E-1 Thank you, Brother Neville. The Lord bless you. Good morning, friends. I certainly deem this one of the highlights of my life, to be in the tabernacle again this morning, to see its beautiful structure, and the order of the children of God sitting in His house today.

E-2 I was so astonished when I got here yesterday and seen the looks of the building. I never dreamed that it would be this way. When I seen the blueprints, that when they had drawn up the blueprints, I just seen another little room sitting on a side, but now I find it to be a—a beautiful place. And we are grateful to the Almighty for this beautiful place. And we are…

E-3 I’m bringing you, this morning, greetings from my wife and my children, who long to be here at this time for this dedicational service, and these week of consecration to Christ. But the children are in school, and it’s hard to get away. And they have about worn away from their homesick feeling for the house, but we will never wear away the feeling for you people. You don’t wear that away. There is such as having friends. And I—I appreciate friends, everywhere, but there is something about old friends. No matter where you make new friends, it still isn’t the old.

E-4 No matter where I’d ever roam, this spot will always be sacred. For, about thirty years ago, in a muddy pond bed, I dedicated this piece of ground to Jesus Christ when it wasn’t nothing but a—a mud bed. This was all a pond. That’s the reason the street is out of cater there, the—the road had to go around, to get away from the pond that was in here. And in here, there used to be lilies, pond lilies come up.

E-5 And the—the lily is a very strange flower. Though it is born in mud, it has to press its way through the mud, and then through the waters and slime, to get itself up to the top, to show its beauty.

E-6 And I—I think, this morning, that that’s a whole lot what’s happened here. That, since that time, a little pond lily has pushed itself; and when it got to the top the water, it spread its wings forth, its little petals went out, and it reflected the Lily of the Valley. May it long stand! May it be a house fully dedicated to God!

E-7 The tabernacle itself has been dedicated in 1933. But thinking, this morning, it would be a—a very good thing for just a—a small service of dedication again, and especially to the people who has, with their love and devotion to Christ, has made this all possible. And I want to thank each and every one of you for your offerings, and so forth, that you have put forth to dedicate this church to Christ.

E-8 And I’m greatly in appreciations, and thank the congregation, to speak these words in behalf of our good brethren here of the church, who has dedicated their services to this. Brother Banks Wood, our noble brother; Brother Roy Roberson, our noble brother; and many others who, with unselfishness and with singleness of heart, has put months in constructing this place the way it’s been, stayed here to see that it was built just right.

E-9 And when I walked in, to see this pulpit, the kind I have always longed for, all my life! I’m…Brother Wood knew what I liked. He never said he would build it, but he has built it.

E-10 And I noticed the building and how the construction, it’s just, oh, it’s supreme. And now there is no words to express my feeling. There is just no way to do it, see. And, but, God understands. And may you each be rewarded for your contributions and all that you have done to make this place what it is, in the way of a building, a house of the Lord. And now I—I would like to say these words. Now, the building, as beautiful as it is, inside and out…

E-11 My brother-in-law, Junior Weber, had the brick masonry. I don’t see how it could been anything better than what it is, a perfect job.

E-12 Another brother who is here, I never met the man, he put in the sound system. But noticing even in a flat building like this, I can just…There is no rebound to the acoustics. They’re in the ceilings here, different ways. No matter where I stand, it’s just the same, see. And every room is—is constructed, that the speakers are in them, and you can make it any way you wish to hear. It’s, I believe it was the hand of Almighty God who did these things. Now if…

E-13 Our Lord has so given us a building that we can worship Him in, for better than, around thirty years. We started off with a mud floor, sawdust, and sat here by old coal stoves. And the contractor, Brother Wood, one of them, and Brother Roberson, was telling me that where those pilasters was, and those old stoves used to set in those rafters that went across, they had caught fire and had burned back, maybe two or three feet. Why it didn’t burn down, only God that kept it. And then after burning off, and all the weight of the tabernacle laying on that, why it did not fall in, only the hand of God. Now it’s undergirded with steel and setting on the ground, built up strong.

E-14 Now I think it’s our duty to make the inside right, by the grace of God, to be so grateful to God that our…This will just not only be a beautiful building that we’ll come to, but may every one who comes in see the beautiful characteristic of Jesus Christ in every person that comes in. May it be a consecrated place to our Lord, a consecrated people. For, no matter how beautiful the structure is, that we certainly do appreciate, the beauty of the church is the character of the people. I trust it’ll always be a house of God, of beauty.

E-15 Now, in the dedicational service of the original cornerstone being laid, a great vision came. And it’s wrote in the cornerstone, the morning I dedicated it.

E-16 And you might have wondered, a few minutes ago, why I was so long coming out. My first duty, as I come into the new church, I married a young man and woman standing in the office. May it be a type, that I’ll be a loyal minister to Christ, to get a Bride ready for the ceremony of that Day.

E-17 And now let us do as we did at the beginning. When we started at the first dedication of the church, I was just a young man and, my, maybe twenty-one, twenty-two years old when we laid the cornerstone. It was before I was even married. And I always wanted to see a place correctly in order, in God’s… for God to worship, see, with His people. And we can only do that, not by a pretty building, but by a consecrated life is the only way we can do it.

E-18 And now, before we dedicate, a dedicational prayer, read some Scriptures, and dedicate the church back to God. And then I have some…I have a Message on evangelism, this morning, to build in to my Message coming up.

E-19 And, tonight, I want to take the 5th chapter of Revelation, which is blending in, from the—from the seven church ages, unto the Seven Seals. That I…Then we’ll have…

E-20 Monday night will be the white-horse rider. Tuesday night…The black-horse rider, and on down, the four horse riders. And then the Sixth Seal being opened.

E-21 And then Sunday morning, next Sunday morning, if the Lord willing…We’ll see later, announce it later. Maybe, next Sunday morning, have a prayer meeting for the sick in the building.

E-22 And then Sunday night, close off with…May the Lord help us to open the Seventh Seal, where there’s just a short verse. And It says this, “There was silence in Heaven for a half hour,” by that silence.

E-23 Now, I don’t know what these Seals mean. I am just as much at end of my wits, to them, as perhaps some of you are this morning. We have ecclesiastical ideas that has been presented by man, but that will never touch It. And if you’ll see, It has to come by inspiration. It must be God, Himself, is the only One Who can do it, the Lamb.And tonight is that Book of Redemption.

E-24 Now, in this, reason I’m not announcing prayer meetings for the sick, or so forth, is because that I am…I’m staying with some friends, and I’m giving every minute of my time to study and prayer. And you know the vision that I had just before leaving and going out west, of those seven Angels come flying. So, you’ll understand a little later.

E-25 So now, now, in the building, I think that we ought to have, in this, if it’s been dedicated, or going to be dedicated in a few minutes, to the worship of God, we should keep it that way. We should never buy or sell in the building. We should never do any business in this auditorium here. It should never be done in here, that is, such as permitting ministers to come in and sell books and everything. No matter what it is, there is other places to do that. For, we—we shouldn’t buy and sell in the house of our Lord. It should be a place of—of worship; holy, consecrated for that purpose. See? Now, He has give us a nice place. Let’s dedicate it to Him, and dedicate ourselves, with it, to Him.

E-26 And now this may seem a little rude, but, it’s not a place to visit. It’s a place of worship. We should never even murmur a word inside of here, outside of worship, to one another, unless it’s absolutely necessary. See? We should never rally around. We should never run through the building, or let our children run through the building. And so doing this, feeling not long ago, that of doing this, we constructed it so we could take care of all of it. Now, we have this set here. Course, many people are strangers. The tabernacle folks know this, that the building is going to be dedicated to the service of the Almighty. Therefore, dedicating ourselves, let’s remember, when we enter that sanctuary, keep still, to one another, and worship God.

