^14-1 And now, we have had great success in doing this, because... You'll have a little form letter with it, that people around the world pray every morning at nine o'clock, and at twelve o'clock and at three o'clock. And you can imagine, around behind the world, what time of the night they have to get up to make this prayer. So if all these tens of thousands, and times thousands, are sending prayers to God at that very same time for this ministry, your sickness, God just can't turn that away. And so now we, as I say, we don't have any programs; we're not wanting one penny of money. We're just... If we can help you, that's what we're here for. And let us...

^14-2 A... Someone is bringing another bunch of handkerchiefs. Now, if you do not have a handkerchief that you wanted to send, well, then you just write anyhow. If you don't need it right now, keep it in the Book of Acts in the Bible, the 19th chapter. And it'll be a form of a little white ribbon that will be sent you, and the instructions how to confess your sins first. And (Thank you.) how to confess your sins... You must never try to get anything from God without first being right with God. See? And then you're instructed in this to call your neighbors in and your pastor. If you got anything that's in your heart against anyone, go make it right first, and come back. And then pray, have a prayer meeting in your home, and pin this handkerchief to your underneath garment, then believe God. And at that very three hours, each day, there'll be people around the world praying, a chain around the world.

^14-3 And now, it's yours absolutely free; just send. And--and, now, we will not be writing back to you to dun you or to tell you of some program that we have. We want you to support program, but we don't--don't have any for you to support. See? So you... It's not to get your address; it's just merely accommodation and a ministry of the Lord that we're trying to carry on.

^14-5 Gracious Lord, we bring to Thee these little parcels, perhaps some of them look to be maybe little vests for a baby, or--or some little undershirt, or maybe a little pair of booties, or--or something, a handkerchief, that's going to the sick and the afflicted; Lord, it is according to Thy Word that we do this. For we read in the Book of Acts, that they taken from the body of Your servant Paul, handkerchiefs and aprons, because they believed that Your Spirit was on the man. And unclean spirits went out of people, and afflictions and diseases left them, because they believed. And now, we realize, Lord, that we're not Saint Paul, but we know that You still remain Jesus. And we pray that You'll honor the faith of these people.

^15-1 And it was said once that when Israel, trying to obey God, had been caught into a trap, the sea before them, the mountains on either side, and Pharaoh's army approaching. And one has said that, "God looked down through that Pillar of Fire with angered eyes, and the sea got scared, and rolled back itself, and made a path for Israel to cross to the promised land."

^15-3 Now, tonight being the closing of this part of the revival, I do not know whether it will be broadcast or not, but I'd like to say (if not) to the radio audience, that this has been one of the finest meetings that I've had for a many, many years. It's been solid, sound, most loving, cooperative meeting that I have been in for a long time.

^15-4 But... [A brother says, "We're on the air till a quarter past four, brother. They are listening to you all over southern California, out into the islands, and on the ships. We get messages from them. And so you got a big audience, thousands and tens of thousands." -- Ed.] Thank you, sir. That's very good. Glad to hear that. God bless you all.

^15-6 Now, it was given out that today I was to kinda talk to you a while on "My Life Story." That's a--a hard thing for me. This will be the first time I have tried to approach it for many years. And I would not have time to go in details, but just part of it. And in here I've made many mistakes, done many things that was wrong. And I'll desire, that you in the radio land and you that are present, that you will not take my mistakes to be stumbling stones, but steppingstones to bring you closer to the Lord Jesus.

^16-1 Then tonight the prayer cards is to be given out for the healing service tonight. Now, when we speak of healing service, doesn't mean that we're going to heal someone; we're going to pray for someone. God does the healing. He's just been very gracious to me to answer prayer.

^16-4 And now, tonight the services will begin... I think they said the concert begins at six-thirty. And now, if you're out in the radio land, come in to listen to this. It's... It'll be beautiful; it's always.

^16-6 Now, I wish to read for a text this afternoon, just to start off the Life Story, found over in the Book of Hebrews the 13th chapter, and let's begin here about, I'd say about the 12th verse.

^17-2 Now, I know that you're very fond of Los Angeles. You have a right to be. It's a great, beautiful city. With its smog and whatmore, yet it's a beautiful city, fine climate. But this city cannot continue; it's got to have an end.

^17-6 When I was a little boy I used to go to a great maple tree. In my country we have a lot of hardwood. And then we had this maple tree, the sugar maple, and what we call the "hard maple" and "soft maple." This great gigantic tree, it was the most beautiful tree. When I would come in from the fields, of working in the hay and--and the harvests, I would love to go to this big tree and--and set down under it, and--and look up. And I could see its great, mighty branches sway in the wind, great huge trunk. And I said, "You know, I believe that this tree will be here for hundreds and hundreds of years." Not long ago I took a look at the old tree; it's just a snag. "For here we have no continuing city."

^17-8 I remember the house that we lived in; it was an old log house chinked with mud. I... Perhaps maybe many never seen a house chinked with mud. But it was all chinked up with mud, and the great huge logs that was in the old house, I thought that house would stand for hundreds of years. But, you know, today where that house stood is a housing project. It's so much different. Everything's changing. But...

^17-9 And I used to see my father; he was a rather a short, stocky man, very strong, and he was one of the strongest little men that I knew of. I met Mr. Coots, a fellow that he used to work with in the logs; he was a logger, and about a year ago. And Mr. Coots is a very good friend of mine, and a deacon in the First Baptist church, and he said, "Billy, you ought to be a real powerful man."

^18-1 And we had an old apple tree out in the front yard, and then there was three or four small ones along towards the back. And right in the middle tree there was an old looking glass had been broke, mirror, large one, and had been tacked on the side of the tree with some nails bent in, kind of like what some of you carpenters listening in would call "coat hangers." It had been bent in to hold the glass in its place. And there was an old tin comb. How many ever seen an old tin--the old fashion tin combs? I can just see it.

