want to question you now. We'll take that... Let's take Saint John 5. There was a pool called Bethesda, at the sheep gates, where you come in by the market, had five porches. In these lay great multitudes of sick and crippled people: lame, halt, blind, and withered. Is that Scripture?
Now, if we wasn't in such a hurry, I'd read it. But you're scholars and understand. They was laying under these porches: lame, halt, blind, withered, waiting for the moving of the water, for an Angel come down at a certain season, troubled the water. The first one stepping in, just one at a time, one every two or three months. But the first one stepping in after the troubling of the water was made whole of whatsoever disease he had; is that right?

46 Now, multitudes: It takes two thousand to make one multitude. And there were great multitudes. God willing, I aim to go through that place in the next few months. Now notice, here come Jesus walking right through there. He was Emmanuel. God was with Him. God was in Him. He was full of mercy, full of compassion. A woman had just touched the hem of His garment, was made whole of a blood plague (blood issue).
And now, here... Let us... Closely. Now just, keep this now so that when we get into the campaign, the big campaign over here, the Coliseum or wherever it's going to be ... when we get in there, you can tell others.

47 Now, when He went through there, He passed by... Let's give a little drama here, maybe you'd get it better. Here's a poor old daddy with arthritis, drawed up, hollering, "Somebody have mercy. Somebody have mercy." Here's a mother with a waterhead baby, "Please, somebody, let me in the water first." An old blind mother walking around, "I've been blind for forty years; somebody let me in first." Such a mass of humanity: lame, halt, blind, withered, and here come Emmanuel walking right among them. Why didn't He have compassion? If He was so full of love, why didn't He have compassion on them? People, that's...
Let me say this, not as a rebuke. Let me say this with kind, tenderly, Christian love. People get sympathy mixed up with love: not His sympathy, His love. That may speak in riddles, but you'll see after a bit, see. Sympathy and love is contrary one to the other. Love is one thing. Sympathy is another.

48 But He walked right through that crowd of people, all them lame, halt, blind, and withered, and never said a word to them. Now, if He is full of love and compassion and loved the sick people, why didn't He heal them? Because He wasn't a Healer. He said He wasn't a Healer.
Now, He walked over to a man laying on a pallet. That's what we'd call it down South, a bed laying there, a pallet. And He could walk; he said, "When I'm coming to the waters, somebody steps in ahead of me." He might've had prostate trouble or something another, or retarded sugar diabetes, or... Why, he'd had it thirty-eight years.
And He said, "Will thou be made whole?"
He said, "I have no man to put me in the water. When I'm coming, someone steps ahead of me."
He said, "Take up your bed and go to your house." Healed that one man, and walked away, and left a whole multitude of people. Is that the truth? And look at the lovely, compassionate Lord Jesus.

49 Now, if you'll watch, reading the Scriptures, Jesus knew that fellow, where he was at and knowed all about him. Now, to save time, just read on down, the 19th verse. The Jews caught this man; they questioned Jesus. Perhaps today, "Let me see Him heal this one I'll believe it. Let me see this woman that's been crippled all this time; let me see her get up and walk. Let me see this blind man... I'll believe it."
That's the same old devil that said to Jesus, "Turn these stones into bread and let me see you... Do a miracle here, let me look at it," see, see. "Let me look at it, and I'll believe You then." The same devil that said to Jesus, "Come off the ... (religious devil too, you see) Come off the cross; then we'll believe you." Put a rag around His head and said, "You said you saw visions." Put a rag around His head, and hit Him on the head with a stick, and said, "Who hit you? Prophesy now, and tell us who hit you." He don't clown for people, never opened His mouth. He stood there. God didn't show Him nothing; He didn't do nothing.

50 So up there, the Jews said to Him, said ... questioned Him about it. (The 19th chapter of Saint John, now.) This man had been healed. What about the other multitudes? Now listen, Jesus own words. So hurry. Jesus said, "Verily, verily (That's absolutely, absolutely.) Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing." Is that right? Saint John 5:19, "What He sees the Father doing; that doeth the Son likewise. The Father worketh, and I worketh hitherto."
Then Jesus' own words... Through the week, when we get over to the other place, I'll quote to you, Scriptures concerning it. All down through the Old Testament, no man at any time ever walked out boldly, without a vision, and done anything. 'Cause it was always God, see. Jesus said, "The Father shows Me (I see a vision on what to do), and what He shows me, that I go do. See, I can do nothing of Myself."

51 Look at the resurrection of Lazarus, when He left the home. They sent for Him, and He just went on. Sent for Him again, He just went on. Then after so many days, that God had showed Him in a vision what was going to happen to Lazarus. Then He said, "Our friend, Lazarus, sleepeth. Now, for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there. 'Cause you've been trying to get Me to do something about it, and I couldn't. God's done told Me what to do. But I'll go wake him."
And watch Him at the ... watch Him at the grave of Lazarus. He said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast already heard Me, but for these that stand by, I said it." See, He knew. God had showed Him what was going to do.

52 Now, in the beginning of His ministry... See, He did nothing except first... How many understands that? Jesus said Himself, that He didn't do anything until first the Father showed Him. Is that right? And He seen it, now. Not just the revelation, He seen it. "What the Son seeth the Father do, that doeth the Son likewise." "What I see." A seer. Always. He's the King of seers, the King of prophets. "But what the Father shows Me, that I do also. What the Father doeth, He shows..." He will show you greater than healing this here diabetic (ever what it was), that you may marvel, see.
Now in the beginning of His ministry, look at Him. He was standing out here... Let's take Him just a moment longer; I'm holding you long, but look. Just a moment longer, if you please.

53 A fellow by the name of Philip got converted (Luke the first chapter). And he goes and finds Nathanael: A very good sign of conversion, (Isn't it?) when he goes and hunts somebody to get him saved too. So He finds Nathanael under a tree. And he said, "Come, see who I found: Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph."
He said, "Could any good thing come out of Nazareth?" A very pious, religious man.
He said, "Come, see."
So, let's say that Jesus was standing in the prayer line, praying for the sick. And up come Nathanael, walking up. "I'll see who this Fellow is that knows so much." Walked up to Him like that.
Jesus looked at him and said, "Behold, an Israelite, in whom there is no guile." Kind of shocked him.
"How did he know me?" He said, "Whence knowest Thou me, Rabbi?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you was under the tree, I saw you."
You know what they'd say in Columbus tonight? "Mental telepathy, a witch." That's what they do say. That's right. "Oh, he's possessed of the devil. Don't fool with that person." If Nathanael would've said the same thing, he wouldn't have been immortal among men today. But he fell down and said, "Thou art the Son of God, the King of Israel."

54 Look at the woman at the well. He sent the disciples away. The woman come out to the well to draw water. Jesus looked at her. Now, watch His contact.
Said, "Bring Me a drink."
She said, "It's not customary for the Jews to ask Samaritans such."
Said, "But if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask Me for a drink."
Said, "Well, the wells deep, and You have nothing to draw with." The conversation... What was He doing? Contacting her spirit. Then He found where her trouble was.
He said, "Go, get your husband."
She said, "I have none."
Said, "That's right. You got five."
"Why," she said, "I perceive that You're a prophet." And she run into the city, all excited, and said, "Come, see a Man who told me every thing that I ever done." Why, He didn't do that. He just told her one thing she done, see. But if He could tell her one thing, He could tell her everything.

55 Now, He didn't claim... See, He found her trouble. Now, if... And then, when He was standing in the audience of people, He looked around. He perceived their thoughts. Jesus was a mind reader. Oh, did that shock you. He was. If anybody can tell me the difference... Not one of these here devils, sitting out here with a little old trailer, reading on your hand. That's the devil. Just a... Everything the devil's got, he copied it off of God. Don't you know the two spirits would be so close together in the last days? Sure, everything the devil's got is a counterfeit.
Look at the Urim Thummim off the Bible, brethren. If a prophet prophesied, and it didn't flash on the Urim Thummim, it wasn't right. If a dreamer dreamed a dream that didn't flash on the Urim Thummim, it was wrong. And today, God's Urim Thummim is His Bible. And if a prophet says anything, or comes and tells you something, or a dreamer dreams a dream that's contrary to the Word of God, forget it. It's not right. That's God's Urim Thummim. Because there's the foundation: God's Word, see.

56 But the witch... Now, the devil went and got a crystal ball; he gazed in it and half tell you, just guessed at what you're talking about, half the time right, not half the time right, even. That's the devil.
But Jesus perceived their thoughts. Now, what's the difference in perceiving a thought or reading a mind? Could somebody tell me the difference? What difference the word is? It's the same thing: if I can perceive your thought or read your mind. Now, which is it, see? The Bible said, Jesus perceived their thoughts. He could tell what they were thinking about (as the Father would show Him).
There was a woman...; He never seen her as He was passing through the crowd. She, somehow another, she contacted Him by touching Him. He never felt it with His body. But she said in her heart, "If I can just touch His garment..." He stopped. Something happened. He looked around, said, "Who touched Me?" Something's happening. And He looked over; He said, "Thy faith has saved thee," see.

57 Now, that Jesus lives tonight. Now, look. "The things that I do, shall you also." Is that right? "Yet a little while..." (I'm closing.) " Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more." The world's the unbelievers. "Yet ye shall see Me." Now, do you people want to say miracles was only for them back there, and He was just talking to the disciples? "Ye shall see Me (the church), for I will be with you, even in you, to the ends of the world." Those disciples died two thousand years ago. But disciples still live on. "I (personal pronoun) will be with you, even in you (the Resurrected Lord Jesus), to the end of the world." Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yes, sir.
"Yet a little while the world seeth Me no more; yet, you will see Me, for I will be with you, even in you; the things that I do now, shall you do also, even more, for I'm going to My Father." Is that right? Then if Jesus raised from the dead, living in His church, His life will be reproduced in mankind, proving Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.

58 And now, in this one night of service, hear this, I challenge this little group here of Christian believers to believe that with all your heart. And if Jesus Christ will come to this platform and will reproduce His life, right here in this audience tonight, I want to ask you something.
I know you've been fasting, many of you, and praying. That's the reason there's such a wonderful spirit in here, tonight. How it's banking up, as I can feel it moving.
Now, as I've told you, I'm not a fanatic. I tell the truth. A man of honor will tell the truth. And, friends, I got around ten million people I'm in contact with around the world. Been all around the world... I've got to watch what I say. And I wouldn't bring reproach on Jesus Christ for nothing. I tell the truth, and God testifies it's the truth. If I tell you something, you have a right to disbelieve me; but when God testifies that that's the truth, you shouldn't disbelieve God. Is that right? You shouldn't. So, the Lord bless you.

59 I want you now tonight, to every person in the audience: Don't stir. Be reverent. You're in church. And just sit... I'm sorry I chop up a message like this, but I just had to kind-of cram it in, to have this night of healing service.
Now, we're going to start praying for the sick. And I trust that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will come tonight and bring to pass these things that I have talked about. "The things that I do, shall you also. For I will come and be with you, even in you, to the end of the world." And may God grant tonight, before this Columbus audience, that Jesus Christ, the Person of His Being, will come in to this group of people tonight, and will manifest, and make sure to every believer that He's risen from the dead. He is not dead. He's alive. He's among us tonight and will manifest Himself. God bless you, while we bow our heads.

60 Our kind heavenly Father, we want to thank You from the depths of our hearts for Your loving kindness of ever sending Jesus to us. And, O God, to think that we poor alienated people, one time cut off without mercy, Gentiles... Two thousand years ago, we Anglo-Saxon people were walking around with a club on our shoulders---heathens, worshipping idols, four-footed beasts and birds. In due season, Jesus died, the innocent for the guilty, and redeemed us back to God.
And now, tonight, we're so close to Him till even we are called His sons and daughters. It does not yet appear what we shall be in the end, but we know, we will have a body like His, for we are going to see Him as He is.
And I ask You tonight, kind heavenly Father, to take these few chopped up words, after being standing here, worn out, tired, and so forth. Not expecting to have this type of service here tonight. But I pray, God, that You will override the opposition and will come and anoint Your unprofitable, unworthy servant, that Your dear people here, the purchase of Your blood, might know of a sure, that Your dear Son, Jesus Christ, has risen from the dead and living among us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Grant it, Lord, for we ask it in His name. Amen.

61 I hardly know just how to begin to start a meeting here. (Where's Billy Paul? What prayer cards did you give out? Where about?) All right. They gave out some prayer cards down here, awhile ago, just about a hundred of them or something like that. It's a little card just about like this here, and it's got my picture on one side, and on the back it's got a number. And it'll be P's on there. And when we get in the other place, well, we'll give them out every day to you.
But you don't need the prayer card to be healed. The only thing you need is just believe what I've told you to be the truth, see. Now, I've preached, and I pray that God will come and preach now. Let Him do it. (Is the organist...? All right, sister.)

62 Now, I want to ask this now, before... If the Holy Spirit comes and reproduces the resurrected Lord Jesus, just like He was then, will every one of you here tonight be grateful to God and thank God for it? God bless you.
Now, to the sick and the afflicted, may God be with you, wherever you are. Why, I don't see no one that would look like was crippled up or sick, but you're bound to be in here. Now, I want to say to you, that it'll probably be in... It's a semiconscious. One more word, so I can get it close to you.
How many in here ever dreamed a dream? Let's see your hand. There's half of the people or more. Well, that's about right. About one-third of the people never dream a dream. Well, what if I asked you to dream me a dream? You couldn't do it. There is no way for you to do that.

63 Look. Let me show you. Here's the first... What are you doing when you're dreaming? It's a subconscious. Do you all hear that? Now, look. Here is a man in his first conscience. Here's the man in his second conscience, his subconscious. Now, when this one is inactive, this one becomes active.
You dream dreams. Many of you dream. You dreamed dreams years ago; you still remember them tonight, that you dreamed. Is that right? Well, what part of you was where? If you still remember it. When you come back here, you remember what you dreamed of. And when you're dreaming, you dream of things that you did out here. That's that dual conscience. That's the reason people say, "Oh, I got faith, Brother Branham." It's just first conscience. Let it get down into this one time and watch what happens, when they both go to agreeing together, see. All right.
But it's just up here, a knowledge belief. But when it comes down here, it becomes a reality, when they're both in agreement with that up there, see. They all three agree then. But now, there's some people that doesn't dream a dream, you in here that doesn't dream. You're very sound sleepers, aren't you? Your subconscious would be back there at the wall. You'd never get to it.

64 But this man who's dreaming, he can't help dreaming. And God deals in dreams sometimes, if there's an interpreter. It's not too accurate 'less there is an interpreter. There was with Joseph and so forth and King Nebuchadnezzar, at many places in the Bible.
But now, look. This man can't help because he doesn't dream. This man can't help because he does dream. That's the way God made you. Is that right? But a seer ... or, a prophet, as we'd... Prophet's a preacher, or a seer; his subconscious is not back there, neither is it here; it's right here. They're both together. That man sleeps real sound. A dreamer doesn't sleep very sound, and a seer doesn't go to sleep at all. Just one to the other. God speaks through that. See what I mean?

65 Now, you can't make yourself... And it don't make you any more than anybody else. One's a Christian; this a Christian; this a Christian. They're every one sons of God, see. But it's just the way God has set us to do those things. Now, the Lord bless you.
(What did you say that was? Hundred?) All right. We just can't call too many at a time. We'll have to call them just by few. Look at your prayer card now. And let's start... Let's call from ... start from 50 right now, to begin with. Who's got prayer card P-50? Raise up your hand. P-50. Look over your prayer cards. All right. Is he here? Maybe he stepped out. P-51, who has 51? 51? You, lady? Come right over here. P-52, who has... 52? You go right... You line up there behind her, if you will. Who has P-53, hold up your hand, P-53? There. 54, who has 54, prayer card 54? Right here, all right, lady. 55, who has 55? P-55, right here, sir? All right. 56? All right, lady. 57, 57?
[Gap in the audio.] ...

66 outside of my son and the Reverend Colette, is the only persons that I know and see. But do you know Jesus Christ knows every one of you? How many of you out there now, doesn't have prayer cards, doesn't have the prayer card, yet you say, "Lord, I want You to heal me tonight." I want you to raise your hand. That's wonderful. It's just everywhere, so you couldn't hardly tell which is which. I will do this. These people standing here with prayer cards... You out there pray with all your heart, and say, "I believe, Lord, that You're going to heal me." And watch the same Lord Jesus that could tell the woman touched the hem of His garment, watch Him turn around and speak to you, see. You believe He is the same?
[Gap in the audio.] ...

67 her finger touched Him. Won't He turn the same way? He turned in the Person of man. But He's still... It'd be the Lord Jesus. I don't know you; you know that. But He does know you, doesn't He? All right. If the organist will, can you play that "Abide With Me," sister? Do you have it there, if you will?
Now, I want everyone reverent. Now, remember anywhere in the building... So I have to say this. It's the law in most of the states, 'cause there has been some horrible things happen. If there's a critic or an unbeliever present, I will not be responsible for what happens. You should leave the building now (see) a critic or an unbeliever. For be it assured that I am not responsible; we are not playing church.

68 Actually, unclean spirits, epileptic demons go out, and they go to others. I'm responsible for a Christian, 'cause he is a believer. But an unbeliever, you know... Many of you... How many has been in my meetings, and see those things happen? I've seen even chairs come up when demons would be contrary, and as many as twenty or thirty fall at one time with epilepsy, frothing in their mouth, to the floor.
So you have to be careful. So by the state law, I've got to make that announcement. I'll not be responsible for critics or unbelievers. So if you're here, if a Christian brother, I ask you to not stay in the building now.