E-27 If we want to visit each other, there is places we may visit each other like that. But, never, walking around, where you can’t hear yourself think, and some person come in and they just don’t know what to do, see, it’s so much noise and things. It’s just humanly, and I’ve seen it in churches until it has made me feel real bad. Because, we do not come into the sanctuary of the Lord to meet each other. We come here to worship God, then go to our homes. This sanctuary is dedicated to worship. When…Stand outside, talk anything you wish to, as long as it’s right and holy. Go to one another’s homes. Visit one another in places. But when you enter that door, be quiet.

E-28 You come here to talk to Him, see, and let Him talk back to you. The trouble of it is, we do too much talking, and don’t listen enough. Then, when we come in here, wait on Him.

E-29 Now, in the old tabernacle, there might not be one person present this morning that was there the day of the dedication, when Major Ulrich played the music. And I stood behind three crosses here, to dedicate the place. I would not permit anybody…The ushers stood at the door, to see that nobody talked. When, you done your talking outside. You come in. If you desired to, silently, you come to the altar and prayed silently. You walked back to your seat, opened up the Bible. What your neighbor done, that was up to him. You had nothing to say. If you want to talk to him, say, “I’ll see him outside. I’m in here to worship the Lord.” You read His Word, or sit quietly.

E-30 And, then, the music. Sister Gertie, I don’t know whether she is here this morning, or not, Sister Gibbs. The old piano, I believe, sit back in this corner, the best of my remembrance. And she would play softly, “Down at the cross where my Saviour died,” some real sweet, soft music, and—and, then, until it come time for the service. And the song leader got up and led a couple of congregational songs. And then if they had some outstanding solo, they sang it. But, never just a bunch of carrying on. And then the music continually played. And then when I heard that, I knowed it was my time to come out.

E-31 When a minister walks into a congregation of people praying, and the anointing of the Spirit, you are bound to hear from Heaven. That’s just all. There is no way to keep from it. But if you walk into confusion, then you—you… you’re—you’re so confused, and the Spirit is grieved; and we don’t want that, no. We want to come here to worship. We have lovely homes, that I’m going to speak about, just in a minute, and so forth; at home, where we visit our friends and take them. This is the house of the Lord.

E-32 Now, there is little children, now, little babies. Now, they don’t know no different. They, the only way they can get what they want, is cry for it. And sometimes it’s a drink of water, and sometimes they need attention. And so we have, by the grace of God, dedicated a room. It was called, on the list, a “cry room,” but it’s right straight in front of me. It’s, other words, where the mothers can take their babies.

E-33 Now, it’s never bothers, maybe, me here at the pulpit. Maybe I won’t even notice it, being anointed. But there is other people sitting near, and it bothers them, see, and they come here to hear the service. So the mothers is…Your little baby starts whimpering; you can’t help that. Why, sure, it’s a…You should, you ought to bring it. A real mother wants to take her baby to church, and that’s the thing you should do.

E-34 And we’ve got a room there to where you can see every corner of the building, all the auditorium; and a speaker there, to where you can control the volume any way you want to; with a—a little toilet in the end, and water basin, and everything just exactly for the mother’s convenience. With chairs and things, you can sit down; place to change your baby, if it needs to be changed, and everything sitting there. It’s all fixed.

E-35 And then, many times, teen-age children and sometimes adult, will get to…You know, young people will pass notes, or cut up, or something, in church. Now, you’re old enough to know better than that. See? You should know better than that. See? You shouldn’t come here…If you expect to be a real man someday, and raise a family to the Kingdom of God, then start it off in the beginning, you see, and—and act right and do right, and now, course.

E-36 Now, the ushers stands at the corners of the buildings, and so forth. And if any carrying on, they are—they are ordained, as their duty, and trustees sit here in the front, that in a case of someone getting misbehaving, they are commissioned to ask the person to keep quiet.

E-37 Then, if they don’t have that respect, it would be better that someone else had the seat, because there is somebody that wants to hear. There is somebody come for that purpose, to hear. And that’s what we’re here for, is to hear the Word of the Lord. And so everybody wants to hear It, and want it just as quiet as they can be. Just as quiet as they can be; that is, not a bunch of talking and carrying on.

E-38 Course, somebody worshipping the Lord, that’s expected. That’s what it should be. That’s what you’re here for, is to worship the Lord. Just if you feel like praising God, or shouting, just go right on, see, ’cause that’s what you’re here for, see, but, is to worship the Lord in your own way of worshipping. But there is nobody worships the Lord while you’re talking and passing notes, and you’re helping somebody else to get away from the worship of the Lord, see, so we feel that that would be wrong. And we want to make that a ruling in our church, that in our congregation, that, to this building, this church will be dedicated to the Kingdom of God and to the preaching of the Word. Pray! Worship! That’s the reason you should come here, to worship, then.

E-39 And then another thing, when service is over, usually the people in churches…I don’t—I don’t think it’s here, ’cause… I’m always gone, see, ’cause I get away.

E-40 Usually, even in preaching other services, the anointing comes, and visions happen. And I’m wore out, and I step off into the room. And maybe Billy, or some of the men there, take me on to home, and let me rest a while, till I get out of it, ’cause it’s a very much of a strain.

E-41 And then I have seen churches, though, to where the children were permitted to run all over the sanctuary, and—and the adults standing and hollering across the room, to one another. That’s a good way to ruin the service coming that night, or whatever time it is. See?

E-42 As soon as the service is dismissed, leave the auditorium. You’re through, in the worship then. Then go out and talk to one another, and whatever you want to do. If you got something you want to talk to somebody, to—to see them, well, you go with them, or to their home, or whatever it is, but don’t do it in the auditorium. Let’s dedicate this to God. See? This is His meeting place, where we meet with Him. See? And the Law goes forth from the sanctuary, of course. And I—I believe that that would be pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

E-43 And then when you come, and you get to find out that gifts are beginning to fall among you…Now, usually it…I’ll trust it’ll never be here; but, when people have a new church, the first thing you know, the congregation gets starchy. You never want that to be. After all, this is a place of worship. This is the house of the Lord. And if spiritual gifts begin to come among you…

E-44 I understand, that since I’ve been gone, that people has moved in here from different parts of the country, to make this their home. I’m thankful, grateful to God, that, I believe that…

E-45 The morning when I dedicated and laid that cornerstone there, as a young man, I prayed for its standing to see the Coming of Jesus Christ. And when I did, owing thousands of dollars, and they…You could take up an offering in a congregation this size and get thirty or forty cents, and our obligation was somewhat a hundred and fifty, two hundred dollars a month. How could I ever do it? And I knowed that I was working, and I would pay it off. I…Seventeen years of pastoral without taking one cent, but giving everything that I had, myself, outside my living; and all that come into the little box on the back, to the Kingdom of God.

E-46 And people prophesied and predicted that within a year’s time it would be turned into a garage. Satan tried to take it away from us one time in a flaw, in a fraud of a lawsuit. Some man claimed he hurt his foot while he was working on it, and then let it go, and then…and sued and wanted to take the tabernacle. And for weeks I stood at the post. But in spite of all the misunderstandings and the predictions, and what they said, she stands today as one of the prettiest auditoriums and the finest churches there is in the United States. That’s right.

E-47 From here has went the Word of the living God, around the world, see, around the world; and has constantly taken Its circle around the globe, from every nation under Heaven, as far as we know, around and around the world. Let us be thankful for this. Let us be grateful for this.

E-48 And now that we have a place to dwell in, a roof under our head, a clean, nice church to sit in, let’s dedicate ourselves newly to the task, and consecrate ourselves to Christ.