^18-3 How many ever slept on a straw tick? Well, I'll--will say! How many ever knowed what a shuck pillow was, put... Well, Brother Glover, I'm at home now, sure enough. Straw tick, well, it hasn't been too long since I just come off of one, and it was... Oh, it--it's good sleeping, cool. Then in the wintertime they take the old feather bed and lay on it, you know, and then have to put a piece of canvas over the top of us because the snow blowed in the--the cracks in the house, you know, where the old clapboard shingles would turn up, you know, and the snow would sweep through it. And oh, I can remember that very well.

^18-4 And then pop used to have a shaving brush. I... Now, this is going to get you. It was made out of corn shucks, a shaving brush with corn shucks. He'd take mother's old lye soap that she had made, fix it up and put it on his face with this corn shuck brush, and shave it with a big, old straight razor. And on Sunday he'd take the--the pieces of paper, stick around his collar, they wore celluloid collars and put it around the collar like this to keep the--the--the lather from getting on his shirt collar. Did you ever see that done? Why, my, my.

^19-1 I remember a little old spring down below, where we used to go get a drink of water, and get our water out of an old gourd dipper. How many ever seen a gourd dipper? Well, how many of you is from Kentucky anyhow, let's... Well, just looky here at the Kentuckians. Well, my, I'm--I'm right at... I thought it was all Okies and Arkies out here, but look like Kentucky's moving in. Well, they did strike oil in Kentucky a few months ago, you know, so maybe that's some of them's coming this a-way.

^19-2 And then I remember when dad used to come in and take his wash for dinner; he'd roll up his sleeves, them little short stubby arms... And when he'd pull up his arms to wash, throw the water up on his face, them muscles just wadded in his little arms. And I said, "You know, my daddy will live to be a hundred and fifty years old." He was so strong. But he died at fifty-two. See? "Here we have no continuing city." That's right. We cannot continue.

^19-3 Now, let's take a little trip, all of us. There's every one of you here that has a life story just as I do, and it's good to stroll down memory's lane once in a while. Don't you think so? Just go back, and let's all go back for a while, back to similar experiences as little children.

^19-5 I was born in a little mountain cabin, way up in the mountains of Kentucky. They had one room that we lived in, no rug on the floor, not even wood on the floor; it was just simply a bare floor. And a stump, top of a stump cut off with three legs on it, that was our table. And all those little Branhams would pile around there, and out on the front of the little old cabin, and wallowed out, looked like where a bunch of opossums had been wallowing out there in the dust, you know, all the little brothers. There was nine of us, and one little girl, and she really had a rough time amongst that bunch of boys. We have to respect her yet today from the things that we did in those days. She couldn't go with us anywhere; we'd run her back; she was a girl. So she couldn't take it, you know. So we had... And all...

^19-6 Remember that back behind the table we had just two chairs, and they were made out of limb bark, just old hickory saplings put together, and the bottom of them laced with hickory bark. Did anybody ever see a hickory bark chair? Yeah. And I can hear mama yet. Oh, later on when we got into a place where she could have a wooden floor, with those babies on her lap like this, and rocking that old chair just bangity, bangity, bang on the floor. I remember to keep the little ones from going out the door, when she would be washing or something, she'd lay a chair down and turn it kind of cater-cornered across the door to keep the little ones from getting out when she had to go to the spring to get water, and so forth.

^20-2 Now, we was very poor, just the poorest of poor. And we did not even have a window in this little cabin. It had a--like a little wooden door that you open. I doubt whether you ever seen anything like that. A little wooden door that opened instead of a window, you keep it open in the daytime; you closed it at night. We couldn't turn on the electric lights or even burn kerosene in those days, we had what you call a grease lamp. Now, I don't know whether you ever know what a grease lamp was. Well, what do you... And did you ever buy--burn a pine knot for a--just take a pine knot and light it and lay it upon a lid? It'll burn. And that's... Smoked up a little bit, but they had not furniture, anyhow, to smoke up. So it just... The cabin got the smoking. It drawed good 'cause there was plenty of roof up there for it to draw through. So it...

^20-3 And I was born on April the--the 6th, 1909. 'Course, you know, that makes me a little over twenty-five now. And so, the morning that I was born, mother said that they opened up the window. Now, we had no doctors; there was a midwife, just... And that midwife was my grandmother. And so when I was born and my first beginning to cry, and--and mother wanted to see her child... And--and she was no more than a child herself. And when they opened up the little window just at the break of day, about five o'clock in the... There was an old robin setting by the side of a little bush. As you all have seen the picture of it in--in my book of my life story... An old robin was setting there just singing for all that was in him.

^20-4 I've always loved robins. Now, you boys out in radio land, don't shoot at my birds. You see, they're--they're--they're... Them's my birds. Did you ever hear the legend of the robin, how he got his red breast? I'll stop here a moment. How he got his red breast, there was the King of kings was dying one day on the Cross, and He was suffering and no one would come to Him. He had no one to help Him. And there was a little brown bird wanted to take them nails out of the Cross, and he kept flying in to the Cross and jerking on those nails. He was too little to pull them out, and he got his little breast all red with blood. Ever since then his breast has been red. Don't shoot him, boys. Let him alone.

^21-2 Now, we are--was not a religious family. My people are Catholic. I'm Irish on both sides. My father is strictly Irish: Branham. My mother is Harvey; only her father married a Cherokee Indian, so that broke the little line of the blood of the Irish. And father and mother did not go to church, and they married out of the church, and they had no religion at all. And back there in the mountains there was not even a Catholic church. So they come over in the early settlers; two Branhams come over, and from that sprung the whole generation of Branhams; is the genealogy of the family.

^21-3 And then she opened... When they opened this window and this Light stood in there, they did not know what to do. Dad had bought him (mama said) a new pair of overalls for this event. He was standing with the--his arms in the bib of the old overalls, like the woodsmen and loggers used in those days. And it frightened them.