69 Now, while this lovely song is being chorded low, now, may we just all silently go in prayer. Now, every few moments, somebody let me know... Now, it's going to be real hard, because look. On the platform, you that's been in my meetings before, you know that everything is clear around. Is that right? But there's sick people sitting here, probably, and all around like this and here's spirits moving everywhere, see. And God help me to know what is ... to get it right, see. 'Cause it's from both sides.
Usually I don't... No one is on the platform but my manager, Mr. Baxter. He is the only one that comes to the platform. But now, we can't do it in this church. And to you people... Now, if the Lord Jesus will reproduce His life here, how many of you is going to accept Him as Healer? Let's see your hands. "I'll accept Him as Healer." If He'll do right here what He said that He would do, you believe Him? All right. The Lord bless.

70 All right, let's see. (Where's the people that's sick? They're right ... right here? This lady? All right.) Now, everyone just reverent as you can be. Just stand right here, if you will. Now, everyone please... See, if the Holy Spirit anoints me, after a few patients, I'll become unconscious, you, see. You go into another conscience: another dimension, if you want to call it that. And it sees what has been and what will be, see.
And I want you to be reverent and respect the Lord Jesus that I am representing to you, your Saviour. And to you Christians here, I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to do. And around me everywhere is to represent Jesus Christ to this audience.
Now, don't stir around. Just be reverent. And now, thank you, sister, very much.

71 Now, the lady here, of course... I want to talk to her, just a few moments. I just want you to answer me, just like our Lord stood at the well and answered the ... called the woman. What I think He did then, He was contacting her spirit, see.
I'm a man. You're a woman. We are probably raised ... born years apart, and raised miles apart, and perhaps this is our first time ever meeting in life. Is that right? First time we've ever met in life. I know nothing of you, never seen you, know nothing of you. God knows that's true. But I never seen you, know nothing of you.
But Jesus, who is our Saviour, He knows both you and me. Now, if you're His daughter and are in need, I'm His son and sent to do something like preach the Gospel, which I'm not very much...

72 [Gap in the audio] ... hospital. It's a... It's in a room, it's a... It's been an operation. There's an operation. And that operation was a tumor of some sort. And they have... They used some kind of a treatment like a... It's a ... it's a radium, a radium treatment. And it's caused... You now are suffering with something wrong in the kidneys, a kidney trouble. Are them things the truth? If that's the truth, would you raise your hand if that's the truth? Now, that, you heard, that wasn't me. That was my voice, but that's Him that's talking to you. See what I mean? Now, audience, you see what I mean? Now, He's here. He's here to heal the whole group now, see.
I want to pray for you. Kind, loving, heavenly Father, let Thy mercies be upon our sister, and may she go, and whatever is her need, may it be granted. Thou hast said, "These signs shall follow them that believe: If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." And while Your blessed anointed Spirit is on Your unprofitable servant, I condemn the disease of her body, and send her home to be made well. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
God bless you, sister. Go happy, rejoicing. Believing with all your heart.

73 All right, bring her... Oh, it's this man? How do you do, sir? Perhaps maybe we are strangers to each other. [The brother speaks to Bro. Branham.] You saw me at Connersville. But I mean to meet one another there. All right. Now, being strangers to each other, well then, I perceive now that you are a Christian, because your spirit feels welcome, see. And I know it's a Christian spirit in you. And God knows all about you. Isn't that right?
Do you believe with all your heart? Just have faith; don't doubt. Now, every one of you out there... Someone contacted then. It left from me.
Do you believe God will heal you of that rupture, that hernia? You believe it? Stand up on your feet then. Say, I accept my healing now, in the name of the Lord Jesus. God bless you.
Have faith. The same resurrected Lord Jesus lives tonight.

74 I suppose that us being strangers, but you're conscious that something's going on. That's His presence. Do you believe me to be His servant? You're having... Your trouble's in your ears. And then you're... What's the whole main thing, you're nervous, real nervous, upset, and that's your disposition. You've been that way practically all your life, of a disposition. But you've come to me for another purpose. You've come to me, that I'd lay hands on you for spiritual things. Isn't that right? I'm not reading your mind. But you can't hide your life now. You're in His presence. That's right. I hear somebody... [Gap in the audio.]
Is your name Don, and your last name Allen? Isn't that right? You're not from this city. You're from Hamilton. Is that right? And is your house number 1111? Isn't that right? Go back. You're going to receive what you've asked for. In the name of Jesus Christ.
All right. Everybody have faith now; believe with all your heart. Now, you have no right to doubt God. But if I tell the truth, God testifies I tell the truth. That's the way He does.

75 All right, this lady here. We are... Now, just everybody be reverent. I'm not beside... I know where I am. It's the... 'Course, it makes you weak. The prophet Daniel saw a vision and was troubled in his head for many days.
We are strangers, I suppose, aren't we, lady? We don't know each other. But God knows both of us. Isn't that right? You believe me to be His seer ... or, His servant? You believe me to be God's servant? You believe that I am His servant? ["Yes, sure. Yes, I do."] Well, then... No, just tonight. Well, God bless you. I see it turning dark around... No, it's a ... it's an operation. You got a growth in your neck. And that operation is set for tomorrow. Isn't that right? ["That's right."]
O God, may Your mercy come to our sister, and may she recover and be made well and normal again for God's glory. We ask in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Go rejoicing and thanking God now. As you believe, so be it to you. God bless you.

76 You like to get over that gall bladder trouble, and be made well? Believe God would do it? If you'd believe it with all your heart, you could have what you ask for. Just accept it, if you believe it.
You believe? We're strangers to each other. I've never seen you in my life. But God knows all about you, doesn't He? And He knows me. You're conscious that something is going on, aren't you, lady? Now, just so that this audience will know. It's a real strange feeling around where you're at. That's that fire, that... I hope the audience sees it, you see. But that's what you're feeling, see. It's there. It's contacting you.
I see some kind of a room. It's a white ... it's a... Oh, you had been operated on. Your operation... And they've done something, it's caused a bowel condition. Isn't that right? They made a mistake there. But God is here to correct it. You believe it?
Lord Jesus, I... Satan, you thought you could hide from the doctor, but you can't hide from God. Come out of the woman. In the name of Jesus Christ, I ask that you leave. Amen. Go, my sister. May God go with you and bless you.

77 Have faith. Believe. Jesus said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible."
Having headaches, aren't you? Real persistent headaches? You were sitting there praying that I'd turn around and talk to you. I'm not reading your mind, but that's right. And before you left home, you prayed the same thing. Isn't that right? Now, I want you stand ---there with the red coat on---to stand up. That's migraine headaches. It's left you now; you can go home and be made well. Jesus Christ makes you well.
How do you do? Now, be reverent. Have faith. Don't doubt. I suppose we're strangers to one another? God knows both of us. I don't know you, but God does. We're just two men that's met here on earth, and our paths has crossed this way. But He knows all about us. And He can supply everything that we have need of, if we just believe on His Son, Christ Jesus, and accept it. Is that right? You're a Christian. I just wanted to see what kind of spirit you had. That's exact... Sometimes Satan tries to put something over on you, so I test in the Spirit.

78 All right. You believe. Now, I see you... You're having some... You keep sitting up in a bed; just keep sitting... Oh, it's you can't sleep. You got ... you're nervous. Isn't that right? Nervous condition, you just can't sleep at night. And it's a... You're not from here. I see you coming through some kind of a place where they're checking up on you or something, it's a... Oh, it's immigration. You're from Canada, Windsor, Ontario. Is that right? And you are an evangelist, a minister. Isn't that right? And your initial is J. W. and your name is Price ... Reed; J. W. Reed. I see it on that box sign there where you're taking up your mail, see. Well, you're going home to be well now. Come here.
Loving, heavenly Father, the enemy that has brought this condemnation upon the man, I ask that it leaves him. So, Satan, turn him loose. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
God bless you, brother. Go back now wherever you come from, rejoicing and be made well, 'cause God is with you now and He is going to make you well.

79 Let's say, "Thanks be to God." Do you believe? Do you believe me to be His servant? ["Yes, sir."] You must believe now, sister, 'cause you realize your condition. You got cancer, and you're not going to live long, unless God touches you. Isn't that right? Come here, my sister.
Kind, heavenly Father, let Thy mercies be shown unto the woman. May she go from here tonight normally and well. I condemn this enemy, with this church and these believing people. In the name of Jesus Christ, may it leave her. Amen.
God bless you, sister. Go happy now, rejoicing, thanking God. Just believe it's gone from you now; but when it goes out, it'll come back again. If you just say, "Thank you, Lord." Just keep on rejoicing. It can't come back then (you see), you're giving God praise.

80 All right. Come, sir. I'll tell you something. You sat right down there awhile ago, and when I was speaking, you were believing what I was saying. Is that right? ["That's correct."] Well, your heart trouble left you while you were sitting down there. Now, you can go on back here and be made well. God bless you.
Do you believe, sir, with all your heart? We're strangers to one another, but Jesus Christ knows us both. Now, I see you moving away from me. Yes, you have stomach trouble. It's an ulcerated stomach. It's caused from a peptic condition from a nervous ... caused nervous... It runs a prostate, 'cause you're getting up at nights and things like that. Isn't that true? You believe me as God's prophet? Go out and eat your supper, a hamburger, and go home; forget it. You're going to be well in the name of Jesus Christ. May God make him well.

81 Come, lady. Do you believe with all your heart, lady? If I could heal you, I'd do it. I can't. But if I be God's servant, your life can't be hid. Isn't that right? You realize you're in the presence of Something besides your brother. Is that right? It's His presence. Had a hard time, haven't you, lady? Life hasn't been a flowery bed of ease for you, I see. Been always all your life, kind of a nervous, upset condition. Especially when you was a school child, you had a lot of trouble with it. That's true. Four little plats. But now, you're suffering now, with a stomach trouble. That's what it was. Isn't that right? All female condition, all that? Come here, a minute.
Almighty God, may Thy blessings come upon the woman. May she go home and be well. In Jesus Christ's name, I condemn the enemy. Amen.
God bless you, sister. Go believing now, with all your heart and rejoicing, thanking God for your healing.

82 All right. Come, lady. Do you believe with all your heart? The most dreaded disease of the world: a heart trouble. It's a nervous heart. You usually have your trouble, I notice, when you lay down, smothering. What does that is when you eat, the gas runs up to your heart, what does it. It's a nervous heart; it isn't one of them kinds... But you're going to get all right. I see it turn light around you. So God bless you, sister.
I bless my sister, Father. In the name of Jesus Christ, may she live. God bless you, sister. Go, believing with all your heart now.
You had heart trouble too. There's something struck you when you... That was when you was healed. Go saying, "Praise the Lord."
Kidney trouble been bothering you? You going to believe that God healed you setting there? Just go off the platform, saying, "Thank you, Lord Jesus," and you'll be made well.

83 Let's say, "Praise the Lord." Do you believe? What our Lord Jesus does here, He can do out there. All things are possible to them that believe. You believe it? Be with accord now. Right now, the Holy Spirit can heal every person in here, make every one of you sound and well.
All right. Come, lady. Do you believe with all your heart? If God will let me know what your trouble is, just like He said to the woman at the well, "Go get your husband." That was her trouble. If He'd tell me... (The visions make me so weak, you see, I...) You believe? Got kidney trouble in your back. Is that right? You did have. You haven't now. Go home, your faith has saved you. In Jesus Christ's name.
Arthritis and things bothered you a long time, hasn't it, lady? You believe you're going to get well now? May you receive it, sister. Go and believe it with all your heart. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

84 Every person in here could be made well, right now, if you'd just believe. Friends, God knows all things, doesn't He? There is nothing hid to God. He knows all things, before the world began. He knows all things now. [Unclear words.]
Oh, my. If you could only see what's sweeping in this building. How the glory of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ... I know Him now. I know He's here. Therefore, everything is subject to Him. There's nothing but what God can move and do; all things ready...
Would you come? Do you believe? Do you believe you were healed while you was sitting there? A few things in life you want to give up yet, isn't there? Now, you go give it up, and you're going to get well. God bless you. In the name of Jesus Christ.
Let's say, "Praise the Lord." Oh, what He could do to this audience, right now. You may... You have no right to doubt what I'm telling you right now. It's just like a solid bank over this audience, right now, just like the Holy Spirit just moving in the audience. Will you believe me? If you do, say, "Amen."

85 I want you to put your hand over on one another, and I'll show you what God will do just now to the sick and the afflicted. I don't care how sick you are, how bad off you are. I want you to believe right now that God's going to do it. If God, here at this platform, can condemn each individual disease, He can condemn the whole group. Now, I want you to believe. Every person in the building is healed. Jesus Christ did it nineteen hundred years ago. You're here to accept it. There's only one thing that keeps you from having it. That's that little thought of a doubt. So, I'm going to rebuke that.
Lord God, I condemn that demon of doubt hanging over this audience. In the name of Jesus Christ, Satan, come out of the people. Come out of there. Now, I condemn you, Satan, that you leave from this people.

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 So happy to be here this afternoon, to speak to you of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And we trust that it will be a great day for us all. Coming to your ... here to visit you this time, I have come very tired. I haven't been at my best. I just left a great meeting in the States, and come right over here. And so, I am thankful that you have put up with me. So, we have done... I've done my best, though. And I am trusting that God will just do the exceedingly, abundantly for you.
Say, I'm so happy to hear that many of the German and French people have come. I want to visit your nation, too, someday when the Lord will permit, and you'd want me. So, I pray that it'll be all right.

2 After my meeting here, a friend of mine is coming: Tommy Hicks. I hardly know Tommy, but what I know of him, a lovely man, a real Christian. Come to hear him. I have another friend in America, Oral Roberts. He ... he was one of my converts to divine healing. Many of them... Out of the services, the Lord has brought forth about five hundred ministers of divine healing.
So, we're happy to meet these friends over here, who believe the same message. I commend Tommy Hicks to you. Receive him, in the name of the Lord Jesus. He will be following this meeting. Now, Brother Tommy isn't a seer, but he is a minister of the Gospel, has much faith in Jesus. That's why we love him, because he loves Jesus.

3 Now, this afternoon has been given for my life story, in the boyhood form. The next time I come over, I want to bring you the picture of the Angel of the Lord, where the scientific world in America took the picture of it. It is written today; the world cannot deny it. Many times they say, "I don't believe that, preacher," because they don't believe God. But, they have to believe science, for it's scientifically proven. So, they're without excuse. They will have to meet God someday.

4 I would like to ask you something: What good would it do me to come here to this nation, and be a hypocrite, and misrepresent something? What gain would there be to me? I take money, no. I don't take money in America. I'm a poor man, and the people just send me over. I've got four children, a wife, and I have to have just enough for us to eat. My clothes are give to me. So, I have no reason to come to misrepresent anything. I come because in my heart I love you, and I want you to love Jesus. And that's the reason I come.
Do you know if I would come as a deceiver, do you know God wouldn't let me in heaven? No deceivers will be in heaven; no hypocrites will be in heaven. I've got a wife in heaven. I've got a baby in heaven. I want to see them. But if I'm a deceiver, well, then I will never see them no more. So, what good would it do me? I believe what I preach, because I know what it is. And I believe if I wouldn't preach it, then I wouldn't go to heaven, sure enough. So, that's why I'm here.

5 Now, we're going to read the Scriptures, found in Hebrews, the 13th chapter, beginning with the 10th verse, to the 14th. Now, listen close to the reading of the Scripture. And my text is the 14th verse.
[The interpreter reads Hebrews 13:10-14.]
We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

6 I am so thankful for that. "Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come." That's what we all are doing.
I was just thinking while the brother was reading: Just look sitting along here at the masses of sick people. I do not claim to be a healer. You'll bear me record of that. From the very first night until now, I have said I'm not a healer. There's no other man that's a healer. It is Jesus Christ, and your faith in Him. If I only had the power, I'd go down here and make every one of these sick people well. I haven't the power. No one else has the power. If they ever get well, it will be their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus brings His Word, and He shows signs that He does love them.

7 But God's program is, His contract with the people, "If thou canst believe."
You remember the two blind men? They said, "Have mercy, Lord."
Jesus said, when He touched their eyes, He said, "Now, according to your faith, be it unto you."
The woman that was healed, that touched His garment... He said, "Thy faith has healed thee."
The man with the epileptic child said, "Have mercy on my child."
He said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible." God doesn't change. The people knew He was the Son of God.
All... But the church members didn't believe it. The Pharisees, Sadducees, "No, He's not." But as many as believed, they got healed, and they got saved.
Now, same today.

8 But look, before I would try to take away the only hope that these people have... Do you realize there's people here with heart trouble, cancer, TB, that no doctor can touch? The only hope they have is Jesus Christ. And you who would try to take that away from them, woe unto your sinful soul! Be like taking the bread away from a hungry man. These people want to be well. The doctors done all they can do. And they know of others being well. They come listen at the meeting, many of them get saved and they're made well. And then you try to rob them from that? You shouldn't do that, my brother. You should encourage them. They're human beings. They're brothers and sisters. It's somebody's daddy. It's someone's mother, someone's little child. Let's help them. Don't try to keep it away from them.
That's my motive, to try to help someone. And one of these days, I'm coming to the end of the road. I'll be finished then, when I lay my head upon the pillow; my works on earth is done. I expect to meet Him in peace. And I hope I hear Him say, "It was well done, My good and faithful servant. Enter into life."

9 Shall we pray?
Heavenly Father, help us now, to know Your dear Son. And as I approach, down the road from whence I have traveled, and renew these things in my mind and heart again, may all my mistakes be stepping stones to those are here today. And may they come to Christ, and be saved, in Jesus' name. Amen.
[Brother Branham speaks aside to the interpreter.]
I will try not to keep you but just a little while. This is the afternoon, just before the closing of the service. They say they have an overflow in the other arena, and I trust you out there will feel the Holy Spirit and come to the Lord Jesus.
Now, the Bible says, "Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come." People here today from Germany. No matter, their cities might have been torn up in the war, but it's still home to you. Some from France; no matter how bad the city is, it's still home. Some of you from over in the mountains and farms; no matter how small the home was, it holds a memory of the childhood. All of us want to think our cities are the better. Men fight to try to prove that, but it's all in vain. For, "Here we have no continuing city, but we're seeking one to come." That's the one I'm looking for. That's the one we're all looking for. We will live in the same [unclear word]. There'll be no more shooting guns, and dying. [Gap in the audio] ... live together forever.