E-49 And Brother Neville, our noble brother, real pastor, servant of the living God. As far as that man knows the Message, he holds with It, with all he’s got. That’s right. He’s a gentle person. He’s a little afraid to…Or, not afraid; I don’t mean that. But he’s so, so awful gentle, he just doesn’t speak out, you know, like to—to say a thing that’s sharp and cutting, or, “Sit down,” or, “Keep still!” I—I have noticed that, and listened to the tapes behind it.

E-50 But it so happens that I can do that. So I—I…And I—I want you to remember my words, you see. And this is all being taped, see. Everything is taped. And, please, let every deacon stand to his post of duty, and remember that you’re under a commission from God, to hold that post sacred. See? Every trustee, the same. Pastor is to bring forth…

E-51 It isn’t the pastor’s place to have to say that. It’s the trustees…or, I mean the deacons, for they are the police of the church. That is, if young couples come on the outside and blow horns, and, you know, how they usually do, or something like that, at meetings, or get out there. And mother sends her girl down here, and she takes off out with some renegade kid, and run out there in the car, and her mother thinks she is in church, like that. The deacon ought to see to that. “You either come in here and sit down, or I’m going to take you in my car and take you home to your mother.” See? You, you must do that.

E-52 Remember, love is corrective, see, always. Genuine love is corrective, so you must be able to stand the correction. And, mothers, know now that there’s a place there for your babies. You young kids know different than to run around over the building. See? And you adults know different than to talk and carry on your conversations in the auditorium. See? Don’t do that. It’s wrong. It isn’t pleasing to God.

E-53 Jesus said, “It is written, My house shall be made a house of worship, prayer. How called the house of prayer, by all nations!” And they were buying and selling, and He plaited ropes and ran the people out of the auditorium. And we certainly don’t want that to happen in this sanctuary here. So, let’s dedicate our lives, our church, our tasks, our service, and everything we have, to the Kingdom of God.

E-54 Now, now I want to read some Scriptures before we have the dedicational prayer. And—and, then, it’s just a rededication, because real dedication happened thirty years ago. Now in a…Then, then as we—we read this Scripture and talk on It for a few minutes, I trust that God will bring His blessings to us.

E-55 And now there was another thing I was going to say. Yes. Where we used to have the recorders, and so forth, we got a regular room there, where those who wants to take recordings. There is special hookups, and everything there, that comes directly from the main mike, in there.There is rooms, robes, everything for baptismal service.

E-56 And then one thing, many people has always felt bad at me, many people who really didn’t know the Scripture, about having a crucifix in a church. I remember one time something happened here about that. I had three crosses, and a brother got all shook up ’cause he heard another denomination say that a crucifix meant Catholic.

E-57 I want some student, or somebody, or some born-again Christian, to say that Catholics has got the option on the crucifix. Crucifix of Christ doesn’t represent Catholicism. That represents God, the Kingdom. Now, saints represent Catholicism. We believe there is “one Mediator between God and man, and that’s Christ.” But Catholics believe in all kinds of mediators, thousands of women and men, and everything; any good Catholic, almost, that dies, becomes an intercessor. Now, crucifix of Christ represents Jesus Christ.

E-58 Did you know the early Christians, according to the—the ancient history of the early church, they carried crosses on their backs, wherever they went, to signify and identify themselves as Christians? Now, the Catholics claim that was them. Course, they claim they was the first ones, but the Catholic church wasn’t even organized then. See? But Christians packed a cross on…You’ve heard people say, “crossback.” You refer that to Catholic?

E-59 It is the real catholic, the universal Holy Ghost Church of the world, is correct. We are catholic. We are the original catholic, the Bible-believing catholic. See? They are the church, Catholic, the organization. We are free from that. We are the continuation of the Doctrine of the apostles. We are the continuation of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and all the things that the early Church stood for, and the Catholic church has none of them. See?

E-60 So, they placed the crucifix here, that was brought, that was hewed out of olive tree under where Jesus prayed. That’s the crucifix that taken years, and was given to me by Brother Arganbright. And I want to dedicate it with this church.

E-61 And how appropriate, that, ever who hung it there. I don’t know who it was, that hang it here to my—to my left. He pardoned the thief to His right; that’s me.

E-62 And another thing it represents, as His head is bowed, as you see His suffering. Any persons who are…It’s looking over the altar. And He is expecting you here, sinner, and He’ll be looking down upon you. Later they’ll have a little light sitting here, that when the altar call is being made, a light will flash onto that, that when people are here for…

E-63 You say, “Why do you need that? You shouldn’t have an image.”

E-64 Well, then, the same God that said, “Don’t make yourself any graven images,” the same God said, “Build two cherubims and tip their wings together, and put them at the mercy seat where the people pray.”You see, it’s—it’s, without understanding. See?

E-65 So, that is inspired and directly hung in its right place. And I’m so thankful to be the one at the right side. I trust that He has forgiven me, for I, as far as literally stealing anything, as I know, I never did in my life; but I’ve so misused His time till I stole that way. And I’ve done many things that I shouldn’t do. And I’m grateful to God, this morning, that He has forgiven my sins.

E-66 And now I want to read out of the Book of First Chronicles 17, and just speak for about five minutes on dedicational service, pray, and then we going into the Message. Now, in First Chronicles, the—the 17th chapter.Now it came to pass, as David sat in the house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains.Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.And it came to pass the same night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,Go and tell my servant David…Go and tell David my servant, (rather), Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.Whereas I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house…?Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto…David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, and have cut off…thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of… great men that are in the earth.

E-67 I would like to say, at this place, that—that David saw the same thing that we saw. David said, “It is not right that you people have built me a house of cedar, and the ark of the covenant of my God is still under curtains.” That was skins that had been sewed together, of sheep and animals. He said, “It isn’t right for me to have a nice home, and the ark of the covenant of my God remaining in a tent.” So, God put upon his heart to build a tabernacle.

E-68 But, David, being a—a man of—of love and consecration to God, yet he had shed too much blood. So he said…David, speaking this in the presence of the prophet of that age, which was Nathan. And Nathan, knowing that God loved David, he said, “David, do all that’s in your heart, for God is with thee.” What a statement! “Do all that’s in your heart, for God is with you.” And that same night…Showing the consecration of David to the love of God.

E-69 And then to see, the same night, knowing that he was in the error, that he was not permitted to do it, God was graceful enough to come down and speak to Nathan. And I always liked these words, “Go tell Nathan My…Go tell David My servant, that, ‘I took you from the sheepcote.’” Just, he wasn’t nothing.

E-70 And I—I’d like to apply that here, just a minute. “I took you from nothing, and I—I—I give you a name. You’ve got a name like great men that’s in the earth.” And I’d like to apply that in a—in a confidential, yet in a—a way of making a point. I was thinking that…

E-71 A few years ago, I standing down in the city here, and nobody cared for me. Nobody loved me. And I loved people, but nobody loved me, because of the background of the family. No disregards to my precious mother and father.

E-72 How I wish that mama could have lived to walked in this sanctuary, this morning. Many of the old-timers who placed their money to help build it here, maybe God, this morning, will let them look over the banister.

E-73 But the family of Branham didn’t have a very good name around here, on account of drinking. Nobody had nothing to do with me. And I remember telling my wife not long ago, just remember that I—I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me. Nobody cared for me. And now have to hide, to get a little rest.

E-74 And now the Lord has give us this great place, and—and these great things that He’s done. And He give me a…Besides a—a bad name, He give me a name like unto some of the great men. And He’s cut off my enemies wherever I went. There’s never been nothing stand before It, wherever It went. But, and how grateful I am for that.

E-75 And how would I ever knowed; as a little ragged kid up here, two or three blocks from here, to the Ingramville School, when I was the laughingstock of the school, from being so ragged, and skate on an old pond? How did I ever know that down beneath that pond laid a seed of a lily that could bloom like this? And how did I ever know, that, no one talking to me, and yet He would give me a—a name that would be honored amongst His people?