^21-4 Well, after I'd got up maybe ten days old, or something, they taken me up to a little Baptist church called "Opossum Kingdom." Opossum Kingdom Baptist Church, that's quite a name. There was an old circuit preacher, the old fashion Baptist preacher came through there about once every two months. On... The people would have a little service together; they'd go sing some songs, but they had preaching every so often on the circuit rider. They paid him each year with a sack of pumpkins and a few things like that, you know, that the people would raise to give him. And the old preacher came by, and there he offered prayer for me as a little boy. That was my first trip to church.

^21-5 At the year of about, something a little over two years old, the first vision taken place.

^21-7 Now, I have to be honest. There's things here that I do not like to say, and I wish I could bypass it and not have to say it. But yet, to tell the truth, you must tell the truth if it's on yourself or your people. Be honest about it, and then it's always the same.

^22-2 So the man was laying at the point of death. Might be some of his people listening in. I'm going to call his name, Will Yarbrough was his name. They probably... I think some of them is in California, of his boys. But he was a bully, great powerful man, killed his own boy with a fence rail. So he--he was a very powerful and wicked man. And so there was a great knife fight between he and dad. And my father almost killed the man, so he had to run and leave Kentucky and come across the river to Indiana.

^22-3 And he had a brother that lived, at the time, in Louisville, Kentucky, was the assistant superintendent of the Wood Mosaic Saw Mills in Kentucky, in Louisville. And so dad come to find his older brother. Dad was the youngest of the boys, of seventeen children. And so he came to find his older brother, and while he was gone for almost a year. He could not come back, because the law was looking for him. And then when we'd heard from him by letter, signed by another name, but that he'd told mother how it would be that she'd hear from him...

^22-4 And then I remember one day the spring (this little cabin was just behind the house). And--and during that time after... There was nine--eleven months difference between me and my next brother, and he was still crawling. And I had a big rock in my hand, and I was trying to show him how hard I could throw this rock in the old mud, where the spring had run out of the ground and made the muddy ground. And I heard a bird, and it was singing up in a tree. And I looked up to that tree, and the bird flew away, and when it did, a Voice spoke to me.

^22-6 That bird, when it flew away, a Voice came from where the bird was in the tree, like a wind caught in the bush, and It said, "You'll live near a city called New Albany." And I've lived from the time I was three years old until this time, within three miles of New Albany, Indiana.

^23-4 And I remember one day, from the barn, coming up to the house, crying. Because out at the back of the place was a pond, it--where they used to cut ice. Many of you remember when they used to cut ice and put it in sawdust. Well, that's the way Mr. Wathen kept ice out there in the country. And father was a--a chauffeur for him, a private chauffeur. And when this pond was full of fish and when they would go to cutting the ice and bringing it in and put it in the sawdust, then when the ice melted in the summertime as it went down, it was kind of clean I suppose, more like a lake ice, and they could use it, not to drink, but to keep water cold, put it around their buckets and their milk, and so forth.

^23-5 And one day packing water from back out at this pump, which was about a city block. I was squalling to who wouldn't have it, because I'd come from school and all the boys had went out to the pond, fishing. I just loved to fish. And so they all got to go fishing but me, and I had to pack water for this still. Of course, my, that had to be mum; it was prohibition. And I... It was such a hardship. And I remember coming along there with a stumped toe, and I had a corn cob wrapped under my toe to keep it out of the dust. Did you ever do that? Just put a corn cob under your toe like this and wrap a string around it. It holds your toe right up like a turtle head almost, you know, sticking up. You could track me everywhere I went with this corn cob under my toe; where I'd stump it, you know. I didn't have any shoes to wear. So we never wore shoes, sometime half the winter. If we did, we--it was just what we could pick up, somebody would give us. And clothes to what somebody, charity would give us...

^24-1 And I stopped under this tree, and I was sitting there just squalling (It was in September.), because I wanted to go fishing; I had to pack several tubs of water with little molassey buckets, just about that high, half a gallon, 'cause I was just a little lad of about seven years old. And I'd pour them in a big tub and then go back and get another two buckets and come back, pumping it. That's the water we had. And they was going to run off a batch of that corn whiskey that night, these men with daddy, up at the house.

^24-2 And I was crying, and all at once I heard something making a noise like a whirlwind, something like this (Now, I hope it isn't too loud), going "Whoooossssh, whoooossssh," just a noise like that. Well, it was awful quiet, and I looked around. And you know what, a little whirlwind, I believe you call them a little cyclones. In the fall of the year they pick up through the corn field, you know, the leaves and so forth, in the autumn there, the leaves are just begin turning. And I was under a great white poplar tree, stood about halfway between the barn and the--the house. And I heard that noise. And I looked around; it was just as quiet as it is in this room, not a leaf blowing nowhere, or nothing. And I thought, "Where's that noise coming from?" Well, I thought, "Must be away from here." Just a lad... And it got louder and louder.

^24-3 I picked up my little buckets and squalled a couple more times and started up the lane; I was resting. And I got just few feet from that, out from under the branches of this big tree, and, oh, my, it made a whirl sounding. And I turned to look, and about halfway up that tree was another whirlwind, caught in that tree just a-going around and around, moving those leaves. Well, I thought nothing strange about that, because it just in that time of year. In the autumn, why, those whirlwinds come, little... We call them "whirlwinds." And they--and they pick up dust. You've seen them on the desert like that: same thing. So I watched, but it didn't leave off. Usually it's just a puff for a moment, then it goes, but it'd already been in there two minutes or more.

^24-4 Well, I started up the lane again. And I turned to look at this again. And when It did, a human Voice, just as audible as mine is, said, "Don't you never drink, smoke, or defile your body in any way. There'll be a work for you to do when you get older." Why, it liked to scared me to death. You could imagine how a little fellow felt. I dropped those buckets, and home I went just as hard as I could go, screaming the top of my voice.

