"This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and we know that his testimony is true"
John 21:24
Here some time ago in Ohio, I learned a lesson the hard way. I was having a meeting down in Ohio, and I was staying out in the country. Because of the masses, I could not stay in the city. We'd been eating at a little Dunkard restaurant. And such lovely little waitresses, and decently dressed, and clean as they could be, very ladylike, waited on us. It was a little spot of heaven to eat in such a place. Their kitchen was spic-and-span. And on Sunday they closed up and they went to their church. I got a little hungry; I was going to preach Sunday afternoon. And I went over to an ordinary little, just a common little American restaurant to get something to eat. And when I walked in the door, what did I hear but a slot machine going. And was standing there a man of my age, which perhaps was a married man, with his arm around a woman, playing a slot machine. Our very law, the protection of our righteousness, of our goods, was standing there violating a thing that he was supposed to be protecting. Because it's illegal to gamble in Ohio, playing a slot machine. And I turned and looked towards the back of the building, there was a bunch of teen-age boys, and an old rock-and-roll records on the machine, playing. A young lady of about eighteen years old, very neatly and in her anatomy as a woman. But she was standing there with her dress hanging low in the front, and one of those boys with his hands on the girl, where they did not belong, and they were smoking and drinking... And I thought, "O God, how can You stand it?"
And I looked over to my right, when I heard someone make out a big groan. And there set an aged woman, probably sixty years, or seventy years old. She had on those little old vulgar clothes, just about half-way up her limbs, and her poor old wrinkled flesh was just as flabby as it could be. And she had on this here lip makeup, and a great big purple thing on the side of her face, painted: a little pair of shoes on, sandals, with purple toenails, painted; purple fingernails, painted. And her hair was cut real short, and curled up, and dyed blue. And I looked at her. And across the table set two men, drunk. One of them (It was summertime.) with a big old army overcoat on, with a gray scarf wrapped around his neck, and the whiskers all over his face, a-belching and going on. And they excused theirself, the men did, from her, and started walking out like this to the restrooms.
I stood there. And I said, "God, why don't You destroy the whole thing? Why don't You just sink it beneath the earth?" I said, "Is my little Sarah and Rebekah going to have to grow up under such stuff as that?" I said, "How can You, God, in Your great holiness, ever stand to look at such a thing like that and not send an earthquake and sink it?" And as I was standing there condemning the woman, as I was, I stepped back behind the door. I felt the Spirit of God come to me, and I stepped behind the door. And I seen like something whirling. And when it was, in the vision it was the world turning around and around. And as I noticed, around the world was a scarlet streak, around the world. And as I got to the world, I seen myself, just a little boy, doing things that I ought not to do; maybe not like that, but it was sin. And every time I did anything, I seen that great black shadow go towards heaven. Which God would've killed me at that minute. Then I seen standing between me and God, stood that perfect Sacrifice. I seen Him standing there with the thorns on His head, and the spit hanging on His face. And every time my sins would start towards God, He'd reach out and catch it like the bumper on the car. He was protecting me from death. And every time I'd do anything wrong, God would've killed me. Certainly, His holiness requires it. His law requires it. And every time I'd do anything, or you do anything, the Blood of Jesus Christ acts like a bumper. And I seen that scarlet streak meant that then, that the Blood still holds the earth.
And as I stood looking, I got a little closer to Him as I noticed Him. And I could hear Him say, "Father, forgive him, he doesn't know what he's doing." And I looked down, and there laid a book. And there's a recording Angel there, and standing by His side. And every time I sinned, it was put down on the book. And my name was on it. And I realized that someday, I--that Blood streak would be lifted and I'd have to stand in the Presence of God with my sinful life. But I seen by His mercy He was holding off my judgment. I went to Him, humbly. I knelt on my knees, and I said, "O Jesus, Thou Son of God, I am unworthy to come in Your Presence. But will You please forgive me for what I have done?" He touched His side with His hand, took the old book and wrote "pardoned" on it, throwed it back behind Him, and my sins were gone. Then He looked me stern in the face; He said, "Now I have forgiven you, but you want to condemn her." Then I seen what it meant.