E-76 And, now, David was not permitted to build the temple. He could not do it. But He said, “I’ll raise up from your seed, and he will build the temple, and that temple will be an everlasting temple. And upon your son, the son of David, will be an everlasting kingdom; he’ll control.” Solomon, David’s son in the natural, from his natural strength, built a house unto the Lord, a temple.

E-77 But when the real Seed of David come, the Son of David, He told them there would come a time that there wouldn’t be one stone left upon the other, of that temple. But He tried to point them to another temple.

E-78 John, the revelator, over in the Book of Revelation, he saw this Tabernacle. Revelation 21, he saw, “The new Temple coming, descending down from Heaven, adorned as a bride was adorned for her husband. And a Voice out of the Temple, said, ‘Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and God shall be with them, and they’ll wipe all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more hunger, nor no more sorrow, no more pain or death; for the former things have passed away.’”

E-79 Then the true Son of David, as we’re going to see in this lessons coming on in this week, will then come to His Temple, the Temple of God, the real Tabernacle which He has gone away to construct now. For, He said, in John 14, “In My Father’s House are many mansions, and I will go…” What did He mean by that? It’s already foreordained. “And I’ll go to prepare a Place for you, and will return back, to receive you unto Myself.” And, of course, we know that’ll be in the great Age to come. And the true Seed of David will take the Throne, which is Jesus Christ, and there will reign over the Church, as His Bride, in the House with Him, and over the twelve tribes of Israel, throughout all Eternity.

E-80 And these little places; as David, could not build the true Tabernacle of God, because he wasn’t prepared to do it. There was nothing he could do. He was a mortal, and shed blood. So is it today, to us, we are not prepared to build the true Tabernacle of God. There’s only One can do that, and It’s being in Its construction now.

E-81 But this little tabernacle, along with the temple that Solomon built Him, and along with the others, are only temporary places of worship until the time comes when the real Tabernacle will be set up upon the earth. “And righteousness shall reign from sky to sky. And there will be no more sorrow.” There’ll be no funerals preached in that Tabernacle. There’ll be no more weddings, for the Wedding will be one great Wedding for Eternity. What a time that will be!

E-82 But let us purpose in our heart, today, that in commemoration and waiting for that Tabernacle to come, that we will so characterize ourself by His Spirit, that we will worship in this place as if we were in that other Place, waiting for that Place to come.

E-83 Now let us stand to our feet, and as I read the Holy Script.And I saw a new heavens and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth was passed away; and there were no more sea.…I John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.And I heard the…voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.Let us bow our heads now.

E-84 Our Heavenly Father, we stand in awe. We stand in respect and in Holy reverence. And we ask You, Lord, to accept our gift, that You’ve given us grace, money, to prepare for a worship place for You. There is nothing, or no place that we could prepare upon the earth, that would be worthy for the—the Spirit of God to dwell in. But we offer this to You as a token of our love and feelings toward You, Lord. And we thank You for all the things that You have done for us.

E-85 And, now, the building and the grounds being dedicated long ago, to the service, and we thank You for memories of what has been. And now, Lord God, as a vision broke through, years ago, expressing this, that I seen an old buildings that the people once was in, and they had been repaired and made new, and I was sent back across the river.

E-86 Now, Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, we stand as the people of Thy fold. We stand as the—the—the—the people of Thy Kingdom. And with myself, and the pastor, and the church, the people, we dedicate this building to the service of the Almighty God, through the Name of Jesus Christ, His Son, for the service of God, and for reverence and respects of God. And may the Gospel so flow from this place till It’ll cause the world to come from the four corners of the globe, to see the Glory of God going forth from it. As Thou hast done in the past, may the future be many times greater.

E-87 Father, we now dedicate ourselves to the service, through the Word, with all that’s in us. Lord, the congregation and the people, they dedicate themselves, this morning, to the hearing of the Word. And we, as ministers, dedicate ourself, “To the preaching of the Word; to be instant in season, out of season; reproving, rebuking with all longsuffering.” As it’s written there in the cornerstone, from thirty years ago. You said, “The time would come when people would not endure sound Doctrine, but would heap for themselves teachers, having itching ears; and be turned from the Truth, to fables.” Lord, as we have tried to hold out the Word to the people, may we be inspired and strengthened with a double effort. Lord, as a double portion of the Spirit strikes upon the place, may the Holy Spirit…

E-88 As it was in the day of the dedication of the temple, when Solomon prayed; the Holy Spirit, in the form of the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, came in the front door, rolled up around the Cherubims, went over to the Holy Place and there took Its resting place. O God! Solomon said, “If Thy people be in trouble anywhere, look to this Holy Place and pray, then hear from Heaven.”

E-89 Lord, may the Holy Spirit, this morning, come into every heart, every consecrated soul that’s in here. And the Bible says, that, “The Glory of God was so great until the ministers could not even minister, for the Glory of God.” O Lord God, let it repeat again as we give ourselves to Thee, with the church, in dedication for service. And it is written, “Ask, and you shall receive.”

E-90 And we commit ourselves, with our offering of the church, this morning, to You, for service, for the latter-day Lights, for the evening-time Lights; that we might bring consolation and faith to the waiting people that’s waiting for the Coming of the Bridegroom, to dress a Bride in the Gospel of Christ, for the Lord Jesus to receive. This we dedicate, myself, Brother Neville, and the congregation, to the service of God, in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.You may be seated.

E-91 David said, “I was happy when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’” And may it ever be with us, that, when it’s mentioned, we’ll be happy to gather in the house of the Lord. [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Amen.

E-92 Now, after the little dedicational service, I have an hour now.

E-93 And, now, just remember now what we’re dedicated to; to reverence, holiness, quietness before the Lord, worship before the Lord. And be just as reverent as you can be, in the house of the Lord. And, now, and when the service is dismissed, immediately after the service is dismissed, go from the building. See? And that gives the janitor time to get in here and clean it for the next time, and get ready. And then it’s not a confusion in the house of the Lord. And…?…I think you…place will be cleared out in about fifteen minutes after the services is dismissed. Be sure to be friendly. Shake hands with everybody, and invite everybody back.

E-94 And—and we expect to have, this coming week now, one of the most solemn services that’s ever been held in the tabernacle. We’re looking forward to it. Now, I—I…never dawned upon me till something…till long, late, wee hours last night, in prayer, I began to see something. So, I trust this will be a great time, which I believe it will, if the Lord will help us. Now, now, when I said, “great time,” now, I’m going to speak on something about that, this morning. You know, what man calls “great,” sometime is not great. But what God calls “great,” man calls foolish; and what God calls “foolish,” man calls great. So let’s bear that in mind, weigh every Word.

E-95 Now, the services are long. They’ll be drawn out, because it’s a hard service, much teaching, consecration. And I just…

E-96 The place where I’m staying, the people just try, want to feed me everything, but I…Said, “Well, you’ve lost so much weight, Brother Branham, everything.” But I been constantly in service. I got to leave here next Sunday night, to get to another one, right quick, in Mexico. So, it’s just a hard thing. So, but I’m just trying to let off from so much eating, and—and making myself ready.

E-97 And I’m happy, this morning, to see Brother Junior Jackson, and—and Brother Ruddell, and—and the different ministers, and so forth, around. God bless you all.

E-98 Now I—I want to—to speak to you this morning upon a subject that I have some notes written here on. And I want to read first from the Book of Isaiah, the 53rd chapter. Now, while you’re turning to it, I’d like to make an announcement, or two.

E-99 That, tonight, I want to speak on this Book, bridging It between the last church age to the Seal-opening. Now, there’s a vast gap in there.

E-100 And, before, when I ended up on the church ages, I also spoke there upon the seventy weeks of Daniel, immediately following it, ’cause it tied in. And I said, “Now, if I ever take the Seven Seals, I’ll have to get rid of this Daniel’s seventy weeks, in order to tie in the Seals.” Leaving one thing open, and that was the 5th chapter, of the Seven-Sealed Book. And we’ll take that tonight.