^24-5 And there was copperheads in that country, snakes, and they're very poison. Mother thought, coming alongside of the garden I'd perhaps got my foot on a copperhead, and she ran to meet me. And I jumped up in her arms, screaming, hugging her and kissing her. And she said, "What's the matter, did you get snakebit?" Looked me all over.

^25-1 And I was packing water to a moonshine still, right then. And He said, "Don't you never drink or defile your body in any way." That's immoral, you know, and my child--young manhood with women. And to my best, I have never one time been guilty of such. The Lord helped me of those things, and as I go along you'll find out. So then, "Don't drink, or don't smoke, or do not defile your body, for there'll be a work for you to do when you get older."

^25-3 And then sometime about a month after that, I was playing marbles out with my little brothers, out in the front yard. And all at once I had a strange feeling come on me. And I stopped and set down aside of a tree. And we were right up on the bank from the Ohio River. And I looked down towards Jeffersonville, and I seen a bridge rise up and go across that, the river, span the river. And I seen sixteen men (I counted them) that dropped off of there and lost their lives on that bridge. I run in real quick and told my mother, and she thought I went to sleep. But they kept it in mind, and twenty-two years from then the Municipal Bridge now (that many of you cross when you cross there) crossed the river at the same place, and sixteen men lost their life building that bridge across the river.

^25-5 Now, they thought I was just nervous. Which I am a nervous person; that's true. And if you ever notice, people who are--are inclined to be spiritual are nervous. Look at poets and prophets. And look at William Cowper who wrote that famous song, "There is a fountain filled with Blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins." Did you ever... You know the song. I stood by his grave not long ago. Brother Julius, I believe, I don't know, no... Yes, that's right, was with us over there at his grave. And--and there, after he had wrote that song, the inspiration left him, he tried to find the--the river to commit suicide. See, the spirit had left him. And people like poets and authors and--or not--I mean prophets...

^26-1 Look at Elijah, when he stood on the mountain and called fire out of the heaven and called rain out of the heaven. Then when the Spirit left him, he run at a threat of a woman. And God found him pulled back in a cave, forty days later.

^26-3 Then I remember coming on up. I got to be a young man. (I'll hurry to make it within the next little bit.) When I got to be a young man I had ideas like all young men. I... Going to school, I'd found them little girls. You know, I was real bashful, you know. And I--I finally got me a little girlfriend, and like all little boys, about fifteen years old, I guess. And--and so, oh, she was pretty. My, she had eyes like a dove, and she had teeth like pearl, and a neck like a swan, and she--she was really pretty.

^26-4 And another little boy, he--we were buddies, so he got his daddy's old model-T Ford, and we got a date with our girls. And we was going to take them out, riding. We got enough to buy two gallons of gasoline. We had to jack the back wheel up to crank it. I don't know whether you ever remember that or not, you know, to crank it. But we--we was going along pretty good.

^26-6 Well, I've always had my opinion of a woman that would smoke a cigarette, and I haven't changed it one bit from that time on. That's right. It's the lowest thing she can do. That's exactly right. And I--I thought I... Now, the cigarette company could get after me for this, but I'm telling you; that's just a stunt of the Devil. It's the biggest killer and sabotage this nation's got. I'd rather my boy be a drunkard than to be a cigarette smoker. That's the truth. I'd rather see my wife laying on the floor, drunk, than to see her with a cigarette. That's how...

^27-1 Now, this Spirit of God that's with me, if That is the Spirit of God (as you might question), you smoking cigarettes has got a slim chance when you get there, 'cause that just... Every time you notice it on the platform, how He condemns it. It's a horrible thing. Keep away from it. Ladies, if you have been guilty of that, please, in the Name of Christ, get away from it. It breaks you. It'll kill you. It'll... It's a--it's a cancer by the carloads.

^27-3 Well, when I seen that pretty little girl just acting smart, this cigarette in her hand, that liked to killed me, 'cause I really thought I loved her. And I thought, "Well..."

^27-5 But I can remember when my father's still up there running, I had to be out there with water and stuff, see young ladies that wasn't over seventeen, eighteen years old, up there with men my age now, drunk. And they'd have to sober them up and give them black coffee to get home to cook their husband's supper. Oh, something like that, I said, "I..." This was my remark then, "They're not worth a good clean bullet to kill them with it." That's right. And I hated women. That's right. And I just have to watch every move now, to keep from still thinking the same thing.

^27-6 So, but now, a good woman is a jewel in a man's crown. She should be honored. She's... My mother's a woman; my wife is; and they're lovely. And I've got thousands of Christian sisters who I highly respect. But if--if they can respect what God made them, a motherhood and a real queen, that's all right. She's one of the best things that God could give a man was a wife. Besides salvation, a wife is the best thing if she is a good wife. But if she isn't, Solomon said, "A good woman is a jewel in a man's crown, but a--a ornery one or no-good one is water in his blood." And that's right, it's the worst thing could happen. So a good woman... If you've got a good wife, brother, you ought to respect her with the highest. That's right. You should do that. A real woman... And children, if you've got a real mother that stays home and tries to take care of you, keeping your clothes clean, send you to school, teaching you about Jesus, you should honor that sweet old mother with all that's in you. You should respect that woman (Yes, sir.), because she's a real mother.

^28-1 They talk about the illiteracy of Kentucky mountains. You see it in this here dogpatch stuff. Some of them old mammies out there could come here to Hollywood and teach you modern mothers how to raise your kids. You let her kid come in one night with her hair all messed up, and lips, and slips (What do you call that makeup stuff they put on their face?), and her dress all squeezed to one side, and been out all night, drunk, brother, she'd get one of them limbs off the top of that hickory tree and she'd never go out no more. I'm telling you, she'd... And if you had a little more of that, you'd have a better Hollywood around here and a better nation. That's right. It's true. "Just try to be modern," that--that's one of the tricks of the Devil.