As I come out of the vision, I walked over to her. I said, "How do you do?" She was drinking. She looked up at me and she said, "Oh, hello." I said, "Could I set down?" She said, "I have company." I said, "I don't mean it in that way, lady. I just want to speak to you a minute." She said, "Be seated." And I said, "Lady, just a few minutes ago, standing yonder behind that door..." I begin to tell her. And as I begin to look, the tears begin to run down her cheeks. And she told me... I said, "Lady, you don't mean to do these things. Jesus died, and the judgments of God is held off by His Blood. You don't mean to do this." And she said, "No, sir." She said, "My father was a deacon in church. I was raised in a Christian home. My husband and I were charter members and lived a Christian life. She begin to tell me, after his death... She had two young girls, and she went astray. And how the girls had left her, and she'd throwed her life away. And she thought there was no more hope for her. But I said, "God, be merciful. Those who He has foreknew, He has called." The said, "Are you Reverend Branham, from down there?" I said, "I am." She said, "I'm ashamed of myself to be setting here like this." She said, "Do you think there would be a chance for me?" I said, "Jesus has His arms stretched out, waiting for you to come, lady." And the other people begin to take up. And I said, "Would you walk out here in this floor with me?" She said, "I will, sir." I took her by the hand, I said, "You're about the age of my mother. Would you kneel here with me in the floor?" And there in the floor we broke up that place that afternoon to an old fashion meeting. And God saved that woman by His grace. She dressed herself and come to the meeting, and, as far as I know, living a Christian life tonight.
What is it? Oh, God requires perfection. He requires your repentance. He requires your loyalty to Him. But He's lookingtonight. No matter how much you've sinned, how little or how much, you arestill a sinner, andcannot get in no other way but by Jesus Christ, God's all-sufficient Sacrifice. And in Him you areperfected forever. Think of it. It's not nothing you do. It's not new pages you turn. It's not a newlife you start. It's a confession of your wrong, and God's grace to you. That brings you toperfection, and then you are perfected in Jesus Christ.
Doctor F. F. Bosworth, one of the finest old men there is in the world... I'm anxious for Congressman Upshaw to meet him. He's going with me to Africa, Mister Bosworth. We want to see him finish his ministry and finish his course with great joy. And he's going to Africa with us. I love him with godly Christian love. And he came into my room, he said, "Brother Branham looky here." Just about a night before this picture was taken. And there he give me the picture of Miss Florence Nightingale, a great-great granddaughter of the late Florence Nightingale from England, that went down into Africa. And she was dying with a malignant growth over the...?... of the stomach. And they held up her picture. And I thought Georgie Carter, my piano player at the Milltown Baptist Church in Indiana, was the thinnest person I ever seen. She weighted thirty some odd pounds, with TB, and been nine years and eight months on her back. And a hour from the time that the Holy Ghost showed me where she's at and to pray for her, she was playing the piano again. And she's my piano player there tonight. Six, seven years ago, she's just as healthy as anybody.
But this woman was almost six foot tall, Georgie was a little woman. This woman was about six foot tall and weighed around thirty-five or forty pounds. And they had her standing up, holding her, and her body with just a small clout around her. Even as hard hearted as I am, it broke me down to tears. And I...she's begging me, "Brother Branham, the last call. Please fly to Africa right away." Said, "I believe if I could just see you, God will heal me." Now, she did not belong to a fundamental church. Then... But she had faith. All the faith don't lie in the fundamental church, or don't-- lies in the Pentecostal church, or the Holiness church. It lays in an individual. I've seen a Roman Catholic come to the platform and be healed miraculously with things. And different people... I've seen in Winnipeg, Canada, a Buddha worshipper, a little blind boy converted at the platform. I said, "You being blind, do you believe." He said, "If Jesus Christus heal me tonight, I'll worship no other God but Jesus Christus." And his eyes come open. There you are. Buddha... I expect to see Indians and Hindus in Africa, and Hottentots brought to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Listen. I prayed, and I said, "God, I can't go down there now unless You lead me. So I ask Thee, Lord, if You'll heal that woman, that'll be a green light." And Brother Bosworth kneeling with me, said, "Go to Africa." Brother Baxter doesn't know about this even. And we joined hands there, Brother Bosworth and I, and my wife, and little girl. And we knelt down and prayed that God would heal the woman. I commit it to the Lord, and let it go. I never knew nothing about that, left it go.