E-101 We want to try to start early tonight. How about me… You already mention it, have you, start early? [Brother Neville says, “Yes.”—Ed.] How about, could everybody be here about seven o’clock? [Congregation says, “Amen.”] All right. Let’s start the regular service at six-thirty, the song service, and I’ll be here by seven. And then through the week we’ll make an early start. And—and we, now, we come…

E-102 There’s nobody loves singing like Christians does. We love singing. We love those things.

E-103 But now we’re—we’re in something else now. We’re—we’re in the Word, see, so let’s—let’s stay right with That now. We’re going to. We’re—we’re in teaching. And you can realize what a great strain it is on me, see, because, if I teach anything wrong, I’m going to have to answer for it. See? And so I must not take what anyone says. I must…It must be inspired. And I believe that the Seven Angels, Who holds these Seven Thunders, will grant it. See?

E-104 And now in Isaiah, the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, the 1st verse, or two. I want to ask this question.

E-105 Now, this is not pertaining to the Seven Seals, at all. This is just a Message. For, I knowed I had to have dedication, and I couldn’t go into That because I wouldn’t have time. But I thought, just for a little dedicational service, little memorial service for this church, or little dedicational service, rather, then they—they…wouldn’t be time then to go into what I want to say, see, on this opening of this Book, so I will tonight. And now this is just a little service, that, it—it’ll blend right in with It, though.

E-106 So, now, listen to every Word. Catch It. And—and if you’re taking It on tapes, or anything, then you stay right with that tape Teaching. Don’t say nothing but what that tape says. Just say just exactly what the tape says. See? Now, because, some of those things, we’re going to understand a whole lot about this now, why It’s misunderstood. See? And you be sure, just say just what the tape says. Don’t say nothing else. See? Cause, I don’t say That of my own. It’s Him that says It, you see. And so many times, confusion, people raise up and say, “Well, So-and-so said It meant so-and-so.” Just—just leave It the way It is.

E-107 See, that’s the way we want the Bible. Just the way the Bible says It, that’s the way we want It, just—just like That. Don’t put own interpretation to It. It’s already interpreted, you see. Now:Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

E-108 Let me read it again now, closely.Who has believed our report? (Question!) and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

E-109 In other words, “If you have believed our report, then the arm of the Lord has been revealed.” See?Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

E-110 Now I want to read also in the Book of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, the 11th chapter of Saint Matthew. And, now, you bring your papers and things, because constantly we’re…If you don’t have a recorder, you—you bring the…your paper so we can get it. The 11th chapter of Saint Matthew, the 25th and 26th verses, 11:26 and 27. All right, Jesus speaking, in prayer. I want to begin a little bit behind that. Let’s make it the 25th and 26th verse. I believe that’s where I announced, though, for I had it marked here in my Bible.At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.Even so, Father: for so it seems good in thy sight.

E-111 Catch those two Scriptures. “Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” “Even then Jesus thanked God that He had hid the mysteries from the wise and prudent, and would reveal it to babes such as would learn, for it seemed good to God to do that.” Now, from this text, or con-…

E-112 From this Scripture reading, I draw this text: God Hiding Himself In Simplicity, Then Revealing Himself In The Same. Now, for the tapes I keep repeating so, for the tapes, you see, ’cause they’re—they’re taping It. See? God Hiding Himself In Simplicity, Then Revealing Himself In The Same.

E-113 It is strange to think how that God does such a thing as that. God will hide Himself in something so simple that’ll cause the wise to miss it a million miles; and then turn right back around, in that, some simple thing in the simplicity of His way of working, and reveal Hisself right out again. I thought it made a—a text, that we might study this before we go into the—the—the great Teachings of the Seven Seals. Many miss Him by the way He reveals Himself.

E-114 Now, men has their own ideas of what God ought to be and what God is going to do. And as I have made the old statement many times, that, man still remains man. Man is always giving God praise for what He did do, and always looking forward to what He will do, and ignoring what He is doing. See? See? That’s the way they miss it. They look back and see what a great thing He done, but they fail to see what a simple thing He used, to do it with. See? And then they look forward and see a great thing coming, that’s going to happen, and, nine times out of ten, it’s already happening right around them. And it’s so simple that they don’t know it. See?

E-115 One day, a—a man up here at Utica…And if some of his people is here, I don’t say this for any—for any radical exposure of the man. He was a—a veteran of the Civil War. And I believe he was…I don’t know which side he was on, but I believe he was a Rebel. But, he—he was an infidel, and he claimed that there was no such a thing as God. He lived in Utica. His name was Jim Dorsey. Many of you people might have knowed him.

E-116 He has give me a many watermelon, when I was a little fellow. He used to raise watermelons down on the river, in the—in the bottoms there. And he was quite a friend to my daddy. But he said, one day, one of the great outstanding things that was ever said to him, in contrast. Now, I was just a little boy in those days. But, in contrast to his belief, that caused him to walk away and drop his head and cry. And I understood that, by this, the man was gloriously converted to Christ at the age of about eighty-five years old.

E-117 He asked a little girl, one day, who was coming from Sunday school, why did she waste her time on doing such a thing as that? She said, because she believed that there was a God. And Mr. Dorsey said that, he said, “Child, you are so wrong, to believe in such a thing as that.”

E-118 And said that the little girl stooped down and picked up a—a little flower out of…off of the ground, pulled it from its petals, and said, “Mr. Dorsey, could you tell me how this lives?”

E-119 There it was. When he begin to search back, he could have said to the child, “Well, it’s growing in the earth.” And then the questions could revolve back, “Where did the earth come from? How did that seed get here? How did it happen?” On, and on, and on, and run it on back until he seen. See?

E-120 Not the great glamorous things that we think about, but it’s the simple things that God is so real in, the simplicity. So, it pleases God to reveal Himself, and then hide Himself; then hide Himself, and reveal Himself, in simple, little things. It’s—it’s put over the top of the head of man.Because, if you’d say, “Why would a just God do that?”

E-121 Is because that man was made up, in the beginning, not to try to shift for himself. A man was made to rely completely upon God. That’s the reason we’re likened unto lambs, or sheep. A sheep cannot lead himself; he has to have a leader. And the Holy Spirit is supposed to lead us. So, man is made that way.

E-122 And God made all of His works so simple, that the simple could understand it. And God makes Himself simple, with the simple, in order to be understood by the simple. In otherwise, He said, in Isaiah 35, I believe. He said, “Though a fool, should not error therein.” It’s so simple!

E-123 And we know that God is so great, till we expect it to be some great something, and we miss the simple thing. We stumble over simplicity. That’s how we miss God, is by stumbling over simplicity. God is so simple until the scholars of these days, and all days, miss Him a million miles. Because, in their intellects, they know that there is nothing like Him, so great; but, in His revelation, He makes it so simple they go plumb over the top of it and miss it.

E-124 Now, study That. Study It all. And you people who are visiting here, when you go to your motel rooms, take those things and ponder over them. We don’t have time to break It down as It should be broke down, but I want you to do it when you get to the motel, or hotel, or wherever you’re staying, or the home. Gather together and study over It.

E-125 Miss Him by the way that He reveals Himself; for He is so great, yet, hides Himself in simplicity, to make Hisself known to the least. See? Don’t try to get the great, because He goes over the top of it. But listen to the simplicity of God, and then you find God right here in the simple way.

E-126 High-polished, worldly wisdom, educated, always misses Him. Now, I’m not here…And I know there is school teachers, two or three, that I know of, sitting in here. And I’m not here to contradict school and education, and try to support illiterateness. I’m not here for that. But, what it is, the people have so placed so much upon that until they’re, even in the seminaries and so forth, they are missing the very thing that God has put before them.