^28-2 Now, this little girl, when I looked at her, my heart just bled. I thought, "Poor little fellow..."

^28-4 And I was standing on the fender. They had a running board on the old Fords, you remember; I was standing on that fender, setting in the back seat, she and I. And she said, "You mean you won't smoke a cigarette?" Said, "And we girls has got more nerve than you have."

^28-6 I couldn't stand that, so I said, "Give it to me!" My hand out, I said, "I'll show her whether I'm sissy or not." Got that cigarette out and started to strike the match. Now, I know you're... Now, I'm not responsible for what you think; I'm just responsible for telling the truth. When I started to strike that cigarette, just as much determined to smoke it as I am to pick up this Bible. (See?) I heard something going, "Whoooossssh!" I tried again; I couldn't get it to my mouth. And I got to crying; I throwed the thing down. They got to laughing at me. And I walked home, went up through the field, set down out there, crying. And--and it was a terrible life.

^29-1 I remember one day dad was going down to the river with the boys. My brother and I, we had to take a boat and go up and down the river, hunting bottles to put the whiskey in. We got a nickel a dozen for them to pick them up along the river. And dad was with me, and he had one of those little flat... I believe they was about a half pint bottles. And there was a tree had blowed down, and dad and this man was with him, Mr. Dornbush... I had his... He had a nice boat, and I wanted to find favor with him, 'cause I wanted to use that boat. It had a good rudder and mine didn't have no rudder at all. We had just old boards to paddle with. And if he'd let me use that boat... So he done welding, and he made the stills for dad. So he... They throwed their leg up across that tree, and dad reached in his back pocket, and pulled out a little flat bottle of whiskey, handed it to him and he took a drink, hand it back to dad, and he taken a drink, and he set it down on a little sucker on the side of the tree that went out. And Mr. Dornbush picked it up, said, "Here you are, Billy."

^29-2 My daddy calling me a sissy, I said, "Hand me that bottle." And I pulled that stopper out of the top of it, determined to drink it, and when I started to turn it up, "Whoooossssh!" I handed the bottle back and took off down through the field as hard as I could, crying. Something wouldn't let me do it. See? I could not say that I was any good. I was determined to do it. But it's God, grace, amazing grace that kept me from doing those things. I wanted to do them myself, but He just wouldn't let me do it.

^29-3 Later on I found a girl when I was about twenty-two years old; she was a darling. She was a girl that went to church: German Lutheran. Her name was Brumbach, B-r-u-m-b-a-c-h, come from the name of Brumbaugh. And she was a nice girl. She didn't smoke, or drink, or--or she didn't dance or anything, a nice girl. I went with her for a little while, and I'd then about twenty-two. I had made enough money till I bought me an old Ford, and I... We'd go out on dates together. And so, that time, there was no Lutheran church close; they'd moved from Howard Park up there.

^30-1 And so there was a minister, the one that ordained me in the Missionary Baptist church, Doctor Roy Davis. Sister Upshaw... The very one that sent Brother Upshaw over to me, or talked to him about me, Doctor Roy Davis... And so he was preaching, and had the First Baptist church, or the--the... I don't believe it was the First Baptist church, either, it was the Mission--called the Missionary Baptist church at Jeffersonville. And he was preaching at the place at that time, and we would go to church at night, so... And we'd come back. And I never did join church, but I just liked to go with her. Because the main thought was going with her. I just might as well be honest.

^30-2 So then going with her, and one day I... She was out of a nice family. And I begin to think, "You know, you know, I oughtn't to take that girl's time. It isn't--it isn't right, because she's a nice girl, and I'm poor, and--and I..." My daddy had broke down in health, and I--I... There wasn't no way for me to make a living for a girl like that, who'd been used to a nice home and rugs on the floor.

^30-3 I remember the first rug I ever seen, I didn't know what it was. I walked around the side. I thought it was the prettiest thing I ever seen in my life. "How would they put something like that on the floor?" It was the first rug I'd ever seen. It was one of these... I believe it's called "matting rugs." I may have that wrong. Some kind of like "wicker" or something that's laced together and laying on the floor. Pretty green and red, and big rows worked in the middle of it, you know, it was a pretty thing.

^30-4 And so I remember I--I made up my mind that I either had to ask her to marry me, or I must get away and let some good man marry her, somebody that would be good to her, could make her a living and could be kind to her. I could be kind to her, but I--I--I was only making twenty cents an hour. So I couldn't make too much of a living for her. And I... With all the family we had to take care of, and dad broke down in health, and I had to take care of all them, so I was having a pretty rough time.

^30-5 So I thought, "Well, the only thing for me to do is tell her that I--I--she--I--I just won't be back, because I thought too much of her to wreck her life and to let her fool along with me." And then I thought, "If somebody could get ahold of her and marry her, make a lovely home, and maybe if I couldn't have her, I could--I could know that she was happy."

^31-2 And I was a little afraid of her mother. Her mother was... She was kind of rough. And--but her father was a gentle old Dutchman, just a fine old fellow. He was an organizer of the brotherhood, the trainmen on the railroad, making about five hundred dollars a month in them times, and me making twenty cents an hour, to marry his daughter. Mm. I knowed that would never work. And her mother was very... Now, she's a nice lady. And she--she was kind of one of these high societies, you know, and prissy like, you know, and so she didn't have much use for me anyhow. I was just an old plain sassafras country boy, and she thought Hope ought to go with a little better class of boy, and I--I--I think she was right. And so... But I--I didn't think it then.

^31-3 So I thought, "Well, now, I don't know how. I--I can't ask her daddy, and I--I'm sure not going to ask her mother. And so I got to ask her first." So I wrote me a letter. And that morning on the road to work, I dropped it in the mailbox. The mail... We was going to church Wednesday night, and that was on Monday morning. I tried all day Sunday to tell her that I wanted to get married, and I just couldn't get up enough nerve.