10 When I was born, I come from parents that was not Christian. Before me, my father and mother's people were Catholic. And they come from Ireland. They had immigrated to the U.S. But my father and mother did not go to church. And I was born up in the mountains, in a little log cabin; no floor, just the ground. We didn't have a table. Father had cut a stump in two ... or, log, and made a table. We had no lights. We had grease in a can, and a piece of goods in there, to burn for a wick. There was no windows in the house, just a little door you opened up. Our mattresses on the bed was made of straw. Very poor.
My mother was fifteen, and my daddy was eighteen. And the morning when I was born, April the sixth, 1909, at five o'clock in the morning. There was no doctor; they had a mid-wife. And when I was born, I only weighed five pounds; very small.

11 And mother wanted to see what I looked like. The little candle light didn't give enough light, so they opened up the little window over the bed. It was daylight. And when they opened the window, that light of fire sailed in. They all started weeping. They didn't know what that meant. It was right over where I was at.
The same picture that they've taken in America (We have it here.), and the write on it, that tells from the scientific world, it's absolutely a supernatural being. The man said the mechanical eye of the camera wouldn't take psychology. And he is one of the head of the FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigations. And he is right. He said, "The light struck the lens."

12 When I was about eight, ten days old, my mother taken me to a little Baptist church. That's the only church in the country. That was my first visit to the house of God. Later we moved to Indiana. That was in the state of Kentucky.
And later on, at the age of about seven years old, I was packing water one day from a well. And I passed by a tree. I was weeping. I didn't want to pack the water. I wanted to go fishing with the rest of the children. But when I heard something in the tree, like a roaring of a wind, I looked up. I seen nothing but just a place in the tree, about that big around, roaring around. And I kept looking, and I wondered why it just stayed there, like a little whirlwind. And none of the rest of the leaves were shaking. And I heard a voice of a man up there, said, "Don't never drink. Don't drink, and don't never smoke, or defile yourself with women, for there is a work for you to do when you get older."
Oh, I was scared. I dropped my bucket, and I ran to the house, screaming. And I jumped in my mother's arms. And I said, "There's a man in that tree." They went down to look; nobody there. They called the doctor, and he said I was just nervous. I said, "No, I seen, and I heard Him speak." And I never would go by that tree.

13 A little later on, about two weeks later, I was playing marbles with my brother, and I felt something come to me. We lived up on a hill, and the river was below us; a wilderness around. And I saw a bridge come up out of the wilderness. And it started across the river. Sixteen men dropped off into the water, and perished. And I seen a big sign; it said, "Twenty-two years." I run in and told my mother.
Oh, she said, "Son, you're nervous. You went to sleep and you were dreaming."
I said, "No. No, I saw it."
So, they wrote it down on a piece of paper. And twenty-two years from then, the great bridge crossed the river, and sixteen men dropped off of it, and drowned in the river. Every time, it's perfect.

14 When I went to school as a little boy, many children had been born into the family. My father and mother had nine boys and one girl, nine boys and one girl. And then the girl was the baby. I am the oldest. We had to work very hard. I went to school poorly dressed. I would go sometime, with one of my father's shoes on one feet, and my mother on the other. And very poor. We wanted to take something to eat. I'd take a little piece of bread, wrapped up, and take a bucket with some greens in it. My brother and I were ashamed to eat with the rest of the children. We'd go out in the woods, and sit down, and take a spoon, and each eat out of the bucket, and give each other a bite off the bread.

15 I remember one time at Christmas, my mother had popped some corn. And she give it to us in a little bucket. And we went to school with it. So, I did wrong: I asked to be excused during time of school. And when I went through the cloakroom, I took a big handful of popcorn out of the box, and went out and eat it, to be sure I got my share. We didn't have it very often, maybe every two or three years. And then when brother come out and we went to eat, he seen part of it was gone. I was sorry.
A few ... about two years ago, I was standing at the same place. My brother is in Heaven now. I would do anything I could if I could take that handful of corn to him today. I can't now. So, don't never do anything wrong, 'cause it'll come back to you someday.

16 I remember when we went to school together, there come a great snow, and all the boys had sleighs to ride on. But we didn't have any, so we got a big dishpan and slide down in it. Well, we wasn't in as much class as the rest of them, but we were sliding.
Well, life went on. When I become a young man... Why, I was about fourteen---fifteen years old. You know how boys get about that age. Well, I wanted to get a little girl friend. So, I found a little girl I thought was very pretty. You know, brethren, your first girl friend: Eyes like a dove, and teeth like pearl, neck like a swan. You love them? Just a boy. Now, you know, brethren, you've been through the same thing. And so, a neighbor of mine, his boy, my age, why, he got his father's car, so we taken our girls for a ride. And we had just a little bit of money, so we got some sandwiches and Coke. And when I returned, to my surprise, my pretty little girl was smoking a cigarette. My, I didn't want none of that. Hmm! I think that's the lowest thing that a woman can do. I haven't changed my mind since.
Your lovely country here, I appreciate the morals of your country. I have never seen a woman with immorally dressed, or any woman smoke a cigarette. I love you for that. Our America is polluted with it. Don't never do that, sister. Very bad!

17 Now, when she had this cigarette, acting smart, I looked at her. And she said, "You want a cigarette, Billy?"
I said, "No, ma'am." I said, "I don't smoke."
She said, "Now, you don't smoke, you say you don't dance, and you don't go to theaters." Said, "What do you like to do."
I said, "Go fishing and hunting." But that didn't interest her.
And she said, "Take a cigarette."
I said, "No."
She said, "You big sissy."
At the same time, I was training to be a boxer. Which, I did win the bantam weight championship, and was going up for the world championship, and I give it up for the Gospel. But I said, "Give me the cigarette, and I'll show you whether I'm a sissy or not." So, I took the cigarette, with determination to smoke it.

18 But when I started to light it, I heard something a whirling around. There come that tree back before me again. And I knew that God said, "Don't you never smoke." So, I threw it down, and run away, and went out in the field and started crying. And I asked God to let me die. Nobody wanted me; my people didn't, the young people didn't want me, so I wasn't wanted.
But He's come to me. He said, "I will give you friends; just follow Me."
Went on down through life. I was very bashful then, backward. And I guess you wonder how I ever got married. One day, I met a lovely girl. She was a German girl, and she was a Christian. And I started keeping company with her. Now notice a moment, I want you to get this part of it. I then become a Christian. Going with a girl; after a while we got married.

19 We didn't have nothing of the world, but we had each other. When the day we got married, we had an old stove ... old stove, an old bed, and a little old table. But we loved one another, and that's the main thing. I worked hard to make her a living. After a while, God gave us a little boy, my little Billy Paul. And then, later, a little girl come.
And then one day, I was coming down from Michigan, and I met a church group. They called them the Pentecostals. I had become a minister of the Baptist church. But I heard these people; they were happy, and they were rejoicing. And I wondered why they were so happy. I'd never heard of that kind of religion. I stopped to listen, and I heard them preaching. I stayed all night. The next day they asked me to preach. And I got up and started preaching, and hundreds and hundreds came to Christ. And the ministers come around, and said, "You're a Baptist?"
I said, "Yes."
Said, "Come preach for us."

20 So, I put down all the invitations, and I hurried home to my wife. And when she come to meet me, I told her about these happy people. She said, "Oh, Billy, I would like to have that experience." Said, "What do they call it?"
And I said, "They said it was the baptism of the Holy Spirit." I said, "Let us go find Jesus like that." So, we did, and we both received the blessing. So, I was going to leave then, to go on evangelistic work.
So, we went to tell our parents. Now, her mother was a refined type of woman, belonged to a great big church. She said, "Now, Billy, them people are nothing but trash. There is nothing to them. You stay away from them. I don't want my girl around them."
I said, "Oh, but they were real."
She said, "No. No."
And I said, "I believe they are.
And so, my wife started crying. And there's where I made my fatal mistake.

21 Now, from here, listen. I listened to my mother-in-law instead of God, and forsaken the church, and went on back with the Baptist people. Right away, plagues hit my home. My wife took sick, my father died on my arm, my brother was killed. And everything happened just in a few days. A great flood hit the country, and washed away the homes. My wife was in the hospital. And I was out on a rescue with my boat. And one night, out in the water, my boat got in the current, and was going over a big falls. I couldn't get the motor started, and I raised up my hands, and I said, "Oh, God, don't let me drown. I am not worthy to live, but think of my wife and baby." And I tried again, and it wouldn't start, and I cried again to God. And then, just before going over the falls, the motor started, and I got to the land.

22 And then I tried to find my wife. And when I got to the hospital, it was covered over with water. The dike had broke, and all the waters gushed in. Where was my wife and baby? I begin to find people, [Gap in the audio.] see if there was anyone drowned, but they got away on a train. And here I was sitting on an island, by myself. God gave me a chance, whether to call people trash or not. I said, "God, I know I've misbehaved myself. Don't let my wife be killed."
Weeks later, when the waters went down, I found her, almost dead. TB had hit her, my two children were sick. And I loved my wife. And I run through the building trying to find her. And I screamed for her. And I seen her laying on a cot in a refugee's camp. And her eyes were way back. And she raised her hand; it was real bony. And I started weeping. And she said, "Oh, Bill, I'm sorry I look like this." And I took her in my arms, and I started crying.
I said, "Honey, I'm so sorry that you're so sick."
And the doctor touched me on the back, and he said, "Come here, Rev. Branham." He said, "Rev. Branham," he said, "your wife is dying. There's no way to save her."
Oh! I said, "Surely there's some way, doctor." I began to call specialists, and they come. Nothing could be done. We done everything we knowed to do. She kept going.

23 And one day while I was out patrolling... I was a state game warden at the time, too; because I didn't believe in taking people's money, so I worked for my living. I turned on the radio, and it said, "Rev. Branham, come to the hospital; your wife is dying." I took off my hat, undone the gun, and took off the badge, raised up my hand to God. I said, "God, let her live till I can get there." And I turned on the siren, and run down the road. I stopped in front of the hospital, and run up those stair steps.
And here come my doctor, my buddy. We've been friends together since boyhood. We come to each other's house. He has a great clinic there. And he put his arm around me. He said, "Billy, she's going."
I said, "Will you go back with me, doctor, to the room?"
He said, "I can't." He said, "Hope," that was my wife's name, he said, "I love her like my sister; I can't go back in there." He said, "I'll pray, and you go in."

24 So, I started walking in, and when I shut the door behind me, there was my lovely wife: Beautiful woman, real Christian, mother of my children, dearest thing on earth to me. Her cheeks sunk way in, and she was ... looked like dead. I shook her with my hand. I said, "Hope, speak once more. Please, honey. Oh, God; oh, God, let her just speak once more. I love her so much. Won't you let me talk to her just once more?"
And she opened her eyes. Oh, I shall never forget it. And when she looked at me, she tried to raise her hands for me. And I got down close to her. She said, "Oh, Billy, I love you so much. Billy, I'm going away, and I want you to be a good boy." She was twenty-one. I was twenty-three.
"You know that Holy Ghost we've been talking about?" She said, "Billy, you know you oughtn't to have listened to mama."

25 Oh, I said, "Hope, if I could only live it over." We knew we had done wrong.
And she said, "Promise me something, Billy. That you will preach that message until you die." She said, "For, it's real."
She said, "I was in glory. I seen the Lord Jesus and the angels." Oh, she said, "It's wonderful." She said, "I must go back." Said, "Don't think I'm beside myself, for I'm not." She said, "But I know what I'm speaking of." She said, "Will you promise me that you will preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit until you're gone from this earth?"
I said, "I promise it."
She said, "I'm..." Said, "Take good care of the children." Said, "Take care of Billy."
I said, "I'll do my best."
[Gap in the audio] ... kissed me, and she said, "I'm going."

26 And I said, "Honey, at the resurrection, you stand over at the east side of the gate. And when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob coming in, when you see all the saints coming in, stand there by the post, and keep saying, 'Bill, Bill.' I'll have the children, and I'll meet you there." That's my last date with my wife. By God's help, I'll keep it. She went to be with God. We taken her down to the undertaker.
And then they come to me, and said, "Billy, your baby is dying, too." Oh, I said, "No, it can't be." And I rushed to the hospital, and there laid my little baby, dying. Oh, my heart!
"The way of a transgressor is hard." Remember that. When God calls you, go on, no matter what anybody says. You serve God.

27 I laid my hands on my little baby, I said, "God, please don't take my baby. Let her live." She was my little darling, and I couldn't stand to see her go. And it looked like a black sheet come down. Then I raised up, and put my hand on her head, raised up my hand to God. I said, "God, I'm sorry that I have done the way I did. Forgive me, and please keep my baby here with me. I love her. There lays her mother, dead. Don't take my baby, too. I promise you I'll preach. I don't care what the world says." My heart was breaking, but I know I had to reap what I sowed. I put my hand on the baby again, said, "God, not my will, but Your will be done." And the Angels come, packed her away. Oh, my heart!

28 I went out, I didn't know what to do. I put her in her mother's arms, and put her down in the ground. A few Easters ago, I took my little ... my Billy Paul and a little flower to the grave, early one morning. And the little fellow coming up to the grave---we took off our hats---and he started crying. And he caught me by the hand. He said, "Daddy, you've been mother and daddy, both, to me. Is my mother down there?"
I said, "No, son. Way beyond the river, her soul is in the presence of God, and your little sister's there, too. And in Jerusalem, there's an empty tomb. And she was in Christ, and she will come forth, too, some morning." And I held him up to my bosom, the little fellow was crying. I said, "Honey, daddy has got to preach the Gospel. I get lots of persecution, but someday, you and I, we will meet Mommy, in peace, with God." We put the flower on the grave. We walked away.

29 When she was dead, and I went out and buried her, I couldn't get over it. I could see her going, but I couldn't see the baby going. Why should that little baby go?
And I was working, trying to pay off the debts. And I was living in a little shanty house, just one room, and a little old cot. And the little old... The floor would be freezing over with ice, at night. And one night I come in, and I picked up the mail, and in there had a letter to Miss Sharon Rose Branham. Oh, my! My heart ached. And I knelt down and started praying. I said, "Father, I can't stand it no more. I just can't live. My baby! My wife! What can I do?"

30 And then, being a game warden (a game warden, conservation officer), I took my gun, pulled back the hammer, and put it up to my head, and raised my hand. I said, "Oh, God, I hate to be a coward, but I can't stand it no more. I'm going mad. I have to take my life." And I pulled the trigger, and it would not fire. I pulled again, and it didn't fire. And then I opened it up, and there was the bullets in it. And I pulled the trigger then, up in the air, and it went off. I threw the gun away. I said, "Oh, God, I can't even rid myself." I worried. I loved them. And I was getting delirious. And then a deep sleep come over me.

31 Now listen to this: the love of God. I thought I was going, walking along, out West. I was dreaming, of course. And I thought I seen an old wagon with the wheel broke off, which meant my broken family. And I seen standing by the wheel, a beautiful girl: her pretty eyes. And I passed by her. And in the west of America, it's custom to tip your hat to women. And I said, "Good morning."
She said, "Hello, dad."
I turned, I said, "You called me your father."
She said, "You are."
Oh, I said, "You can't be, because you're as old as I am."
She said, "Father, up here, we don't grow. We are immortal."
I said, "Who are you."
She said, "On earth, I was your little Sharon Rose."
Oh, I said, "Surely not."
She said, "Where's my brother, Billy Paul?"
I said, "I don't know."
She said, "Daddy, mother is waiting for you."
I said, "Mother? Where is mother?"
She said, "Up in your new home."
I said, "Home." Branhams don't have homes, we are ... we are poor.
She said, "But, daddy, you got a home here."

32 And I turned, and there was a beautiful home. Christian, that's where my treasures is today. That's where my home is. That's what my hopes are. And I looked at that big, beautiful home. Our people are poor people. And I said, "I don't own that.
She said, "Yes, that's yours, and mama is waiting for you."
So, I went up the road, with my hands up, singing, "My Home Sweet Home." And here come my wife out, her beautiful, black hair, her black eyes. She reached out her arms to receive me, like she always did. And I run up, took her by the hand, kissed her on the back of the hand, and knelt down. I said, "Oh Hope, is that our little Sharon down there? What a beautiful girl she made."
And she put her arm around me. She said, "Billy, you are so tired." She said, "You have been preaching so hard, and praying for the sick." And I had never prayed for the sick to that time. She said, "I have watched you." And she said, "Won't you sit down?
And I said, "Yes." And I looked around, and there was a big chair. And I looked at the chair, and she looked back to me.
She said, "I know what you're thinking."

33 When we were married, we didn't have any furniture, but just a little bit. And we wanted to buy a chair. And we started making payments on the chair. Oh, I loved that chair. When I'd come home tired after preaching, I'd lay back in the chair. And I got so I couldn't make the payments then, and they come and got the chair. And we both just had cried, because we couldn't pay for the chair.
But she looked at me, she said, "Billy, they will never come get that one." Said, "That one's already paid for." I know sometime...
A woman asked me the other day, she said, "Brother Branham, when do you ever get any rest?"
I said, "I don't." I said, "Sometime, I'll get it, though, when I cross the borders, over on the other side. I got a home there. I got a wife there. And above all things, I got a Saviour there."