E-127 That’s why I not against brethren who are in denominations, but I’m against system of denominations, because it tries to magnify itself, and—and—and educate its ministers in such-such a place, until, if they don’t have the proper schooling and education, they’re ousted. And—and they have to stand the psychiatrist’s test, and so forth. I’ve never think it was God’s will to test a minister by psychiatry, but to test him by the Word. See? It—it—it would be God’s way of testing His man that He sent out, to have the Word.

E-128 “Preach the Word!” Now, today we preach philosophy, we preach creed and denominationalism, and so many things, and leaving off the Word, because they say It can’t be understood. It can be understood. He promised to do it. Now we’re asking Him to do it.

E-129 Now we’re going to take a few characters here for a few minutes.

E-130 Let’s notice in the days of Noah. Noah’s day, God seen worldly wisdom so greatly punctuated and respected, He sent a simple message by a simple person, to show them His greatness.

E-131 Now, we know that in the day of—of—of Noah, they claim that a civilization was so mighty, then, until we have never reached that spot yet, in our modern civilization. And I believe that it will finally be reached, because our Lord said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the Coming of the Son of man.” He gave some illustrations.

E-132 And they built the pyramid and the sphinx there in Egypt, and they built gigantic things that we have no power, today, to build such with. They had a—a—an embalming, that they could embalm a body, to make it look so natural until it still stays today. We cannot. We cannot make a mummy today. We haven’t the stuff to make it with. They had colors that—that hold so fast, for four or five thousand years ago, it still remains just the same color it was. See? We don’t have no such as that today.

E-133 And many great things of that civilization speaks of its superiority over our modern civilization. And so you can imagine how education and science, of such great tokens that we have left, that there was such a civilization. What a—what a great civilization that must be, well, these memorials, how that science and—and modern civilization and education was—was a—a must with the people. “They must be. It had to be.” There was hardly any, I guess, any illiteracy among them, at all.

E-134 And so, God, searching through that great economy at that day, in their systems, could not, perhaps, find the right type of a man, till He found an illiterate, maybe, farmer by the name of Noah, a sheepherder. And He gave him His message to preach to the people, that was so simple, to their—their scholarships of that day, until the people stumbled over the simplicity of the message. And, yet, the message was, in the face of science, “Radical! How could there be rain in the skies, when there was no rain up there?” See? And the simple message of—of building an ark, constructing something to get into, that there is no water to float it. Why, he become a fanatic. And he become a—a—a—a…what we would call, if you’d excuse the expression of today, an “oddball.”

E-135 And nearly all God’s people are “oddball,” see. They are. I’m glad to be one of them. So, you know, they—they are different from the—the modern trend of civilization, so they become odd, strange. He said His people was “A peculiar people, odd, strange; but a spiritual priesthood, a royal nation, offering spiritual sacrifices to God, the fruits of their lips, giving praise to His Name.” What a—what a people! He’s got them.

E-136 And notice, now, what a great thing that must have been in that day, for some fanatic to come forth to the church; a fanatic, and preaching a gospel that was seemingly all out of line, to their way of believing. And scientists, “Why, it—it was simply crazy.” How they could scientifically prove there was no rain there!

E-137 But this simple sheepherder believed, “If God said it would rain, it would rain.” See?

E-138 And so just compare that with today, about somebody gets healed. They say, “It’s only emotion. I can scientifically prove to you that the cancer, or the substance, or—or—or the thing is still there.” But, to the simple believer, it’s gone. See? Because, he’s not looking at the substance, he’s looking at the promise, just the same as Noah did.

E-139 So don’t you see, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the Coming of the Son of man”?

E-140 Scientifically, no one…The doctor could say, “Looky here, your lump is still there. Your cancer remains. Your arm is as crippled as it ever was. You’re crazy.”

E-141 And, remember, that’s that same spirit from the days of Noah, that said, “There is no rain up there. We can shoot the moon with instruments, and there’s no rain there.” But if God said there would be rain there!

E-142 “For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things have not seen.” And faith takes its final resting place on the Word of God. There is where it finds its resting place. You understand? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Its resting place is on God’s Word.

E-143 That’s where Noah rested it, “God said so.” That settled it. Now if you notice again, then, now, Noah, in believing such, was a fanatic.

E-144 And the people of today who believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, the church says, “These people are fanatics. They are nothing but a bunch of worked-up, emotional, panic-stricken people.” But little do they know that the Word of God teaches that. It’s a promise.

E-145 And, to Noah, no matter how much they said, “The old man was off at his mind; that he was scientifically wrong; and—and—and, mentally, he was wrong.” But, to Noah, it was the Word of the Lord, and Noah stayed with it. And the wise and prudent stumbled over the simplicity of it, and lost their being. What a—a—a rebuke now, it is, to that generation!

E-146 Many people say, “If I would have lived back there!” No, you would have took the same attitude. Because, today, in the very same thing being reproduced again today, only in another form, they stumble over It today just like they did then.

E-147 No doubt, in them days, they had plenty of preachers, but Noah was inspired of God. And Noah could look out and see that what was fixing to happen, and know that an adulterous and wicked generation, like that, that God would not let stand. So what can we do, today, but see the same thing! A modern Sodom and Gomorrah, see, wicked, adulterous people, so polished in scholarship that they stumble over the simplicity of God’s manifestation of His Being and His Word, showing His Word.

E-148 There’s not a person in the world, Rosella, that…or, and—and can say that—that we don’t see with us the very Word of God made manifest. The very promise of the last days, the very evening Lights that was to shine, we are privileged people to see that. And, where, the high-polished world, it’s hid from them. Jesus said to God, the Father, He said, “It pleased You to hide it from them. Even so, Father, You have hid it.” Let them, with their wisdom…

E-149 You see, it was wisdom that started the ball rolling in the muck of sin, at the beginning; for Eve was seeking wisdom when she met Satan, and Satan give it to her, see. And wisdom is contrary to the Word. We’re not asked to have wisdom. We’re asked to have faith in what’s already been said. So, see? But, today, the scholars polish It up in such a way, and set It over there, put their own interpretation to It, always have. They do the same thing today; it’s in the same measure. Now, people, but the…

E-150 Or, people then missed it, just as they miss it and do it today. Same thing. They do the same thing. For, they…For the reason they missed it, for they were too smart to believe it. See? Now, the message was so simple, that the smart was too smart to believe the simplicity of the message. Oh, my! God made it so simple, in Truth, that the smart and intellectuals missed seeing it, because it was so simple. Well, that’s what makes the greatness of God so great; because, being the greatest, can make Himself simple.

E-151 Men today, showing that they are not of God, they are great and trying to get greater, and express themselves greater, and, “Big Bishop, Doctor Holy Pope,” everything, making themselves something that they’re really not. And God, being so great, brings Hisself down simple. Simplicity is greatness.

E-152 We can build a jet plane, we can fire a rocket to the… to…or put a—a—a missile in orbit. And we can do all these things, yet, but we cannot build one blade of grass. Uh-huh. Amen. What about that? But instead of trying to come back and see what makes that grass, and accepting the very God that created the grass, we’re trying to build a missile that will get there quicker than somebody else can build one. See?

E-153 We are so smart and intellectual, in our churches, till we can build a million-dollar building, or a ten-million-dollar building, but, yet, and trying to build one better than the Methodist, or the Baptist build one better than the Presbyterians, and the Pentecostal got in the rat race. But the thing of it is, is this; we are, yet, we are so smart and so set on our ways until we fail to humble ourself to realize the God that’s in the little mission on the corner. See? That’s right. Well, that’s, we stumble in simplicity. They’ve always done it.