^31-5 And that Wednesday night when I come, oh, my, I thought, "How am I going to go up there? If her mother got ahold of that letter she'll really work me over, so I hope she got it." I addressed it to Hope. That was her name, Hope. And so I said, "I'll just write it out here to Hope." And so... And I thought maybe she might've not have got ahold of it.

^32-1 And so I stopped my old Ford, you know, and I had it all shined up. And so I went up and knocked at the door. Mercy, her mother come to the door. I couldn't hardly catch my breath; I said, "How--how--how do you do, Mrs. Brumbach?"

^32-4 And then when I got down at church, I happened to think, "What if she did get it?" See? I couldn't hear what Doctor Davis was saying. I looked over at her, and I thought, "If maybe she's just holding it back, and she's really going to tell me off when I get out of here for asking her that." And I couldn't hear what Brother Davis was saying. And--and I'd look over at her, and I thought, "My, I hate to give her up, but... And I--I... The showdown's sure to come."

^32-6 And so I walked on a little farther, you know, and I'd look up at her again. I said, "How--how you feeling tonight?"

^33-2 So we was almost to the door; I thought, "Boy, don't get me on the porch, 'cause I might not be able to outrun them, so you tell me now." And so I kept waiting.

^33-4 And so Sunday night come, and I brought her home from church and I... She kept looking at me. And I looked, and it was nine-thirty; it was time for me to get going. So Charlie was setting at his desk typing away, and Mrs. Brumbach setting over the corner, doing some kind of a crocheting, you know, or them little hooks you put over the things, you know. I don't know what you call it. And so she was doing some of that kind of stuff. And Hope kept looking at me, and she'd frown at me, you know, motion to her daddy. And I... Oh, my. I thought, "What if he says no?" So I started out to the door; I said, "Well, I guess I'd better go."

^33-5 And I walked to the door, and--and she started over to the door with me. She'd always come to the door and tell me good night. So I started to the door, and she said, "Aren't you going to tell him?"

^34-1 I thought, "Oh, that's better." I said, "You really mean it, Charlie?" He said... I said, "Charlie, look, I know that she's your daughter, and you got money."

^34-3 So when we got married, we didn't have nothing, nothing to go housekeeping. I think we had two or three dollars. So we rented a house; it cost us four dollars a month. It was a little, old two-room place. And someone give us an old folding bed. I wonder if anybody ever seen an old folding bed? And they gave us that. And I went down to Sears and Roebucks and got a little table with four chairs, and it--it wasn't painted, you know, and we got that on time. And so then I went over to Mr. Weber, a junk dealer, and bought a cooking stove. I paid seventy-five cents for it, and a dollar and something for grates to go in it. We set up housekeeping. I remember taking and painting a shamrock on the chairs, when I painted them. And, oh, we were happy though. We had one another, so that was all necessary. And God, by His mercy and His goodness, we was the happiest little couple could be on the earth.

^34-5 And after while, God came down and blessed our little home; we had a little boy. His name was Billy Paul. He's in the service right now here. And a little later from then, about eleven months, He blessed us again with a little girl called Sharon Rose, taken from the Word of "The Rose of Sharon."

^35-2 And during this time... I'm leaving out my conversion. I was converted and was ordained by Doctor Roy Davis in the Missionary Baptist church, and had become a minister and have the Tabernacle that I now preach in in Jeffersonville. And I was pastoring the little church. And I...

^35-5 And when I was coming back from the lake, I begin to see, coming into Mishawaka and South Bend, Indiana, and I begin to notice cars that had signs on the back, said, "Jesus Only." And I thought, "That sounds strange, 'Jesus Only.'" And I begin noticing those signs. And it was on anywhere from bicycles, Fords, Cadillacs, and whatmore: "Jesus Only." And I followed some of them down, and they come to a great big church. And I found out they were Pentecostal.

^36-1 And after while, somebody jumped up and started speaking with tongues. Well, I never heard anything like that in my life. And here come some woman up through there, running just as hard as she could. Then all of them got up and started running. And I thought, "Well, brother, they sure ain't got no church manners, Screaming and shouting and carrying on." I thought, "What a bunch this is." But, you know, something about it, longer I sit there, the better I liked it. There was something seemed to be real good. And I begin to watch them. And it went on. I thought, "I'll just bear with them awhile, 'cause I'll... I'm close to the door. If anything starts just rashal, I'll run out the door. I know where my car's parked, just around the corner."

^36-2 And I begin to hear some of them preachers, was scholars and students. Why, I thought, "That's fine."

^36-4 And, oh, He said, "All of the preachers, regardless of denomination, come to the platform." Well, there was about two hundred of us up there; I went up. And so he said, "Now, we haven't got time for you all to preach." He said, "Just walk by and say who you are and where you're from."

^36-8 And that day, they'd had fine, young preachers out there, and they'd preached powerfully. And then they said, "The one's going to bring the message tonight is..." I believe they called them, "Elder." And their ministers, instead of "Reverend," it was "Elder." And they brought an old colored man out there, and he had one of these old fashion preacher's coats. I don't guess you ever seen one: long pigeon-tail in the back, you know, with a velvet collar, and he had just a little white rim of hair around his head. Poor old fellow, he come out like this, you know. And he stood there and he turned around. And where all the preachers had been preaching about Jesus and the great--how great He was, and so forth, that old man took his text from over in Job. "Where was you when I laid the foundation of the world, or when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy?"

^37-2 So then this old fellow, instead of preaching what was going on down here on earth; he begin to preach what was going on in heaven all the time. Well, he took Him up at the beginning, at the beginning of time, and brought Him back in the second coming down the horizontal rainbow. Why, I never heard such preaching in my life. About that time the Spirit hit him; he jumped about that high and clicked his heels together, throwed his shoulders back and went tipping off that platform, said, "You haven't got room enough up here for me to preach." And he had more room than I got here.