34 Some day, when you people here in Switzerland hear that Brother Branham has gone home, don't weep; rejoice, for I've gone to a better home where I'll never get tired anymore. I don't want to be a baby, to be weeping. But if you only knew the story of the heartaches, and all that I've went through with, to get this Gospel to the people, you'd understand why I'm weeping. I want to see people saved. I've got critics. I love them anyhow. I want to see them saved, too. I don't want... I've got to preach the Gospel.
Someday it's going to be over. I'm no boy no more; I'm forty-six. I don't know how much longer I got. But by God's help, I'll stand on His Word, and tell the truth, and preach the Gospel until Jesus shall come, or death will set me free. Then go home, a crown to wear, for there's a crown for you and me.
Shall we pray.

35 Oh, God, forgive me, Lord, for weeping here in Your service. But when I think of the back life, my beloved, sweet wife, that's waded across the border, and all the mistakes that I made, listening to ministers instead of You, I feel ashamed of myself. Oh, God, help me to continue preaching the real truth. You've been so good to me, and I've been so evil. But I want to try to make it right, by telling others what a real friend You are. How You've come to me when I had no friends, O, God, and you've give me friends. Oh, I'm so thankful for that, Father. Here we are, way over away from the homeland. My mind goes back today, up there on that hillside, a little bunch of roses setting by a tombstone. Someday, if You tarry, I'll be buried there, too.

36 Then I've got to meet every one I preached to. Oh, Father, these lovely Switzerland people, German, French, and all around, they're your children. Oh, God, I pray that You will bless them, and save them from sin. And let them take my mistakes, and not do the same thing. But may they bypass all these evils. Won't you do it, Lord? Save every one, every one. God, even forgive those who persecute. Let thy Spirit of love settle over this nation, this people. Oh, God, we're just human and make so many mistakes. Be merciful, God, and save all the lost, for Jesus' sake.
While you have your heads bowed, I wonder... This poor miserable life of mine, but one of these days, I won't be here. I'm going home. Are you a Christian? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? Do you really love Him? If you don't, and you'd like to... This is to you in the overflow, also. Would you like to accept Christ? Would you love to love Him? If you do, all that wants to believe Him today, and say, "Brother Branham, when life is over, I want to go over across the waters, too. And I want to meet Jesus. And I'd like to sit down with you and your wife, over on the other side."

37 If you love the Lord, and you want to accept Him now, to be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, would you raise your hands? God bless you. All the way up in the balconies, on both sides, out in the overflow, God be with you. Oh, you don't know how that makes me feel. God bless you. If you believe God hears my prayer, shows me visions, and you accept me as His servant, would you stand to your feet just a moment? All that wants to accept Christ, to be born again. Oh, my! Thousands.
Would you bow your heads.

38 Oh, God, look at this audience of people. Be merciful, Father. I'm sorry I'm all tore up. But, God, be merciful to the people, and save every one. Those who are on their feet, and those who can't get on their feet, may they all come to Glory in peace. And may they all receive the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
To you who are standing, do you accept Jesus? Say, "Amen." Turn around, shake hands with somebody next to you, and say, "Praise the Lord." Turn right around to somebody near you.

39 God bless you. God be with you. God's peace rest upon you. Oh, I love you! No, I'm not beside myself. I love you. And I'm so happy to see you accept Christ. All that's happy, say, "Amen." Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
Now, all that's sick, put your hands up in the air, ask God to heal. Oh, God, in Jesus' name, heal every sick person. Get glory, Lord. I commit them to Your hand, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Life Story

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer.
Our gracious Heavenly Father, it is indeed with privileges that we have of approaching Thee, our God and Saviour. Hearing this marvelous song, How Great Thou Art, it thrills us because that we know that Thou art great. And we pray that Your greatness will be manifested to us anew this afternoon as we speak. And it is fallen my lot, for the first time in many years, to try to go back into life's past. And I pray that You'll give me strength, and what I need, Lord, to be in this hour. And may all my mistakes in life only be a stepping-stone to others, that would bring them closer to Thee. Grant it, Lord. May sinners see the footprints on the sands of time, and may they be led to Thee. These things we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
You may be seated.

2 [Brother Branham speaks aside to Brother Glover.]
All right, sir, thank you. As this sainted man, Brother Glover, that I've known now for some years, had the privilege of being with him a while last evening, and he told me he had been laid up for a little while, resting. And now, at seventy-five years old, is returning back into the service of the Lord. I'm not half as tired as I was before I heard that. I thought I was tired, but I don't believe I am. He had just placed here to me some handkerchiefs, in the form of envelopes and so forth, where they're inside and already backed.

3 Now, any of you in radio land, or here, that desires one of these handkerchiefs (and the Angelus Temple sends them out constantly, all the time), you could write right here to Angelus Temple and they'll pray over it; because I will assure you that it's the Scripture. It's a promise of God.
And if it would be that you'd want me to pray over one for you, why, I will be glad to do that. You just would write me at Post Office Box 3-2-5, 325, Jeffersonville, spelt J-e-f-f-e-r-s-o-n-v-i-l-l-e. Jeffersonville, Indiana. Or if you cannot think of the post office box, just write "Jeffersonville." It's a small city, population about thirty-five thousand. Everyone knows me there. And so we would be glad to pray over a handkerchief and send to you.

4 And, now, we have had great success in doing this, because... You'll have a little form letter with it, that people around the world pray every morning at nine o'clock, and at twelve o'clock, and at three o'clock. And you can imagine, around behind the world, what time of the night they have to get up to make this prayer. So if all these tens of thousands, times thousands, are sending prayers to God at that very same time for this ministry, your sickness, God just can't turn that away. And so now we, as I say, we don't have any programs, we're not wanting one penny of money. We're just... If we can help you, that's what we're here for. And let us... Someone is bringing another bunch of handkerchiefs.

5 Now, if you do not have a handkerchief that you wanted to send, well, then you just write, anyhow. If you don't need it right now, keep it in the book of Acts, in the Bible, the nineteenth chapter. And it'll be a form of a little white ribbon that will be sent you, and the instructions how to confess your sins first. And (thank you) how to confess your sins. You must never try to get anything from God without first being right with God. See? And then you're instructed in this to call your neighbors in, and your pastor. If you got anything that's in your heart against anyone, go make it right first, and come back. And then pray, have a prayer meeting in your home, and pin this handkerchief to your underneath garment, then believe God. And at that very three hours, each day, there'll be people around the world praying, a chain around the world.

6 And now it's yours, absolutely free, just send. And, now, we will not be writing back to you to dun you or to tell you of some program that we have. We want you to support a program, but we don't have any for you to support. See? So it's not to get your address, it's just merely accommodation and a ministry of the Lord that we're trying to carry on.
Now let us bow our heads. And if you're in radio land, and have your handkerchief laying there, just put your own hand upon it while we pray.

7 Gracious Lord, we bring to Thee these little parcels, perhaps some of them look to be maybe little vests for a baby, or some little undershirt, or maybe a little pair of booties, or something, a handkerchief, that's going to the sick and the afflicted. Lord, it is according to Thy Word that we do this. For we read in the book of Acts that they taken from the body of Your servant Paul handkerchiefs and aprons, because they believed that Your Spirit was on the man. And unclean spirits went out of people, and afflictions and diseases left them, because they believed. And now we realize, Lord, that we're not Saint Paul, but we know that You still remain Jesus. And we pray that You'll honor the faith of these people.

8 And it was said once that when Israel, trying to obey God, had been caught into a trap---the sea before them, the mountains on either side, and Pharaoh's army approaching---and one has said that God looked down through that Pillar of Fire with angered eyes, and the sea got scared, and rolled back itself, and made a path for Israel to cross to the promised land.
O Lord, look down again when these parcels are laid upon the sick bodies in commemoration of Thy living Word, and may the disease get scared. Look through the blood of Thy Son, Jesus, who died for this atonement, and may the enemy be scared and move away; that these people might move into the promise that "Above all things," that it is Your desire "that we prosper in health." Grant it, Father, for we send it with that attitude in our heart. And that's our objective. We send it in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
Thank you, Brother Glover. Thank you, sir.

9 Now, tonight being the closing of this part of the revival, I do not know whether it will be broadcast or not. But I'd like to say (if not) to the radio audience, that this has been one of the finest meetings that I've had for a many, many year. It's been solid, sound, most loving, cooperative meeting that I have been in for a long time.

10 [A brother says, "We're on the air till a quarter past four, brother. And they are listening to you all over southern California, out into the islands, and on the ships. We get messages from them. And so you got a big audience, thousands and tens of thousands."] Thank you, sir. That's very good. Glad to hear that. God bless you all.
And I certainly have always had a warm place in my heart for the Angelus Temple, for its stand for the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, now, it seems to be more personal to me now. It seems like, after meeting everyone and seeing their fine spirit, I seem like I am just more one of you than I used to be. God bless you, is my prayer. And... [Audience applauds.] Thank you, kindly.

11 Now, it was given out that today I was to kind of talk to you a while on my life story. That's a hard thing for me. This will be the first time I have tried to approach it for many years. And I would not have time to go in details, but just part of it. And, in here, I've made many mistakes, done many things that was wrong. And I desire that you in the radio land, and you that are present, that you will not take my mistakes to be stumbling-stones, but stepping-stones to bring you closer to the Lord Jesus.

12 Then tonight, the prayer cards is to be given out for the healing service tonight. Now, when we speak of healing service, doesn't mean that we're going to heal someone; we're going to pray for someone. God does the healing. He's just been very gracious to me, to answer prayer.
And I was talking to the manager of a famous evangelist here sometime ago, and it was asked why didn't this evangelist pray for the sick. And the evangelist said back to the manager of my meetings, said, "This evangelist believes in divine healing, but if he would start praying for the sick, it would interrupt his service because he's sponsored by churches." Many churches and many of them does not believe in divine healing. So I have an honor and respect for the evangelist because he's keeping his place, his post of duty.
He could perhaps... I could never take his place, and I doubt whether he could take my place. We all have a place in the kingdom of God. We're all jointed together. Different gifts, but the same Spirit. Different manifestations, I meant to say, but the same Spirit.

13 And, now, tonight the services will begin ... I think they said the concert begins at six-thirty. And, now, if you're out in the radio land, come in to listen to this. It'll be beautiful, it's always.
And then I wish to say that the prayer cards will be given out immediately after this service, just as soon as this service is dismissed, if you're here and want a prayer card. I was instructed in there just a few moments ago, my son, Mr. Mercier, or Mr. Goad, they'll be giving out prayer cards. Just remain in your seat. As soon as the service is dismissed, just remain at your seat so the boys can get down through the line and get the prayer cards given out just as quick as possible. That'll be in the balconies, or on the floor, wherever, the bottom floors, or wherever you are, just remain in your seat and the boys will know that you're here for a prayer card. And then tonight we will be praying for the sick. And if the Lord does not change my thoughts, I want to preach on the subject tonight, If You'll Show Us the Father, It Will Satisfy Us.

14 Now I wish to read for a text this afternoon, just to start off the Life Story, found over in the book of Hebrews, the 13th chapter, and let's begin here about... I would say about the 12th verse:
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Let us go ... therefore to him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Now that is kind of a text. For, you see, if it's a life story, or anything pertaining to a human being, we don't glorify that; and especially a man's past, if it's been as dark as mine has been. But I thought, if we read the Scripture, God would bless the Scripture. And my thought is that here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

15 Now, I know that you're very fond of Los Angeles. You have a right to be. It's a great, beautiful city. With its smog and what-more, yet it's a beautiful city, fine climate. But this city cannot continue, it's got to have an end.
I've stood in Rome, where the great emperors ... and the cities that they thought they would build immortal, and dig down twenty feet to even find the ruins of it. I've stood where the Pharaohs has had their great kingdoms, and you'd dig down in the ground to find where the great Pharaohs ruled. All of us like to think about our city and our place, but, remember, it cannot stand.

16 When I was a little boy I used to go to a great maple tree. In my country we have a lot of hardwood. And then we had this maple tree, the sugar maple, and what we call the "hard maple," and "soft maple." This great gigantic tree, it was the most beautiful tree. And when I would come in from the fields, working in the hay and the harvests, I would love to go to this big tree and sit down under it and look up. And I'd see its great, mighty branches sway in the wind, great huge trunk. And I said, "You know, I believe that this tree will be here for hundreds and hundreds of years." Not long ago I took a look at the old tree, it's just a snag.
"For here we have no continuing city." No, nothing here on the earth that you can look at will continue. It's got to have an end. Everything that's mortal has to give away to an immortality. So no matter how good we build our highways, how fine we make our structures, it all has to go, for here there's nothing can continue. Just the unseen is what continues.

17 I remember the house that we lived in. It was an old log house chinked with mud. Perhaps maybe many never seen a house chinked with mud. But it was all chinked up with mud, and the great huge logs that was in the old house, I thought that house would stand for hundreds of years. But, you know, today where that house stood is a housing project. It's so much different. Everything's changing.

18 And I used to see my father. He was rather a short, stocky man, very strong, and he was one of the strongest little men that I knew of. I met Mr. Coots, a fellow that he used to work with in the logs (he was a logger), and ... about a year ago. And Mr. Coots is a very good friend of mine, and a deacon in the First Baptist church, and he said, "Billy, you ought to be a real powerful man."
And I said, "No, I'm not, Mr. Coots."
He said, "If you took after your daddy, you would be." Said, "I seen that man, weighing a hundred and forty pounds, load a log on the wagon by himself, that weighed nine hundred pounds." He just knew how to do it. He was strong. I'd see him come into the place to wash and get ready for dinner, when Mother would call him.

19 And we had an old apple tree out in the front yard, and then there was three or four small ones along towards the back. And right in the middle tree there was an old looking glass, had been broke, mirror, large one. And had been tacked on the side of the tree with some nails bent in. Kind of like what some of you carpenters listening in would call "coat hangers." It had been bent in to hold the glass in its place. And there was an old tin comb. How many ever seen an old tin ... the old-fashioned tin comb? I can just see it.
And then there was a little wash bench, just a little board with a little slanting leg beneath it, tacked against the tree. A little old half sulfur pump there that we pumped the water out, and we washed at this old tree. And Mama used to take meal sacks and make towels. Anybody ever use a meal-sack towel? Well, I'm sure I feel at home now. And those big old rough towels, and when she'd give us little kiddies a bath, she'd feel like she was rubbing the hide off every time she rubbed. And I remember that old meal sack. And she'd pull some of the strings out and make little tassels, to kind of decorate it up.

20 How many ever slept on a straw tick? Well, I will say! How many ever knowed what a shuck pillow was? Well, Brother Glover, I'm at home now, sure enough! Straw tick, well, it hasn't been too long since I just come off of one, and it was... Oh, it's good sleeping, cool. Then in the wintertime they take the old feather bed and lay on it, you know. And then have to put a piece of canvas over the top of us because the snow blowed in the cracks in the house, you know, where the old clapboard shingles would turn up, you know, and the snow would sweep through it. And, oh, I can remember that very well.

21 And then Pop used to have a shaving brush. Now this is going to get you. It was made out of corn shucks, a shaving brush with corn shucks. He'd take mother's old lye soap that she had made, fix it up and put it on his face with this corn shuck brush, and shave it with a big old straight razor. And on Sunday he'd take the pieces of paper, stick around his collar (they wore celluloid collars), and put it around the collar like this to keep the lather from getting on his shirt collar. Did you ever see that done? Why, my, my!

22 I remember a little old spring down below, where we used to go get a drink of water, and get our water out of an old gourd dipper. How many ever seen a gourd dipper? Well, how many of you is from Kentucky, anyhow? Well, just looky here at the Kentuckians! Well, my, I'm right... I thought it was all Okies and Arkies out here, but look like Kentucky is moving in. Well, they did strike oil in Kentucky a few months ago, you know, so maybe that's some of them's coming this a-way.

23 And then I remember when Dad used to come in and take his wash for dinner, he'd roll up his sleeves, and them little short stubby arms. And when he'd pull up his arms to wash, throw the water up on his face, them muscles just wadded in his little arms. And I said, "You know, my daddy will live to be a hundred and fifty years old! He was so strong. But he died at fifty-two. See? "Here we have no continuing city." That's right. We cannot continue.

24 Now let's take a little trip, all of us. There's every one of you here that has a life story, just as I do, and it's good to stroll down memory's lane once in a while. Don't you think so? Just go back. And let's all go back for a while, back to similar experiences as little children.
And now the first part of the life story, I will just give it a little touch, because it's in the book and many of you have the book.

25 I was born in a little mountain cabin, way up in the mountains of Kentucky. It had one room that we lived in, no rug on the floor, not even wood on the floor. It was just simply a bare floor. And a stump, top of a stump cut off with three legs on it, that was our table. And all those little Branhams would pile around there, and out on the front of the little old cabin, and wallow down---looked like where a bunch of possums had been wallowing out there in the dust, you know, all the little brothers. There was nine of us, and one little girl; and she really had a rough time amongst that bunch of boys. We have to respect her yet today from the things that we did in those days. She couldn't go with us anywhere, we'd run her back, she was a girl. So she couldn't take it, you know. So we had... And all...

26 Remember that back behind the table we had just two chairs, and they were made out of limb bark. Just old hickory saplings put together, and the bottom of them laced with hickory bark. Did anybody ever see a hickory bark chair? Yeah. And I can hear Mama yet. Oh, later on when we got into a place where she could have a wooden floor, with those babies on her lap like this, and rocking that old chair just bangity, bangity, bang on the floor. And I remember to keep the little ones from going out the door, when she would be washing or something, she'd lay a chair down and turn it kind of cater-cornered across the door, to keep the little ones from getting out when she had to go to the spring to get water, and so forth.
And Mother was fifteen years old when I was born, Dad was eighteen. And I was the first of the nine children. And they told me that the morning I was born...