E-154 Now, they, they were—they were too smart to believe such a simple message. It wasn’t polished enough for their scientific researches that they had. It wasn’t—it wasn’t brilliant, the message wasn’t enough, for their educational program that they had in that day. See? They had studied to know that there was a God, and they studied to know that He was great, and they tried to build themselves up great with Him. When, the way up is always down.

E-155 Now, who knows whether the North Pole is the North, or the South Pole is the North; or the North Pole is the South, the South Pole the North? Which is up and which is down? We’re hanging in space. We say, “The North Pole is up.” How do you know? South Pole might be North. See, you don’t know. So let’s remember, and this Word…

E-156 Said, “Then how would you say, Brother Branham, that, ‘Up is down’?”

E-157 On the basis of Jesus Christ’s Word! He said, “He that humbles himself shall be exalted, but he that exalts himself shall be abased, be brought down.” So then, actually, up is down, and down is up.

E-158 As the old saint said in Chicago, that…A man, a certain minister from a certain organization, got up before some Pentecostals. He had all of his intellectual things together. He got up there and used words that the Pentecostals knowed nothing about, and he got up there, and he seen it wasn’t going over with the Pentecostal people. And he went up, with his chest stuck out, and he was “Holy Doctor So-and-so,” you know, from certain-certain big school there in Chicago. And he looked around, and them Pentecostals was looking at one another. They didn’t even know what he was talking about; he was so educated, so smart, brilliant. They didn’t know.

E-159 It was something like a certain senator, or a man that just run recently for president and was defeated. Tuck Coots told me. When I was preaching Mama Ford’s funeral, and was telling about the resurrection, the guarantee of the resurrection, “Just as sure as the sun rises, so shall I rise. Just as sure as the grass dies in the Fall, and the leaf falls from the tree, it comes back again. When the earth corrects itself around the orbit, it’s got to rise again.”

E-160 Tuck said, “I appreciated that Message, Billy.” Brother Neville and I were sitting together in the car. And I said, “Tuck…” He said, “I appreciate your Messages.”I said, “Tuck, I have no education,” I said.He said, “That’s the good part about it.” See?

E-161 And, now, he said he went to see…Well, I guess the man forgive me, I don’t mean…Adlai Stevenson, you know. And he said he heard him fifteen minutes. And Mr. Stevenson is such a brilliant speaker, supposed to be, you know, until Tuck said…I guess he’s got a college education. He said he set there and went to sleep. And said he went to sleep, listening to him, in fifteen minutes. But said, “With a college education, I didn’t understand but very few words he said; they were so highly polished.” He said, “You never seen me sleeping in one of your services, did you, Brother Branham?”

E-162 So, see, it’s the simplicity of It, just simple, that’s where God lays.

E-163 Now, they were—they were too smart, in that day, to catch the meaning of God’s simple way of doing things. It wasn’t polished for them. It’s got to be polished, It’s got to be highly chromed, or they miss it. Now, but, the great Jehovah was hid in His Word. And He made Himself known to the people that believed in His Word, by saving them, and bringing to pass the simple message. The simple message of Noah, God brought it to pass. Now notice that.

E-164 Now, then, again in Moses’ day, notice another time of deliverance.

E-165 When God is just about to do something to deliver His people, God sends a Message to the people. And, It’s so simple, as we’ll catch in the breaking of these Seals. That was my purpose of bringing this first. That, we find out that the breaking of those Seals is so simple, the—the—the smart miss It, a million miles. See? I hope that God anoints me for It. See? See? It just goes over the top. And that’s the reason I thought this Message, this morning, would be appropriate, to lay a foundation, on the simplicity of God, see, how God hides Himself in simplicity.

E-166 Just think, they can break atoms and do everything else; but when it comes to touching life, they can’t even tell where it come from. A simple blade of grass, and God is hid in it. They can fire a rocket to the moon, and—and shoot a radar over there, or whatever more, and yet can’t explain the life in a blade of grass. That’s right. See? It’s because it can’t be explained. It’s so simple, they overlook that.

E-167 Now notice Moses, in the day that God was going to deliver the children of Israel, according to His Word. He, what did He do? He chose a simple family. We have no record of them. See, just “a son of Levi,” is all we know. See? And so we…and his wife. Just a ordinary, probably a—a mud dauber, as the world would think, out there making brick for the enemy. He was just an ordinary slave in Israel, but God chose that family to bring forth the deliverer; just an ordinary Jewish family. He never went and got royalty and celebrity, or something, or even got some priest. He took a common, ordinary family. See? Simplicity! Notice what He done, then, He brought forth a child, a simple human being. He never…

E-168 He could have—He could have ordained the sun, if He wanted to, to deliver them. He could have ordained the wind to deliver them. He could have ordained an Angel to deliver them. Oh, hallelujah! God can do whatever He wants to do.“Well, how do you know that, Brother Branham?”

E-169 God won’t leave His program. That’s the reason we know that, this day, It’s got to be simple. See? Now, He always works in simplicity. But God, in the beginning, that could have made the sun preach the Gospel, or the winds preach the Gospel, or an Angel preach the Gospel, but He ordained men for that purpose, and He never changes it. He never ordained in the… He never ordained denominations. He never ordained groups of men. He ordained men to preach the Gospel; not machinery, mechanical devices, or any Angelic Being. It was man!

E-170 And when He brought deliverance to the people down there, He sent a simple human being, born of a simple family in a bunch of slaves. Oh, my! What a God He is, unfolding Himself in simplicity!

E-171 Now notice. And He had him trained in worldly wisdom, so that he could fail, and show that it isn’t wisdom that we’ll ever be delivered by. It’s by faith that we are delivered. He let him go in and get such an education until he could teach the Egyptians wisdom; he was so smart. God was with that simple family who could, perhaps, maybe not write their name. And Moses was took into the highest of schooling, with such a great education, till he could teach the wisdom to the teachers. He could teach the genius. Yes. And God let him get that way so He could display Himself in humility, to show that wisdom has nothing to do with it. And Moses miserably failed in his genius. He let him get that way for His purpose, so that he would fail. And he did fail, and he fell.

E-172 So, to show, “Not by power, not by might,” but not by the wisdom of Egypt, not by the wisdom of our schools, not by the power of our seminaries, but not by the amounts of our organization, not by the power of our scholarly teaching, “but by My Spirit, saith God.” His wisdom was vanished and at its end, when he met God in the burning bush there. He took off his shoes and humbled himself to humility, and forgot all about his wisdom.

E-173 God, bringing deliverance, had to train him in wisdom, to let him fall, to show that you cannot lean upon the arm of your own understanding, or anybody else’s understanding. Let him fall, to show His hand. Can you see it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] God’s purpose in doing so, was to display Himself in humility. And He let Moses become the highest, until he would—he would be the next pharaoh. He was a mighty general. According to history, he conquered, Moses himself, the countries around. And then when he turned to the work of the Lord, with all of his talent, God let him take a headlong topple, so that He could put him out there on the desert and beat all that out of him; and then appear to him, in humility, and send him down with a stick in his hand, to deliver the people.

E-174 When, he couldn’t do it by a military training, by an education, by a scientific education. And by a military force he could not do it. And He give him an old crooked stick off the desert, and He did it with him. God in humility, simplicity! God was in the stick and in Moses. And as long as Moses had the stick, then God had it, because God was in Moses. Sure.

E-175 Notice, “Not by power, nor by—by might, but by My Spirit.” But by the simple faith!

E-176 Moses had an understanding that he was to be the deliverer, from the teaching of his mother. And he trained himself in military might, to do so, but it failed. See? He had the understanding, he had the education, but that didn’t work. So he had to forget it all, and come to the simple thing of taking God at His Word, and then he delivered the people. Yes, sir.

E-177 God delivers by (what?) faith in His Word. Always has been. We could take a look if we had time. We got about twenty something minutes yet. We had…

E-178 We could take a—a look at Cain and Abel, how that—that Cain tried to please God by some beauty.