^37-4 I went out that night, and I thought, "Now, the next morning I'm not going to let nobody know where--who I am." So I went, and that night I pressed my trousers. I took the--went out in the corn field to sleep, and I went down and bought me some stale rolls. You... Bought a whole bunch of them for a nickel. There was a hydrant down there; I got some water. So I knowed that would last me a little while, so I got me some water and drank it, and went and eat my rolls, and come back and got another drink of water. Went out in the corn field took the two seats and laid my little seersucker trousers in there, pressed them on the seat.

^37-6 And the next morning I got down there. Invited us for breakfast. 'Course I wouldn't come and eat with them, because I had nothing to put in the offering. And I just went back. And the next morning when I went in, why (I eat some of my rolls), and set down. And they was got on a microphone. And I never seen a microphone before, and I was scared of that thing. So they... And it had a little string hanging up here, and hanging down, one of them drop mikes, like. And he said, "Last night, on the platform, there was a young preacher here, a Baptist."

^38-1 Oh, my. I had a little T-shirt on, and seersucker trousers, you know. And we Baptists believe you had to have a suit on to get in the pulpit, you know. So... And I--I just set real still. And during the time... They had it up in the North then, 'cause (their international convention) the colored people couldn't come to it if in the south. They had the colored there, and I was a southerner, had starch in my collar yet, you see, thought I was a little better than somebody else. And it happened to be that morning, sit right down by me was a--a colored man. So I set and looked up at him. I thought, "Well, he's a brother."

^38-3 I just set real still and ducked down, you know. Nobody knowed me anyhow. That colored boy looked over at me, said, "Do you know where he is?"

^39-1 He said, "Come on up, Mr. Branham, we want you to bring the message." Oh, my, 'fore all them preachers, uhm, all them people. And I went slipping up, you know, my face red and my ears burning. And I slipped up, seersucker trousers and T-shirt, preacher, Baptist preacher going up to the microphone, never seen one before. You see?

^39-3 When I come outside there was a fellow walked up to me with a great big Texas hat on, big boots, walked up, said, "I'm Elder So-and-so," preacher, cowboy boots, cowboy clothes on.

^39-6 So I grabbed these things, and home I went. Wife met me, she said, "What do you sound so happy about, Billy?"

^40-2 And so Mrs. Brumbach asked for me to come up. Went up, she said, "What's this you're talking about?"

^40-3 And Hope started crying. She come out; she said, "Billy, regardless of what mama says, I'll stay with you." Bless her heart.

^41-1 A little later, few years after the children come. And one day we was... There come up a flood in 1937. There came a flood. And our... I was on patrol at that time, and I was trying my best to bring the people out of the flood, houses tearing down. And my own wife took sick, and she was real, real sick with pneumonia. And they took her out... The regular hospital's so full we couldn't put her in there, so we taken her out to the--the government where they had a room out there. And so then they called me back out. And I always lived on the river, and quite a boatman, so I was trying to get the people, rescue them from the flood. And then I'd... one...

^41-2 They called me, said, "There's a house over on Chestnut Street; it's about ready to go in. There's a mother and a bunch of children in there," said, "if you think your boat, your motor can get in to them." I said, "Well, I'll do all I can."

^41-4 Well, I thought that she meant she'd left the baby in the house. Oh, my. I took back again while they was trying to take care of her. And I come to find out, it was... Or she was wanting to know where her baby was there. There was a little fellow about three years old, and I thought she meant a little nursing baby or something.

^41-6 And it done got me out into the current of the main river then. And it was about eleven-thirty at night, and just sleeting and snowing. And I grabbed ahold of the starter string and I tried to pull the boat, and it wouldn't start, and I tried, and it wouldn't start, and I tried again. Getting farther in that current, the falls just below me. And I was trying real hard, and I thought, "Oh, my, here--here's my end. This is it." And I'd try real hard. And I said, "Lord, please don't let me die a death like this." I'd pull and I'd pull.

^42-2 I put my hand back on the boat, and I said, "God, be merciful to me. Don't let me leave my wife and baby like this, and them out there sick. Please." And I just kept pulling like that, and it wouldn't start. And I could hear the roaring down there, 'cause I... Just a few minutes, and, oh, my, that would be it. And I said, "Lord, if You'll forgive me, I promise You I'll do anything." And kneeling in that boat there and the sleet hitting me in the face; I said, "I'll do anything that You want me to do." And I pulled again, and it started. And I turned all the gas on it I could, and finally got into the shore.

^42-4 And I took out for the government as hard as I could, and water was standing about fifteen feet deep all through it. And there was a major there, and I said, "Major, what happened to the hospital?"

^42-7 Finally when I found her in a few days after I got out and got across, she was way up to Columbus, Indiana, in the Baptist Auditorium where they'd made a--a hospital like, sickrooms on little government cots. And I ran to her as hard as I could, trying to find where she was, screaming, "Hope! Hope! Hope!" And I looked, and there she was laying on a cot, and TB had set in.

^43-1 For about six months we worked with everything that was in us to try to get to save her life, but she kept getting lower and lower.

^43-4 And so then here he come out like that, and he had his hat in his hand. He looked at me, and he just started crying. And I run up to him, throwed my arms around him. He put his arms around me, said, "Billy, she's going." He said, "I'm sorry. I've done all I could do. I've had specialists and everything."

^43-5 I walked in the room. And the nurse was setting there, and she was crying, 'cause she and Hope was schoolmates together. And so I looked over, and she started crying, put her hand up and started walking over.

^44-1 I had to work. We was way in debt and hundreds of dollars of doctor bill, and nothing to pay it with. And I just had to work. And I seen her two or three times a day, and every night, and then when she was in that condition...

^45-1 And she said, "You remember that time that you were going downtown to buy me a pair of stockings, and we was going to Fort Wayne?"