27 Now, we was very poor, just the poorest of poor. And we did not even have a window in this little cabin. It had like a little wooden door that you open. I doubt whether you ever seen anything like that, a little wooden door that opened instead of a window. You keep it open in the daytime and you closed it at night. We couldn't turn on the electric lights, or even burn kerosene, in those days. We had what you call a "grease lamp." Now, I don't know whether you ever know what a grease lamp was. Well, what do you... And did you ever buy ... burn a pine knot? Just take a pine knot and light it and lay it upon a lid? It'll burn. And that's ... smoked up a little bit, but they had no furniture, anyhow, to smoke up. So it just ... the cabin got the smoking. It drawed good because there was plenty of roof up there for it to draw through.

28 I was born on April the 6th, 1909. Course, you know, that makes me a little over twenty-five now. And so, the morning that I was born, Mother said that they opened up the window. Now, we had no doctors, there was a midwife. And that midwife was my grandmother. And so when I was born and my first beginning to cry, and Mother wanted to see her child. And she was no more than a child herself. And when they opened up the little window, just at the break of day, about five o'clock, and there was an old robin sitting by the side of a little bush---as you all have seen the picture of it in my book of my life story. An old robin was sitting there just singing for all that was in him.

29 I've always loved robins. Now, you boys out in radio land, don't shoot at my birds. You see, they're... Them's my birds. Did you ever hear the legend of the robin, how he got his red breast? I will stop here a moment. How he got his red breast, there was the King of kings was dying one day on the cross, and He was suffering and no one would come to Him. He had no one to help Him. And there was a little brown bird wanted to take them nails out of the cross, and he kept flying into the cross and jerking on those nails. He was too little to pull them out, and he got his little breast all red with blood. Ever since then his breast has been red. Don't shoot him, boys. Let him alone.
He was sitting at the side of the window, a-chirping as the robins sing. And Dad pushed back the window. And when they pushed the little window door back, that Light that you see in the picture come whirling in the window, says my mother, and hung over the bed. Grandmother didn't know what to say.

30 Now, we are ... was not a religious family. My people are Catholic. I'm Irish on both sides. My father is strictly Irish, Branham. My mother is Harvey; only, her father married a Cherokee Indian, so that broke the little line ... or, the blood of the Irish. And Father and Mother did not go to church, and they married out of the church, and they had no religion at all. And back there in the mountains there was not even a Catholic church. So they come over in the early settlers, two Branhams come over, and from that sprung the whole generation of Branhams, is the genealogy of the family.

31 And then she opened ... when they opened this window and this Light stood in there, they did not know what to do. Dad had bought him, Mama said, a new pair of overalls for this event. He was standing with his arms in the bib of the old overalls, like the woodsmen and loggers used in those days. And it frightened them.

32 Well, after I had got up maybe ten days old, or something, they taken me up to a little Baptist church called "Opossum Kingdom," Opossum Kingdom Baptist Church. That's quite a name. There was an old circuit preacher, the old-fashioned Baptist preacher, came through there about once every two months. The people would have a little service together, they'd go sing some songs, but they had preaching every so often on the circuit rider. They paid him each year with a sack of pumpkins and a few things like that, you know, that the people would raise to give him. And the old preacher came by, and there he offered prayer for me as a little boy. That was my first trip to church.

33 At the year of about ... something a little over two years old, the first vision taken place.
Well, they had told around in the mountains there that this light came in. So they tried to figure it up. Some of them said it must have been the sunlight reflecting on a mirror in the house. But there was no mirror in there. And the sun wasn't up, so it was too early, five o'clock. And then, oh, they just passed it by. And when I was about ... supposed to be near three years old...

34 Now, I have to be honest. There's things here that I do not like to say, and I wish I could bypass it and not have to say it. But yet, to tell the truth, you must tell the truth if it's on yourself or your people. Be honest about it, and then it's always the same.
My father was a long way from being a religious person. He was a typical mountain boy that drank constantly all the time. And he had gotten in some trouble in a fight. And there had been two or three men almost killed as they ... fighting, shooting, and cutting one another with knives at some kind of a party up in the mountains. And Dad had been one of the ringleaders of this fight, because that there had been a friend of his had got hurt, and had hit someone with a chair. The man had a knife out and was going to cut Dad's friend on the floor with this knife, through his heart, and Dad took his part. And it really must have been a terrible fight, because from all the way down to Burkesville, many miles away, they sent a sheriff up after Dad, horseback.

35 So the man was laying at the point of death. Might be some of his people listening in. I'm going to call his name, Will Yarborough was his name. They probably... I think some of them is in California, of his boys. But he was a bully, great powerful man, killed his own boy with a fence rail. So he was a very powerful and wicked man. And so there was a great knife fight between he and Dad. And my father almost killed the man, so he had to run and leave Kentucky and come across the river to Indiana.

36 And he had a brother that lived, at the time, in Louisville, Kentucky, was the assistant superintendent of the Wood Mosaic Saw Mills in Kentucky, in Louisville. And so Dad come to find his older brother. Dad was the youngest of the boys, of seventeen children. And so he came to find his older brother. And while he was gone, for almost a year... He could not come back, because the law was looking for him. And then when... We had heard from him by letter, signed by another name, but that he had told mother how it would be that she'd hear from him.

37 And then I remember one day---the spring at this little cabin was just behind the house---and during that time after... There was nine ... eleven months difference between me and my next brother, and he was still crawling. And I had a big rock in my hand, and I was trying to show him how hard I could throw this rock in the old mud, where the spring had run out of the ground and made the muddy ground. And I heard a bird, and it was singing up in a tree. And I looked up to that tree and the bird flew away. And when it did, a voice spoke to me.
Now, I know you think I could not think and remember that. But the Lord God who's Judge, the earth and the heavens and all there is, knows that I'm telling the truth.

38 That bird, when it flew away, a voice came from where the bird was in the tree, like a wind caught in the bush, and it said, "You'll live near a city called New Albany." And I've lived, from the time I was three years old until this time, within three miles of New Albany, Indiana.
I went in and told my mother about it. Well, she thought I was just dreaming or something.
Later we moved to Indiana and Father went to work for a man, Mr. Wathen, a rich man. He owns the Wathen Distilleries. And he owned a great shares (he's a multimillionaire) in the Louisville Colonels, and baseball, and so forth. And then we lived near there. And Dad being a poor man, yet he could not do without his drinking, so he went to making whiskey in a still.
And then it worked a hardship on me, because I was the oldest of the children. I had to come and pack water to this still, to keep those coils cool while they were making the whiskey. Then he got to selling it, and then he got two or three of those stills. Now, that's the part I don't like to tell, but it's the truth.

39 And I remember one day, from the barn, coming up to the house crying, because... Out at the back of the place was a pond, where they used to cut ice. Many of you remember when they used to cut ice and put it in sawdust. Well, that's the way Mr. Wathen kept ice out there in the country. And Father was a chauffeur for him, a private chauffeur. And when ... this pond was full of fish. And when they could go to cutting the ice and bring it in and put it in the sawdust, then when the ice melted in the summertime as it went down, it was kind of clean I suppose. More like a lake ice, and they could use it, not to drink, but to keep water cold, put it around the buckets and their milk and so forth.

40 And one day packing water from back out at this pump, which was about a city block, I was squalling to who wouldn't have it; because I had come from school and all the boys had went out to the pond fishing. I just loved to fish. And so they all got to go fishing but me, and I had to pack water for this still. Of course, my, that had to be mum---it was prohibition. And it was such a hardship. And I remember coming along there with a stumped toe, and I had a corn cob wrapped under my toe to keep it out of the dust. Did you ever do that? Just put a corn cob under your toe like this and wrap a string around it. It holds your toe right up like a turtle head almost, you know, sticking up. You could track me everywhere I went, with this corn cob under my toe, where I'd stump it, you know. I didn't have any shoes to wear. So we never wore shoes, sometime half the winter. If we did, it was just what we could pick up, somebody would give us. And clothes, to what somebody, charity, would give us.

41 And I stopped under this tree, and I was sitting there just squalling (it was in September) because I wanted to go fishing. I had to pack several tubs of water with little molasses buckets, just about that high, half a gallon, because I was just a little lad of about seven years old. And I'd pour them in a big tub and then go back and get another two buckets and come back, pumping it. That's the water we had. And they was going to run off a batch of that corn whiskey that night, these men with Daddy up at the house.

42 And I was crying, and all at once I heard something making a noise like a whirlwind, something like this (now, I hope it isn't too loud), going "Whheww, whheww." Just a noise like that. Well, it was awful quiet, and I looked around. And you know what, a little whirlwind, I believe you call them a little cyclone, in the fall of the year they pick up through the corn field, you know, the leaves and so forth. In the autumn there, the leaves just begin turning, and I was under a great white poplar tree, stood about halfway between the barn and the house. And I heard that noise, and I looked around. It was just as quiet as it is in this room. Not a leaf blowing nowhere, nothing. And I thought, "Where's that noise coming from?" Well, I thought, "Must be away from here." Just a lad. And it got louder and louder.

43 I picked up my little buckets and squalled a couple more times and started up the lane. I was resting. And I got just few feet from that, out from under the branches of this big tree; and, oh, my, it made a whirl sounding! And I turned to look, and about halfway up that tree was another whirlwind, caught in that tree just a-going around and around, moving those leaves. Well, I thought nothing strange about that, because it's just in that time of year. In the autumn, why, those whirlwinds come (we call them "whirlwinds") and they pick up dust. You've seen them on the desert like that---same thing. So I watched, but it didn't leave off. Usually it's just a puff for a moment, then it goes; but it had already been in there two minutes or more.

44 Well, I started up the lane again, and I turned to look at this again. And when it did, a human voice, just as audible as mine is, said, "Don't you never drink, smoke, or defile your body in any way. There'll be a work for you to do when you get older." Why, it liked to scared me to death! You could imagine how a little fellow felt. I dropped those buckets, and home I went just as hard as I could go, screaming the top of my voice.

45 And there was copperheads in that country, snakes, and they're very poison. Mother thought coming alongside of the garden I had perhaps got my foot on a copperhead, and she ran to meet me. And I jumped up in her arms, screaming, hugging her and kissing her. And she said, "What's the matter? Did you get snakebit?" Looked me all over.
I said, "No, Mama! There's a man in that tree down there."
And she said, "Oh, Billy, Billy! Come on." And she said, "Did you stop and go to sleep?"
I said, "No, ma'am! There's a man in that tree, and he told me not to drink and not to smoke."

46 "Drink whiskeys and things"---and I was packing water to a moonshine still, right then. And He said, "Don't you never drink or defile your body in any way." That's immoral, you know, and my child ... young manhood with women. And to my best, I have never one time been guilty of such. The Lord helped me of those things, and as I go along you'll find out. So then, "Don't drink or don't smoke, or do not defile your body, for there will be a work for you to do when you get older."
Well, I told that to Mama, and she just laughed at me. And I was just hysterically. She called the doctor, and the doctor said, "Well, he's just nervous, that's all." So she put me to bed. And I never, from that day to this, ever passed by that tree again. I was scared. I'd go down the other side of the garden, because I thought there was a man up in that tree and he was talking to me, great deep voice that spoke.

47 And then sometime about a month after that, I was playing marbles out with my little brothers, out in the front yard. And all at once I had a strange feeling come on me. And I stopped and sat down aside of a tree. And we were right up on the bank from the Ohio River. And I looked down towards Jeffersonville, and I seen a bridge rise up and go across the river---span the river. And I seen sixteen men (I counted them) that dropped off of there and lost their lives on that bridge. I run in real quick and told my mother, and she thought I went to sleep. But they kept it in mind, and twenty-two years from then the Municipal Bridge now (that many of you cross when you cross there) crossed the river at the same place, and sixteen man lost their life building that bridge across the river.
It's never failed to be perfectly true. As you see it here in the auditorium, it's been that way all the time.

48 Now, they thought I was just nervous. Which, I am a nervous person, that's true. And, if you ever notice, people who are inclined to be spiritual are nervous.
Look at poets and prophets. And look at William Cowper who wrote that famous song, "There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins." Did you ever... You know the song. I stood by his grave not long ago. Brother Julius, I believe, I don't know, no ... yes, that's right, was with us over there at his grave. And there, after he had wrote that song, the inspiration left him, he tried to find the river to commit suicide. See, the Spirit had left him. And people like poets and authors and ... or not... I mean prophets.

49 Look at Elijah, when he stood on the mountain and called fire out of the heaven and called rain out of the heaven. Then when the Spirit left him, he run at a threat of a woman. And God found him pulled back in a cave, forty days later.
Look at Jonah, with enough inspiration, when the Lord had anointed him to preach there in Nineveh, till a city was the size of Saint Louis repented with sackcloth. And then when the Spirit left him, what happened to him? We find him up on the mountain, after the Spirit left him, praying to God to take his life. And, you see, it's inspiration. And when these things happen, it does something to you.

50 Then I remember coming on up. I got to be a young man. (I will hurry to make it within the next little bit.) When I got to be a young man I had ideas like all young men. Going to school, I'd found them little girls, you know. I was real bashful, you know; and I finally got me a little girlfriend. And like all little boys, about fifteen years old, I guess. And so, oh, she was pretty. My, she had eyes like a dove, and she had teeth like pearl, and a neck like a swan; and she was really pretty.

51 And another little boy, we were buddies, so he got his daddy's old model-T Ford, and we got a date with our girls. And we was going to take them out, riding. We got enough, about two gallons of gasoline. We had to jack the back wheel up to crank it. I don't know whether you ever remember that or not, you know, to crank it. But we was going along pretty good.
And so I had a few nickels in my pocket, and we stopped at a little place and got... You could get a ham sandwich for a nickel, and so, oh, I was rich, I could buy four of them, see. And after we had eat the sandwiches and drank the coke, I started taking the bottles back. And to my surprise, when I come out (women had just start falling from grace at that time, or from womanhood), my little dove was smoking a cigarette.

52 Well, I've always had my opinion of a woman that would smoke a cigarette, and I haven't changed it one bit from that time on. That's right. It's the lowest thing she can do. And that's exactly right. And I thought... Now, the cigarette company could get after me for this, but, I'm telling you, that's just a stunt of the devil. It's the biggest killer and sabotage this nation's got. I'd rather my boy be a drunkard than to be a cigarette smoker. That's the truth. I'd rather see my wife laying on the floor drunk, than to see her with a cigarette. That's how...

53 Now, this Spirit of God that's with me, if that is the Spirit of God (as you might question), you smoking cigarettes has got a slim chance when you get there, because that just... Every time, you notice it on the platform, how He condemns it. It's a horrible thing! Keep away from it. Lady, if you have been guilty of that, please, in the name of Christ, get away from it! It breaks you. It'll kill you. It's cancer by the carloads.
The doctors try to warn you. And then how they can sell you that stuff... If you go down to the drug store and say, "I want to buy fifty-cents worth of cancer," why, they'd come lock them up. But when you buy fifty-cents worth of cigarettes, you're buying the same thing. Doctors say so. Oh, this money-mad nation. It's too bad. It's a killer. It's been proved.

54 Well, when I seen that pretty little girl just acting smart, this cigarette in her hand, that liked to have killed me, because I really thought I loved her. And I thought, "Well..."
Now, I'm called a "woman-hater," you know that, because I'm always kind of against women. But not against you sisters, I'm just against the way modern women act. That's right. Good women should be packed along.

55 But I can remember when my father's still, up there running, I had to be out there with water and stuff, see young ladies that wasn't over seventeen, eighteen years old, up there with men my age now, drunk. And they'd have to sober them up and give them black coffee, to get home to cook their husband's supper. Oh, something like that, I said... This was my remark then, "They're not worth a good clean bullet to kill them with it." That's right. And I hated women, that's right. And I just have to watch every move now, to keep from still thinking the same thing.

56 But now, a good woman is a jewel in a man's crown. She should be honored. My mother's a woman, my wife is, and they're lovely. And I've got thousands of Christian sisters who I highly respect. But if they can respect what God made them, a motherhood and a real queen, that's all right. She's one of the best things that God could give a man, was a wife. Besides salvation, a wife is the best thing, if she is a good wife. But if she isn't, Solomon said, "A good woman is a jewel in a man's crown, but an ornery one, or no-good one, is water in his blood." And that's right, it's the worst thing could happen. So a good woman... If you've got a good wife, brother, you ought to respect her with the highest. That's right, you should do that. A real woman. And, children, if you've got a real mother that stays home, and tries to take care of you, keeping your clothes clean, sends you to school, teaching you about Jesus, you should honor that sweet old mother with all that's in you. You should respect that woman, yes, sir, because she's a real mother.

57 They talk about the illiteracy of Kentucky mountains. You see it in this here dogpatch stuff. Some of them old mammies out there could come here to Hollywood and teach you modern mothers how to raise your kids. You let her kid come in one night with her hair all messed up, and lips ... slips, (what do you call that?) make-up stuff they put on their face, and her dress all squeezed to one side, and been out all night, drunk, brother, she'd get one of them limbs off the top of that hickory tree and she'd never go out no more. I'm telling you, she'd... And if you had a little more of that, you'd have a better Hollywood around here, and a better nation. That's right. It's true. "Just try to be modern," that's one of the tricks of the devil.

58 Now, this little girl, when I looked at her, my heart just bled. And I thought, "Poor little fellow."
And she said, "Oh, you want a cigarette, Billy?"
I said, "No, ma'am." I said, "I don't smoke."
She said, "Now, you said you didn't dance." They wanted to go to a dance and I wouldn't do it. So they said there was a dance down there, what they called Sycamore Garden.
And I said, "No, I don't dance."
She said, "Now, you don't dance, you don't smoke, you don't drink. How do you have any fun?"
I said, "Well, I like to fish and I like to hunt." That didn't interest her.
So she said, "Take this cigarette."
And I said, "No, ma'am, thank you. I don't smoke."