E-179 Another way, people think, “By—by great, fine-dressed congregations, by a priest with—with…ministers with robed, and robed choirs, and all the—the put on, that pleases God.” Can you see where it come from? Cain tried the same thing. And he built him an altar, no doubt that he made it pretty.

E-180 And the man was sincere. He worshipped. He thought, “As long as I’m sincere, doesn’t make any difference.” It does make a difference. You can be sincerely wrong.

E-181 Notice, he—he built this altar and he, more like, put flowers and fixed it up, and put beautiful fruits, and thought, “Surely, a great, holy, clean, beautiful God will accept that sacrifice.” But, see, he done it with his own wisdom. He done it by his own thoughts.

E-182 And that’s what it is today. He—he…They do it by their own wisdom, by their schooling, by their education and ethics that they have learned.

E-183 “But Abel, by a revelation, by faith, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.” Nothing clean about it, as far as it looked, humanly speaking. The little fellow, and grabbing him by the neck and wrapping a vine around him, like that, and pulled him along to this altar. There was nothing so beautiful about it. Laying him upon the altar, and hacking his little throat with a—a sharp rock, until his blood flying all over him, and him bleating, dying. It was a horrible sight, see, to see it. It was simple, though.

E-184 In simplicity, he knowed that he was born of his mother and father’s blood, born in his mother’s blood, by his father’s blood; and it was blood that caused the fall, so it was blood that would take it back. “So he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice, cause it was revealed to him.”

E-185 And some of the brethren, today, who think they eat apples and pears! And I seen the most radical thing the other day, in the paper. They said, “Now they proved that it wasn’t an apple that Eve eat.” That, I—I think they claim, “It was an apricot.” So, oh, see where that spirit comes from!

E-186 And they said, that, “Moses never crossed actually the Red Sea. That, it was a—a bunch of reeds down there, a sea of reeds. And he brought the children of Israel through the sea of reeds. Up at the end of the—the sea, there’s a big bunch of reeds up there. And Moses crossed the sea, but it was the sea of reeds that he crossed; you know, grass, tall, like tules and things, that he crossed through there.” How ridiculous!

E-187 When, “The water,” the Bible said, “parted from right to left, and God caused a—a mighty east wind to separate.” See? See?

E-188 They, they want to try to figure it out in their own way. And that’s the way they’ve always failed, and they’ll continue to fail. You know, all these things!

E-189 And Cain was the very type of the carnal-minded man today, who is religious outwardly. He wants to do something outwardly, but he’s a…He goes to church, and—and he’ll do lots of things for the—the building.There is only one Church, and you don’t join That.

E-190 These are lodges. See? You join the Methodist lodge, the Baptist lodge, the Presbyterian lodge, the Pentecostal lodge.But you’re born into the Church. Yes, sir. See?

E-191 These all are lodges. They’re not churches. They are lodges. And no such a thing as Methodist “church,” or Pentecostal “church.” No, there isn’t such a thing. No, that’s all wrong. See? They’re…That’s right. They, they are lodges that people join.

E-192 But you are born into the Church of the living God, and that’s the mystic Body of Jesus Christ being formed.

E-193 Now, but, it pleased God to reveal His secret to Abel, by simple faith in the shed blood. Oh, I wish I had time to lay on that a little longer. See?

E-194 Yet, and Cain, with all of his wisdom, the smart man! “Oh,” you say, “now, Brother Branham, you said he…You are trying to make him the educated genius?” He was. He was the smart…Follow his—follow his strain. Look at his children. Every one of them were scientists, and doctors, and smart man, every one.

E-195 But, you follow the generation of Seth, they were humble, peasants, and farmers, and so forth, on down to the destruction.

E-196 But Cain’s children were the smart, intellectual group. They even, they claim, could temper copper, and they make metals; and builders. And they were smart man.

E-197 When—when, these other men just dwelt in tents, and herded their sheep, and rested upon the promises of God. See? See? See what it was? Now just follow the genealogies down through, and see if that isn’t right. See? They rested upon the promise of God.

E-198 That’s how Noah was chose, from that kind of a people. That’s how Paul was taken out from his flock. See? That’s how, John Wesley, Martin Luther, and what more. That’s how you come to be what you are today, see, the same thing, humble, to believe the simple promise of God.

E-199 Now, notice, it pleased God to—to identify. Now, God always will a vindicate whether it’s the Truth or not. See? Now, many people try to act themselves into something that God stays a million miles from. That’s right. But when you see God come back around, say It’s…punctuate It, say, “That’s right, That’s right, That’s right,” then you know That’s true.

E-200 Now, when the offerings was on the altar, God refused his intellectual conception of God. But when He seen Abel, by simple faith to believe that it was not apples or fruits of the field, but it was blood; by faith he believed it, by a revelation from God. God a vindicated Adam by accepting his sacrifice. See?

E-201 That’s where we think of praying for the sick, anything else. Jesus said, “If ye abide in Me, and My Word in you, just ask what you will and it shall be done to you.”

E-202 Now as we’re coming right on down, fastly now, we’re twenty minutes more.

E-203 Notice, Elijah’s day, God chose to hide Himself in a simple person. Now just think of it. God chose. That was His choosing. Remember, they had rabbis, priests. They had great men in them days. Even King Ahab, himself, was a Jew. He had great men in the land, in that day. But God hid Himself in a simple man; not a scholar; no, not a renown man of the world, some great military genius or something; no, no big name. We don’t even know who his papa and mama was. We don’t know anything about his genealogy. Just a plain old farmer somewhere, that was raised up for the purpose to be a prophet. God had him living to himself in the wilderness. Only thing we know, he stomped right out of nowhere, walked right in and condemned the whole ecclesiastical system. My!

E-204 And you know what they thought about him? “What school did he come from?” See? “What denomination is he with? Is he with the Pharisees, the Sadducees,” or what more they had? He didn’t belong to any of them, but he condemned the whole thing. See? God chose to do that.

E-205 But, a simple man, no education. We have no place where he ever went to school. We have nothing about him. Just a simple man, but God was pleased to hide in that simple person. God, back there, with this simple man, hiding in a human being. Can you grasp it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.]

E-206 God hiding in a “illiterate crank,” to the world. Cause, you know, they—they accused him of everything, even being a “witch,” Elijah. All prophets are accused, that, see.

E-207 So, Jesus was accused of being one, you see, “Beelzebub; being crazy.” Said, “Why, You are mad. Yeah, we know You got a devil. You’re—You’re off at Your head.” See?

E-208 That’s where He told them, “When It come in the last days, that they bla-…that would be blasphemy, to do such.” He forgave them, but it wouldn’t be forgiven in these last days. It would have to be paid for, with Eternal separation, “Never to be forgiven, in this world or the world to come.”

E-209 But Elijah was considered a crazy man. Could you imagine standing up to…The—the women was all cutting their hair like the modern days, I guess, and painting up like Jezebel, the first lady of the land. And—and the preachers all gone worldly and everything. And then what taken place? Then here come old Elijah out, condemning the whole thing, all the way from Jezebel down.

E-210 “Why,” thought, “we don’t have to listen to you! We got pastors.”

E-211 Sure, they didn’t have to, but he was their pastor anyhow. He was Jezebel’s pastor. She didn’t want it. She might have had a different kind. But, but, God-sent, he was. See? He was God’s sent pastor for her. She hated him, but he was pastor just the same. Notice.

E-212 And Elijah humbled himself and stayed with what God said, in such a way, that it pleased God to take that same Spirit from Elijah and promise to shove It three times down the road from there. See? Amen. And He did it. Amen. Sure, He did. Sure. He promised It, that It would come. And It come upon Elisha, his successor; then come on John the Baptist; and, according to Malachi 4, It’s supposed to be here again in the last day. See?