And when Brother Baxter and I, and all of us arrived in London, Brother Baxter and I were going in, which he's listening... setting here listening at me now. When we were going in, I said, "Well, it'll be peaceful here for awhile." So I started up, and they paged me. And when I got there, I was wondering if it was the king's call to come to the Buckingham Palace, (Bro Branham prayed for King George VI during this visit to London) or what it was, immediately. But what it was... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] There was a lady had just flown in front of me from Africa, and they couldn't hardly get her out of the plane: Miss. Florence Nightingale. How she knowed I was to be there, I don't know yet. And I told this minister, I said, "Take her somewhere, and I'll see you in a day or so." We wanted to go down to the palace. So he said, "If she lives that long." Said, "Brother Branham, she's dying." So they got her down to the place, and that day when Brother Baxter and I, and Brother Lindsay, and Brother Moore, the managers, we went down to the place. The minister came and got us, and we went up to the place to pray for the woman. When I walked in that room, friends, I--I--I can't tell you how I felt. There laid a skeleton a breathing.
Now, I'm in a mixed audience. Now, you listen to your doctor, and I'm your brother. Now, please understand me in the right manner. When they brought down the cover, Brother Baxter turned his head. And she wanted... Now, she couldn't talk to me, and I had to get down and let the nurse say what she was saying. And where enough moisture was coming to make tears rolling down her cheeks, I don't know. She wanted to die. She wanted me to ask God to let her die. Well, I took a hold of her hand, and it cold pi--just like bones. Her head here, the skull, how it goes together, you could see the places. Her eyes way back. And on her breast, as a woman, it wasn't, sunk down into her ribs. And when they pulled the cover down to here, her bones... her legs up here at the place, at their sockets, was just about that big around. They couldn't even find any veins to inject glucose or nothing. She hadn't eat for months, could swallow nothing. They had to put the water in her and so forth. And now, they couldn't find the veins to feed her. And there, the ring of her hip bone had growed together, and the skin from both sides of the ring was sticking together like that. You never seen such a sight in your life. I knelt down, and I said, "Heavenly Father, have mercy." I told her, I said, "I'm under no anointing; I've just come down here. But I'll pray, but not for you to die." And I started praying. And she said, "Could you...?..." I was going to get down close, and the nurse said, "She said, 'Brother Branham, I've always believed if I could get near you, God would answer prayer.'" If I was a hypocrite, God would reward such faith as that. That's true.
And when I went to pray for her, just as I started praying... Brother Baxter here is one witness. As I started to pray, a little turtledove flew at the window, begin to go, "Coo, coo, coo, coo." And all... I started down. I said, "Our Father, Who art in heaven..." The little turtledove started going, "Coo, coo." I said, "Hallowed be Thy Name." He said, "Coo, coo," walking back and forth. And when I finished my prayer, and said, "Amen," and asked for her healing, the little turtledove flew away. The ministers remarked. And when I started to tell the woman to console her, the Holy Spirit spoke and said, "She's going to be well." And today, she weighs a hundred and thirty-five pounds in perfect health.
(Extract from WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT preached by Bro. Branham in Toledo Ohio 19th. July 1951)
Not long ago down in Mexico I seen something desperate. I just got to the platform there in the big arena, and the people had been in there since nine o'clock that morning, and it was nearly ten o'clock that night. An old blind man, the night before, totally blind for about thirty years, received his sight, and was going around the city that day testifying. An old rick of clothes, laying for maybe thirty, forty yards, that high, of just old shawls. There's maybe forty, fifty thousand people there. And old hats and shawls... Who they belonged to, I guess they'd have to decide that among them. It pouring down rain... And they let me down a rope over a wall, and I got on the platform. The minister... The man that's setting here, they brought his... Him and his daughter come down from Michigan a few minutes ago, talked about Brother Arment. We remember him here. He's on the streets of glory tonight. Brother Arment was there, and took his overcoat off, and stood in the rain, and give it to Brother Jack Moore to put on, 'cause Jack was shivering. The southerner was about to freeze in that cold rain there in Mexico. And there he was standing there.