59 And I was standing on the fender. They had a running board on the old Fords, you remember, and I was standing on that fender, sitting in the back seat, she and I. And she said, "You mean you won't smoke a cigarette?" Said, "And we girls has got more nerve than you have."
I said, "No, ma'am, I don't believe I want to do it."
She said, "Why, you big sissy!" Oh, my! I wanted to be big bad Bill, so I sure didn't want nothing sissy. See, I wanted to be a prize fighter, that was my idea of life. So I said... "Sissy! Sissy!"

60 ---I couldn't stand that.
So I said, "Give it to me!" My hand out, I said, "I will show her whether I'm sissy or not!" Got that cigarette out, and started to strike the match. Now, I know you're... Now, I'm not responsible for what you think, I'm just responsible for telling the truth. When I started to strike that cigarette, just as much determined to smoke it as I am to pick up this Bible, see, I heard something going, "Whheww!" I tried again, I couldn't get it to my mouth. I got to crying, I throwed the thing down, and they got to laughing at me; and I walked home. Went up through the field, sat down out there crying, and... It was a terrible life.

61 I remember one day Dad was going down to the river with the boys. My brother and I, we had to take a boat and go up and down the river, hunting bottles to put the whiskey in. We got a nickel a dozen for them, to pick them up along the river. And Dad was with me, and he had one of those little flat... I believe they was about a half-pint bottles. And there was a tree had blowed down, and Dad... And this man was with him, Mr. Dornbush. He had a nice boat, and I wanted to find favor with him because I wanted to use that boat. It had a good rudder, and mine didn't have no rudder at all. We had just old boards to paddle with. And if he'd let me use that boat... So, he done welding and he made the stills for Dad. They throwed their leg up across that tree, and Dad reached in his back pocket and pulled out a little flat bottle of whiskey, handed it to him and he took a drink, handed it back to Dad and he taken a drink. He set it down on a little sucker on the side of the tree that went out. And Mr. Dornbush picked it up, said, "Here you are, Billy."
I said, "Thank you, I don't drink."
He said, "A Branham, and don't drink?" Every one died with their boots on, nearly. And he said, "A Branham, and don't drink?"
I said, "No, sir."
"No," Dad said, "I raised one sissy."

62 My daddy calling me a sissy! I said, "Hand me that bottle!" And I pulled that stopper out of the top of it, determined to drink it. And when I started to turn it up, "Whheww!" I handed the bottle back and took off down through the field as hard as I could, crying. Something wouldn't let me do it! See? I could not say that I was any good, I was determined to do it. But it's God, grace, amazing grace, that kept me from doing those things. I wanted to do them, myself, but He just wouldn't let me do it.

63 Later on I found a girl, when I was about twenty-two years old. She was a darling. She was a girl that went to church, German Lutheran. Her name was Brumbach, B-r-u-m-b-a-c-h, come from the name of Brumbaugh. And she was a nice girl. She didn't smoke, or drink, or she didn't dance or anything---a nice girl. I went with her for a little while, and I'd (then about twenty-two) I'd made enough money till I bought me an old Ford, and we'd go out on dates together. And so, at that time there was no Lutheran church close, they had moved from Howard Park up there.

64 And so there was a minister, the one that ordained me in the Missionary Baptist Church, Doctor Roy Davis. Sister Upshaw... The very one that sent Brother Upshaw over to me, or talked to him about me, Doctor Roy Davis. And so he was preaching, and had the First Baptist Church, or the... I don't believe it was the First Baptist Church, either. It was the ... called the Missionary Baptist Church at Jeffersonville. And he was preaching at the place at that time, and we would go to church at night, and we'd come back. And I never did join church, but I just liked to go with her. Because the main thought was going with her. I just might as well be honest.

65 So then going with her, and one day I... She was out of a nice family, and I begin to think, "You know, you know, I oughtn't to take that girl's time. It isn't right, because she's a nice girl, and I'm poor and I..." My daddy had broke down in health, and there wasn't no way for me to make a living for a girl like that, who had been used to a nice home, and rugs on the floor.

66 I remember the first rug I ever seen, I didn't know what it was. I walked around the side. I thought it was the prettiest thing I ever seen in my life. "How would they put something like that on the floor?" It was the first rug I had ever seen. It was one of these, I believe it's called, "matting rugs." I may have that wrong. Some kind of like "wicker" or something that's laced together, and laying on the floor. Pretty green and red, and big rose worked in the middle of it, you know. It was a pretty thing.

67 And so I remember I made up my mind that I either had to ask her to marry me, or I must get away and let some good man marry her, somebody that would be good to her, could make her a living and could be kind to her. I could be kind to her, but I was only making twenty cents an hour. So I couldn't make too much of a living for her. With all the family we had to take care of, and Dad broke down in health, and I had to take care of all them, so I was having a pretty rough time.

68 So I thought, "Well, the only thing for me to do is tell her that I just won't be back, because I thought too much of her to wreck her life and to let her fool along with me." And then I thought, "If somebody could get a hold of her and marry her, make a lovely home. And maybe if I couldn't have her, I could know that she was happy."
And so I thought, "But I just can't give her up!" And I was in an awful shape. And day after day I'd think about it. So I was too bashful to ask her to marry me. Every night I'd make up my mind, "I'm going to ask her." And, why, what is that, butterflies, or something, you get in your...? All you brethren out there probably had the same experience along that. And a real funny feeling, my face would get hot. I didn't know ... I couldn't ask her.
So I guess you wonder how I ever got married. You know what? I wrote her a letter and asked her. And so... Now, it wasn't "dear Miss." It was a little more (you know) on the love side than that. It was just not an agreement, it was... I wrote it up the best I could.

69 And I was a little afraid of her mother. Her mother was ... she was kind of rough, but her father was a gentle old Dutchman, just a fine old fellow. He was an organizer of the Brotherhood, the trainmen on the railroad, making about five hundred dollars a month in them times. And me making twenty cents an hour, to marry his daughter. Hmm! I knowed that would never work. And her mother was very... Now, she's a nice lady. And she was kind of one of these high societies, you know, and prissy-like, you know, and so she didn't have much use for me anyhow. I was just an old plain sassafras country boy, and she thought Hope ought to go with a little better class of boy, and I think she was right. And so... But I didn't think it then.

70 So I thought, "Well, now, I don't know how ... I can't ask her daddy, and I'm sure not going to ask her mother. And so I got to ask her first." So I wrote me a letter. And that morning on the road to work, I dropped it in the mailbox. We was going to church Wednesday night, and that was on Monday morning. I tried all day Sunday to tell her that I wanted to get married, and I just couldn't get up enough nerve.
So then I dropped it in the mailbox. And all at work that day I happened to think, "What if her mother got a hold of that letter?" Oh, my! Then I knowed I was ruined, if she ever got a hold of it, because she didn't care too much about me. Well, I was just sweating it out.

71 And that Wednesday night when I come, oh, my, I thought, "How am I going to go up there? If her mother got a hold of that letter she will really work me over, so I hope she got it." I addressed it to "Hope." That was her name, Hope. And so I said, "I will just write it out here to Hope." And I thought maybe she might have not a-got a hold of it.
So I knowed better than to stop outside and blow the horn for her to come out. Oh, my! And any boy that hasn't got nerve enough to walk up to the house and knock on the door and ask for the girl, ain't got no business being out with her anyhow. That's exactly right. That's so silly. That's cheap.

72 And so I stopped my old Ford, you know, and I had it all shined up. And so I went up and knocked at the door. Mercy, her mother come to the door! I couldn't hardly catch my breath, I said, "How---how---how do you do, Mrs. Brumbach?"
She said, "How do you do, William."
I thought, "Uh-oh, 'William.'"
And she said, "Will you step in?"
I said, "Thank you." I stepped inside the door. I said, "Is Hope just about ready?"
And just then here come Hope skipping through the house, just a girl about sixteen. And she said, "Hi, Billy!"
And I said, "Hi, Hope." And I said, "You about ready for church?"
She said, "Just in a minute."
I thought, "Oh, my, she never got it, she never got it; good, good, good! Hope never got it either, so it'll be all right, because she'd have named it to me." So I felt pretty fair.

73 And then when I got out to church, I happened to think, "What if she did get it?" See? And I couldn't hear what Doctor Davis was saying. I'd look over at her, and I thought, "Maybe she's just holding it back, and she's really going to tell me off when I get out of here, for asking her that." And I couldn't hear what Brother Davis was saying. And I'd look over at her, and I thought, "My, I hate to give her up, but... And I... The showdown's sure to come."
So after church we started walking down the street together, going home, and so we walked to the old Ford. All along, the moon is shining bright, you know, and I'd look over, and she was pretty. Boy, I'd look at her, and I thought, "My, how I would like to have her; but guess I can't."

74 And so I walked on a little farther, you know, and I'd look up at her again. I said, "How---how you feeling tonight?"
She said, "Oh, I'm all right."
And we stopped the old Ford down and we started to get out, you know, around the side, walk around the corner and go up to her house. And I was walking up to the door with her. I thought, "You know, she probably never got the letter, so I just might as well forget it. I will have another week of grace anyhow." So I got to feeling pretty good.
She said, "Billy?"
I said, "Yeah?"
She said, "I got your letter." Oh, my!
I said, "You did?"
She said, "Uh-huh." Well, she just kept walking on, never said another word.
I thought, "Woman, tell me something. Run me away, or tell me what you think about it." And I said, "Did you ... did you read it?"
She said, "Uh-huh."
My, you know how a woman can keep you in suspense. Oh, I didn't mean it just that way, you see. See? But anyhow, you know, I thought, "Why don't you say something?" See, and I kept going on. I said, "Did you read it all?"
And she said, "Uh-huh."

75 So we was almost to the door, and I thought, "Boy, don't get me on the porch, because I might not be able to outrun them, so you tell me now." And so I kept waiting.
And she said, "Billy, I would love to do that. She said, "I love you." God bless her soul now, she's in glory. She said, "I love you." Said, "I think we ought to tell our parent ... the parents about it. Don't you think so?"
And I said, "Honey, listen, let's start this out with a fifty-fifty proposition." I said, "I will tell your daddy if you'll tell your mother.", rooting the worse part off on her to begin with.
She said, "All right, if you'll tell Daddy first."
I said, "All right, I will tell him Sunday night."

76 And so Sunday night come, I brought her home from church, and she kept looking at me. And I looked, and it was nine-thirty, it was time for me to get going. So Charlie was sitting at his desk, typing away. And Mrs. Brumbach sitting over the corner, doing some kind of a crocheting, you know, or them little hooks you put over things, you know. I don't know what you call it. And so she was doing some of that kind of stuff. And Hope kept looking at me, and she'd frown at me, you know, motion to her daddy. And I ... oh, my." I thought, "What if he says, 'No'?" So I started out to the door, I said, "Well, I guess I'd better go."

77 And I walked to the door, and she started over to the door with me. She'd always come to the door and tell me good night. So I started to the door, and she said, "Aren't you going to tell him?"
And I said, "Huh!" I said, "I'm sure trying to, but I ... I don't know how I'm a-going to do it."
And she said, "I will just go back and you call him out." So she walked back and left me standing there.
And I said, "Charlie?"
He turned around and said, "Yeah, Bill?"
I said, "Could I talk to you just a minute?"
He said, "Sure." He turned around from his desk. Mrs. Brumbach looked at him, looked over at Hope, and looked at me.
And I said, "Would you come out on the porch?"
And he said, "Yes, I will come out." So he walked out on the porch.
I said, "Sure is a pretty night, isn't it?"
And he said, "Yes, it is."
I said, "Sure been warm."
"Certainly has," he looked at me.
I said, "I've been working so hard," I said, "you know, even my hands is getting calluses."
He said, "You can have her, Bill." Oh, my! "You can have her."

78 I thought, "Oh, that's better." I said, "You really mean it, Charlie?" He said... I said, "Charlie, look, I know that she's your daughter, and you got money."
And he reached over and got me by the hand. He said, "Bill, listen, money ain't all things that's in human life." He said...
I said, "Charlie, I only make twenty cents an hour, but I love her and she loves me. And I promise you, Charlie, that I will work till the calluses wear off of my hands, to make her a living. I will be just as true to her as I could be."
He said, "I believe that, Bill." He said, "Listen, Bill, I want to tell you." Said, "You know, happiness, don't altogether take money to be happy." Said, "Just be good to her. And I know you will."
I said, "Thank you, Charlie. I sure will do that."
Then it was her time to tell Mama. I don't know how she got by, but we got married.

79 So, when we got married, we didn't have nothing, nothing to go housekeeping. I think we had two or three dollars. So we rented a house, it cost us four dollars a month. It was a little old two-room place. And someone give us an old folding bed. I wonder if anybody ever seen an old folding bed? And they gave us that. And I went down to Sears and Roebucks and got a little table with four chairs, and it wasn't painted, you know, and we got that on time. And so then I went over to Mr. Weber, a junk dealer, and bought a cooking stove. I paid seventy-five cents for it, and a dollar and something for grates to go in it. We set up housekeeping. I remember taking and painting a shamrock on the chairs, when I painted them. And, oh, we were happy, though. We had one another, so that was all necessary. And God, by His mercy and His goodness we was the happiest little couple could be on the earth.
I found this, that happiness does not consist of how much of the world's goods you own, but how contented you are with the portion that's allotted to you.

80 And after a while God came down and blessed our little home, we had a little boy. His name was Billy Paul; in the service right now here. And a little later from then, about eleven months, He blessed us again with a little girl called Sharon Rose, taken from the Word of "The Rose of Sharon."
And I remember one day I had saved up my money and I was going to take a little vacation, going up to a place, the Paw Paw Lake, to fish. And on my road back...

81 And during this time (I'm leaving out my conversion) I was converted, and was ordained by Doctor Roy Davis in the Missionary Baptist Church and had become a minister, and had the Tabernacle that I now preach in in Jeffersonville. And I was pastoring the little church. And I...
No money. I pastored the church seventeen years and never got one penny. I didn't believe in tak... There wasn't even an offering plate in it. And what tithings I had from work, and so forth, had a little box on the back of the building, said, little sign on it, "Insomuch as you have done unto the least of these my little ones, you have did it unto me." And then that's how the church was paid for. We had ten-years loan to pay it, and was paid off less than two years. And I never took an offering of no kind.
And then I had, oh, a few dollars I had saved up for my vacation. She worked, too, at Fine's Shirt Factory. A lovely darling girl. And her grave is probably snowy today, but she's still in my heart. And I remember when she had worked so hard to help me to have enough money to go up to this lake to fish.

82 And when I was coming back from the lake, I begin to see, coming into Mishawaka and South Bend, Indiana, and I begin to notice cars that had signs on the back, said, "Jesus Only." And I thought, "That sounds strange, 'Jesus Only.'" And I begin noticing those signs. And it was on anywhere from bicycles, Fords, Cadillacs, and what-more, "Jesus Only." And I followed some of them down, and they come to a great big church. And I found out they were Pentecostal.
I had heard of Pentecostal, but they were a bunch of "holy-rollers that laid on the floor and frothed at their mouth," and everything that they told me about. So I didn't want nothing to do with it.
So I heard them all carrying on in there, and I thought, "Believe I will just walk in." So I stopped my old Ford and walked in, and all the singing you ever heard in your life! And I come to find out there were two great churches, one of them called a P.A. of J.C., and the P.A. of W. Many of you people might remember those old organi... I think they're United, called now, called the United Pentecostal Church. Well, I listened at some of their teachers. And they were standing there, oh, they were teaching about Jesus and how great He was, and how great everything was, and about a "baptism of the Holy Ghost." I thought, "What are they talking about?"

83 And, after a while, somebody jumped up and started speaking with tongues. Well, I never heard anything like that in my life. And here come some woman up through there running just as hard as she could. Then all of them got up and started running. And I thought, "Well, brother, they sure ain't got no church manners!" Screaming and shouting and carrying on, I thought, "What a bunch this is!" But, you know, something about it, longer I sat there, the better I liked it. There was something seemed to be real good. And I begin to watch them. And it went on. I thought, "I will just bear with them a while, because I'm close to the door. If anything starts just rashal, I will run out the door. I know where my car is parked, just around the corner."

84 And I begin to hear some of them preachers, was scholars and students. Why, I thought, "That's fine."
So it come supper time, and said, "Everybody come to supper."
But I thought, "Wait a minute. I got a dollar and seventy-five cents to go home." That's all I had for gasoline money. Just taken that to take me home. And I had my old Ford, it was a pretty good old Ford. It wasn't backslid, it was just like this one out here, just wore out. I actually believe that Ford would go thirty miles an hour. But of course that was fifteen this way and fifteen this a-way, you see; put it together, you have thirty. And so I thought, "Well, that night I think I would go out and after the..." I was staying for the night service.

85 And all ... he said, "All of the preachers, regardless of denomination, come to the platform." Well, there was about two hundred of us up there, I went up. And so he said, "Now, we haven't got time for you all to preach." He said, "Just walk by and say who you are and where you're from."
Well, it come my time, I said, "William Branham, Baptist. Jeffersonville, Indiana," walked by.
I'd hear all the rest of them call themselves, "Pentecostal, Pentecostal, Pentecostal, P.A. of W., P.A. of J.C., P.A. of W., P..."
I walked by. I thought, "Well, I guess I'm the ugly duckling." So I sat down, waited.

86 And that day they'd had fine young preachers out there, and they had preached powerfully. And then they said, "The one's going to bring the message tonight is..." I believe they called him, "Elder." And the ministers, instead of "Reverend," it was "Elder." And they brought an old colored man out there, and he had one of these old-fashioned preacher's coats. I don't guess you ever seen one. Long pigeontail in the back, you know, with a velvet collar. And he had just a little white rim of hair around his head. Poor old fellow, he come out like this, you know. And he stood there and he turned around. And where all the preachers had been preaching about Jesus and the great ... how great He was, and so forth, that old man took his text from over in Job. "Where was you when I laid the foundation of the world, or when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy?"
And the poor old fellow, I thought, "Why didn't they put some of them young fellows up there to preach?" The place was packed and jammed. And I thought, "Why didn't they do that?"