And Billy Paul come to me, my son, and said, "Daddy, you'll have to do something. There's a little Mexican woman down there with a dead baby that died this morning. I ain't got enough ushers to hold her out of the line." If laying hands on that blind man give him his sight, laying hands on her dead baby would give it its life. She was a Catholic, and she... They couldn't hold her back. And Brother Espinosa and them had told her that, "We have no more prayer cards; you'll have to wait to another night." She said, "My baby's dead. It's been dead since this morning. I must get in there." And she was coming, prayer card or not. And they lined up about three hundred ushers there. And she'd go right under their legs, and jump right up on top of their backs, and run with this dead baby, and fall down among them. Didn't make any difference to her, she was trying to get there. She was desperate. God had spoke to her heart that the God could give sight, could give life. Oh, my. She was desperate. Something was burning in her.
Oh, sick people, if you'd let that burn in you for a few minutes, watch what happens, that kind of a desperation... The God that could heal this little boy the other night, could heal that lady with cancer, heal this man, and do this, Miss Florence Nightingale, oh, the tens of thousands... He that... Undisputable evidence... Raising the dead, and healing the sick, and everything else, if He's God can do that, He's God yesterday, He's God today. Get desperate, then you'll get something done.
Then in that desperation she kept rushing. I said to Brother Jack Moore; I said, "She don't know me. She's never seen me. She don't know who it is up here on the platform." That little Catholic woman not--couldn't speak a word of English then, how does she know who it is. I said, "Go on down, pray for the baby, and that'll satisfy her, and she'll go on." Said, "And it won't cause..." There's just constant roar down there. She'd jump up, and everybody'd be screaming. She'd run right over the top of their shoulders and fall right down among them. She'd gain a few feet, and then they'd try to put her back out; and here she'd come right between their legs, holding this baby, upsetting the ushers and everything else. Didn't make any difference; she was getting up there. She had to get there; it don't make any difference what it was; she was going to get there, have the minister.
Now, isn't that just a story like the Shunammite woman. Only that wasn't thirty-five hundred years ago; that was about three years ago, or four. See? They can be the same thing tonight. When the same desperation rises will throw love and faith up there to the battlefront to claim what you want, because it's a promise of God that you can have it. That's exactly right.
I turned, me, the minister, the evangelist at--at the place; I turned. I felt sorry for the woman, but there's no desperation. See? I turned and thought, "Well, Brother Jack will pray for her and that--that settles it." I turned, and I said, "As I was speaking, now, faith..." I looked out there, and there was a vision. I seen a little baby setting there, a little black-faced Mexican baby with no teeth. It was laughing at me, setting out there. I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute." Her desperation drove the Holy Spirit to change my subject, change my heart, and show me her baby setting there. That sent the Spirit back. I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Bring me the baby." Here she come with a little, wet, soaking, blue and white blanket, a little dead form about that long. She fell with a crucifix in her hand and her rosary to say these hail Marys. I told her, "Put it up; that's not necessary." And she come up close to where I was, and she begin to holler, "Padre," which means "father." I said, "Don't say that. Don't say that. Do you believe?" And he said it in Spanish to her, did she believe? "Yes," she believed. He asked her how would she believe. She said, "If God can give that old man his sight, He can give my baby the life." Amen. Desperation drove her to it. Not a thing on my part; I just saw the vision. I said, "Lord Jesus, I saw a vision of a little baby. It might be this one." About that time he kicked its feet, went, "Wha, wha, wha!" I said, "Follow her to the doctor; get a written statement from the doctor, that baby died. And the doctor wrote the statement, "That baby's respiration, heart stopped this morning in my office at nine o'clock, died with double pneumonia."
Oh, the baby is a living in Mexico tonight as far as I know. Why? The desperation set in on a little mother's heart, crying for her child, that had seen God do, heal a man's blind eyes, and know He could raise a dead baby.
(Extract from DESPERATION preached in Jeffersonville by Bro.Branham on 1st. September 1963)