87 So then this old fellow, instead of preaching what was going on down here on earth, he begin to preach what was going on in heaven all the time. Well, he took Him up at the beginning at the beginning of time, and brought Him back in the second coming down the horizontal rainbow. Why, I never heard such preaching in my life! About that time the Spirit hit him, he jumped about that high and clicked his heels together, throwed his shoulders back and went tipping off that platform, said, "You haven't got room enough up here for me to preach." And he had more room than I got here.
I thought, "If that'll make an old man act like that, what would it do if it got on me?" I thought, "Maybe I need some of that!" Why, he come out here, I felt so sorry for the old fellow, but, when he left, I was feeling sorry for myself. And I looked at him go off there.

88 I went out that night, and I thought, "Now, the next morning I'm not going to let nobody know who I am," so... I went, and that night I pressed my trousers. I took ... went out in the corn field to sleep. And I went down and bought me some stale rolls. You ... bought a whole bunch of them for a nickel. There was a hydrant down there, I got some water. So I knowed that would last me a little while, so I got me some water and drank it, and went and eat my rolls, and come back and got another drink of water, went out in the corn field; took the two seats and laid my little seersucker trousers in there, pressed them on the seat.
And that night I prayed pretty near all night. I said, "Lord, what is this I got into? I never seen such religious people in my life." And I said, "Help me to know what this is all about."

89 And the next morning I got down there. Invited us for breakfast. Of course I wouldn't come and eat with them, because I had nothing to put in the offering. And I just went back. And the next morning when I went in, why, I eat some of my rolls, and sat down. And they got on a microphone. And I'd never seen a microphone before, and I was scared of that thing. So they... And it had a little string hanging up here, and hanging down. One of them drop mikes, like. And he said, "Last night, on the platform, there was a young preacher here, a Baptist."
I thought, "Uh-oh, I'm good for a working-over now."
And he said, "He was the youngest preacher on the platform. His name was Branham. Does anybody know any whereabouts of him? Tell him to come on, we want him to bring the morning message."

90 Oh, my! I had a little T-shirt on, and seersucker trousers, you know. And we Baptists believe you had to have a suit on, to get in the pulpit, you know. And I just sat real still. And during the time... They had it up in the North then because (their international convention) the colored people couldn't come to it if it was in the South. They had the colored there, and I was a Southerner, had starch in my collar yet, you see, thought I was a little better than somebody else. And it happened to be that morning, set right down by me was a colored man. I sat and looked up at him. I thought, "Well, he's a brother."
And he said, "Anybody know the whereabouts of William Branham?" I scooted down in the seat like this. So he said, announced it the second time, said, "Anybody on the outside (he pulled this little mike in) know the whereabouts of William Branham? Tell him we want him on the platform for the morning message. He's a Baptist preacher from southern Indiana."

91 I just set real still and ducked down, you know. Nobody knowed me, anyhow. That colored boy looked over at me, said, "Do you know where he is?"
I either had to lie or do something. So I said, "Hold down here."
He said, "Yes, sir?"
I said, "I want to tell you something." I said, "I'm him."
He said, "Well, go on up there."
And I said, "No, I can't. See," I said, "I got on these little old seersucker trousers and this little T-shirt." I said, "I couldn't go up there."
He said, "Them people don't care how you dress. Go on up there."
I said, "No, no." I said, "Keep still, don't say nothing now."
And they come back to the phone a minute, said, "Anybody know the whereabouts of William Branham?"
He said, "Here he is! Here he is! Here he is!" Oh, my! There I got up with that little T-shirt on, you know. And here...

92 He said, "Come on up, Mr. Branham, we want you to bring the message." Oh, my, before all them preachers, hmm, all them people! And I went slipping up, you know. My face red, and my ears burning. And I slipped up, seersucker trousers and T-shirt (preacher, Baptist preacher), going up to the microphone, never seen one before, you see.
I stood up there, I said, "Well, I---I---I don't know about this." I was fumbling, real nervous, you know. And I got over here around Luke 16, and I thought, "Well, now..." And I got on the subject, "And he lifted up his eyes in hell, and cried." Then I got... So I begin to preach, you know, and I got to preaching, I felt a little better. And I said, "The rich man was in hell, and he cried." That little three words, like I have a lot of sermons like that. "Believest Thou This?" and "Speak To The Rock," you've heard me preach that. And I had, "And then he cried." And I said, "There's no children there, certainly not in hell, then he cried." I said, "There's no flowers there, then he cried. There's no God there, then he cried. There's no Christ there, then he cried." Then I cried. Something got ahold of me. My! Oh, my! I don't know what happened. When I kind of got to myself, I was standing on the outside. Them people got screaming and shouting and crying, and... We had an awful time.

93 When I come outside there was a fellow walked up to me with a great big Texas hat on, big boots, walked up, said, "I'm Elder So-and-so." Preacher; cowboy boots, cowboy clothes on.
I thought, "Well, my seersucker trousers ain't so bad, then."
Said, "I want you to come down to Texas and hold me a revival."
"Hmm. Let me put that down, mister." And I put it down like that.
Here come a fellow up with one of these little, kind of a golf trousers on, where they used to play golf, you know, had them little blouse pants. He said, "I'm Elder So-and-so from Miami. I'd like to..."
I thought, "My, maybe dressing isn't so much of it." I looked at it, and I thought, "All right."

94 So I grabbed these things, and home I went. Wife met me, she said, "What do you sound so happy about, Billy?"
I said, "Oh, I met the cream of the crop. My, it's the best you ever seen. Them people ain't ashamed of their religion." And, oh, I told her all about it. And I said, "And looky here, honey, a whole string of invitations. Them people!"
She said, "They're not holy rollers, are they?"
I said, "I don't know what kind of a rollers they are, but they got something that I needed." See? I said, "That's one thing I'm sure." I said, "I seen an old man, ninety years old, come young again." I said, "I never heard such preaching in my life. Why, I never seen a Baptist preach like that." I said, "They preach till they get out of breath, and bend their knees plumb to the floor, come back up, catch their breath. You can hear them two blocks away, still preaching." And I said, "I never heard such in my life." And I said, "They speak in an unknown tongue, and the other one tells what they're talking about. Never heard such in my life!" I said, "Will you go with me?"
She said, "Honey, when I married you, I will stick with you until death shall separate us." She said, "I will go." She said, "Now, we will tell the folks."
And I said, "Well, you tell your mama and I will tell my mama." So we ... I went and told Mama.
Mama said, "Well, sure, Billy. Whatever the Lord's called you to do, go do."

95 And so Mrs. Brumbach asked for me to come up. Went up, she said, "What's this you're talking about?"
And I said, "Oh, Mrs. Brumbach," I said, "but you all never seen such people!"
She said, "Quieten down! Quieten down!"
I said, "Yes, ma'am." I said, "I'm sorry."
And she said, "Do you know that's a bunch of holy rollers?"
I said, "No, ma'am, I didn't know that." I said, "They sure are fine people."
She said, "The very idea! Do you think you'd drag my daughter out amongst stuff like that!" Said, "Ridiculous! That's nothing but trash that the other churches has throwed out." She said, "Indeed! You'll not bring my daughter out like that."
I said, "But, you know, Mrs. Brumbach, down in my heart I feel that the Lord wants me to go with them people."
She said, "You go back up to your church until they are able to afford a parsonage for you, and act like a man that's got some sense." Said, "You're not taking my daughter out through there."
I said, "Yes, ma'am." I turned around and walked out.

96 And Hope started crying. She come out, she said, "Billy, regardless of what Mama says, I will stay with you." Bless her heart!
And I said, "Oh, that's all right, honey."
And I just let it go. She wouldn't let her daughter go with such people as that because "it wasn't nothing but trash." And so I just kind of let it go. It was the worse mistake I ever made in my life, one of the worst.

97 A little later, few years after the children come, and one day we was ... there come up a flood, in 1937. There came a flood. And I was on patrol at that time and I was trying my best to bring the people out of the flood, houses tearing down. And my own wife took sick, and she was real, real sick with pneumonia. And they took her out... The regular hospital was so full we couldn't put her in there, so we taken her out to the government where they had a room out there. And so then they called me back out. And I always lived on the river, and quite a boatman, so I was trying to get the people, rescue them from the flood. And then I'd...

98 They called me, said, "There's a house over on Chestnut Street, it's about ready to go in. There's a mother and a bunch of children in there," said, "if you think your boat, your motor, can get in to them."
I said, "Well, I will do all I can."
And I was shooting those waves; the dike had broke up there, and, oh, my, just washing the city out. And I would give it all the juice that I could, and finally down across the alleys and through the places. And I got there close to where the old levee was, the water pouring through; and I heard someone scream, and I seen a mother standing out on the porch. And there was them big rollers going through like that. Well, I went on up this way as far as I could, and hit the stream and come back and got on that side. I had got my boat stopped just in time to tie it around the pillar, of the post of the door, post, or porch post. And I run in and grabbed the mother and got her in there, and two or three of the children. And I undone my boat and got her back. Come out way down below, and got her over to the shore, about a mile and a half across the city, till I got her to the shore. And then when I got over there, she had fainted. And she had begin ... she was screaming, "My baby! My baby!"

99 Well, I thought that she meant she had left the baby in the house. Oh, my! I took back again while they was trying to take care of her. And, I come to find out, she was wanting to know where her baby was there. There was a little fellow about three years old, and I thought she meant a little nursing baby or something.
And so I took back and got over there. And when I got that boat and got on the inside and couldn't find no baby, and the porch give away and the house went in. And I run real quick and grabbed the piece there that was floating my boat, got into the boat, and pulled that and loosed it up.

100 And it done got me out into the current of the main river then. And it was about eleven-thirty at night, just sleeting and snowing. And I grabbed a hold of the starter string and I tried to pull the boat, and it wouldn't start; and I tried and it wouldn't start, and I tried again. Getting farther in that current, the falls just below me. And I was trying real hard, and I thought, "Oh, my, here's my end! This is it!" And I'd try real hard. And I said, "Lord, please don't let me die a death like this," and I'd pull and I'd pull.
And it come back to me, "What about that bunch of trash that you wouldn't go to?"

101 I put my hand back on the boat, and I said, "God, be merciful to me. Don't let me leave my wife and baby like this, and them out there sick! Please!" And I just kept pulling like that, and it wouldn't start. And I could hear the roaring down there, because I... Just a few minutes, and, oh, my, that would be it. And I said, "Lord, if You'll forgive me, I promise You I will do anything." Kneeling in that boat there and the sleet hitting me in the face, I said, "I will do anything that You want me to do." And I pulled again, and it started. And I turned all the gas on it I could, and finally got into the shore.
And I went back to find the truck, patrol truck. And I thought of... There was some of them said, "Say, the government just washed away." My wife and baby in there, both babies.

102 And I took out for the government as hard as I could, and water was standing about fifteen feet deep all through it. And there was a major there, and I said, "Major, what happened to the hospital?"
Said, "Now, don't be worried. You'd have anyone in there?"
And I said, "Yes, a sick wife and two babies."
He said, "They all got out." Said, "They're in a freight car and they've headed towards Charlestown."
I run, got my boat ... or, got my car, and my boat in the back of it, and run out there to... And then the creeks had come down about two and a half or three miles wide. And all night long I tried to... Some of them said, "The car, the freight car, washed off the tracks out there on the trestle."
Well, find myself marooned out on a little island, set there three days. I had plenty of time to think about whether that was trash or not. Just beating, "Where's my wife?"

103 Finally when I found her, in a few days after I got out and got across, she was way up to Columbus, Indiana, in the Baptist Auditorium where they had made a hospital-like, sickrooms on little government cots. And I ran to her as hard as I could, trying to find where she was, screaming, "Hope! Hope! Hope!" And I looked, and there she was laying on a cot, and TB had set in.
She raised her little bony hand, and she said, "Billy."
And I run to her, and I said, "Hope, honey."
She said, "I look awful, don't I?"
I said, "No, honey, you look all right."

104 For about six months we worked with everything that was in us, to try to get to save her life, but she kept getting lower and lower.
One day I was on patrol and I had my radio turned on, and I thought I heard them say, make a call on the radio, said, "For William Branham, wanted at the hospital at once, wife dying." I rushed back to the hospital as quick as I could---turned on the red light and the siren and took off. And then I got up at the hospital, and I stopped, run in. Coming down through the hospital, I seen a little buddy of mine that we fished together, we run together as boys, Sam Adair.
Doctor Sam Adair, he's the one that was the vision come not long ago and told him about the clinic. And he said, if anybody doubted the vision, just call him collect, if they want to know about whether it was right or not.

105 And so then here he come out like that, and he had his hat in his hand. He looked at me and he just started crying. And I run up to him, throwed my arms around him. He put his arms around me, said, "Billy, she's going." He said, "I'm sorry. I've done all I could do; I've had specialists and everything."
I said "Sam, surely she's not going!"
Said, "Yeah, she's going."
And he said, "Don't go in there, Bill."
And I said, "I got to go in, Sam."
And he said, "Don't do it. Don't, please don't."
I said, "Let me go in."
Said, "I will go with you."
I said, "No, you stay out here. I want to stay with her in her last minutes."
Said, "She's unconscious."

106 I walked in the room. And the nurse was sitting there, and she was crying because she and Hope was schoolmates together. And so I looked over, and she started crying, put her hand up, and started walking over.
And I looked over, and shook her. There she was, she had went down from about a hundred and twenty pounds to about sixty. And I shook her. And if I live to be a hundred years old, I will never forget what happened. She turned over, and those great big pretty eyes looked up at me. She smiled. She said, "Why did you call me back, Billy?"
I said, "Honey, I just got the cash."

107 I had to work. We was way in debt and hundreds of dollars of doctor bill, and nothing to pay it with. And I just had to work. And I seen her two or three times a day, and every night, and then when she was in that condition.
I said, "What do you mean, 'Call you back'?"
She said, "Bill, you've preached about it, you've talked about it, but you don't have no idea what it is."
I said, "What are you talking about?"
She said, "Heaven." She said, "Look," she said, "I was being escorted home by some people, men or women or something that was dressed in white." And she said, "I was at ease and peace." Said, "Big pretty birds flying from tree to tree." She said, "Don't think I'm beside myself." She said, "Billy, I'm going to tell you our mistake." She said, "Sit down." I didn't; I knelt down, took her hand. She said, "You know where our mistake is?"
And I said, "Yes, sweetheart, I do."
She said, "We should have never listened to Mama. Them people were right."
And I said, "I know it."
She said, "Promise me this, that you'll go to those people," said, "because they're right." And she said, "Raise my children like that." She said, "I want to tell you something." She said, "I'm dying, but," said, "I don't dread going." Said, "It's beautiful." She said, "The only thing, I hate to leave you, Bill. And I know you got these two little children to raise." She said, "Promise me that you'll not stay single and let my children be pulled about from pillar to post." That was a sensible thing for a twenty-one-year-old mother.
And I said, "I can't promise that, Hope."
She said, "Please promise me." Said, "One thing I want to tell you." Said, "You remember that rifle?" I'm just crazy about guns. And she said, "You wanted to buy that rifle that day and you didn't have enough money to make the down payment."
I said, "Yes."
She said, "I've been saving my money, my nickels, to try and make that down payment on that rifle for you." She said, "Now, when this is over, you go back home, look up on the duofold ... or, the folding bed, under that piece of paper on top, and you'll find the money there." She said, "Promise me that you'll buy that rifle."
You don't know how I felt when I seen that dollar seventy-five cents (in nickels) laying there. I got the rifle.

108 And she said, "You remember that time that you were going downtown to buy me a pair of stockings, and we was going to Fort Wayne?"
I said, "Yes."
I had come in from fishing, and she said... We had to go to Fort Wayne, I had to preach that night. And she said, "You know, I told you..." There's two different kind. One called "chiffon." And what's the other one? Rayon? Is that right? Rayon and chiffon? Well, ever which is, chiffon was the best. Is that right? And she said, "Now, you get me some chiffon, the full style." You know that thing that's got that little thing in the back of the stocking, at the top? And I didn't know nothing about women's clothes, so I...
And I was going down the street and saying, "Chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon," trying to keep thinking, saying "chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
Somebody said, "Hello, Billy!"
I said, "Oh, hello, hello." "Chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon, chiffon."
And I got to the corner and I met Mr. Spohn. He said, "Hey, Billy, do you know the perch is biting now over on the side of that last pier?"
I said, "Sure enough, is that right?"
"Yeah."
I thought now, when I left him, "What was that stuff?" I forgot it.

109 So Thelma Ford, a girl that I knew, worked at the ten-cent store. And I knowed they sell women's stockings over there, so I went over. I said, "Hi, Thelma."
And she said, "Hi, Billy. How are you? How's Hope?"
And I said, "Fine." I said, "Thelma, I want a pair of socks for Hope."
She said, "Hope don't want socks."
I said, "Yes, ma'am, she sure does."
Said, "You mean stockings."
"Oh," I said, "that's what it is." I thought, "Uh-oh, I done showed my ignorance."
And she said, "What kind does she want?"
I thought, "Uh-oh!" I said, "What kind you got?"
She said, "Well, we got rayon."

110 I didn't know the difference. Rayon, chiffon, it all sound the same. I said, "That's what I want." She said... I said, "Fix me a pair of them, full style." And I got that wrong. What is it? Full fashion. "Full fashion." And so I said, "Fix me a pair of them."
And when she went to give them to me, they was only about thirty cents, twenty cents or thirty cents, about half-price. Well, I said, "Give me two pair of them." See?

111 And I went back home, and I said, "You know, honey, you women shop all over town to find bargains." You know how you like to crow. And I said, "But here, look here, I bought two pair for the price that you buy one pair with. See?" I said, "Oh, that's my personal ability." See, I said, "You know, Thelma sold me these." I said, "She might have let me have them at half price."
She said, "Did you get chiffon?"
I said, "Yes, ma'am." It all sounded the same to me, I didn't know there was any difference.

112 And she told me, she said, "Billy (I thought strange when she got to Fort Wayne she had to get another pair of stockings), she said, "I give them to your mother." Said, "They're for older women." Said, "I'm sorry I did that."
And I said, "Oh, that's all right, honey."
And she said, "Now, don't live single." And she said... She didn't know that what was fixing to happen in a few hours from then. And I held her darling hands while the angels of God packed her away.

113 I went home. I didn't know what to do. I laid down there at night and I heard... I think it was a little mouse, was in the old grate where we had some papers in there. And I shut the door with my foot, and there hung her kimono on the back (and laying down there in that morgue). And just in a little bit someone called me, said, "Billy!" It was Brother Frank Broy. He said, "Your baby's dying."
I said, "My baby?"
Said, "Yes, Sharon Rose." Said, "Doc's up there now, and said she's got tubercular meningitis, she nursed it from her mother." And said, "She's dying."

114 I got in the car, went up there. And there she was, the sweet little thing. And they rushed her to the hospital.
I went out to see him. Sam come up and said, "Billy, don't you go in that room, you got to think of Billy Paul." Said, "She's dying."
I said, "Doc, I got to see my baby."
He said, "No, you can't go in." Said, "She's got meningitis, Billy, and you'd pack it to Billy Paul."

115 And I waited till he got out. I couldn't stand to see her die, and her mother laying down there in the undertaker's establishment. I tell you, the way of a transgressor is hard. And I went, slipped in the door, and when Sam went out and the nurse went out, I went down into the basement. It's a little bitty hospital. She was in an isolated place, and the flies was in her little eyes. And they had a little what we call a "mosquito bar," or little netting, over her eyes. And she'd ... with little spasm, her little fat leg was moving up and down like that, and her little hands, with that spasm. And I looked at her, and she was just big enough to be cute, about eight months old.

116 And her mother used to set her out there with her little three-corners on, you know, in the yard, when I'd come up. And I'd toot the horn, and she'd go, "goo-goo, goo-goo," reaching for me, you know.
And there laid my darling, dying. I looked down to her, and I said, "Sharry, you know Daddy? You know Daddy, Sharry?" And when she looked, she was suffering so hard till one of them pretty little blue eyes had crossed. It liked to have tore my heart out of me.
I knelt down, I said, "Lord, what have I done? Have not I preached the Gospel on the street corners, I've done everything that I know to do? Don't hold it against me. I never called them people trash, it was her that called them people trash." I said, "I'm sorry it all happened. Forgive me. Don't take my baby!" And while I was praying, looked like a black like a sheet or a cloth come down. I knowed He had refused me.

117 Now, there was the hardest and the most treacherous time of my life. When I raised up and looked at her, and I thought... Satan put in my mind, "Well, you mean as hard as you've preached, and the way that you've lived, and now when it comes to your own baby, He will turn you down?"
I said, "That's right. If He can't save my baby, then I can't..." I stopped. I just didn't know what to do. And then I said this, I said, "Lord, You gave her to me and You taken her away. Blessed be the name of the Lord! If You take even me, I will still love You."
And I put my hand over on her, I said, "Bless you, sweetheart. Daddy wanted to raise you, with all my heart I wanted to raise you, and raise you to love the Lord. But the angels are coming for you, sweetheart. Daddy will take your little body down and lay it on the arms of Mama. I will bury you with her. And someday Daddy will meet you, you just wait up there with Mama."

118 When her mother was dying, she said, last words she said, she said, "Bill, stay on the field."
I said, "I..." She said ... I said, "If I'm on the field when He comes, I will get the kids and meet. If I'm not, I will be buried by you. And you go over on the right-hand side of the great gate, and when you see all of them come in, stand there and start hollering, 'Bill! Bill! Bill!' just as loud as you can. I will meet you there." I kissed her good-bye. I'm on the battlefield today. That's been nearly twenty years ago. I got my date with my wife, I'm going to meet her.

119 I took the little baby, and when it died, and put it on the arms of the mother, and we taken it out to the cemetery. And I stood there to hear Brother Smith, the Methodist preacher that preached the funeral, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust." (And I thought, "Heart to heart.") There she went.
Not long after that, I took little Billy there one morning. He was just a little bitty fellow. He was...
That's the reason he sticks with me and I stick with him, I had to be both papa and mama (both) to him. I'd take his little bottle (we couldn't afford to have a fire at night to keep his milk warm), and I'd lay it under my back like this and keep it warm by the heat of my body.
We've stuck together like buddies, and one of these days when I go off the field I want to hand him the Word and say, "Go on, Billy. You stay with it." Some people wonders why I got him with me all the time. I can't give him up. He's even married, but I still remember she told me, "Stay with him." And we've stuck together like buddies.

120 I remember walking around town, the bottle under my arm, he'd get to crying. One night we was walking out in the back yard where... Just when she was fixing to have him, she was smothering---just a girl, you know---and I'd walk back and forth from the old oak tree in the back of the yard. And he was crying for his mama, and I didn't have any mama to take him to. And I'd pack him, I'd say, "Oh, honey." I said...
He said, "Daddy, where's my mama? Did you put her into that ground?"
I said, "No, honey. She's all right, she's up in heaven."

121 And he said something there, liked to have killed me one afternoon. He was crying, was along late in the evening, and I was packing him on my back like that, packing him on my shoulder and patting him like this. And he said, "Daddy, please go get Mama and bring her here."
And I said, "Honey, I can't get Mama. Jesus..."
Said, "Well, tell Jesus to send me my mama. I want her."
And I said, "Well, honey, I ... me and you going to go see her sometime."
And he stopped, said, "Daddy!"
And I said, "Yes?"
Said, "I seen Mama up there on that cloud."
My, liked to have killed me! I thought, "My! 'I seen Mama up there on that cloud.'" I just almost fainted. I hugged the little fellow up to my bosom like that, and just held my head down, went on in.

122 Days passed. I couldn't forget it. I tried to work. Couldn't go back home, it wasn't home no more. I wanted to stay... We didn't have nothing but just that old tore up furniture, but it was something that she and I had enjoyed together. It was home.
And I remember one day I was trying to work in the Public Service. I had went up to fix an old secondary, was hanging down, it was real early of a morning. And I climbed up this cross. (And I couldn't give that baby up. I could see my wife going, but that baby going, just a little bitty thing.) And I was on there, and I was singing, "On the hill far away, stood an old rugged cross." And the primaries run down to the transformer and went out into (you know) secondary. And I was hanging up there on it. And I happened to look, and the sun coming up behind me, and there my hands stretched out, and the sign of that cross on the hillside. I thought, "Yes, it was my sins that put Him there!"

123 I said, "Sharon, honey, Daddy wants to see you so bad, honey. How I'd like to hold you in my arms again, you darling little thing." I got beside myself. It had been weeks. I pulled off my rubber glove. There's twenty-three hundred volts running right by the side of me. I pulled off my rubber glove. I said, "God, I hate to do this. I'm a coward. But, Sharry, Daddy's going to see you and Mommy just in a few minutes." Started pulling off my glove, to put my hand on that twenty-three hundred. It'd break ... why, you wouldn't even have no blood left in you. And so I started pulling that glove off, and something happened. When I come to, I was sitting on the ground with my hands up like this, to my face, crying. It was God's grace, or I wouldn't been having a healing service here, I'm sure of that. It was Him protecting His gift, not me.

124 I started home. I quit, put my tools away. And went back, I said, "I'm going home."
I started around the house, and I picked up the mail in the house. Kind of cold, and I went in. We had one little room, I was sleeping on a little cot there, and the frost coming up, and that old stove. I took the mail and I looked in the mail, and the first thing on there was her little Christmas saving, eighty cents, "Miss Sharon Rose Branham." There it was, all over again.

125 I had been game warden. I reached in there and got my gun, pistol, out from the holster. I said, "Lord, I can't go this anymore, I'm dying. I'm so tormented." I pulled the hammer back on the gun, put it up to my head, kneeling there on that cot in that dark room. I said, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thine will be done," and as I tried, and I squeezed that trigger as hard as I could, I said, "on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread." And it wouldn't go off!
And I thought, "O God, are You just tearing me to pieces? What have I done? You won't even let me die!" And I throwed the gun down, and it went off and shot through the room. And I said, "God, why can't I die and get out of it? I just can't go no farther. You've got to do something to me." And I fell over and started crying on my little old dirty bunk there.
And I must have went to sleep. I don't know whether I was asleep or what happened.
I've always longed to be out West. I've always wanted one of them hats. My father broke horses in his young days, and I always wanted one of them hats. And Brother Demos Shakarian bought me one yesterday, first one I've had (ever had) like that, one of them kind of western hats.

126 And I thought I was going down along through the prairie, a-singing that song, "There's a wheel on the wagon broken, sign on the ranch, 'For Sale.'" And as I went along, I noticed an old covered wagon, like an old prairie schooner, and the wheel was broke. Course, that represented my broken family. And as I got close, I looked, and there stood a real pretty, young girl, about twenty years old, white flowing hair and blue eyes, dressed in white. I looked over at her, I said, "How do you do?" Went on.
She said, "Hello, Dad."
And I turned back, I said, "Dad? Why," I said, "how, Miss, can you ... can I be your daddy when you're as old as I am?"
She said, "Daddy, you just don't know where you're at."
And I said, "What do you mean?"
She said, "This is heaven." Said, "On earth I was your little Sharon."
"Why," I said, "honey, you was just a little baby."
Said, "Daddy, little babies are not little babies here, they're immortal. They never get old or never grow."
And I said, "Well, Sharon, honey, you're a pretty young woman."
She said, "Mama's waiting for you."
I said, "Where?"
She said, "Up at your new home."
And I said, "New home?" Branhams are vagabonds, they don't have homes, they just... And I said, "Well, I never had a home, honey."
She said, "But you got one up here, Daddy." I don't mean to be a baby, but it's just so real to me. As I start to thinking of it, it all comes back again. Said, "You got one here, Daddy." I know I got one over there. Someday I will go to it. She said, "Where's Billy Paul, my brother?"
I said, "Well, I left him at Mrs. Broy's, just a few minutes ago."
Said, "Mother wants to see you."

127 And I turned and looked, and there was great big palaces, and the glory of God coming up around them. And I heard an angelic choir singing, "My Home, Sweet Home." I started up a long steps, running just as hard as I could. And when I got to the door, there she stood, a white garment on, that black hair, long, holding down her back. She raised out her arms, as she always did when I come home tired from work or something. I caught her by the hands, and I said, "Honey, I seen Sharon down there." I said, "She made a pretty girl, didn't she?"
She said, "Yes, Bill." She said, "Bill (put her arms around me)," and she said (just around my shoulders, she started patting me), she said, "stop worrying about me and Sharon."
I said, "Honey, I can't help it."
She said, "Now Sharon and I are better off than you are." And said, "Don't worry about us no more. Will you promise me?"
And I said, "Hope," I said, "I've been so lonesome for you and for Sharon, and Billy cries all the time for you." I said, "I don't know what to do with him."
And she said, "It'll be all right, Bill." She said, "Just promise me you won't worry no more." And she said, "Won't you sit down?" And I looked around and there was a great big chair.

128 And I remember I tried to buy a chair. Now, in closing. I tried to buy a chair one time. We just had them old common wooden-bottom chairs for that breakfast set. We had to use them, the only chairs we had. And we could buy one of these chairs that you let back in the back, like a ... I forget what kind of an easy-rest chair. And it cost seventeen dollars, and you could pay three dollars down and a dollar a week. And we got one. And, oh, when I'd come in... I'd work all day, and preach till midnight around the streets and wherever I could preach.
And one day I got behind on my payments. We couldn't make it, and it got day after day, and finally one day they come and got my chair and took it. That night, I never will forget, she had me a cherry pie baked. Poor little old thing, she knowed I was going to be disappointed. And after supper I said, "What's you so good about tonight, honey?"
And she said, "Say, I had the boys over in the neighborhood to dig you some fishing worms. Don't you think we ought to go down to the river and fish a little while?"
And I said, "Yes, but..."

129 And she started crying. I knowed there was something wrong. I had an idea, because they had already sent me a notice they was coming to get it. And we couldn't make that dollar payment a week. We couldn't ... just couldn't afford it. She put her arms around me, and I went to the door and my chair was gone.
She told me up there, she said, "You remember that chair, Bill?"
And I said, "Yes, honey, I remember."
Said, "That's what you was thinking about, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
Said, "Well, they won't take this one, this one's paid for." She said, "Sit down just a minute, I want to talk to you."
And I said, "Honey, I don't understand this."
And she said, "Promise me, Billy, promise me that you won't worry anymore. You're going back now." And said, "Promise me you won't worry."
And I said, "I can't do that, Hope."

130 And just then I come to, it was dark in the room. I looked around, and I felt her arm around me. I said, "Hope, are you here in the room?"
She started patting me. She said, "You going to make me that promise, Bill? Promise me you won't marry ... worry no more."
I said, "I promise you."
And when then she patted me two or three times, and she was gone. I jumped up and turned on the light, looked everywhere, she was gone. But she's just gone out of the room. She isn't gone, she's still living. She was a Christian.

131 Billy and I went to the grave here sometime ago, packing a little flower for his mother and sister, just on an Easter morning, and we stopped. The little fellow started crying, he said, "Daddy, my mommy's down there."
I said, "No, honey. No, she ain't down there. Sister ain't down there. We got a folded over grave here, but way across the sea there's an open grave where Jesus rose. And someday He will come, He will bring sister and mama with Him."
I'm on the battlefield today, friends. I just can't tell any more. I... God bless you. Let's bow our heads a minute.

132 O Lord! Many times, Lord, I'm sure people don't understand, when they think these things come easy. But there's a great day coming when Jesus shall come and all these sorrows will be wiped away. I pray, Heavenly Father, that You'll help us to be prepared.
And that last promise, when I kissed her on the cheek that morning, that I'd meet her there that day, I believe she will be standing at that post screaming my name. I've lived true to that promise since, Lord, around the world, in all kinds of places, trying to bring the Gospel. Getting old now, and tired, I'm wore out. One of these days I'm going to close this Bible for the last time. God, keep me faithful to the promise. Keep your grace around me, Lord. Let me not look at the things of this life, but live for the things that's beyond. Help me to be honest. I don't ask for a flowery bed of ease, no, Lord, when my Christ died there under suffering. And all the rest of them died like that. I don't ask for any easy thing. Just let me be honest, Lord, truthful. Let people love me so I can lead them to Thee. And someday when it's all over and we gather around under the evergreen trees, I want to get her by the hand and walk her up, to show the people of Angelus Temple and all the others. It'll be a great time then.
I pray that Your mercies rest upon each of us here. And those who are here, Lord, may not even know You, maybe they've got some little loved one across the sea yonder. If they've never fulfilled their promise, may they do it now, Lord.

133 While we have our heads bowed, I wonder in this great, huge auditorium this afternoon, how many of you say, "Brother Branham, I want to meet my loved ones, too. I've got some loved ones just across the river yonder?" Maybe you made a promise that you'd meet them, maybe when you told Mother "good-bye" up there at the grave that day, maybe when you told little sister "good-bye," or Dad, or some of them at the grave, promised you'd meet them, and you've never made that preparation yet. Don't you think it's a good time now to do it?
Excuse my breaking down. But, oh, my, you don't realize, friends. You don't know what sacrifice! That's not a spot, hardly, of the life story.

134 How many of you would like to raise up now and walk up here for prayer, say, "I want to meet my loved ones?" Raise up out of the audience and come down here. Will you do it? If somebody has never made that preparation yet. God bless you, sir. I see an aged colored man coming out, others coming. Move yourself, you in the balconies up there, just move right out into the aisle. Or stand up, you who wants to be remembered in a word of prayer just now. That's it. Stand right up to your feet. That's good. Stand up, everywhere, you who would say, "I've got a father over yonder, I've got a mother or a loved one over yonder. I want to go see them. I want to meet them in peace." Will you raise up, just stand up to your feet, anywhere in the audience. Stand up to your feet, say, "I want to accept."

135 God bless you, lady. God bless you back there. And bless you up there. Lord bless you here, sir. That's right. Up in the balcony, the Lord bless you. All around, everywhere, stand up to your feet now to have a word of prayer, while the Holy Spirit is here and moving upon our hearts, to break up.
You know, what the church needs today is a breaking up. We need to go down to the Potter's House. Our stiff homemade theology sometimes doesn't work so good. What we need is an old-fashioned breaking up, repentance in our hearts, getting mellow towards God. Is that all now that's ready to stand?
Let us bow our heads then for prayer.

136 O Lord, who brought again Jesus from the dead, to justify all of us by faith, believing, I pray, Lord, that these who are standing now to their feet to accept Thee, I pray that forgiveness will be to them. And, O Lord, I pray that they will accept You as their Saviour and King and lover. And maybe they got a mama or a papa or somebody just across the sea. There's one thing sure, they got a Saviour. May they be forgiven of their sins, and all their iniquity blotted out, that their souls may be washed in the blood of the Lamb, and they live in peace from hereafter.
And some glorious day when it's all over, may we gather at Your house, and be there as unbroken families, to meet our loved ones that's waiting on the other side. This, we commit them unto Thee, that "Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose heart is stayed upon Him." Grant it, Lord, as we commit them to Thee, in the name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

137 God bless you. I'm sure the workers see where you're standing, and they will be right with you in a few minutes.
And now to those who are going to receive prayer cards. Billy, where's Gene and Leo? They in the back? They're here to give out the prayer cards just in a few minutes. Brother will dismiss the audience in prayer, and the prayer cards will be given out. We will be back here just in a little bit, to pray for the sick. All right, Brother.