^45-6 So Thelma Ford, a girl that I knew, worked at the ten-cent store. And I knowed they sell women's stockings over there, so I went over. I said, "Hi, Thelma."

^45-7 I didn't know the difference. Rayon, chiffon, all sound the same. I said, "That's what I want." She said... I said, "Fix me a pair of them, full style." And she... Or... I got that wrong. What is it? Full fashion. "Full fashion." And so I said, "Fix me a pair of them."

^46-2 And I went back home, and I said, "You know, honey, you women shop all over town to find bargains." You know how you like to crow. And I said, "But here, look here, I bought two pair for the price that you buy one pair with. See?" I said, "Oh, that--that's my personal ability." See, I said--I said, "You know, Thelma sold me these." I said, "She might've let me have them at half price."

^46-3 And she told me, she said, "Billy." I thought strange when she got to Fort Wayne, she had to get another pair of stockings. She said, "I give them to your mother," said, "they're for older women." Said, "I'm sorry I did that."

^46-5 I went home. I didn't know what to do. I laid down there at night and I heard... I think it was a little mouse was in the old grate where we had some papers in there. And I shut the door with my foot, and there hung her kimono on the back (and laying down there in that morgue). And just in a little bit someone called me, said, "Billy." And it was Brother Frank Broy. He said, "Your baby's dying."

^46-6 I got in the car, went up there. And there she was, the sweet little thing. And they rushed her to the hospital.

^46-8 And I waited till he got out. I couldn't stand to see her die, and her mother laying down there in the undertaker's establishment. I tell you; the way of a transgressor's hard. And I--I went, slipped in the door, and when Sam went out and the nurse out, I went down into the basement. It's a little bitty hospital. She was in an isolated place, and the flies was in her little eyes. And they had a little, what we call a "mosquito bar," or little netting over her eyes. And she'd... With little spasm, her little fat leg was moving up and down like that, and her little hands, with that spasm. And I looked at her, and she was just big enough to be cute, about eight months old.

^47-1 And her mother used to set her out there with her little three-corners on, you know, in the yard, when I'd come up. And I'd toot the horn, and she'd go, "goo-goo, goo-goo," reaching for me, you know.

^47-4 Now, there was the hardest and the most treacherous time of my life. When I raised up and looked at her, and I thought... Satan put in my mind, "Well, you mean as hard as you've preached, and the way that you've lived, and now when it comes to your own baby, He'll turn you down?"

^47-7 When her mother was dying, she said, last words she said, she said, "Bill, stay on the field."

^48-1 I took the little baby, when it died, and put it on the arms of the mother, and we taken it out to the cemetery. And I stood there to hear Brother Smith, the Methodist preacher that preached the funeral, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust." (And I thought, "Heart to heart.") There she went.

^48-5 I remember walking around town, the bottle under my arm; he'd get to crying. One night he was--was walking out in the back yard where just... (When she was fixing to have him, she was smothering, and I... Just a girl, you know.) And I'd walk back and forth from the old oak tree in the back of the yard. And he was crying for his mama, and I didn't have any mama to take him to. And I'd pack him; I'd say, "Oh, honey." I said...

^48-6 And he said something there, liked to have killed me one afternoon. He was crying, was along late in the evening, and I was packing him on my back like that, packing him on my shoulder and patting him like this. And he said, "Daddy, please go get mama and bring her here."

^49-2 Days passed. I couldn't forget it. I tried to work. Couldn't go back home, it wasn't home no more. And I wanted to stay. We didn't have nothing but just that old tore up furniture, but it was something that she and I had enjoyed together. It was home.

^49-4 I said, "Sharon, honey, daddy wants to see you so bad, honey. How I'd like to hold you in my arms again, you darling little thing." I got beside myself. It'd been weeks. I pulled off my rubber glove. There's twenty-three hundred volts running right by the side of me. I pulled off my rubber glove. I said, "God, I hate to do this. I'm a coward. But, Sherry, daddy's going to see you and mommy just in a few minutes." Started pulling off my glove to put my hand on that twenty-three hundred. It'd break... Why, you wouldn't even have no blood left in you. And so I--I--I started pulling that glove off, and something happened. When I come to, I was setting on the ground with my hands up like this, to my face, crying. It was God's grace, or I wouldn't been having a healing service here; I'm sure of that. It was Him protecting His gift, not me.

^49-5 I started home. I quit, put my tools away, and went back; I said, "I'm going home."

^49-7 I had been game warden. I reached in there and got my gun, pistol, out from the holster. I said, "Lord, I--I can't go this anymore; I--I'm dying. I'm--I'm so tormented." I pulled the hammer back on the gun, put it up to my head, kneeling there on that cot in that dark room. I said, "Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thine will be done," and as I tried, I squeezed that trigger as hard as I could; I said, "on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread." And it wouldn't go off.

^50-4 And I thought I was going down along through the prairie a-singing that song, "There's a wheel on the wagon is broken, sign on the ranch, 'For Sale.'" And as I went along, I noticed an old covered wagon, like an old prairie schooner, and the wheel was broke. 'Course that represented my broken family. And as I got close, I looked, and there stood a--a real pretty, young girl, about twenty years old, white flowing hair and blue eyes, dressed in white. I looked over at her; I said, "How do you do?" Went on.

^51-1 And I turned and looked, and there was great big palaces, and the glory of God coming up around them. And I heard a Angelic choir singing, "My Home, Sweet Home." I started up a long steps, running just as hard as I could. And when I got to the door, there she stood, a white garment on, that black hair, long, holding down her back. She raised out her arms, as she always did when I come home tired from work or something. I caught her by the hands, and I said, "Honey, I seen Sharon down there." I said, "She made a pretty girl, didn't she?"

^51-2 And I remember I tried to buy a chair. Now, in closing. I tried to buy a chair one time. We just had them old--old common wooden-bottom chairs for that breakfast set. We had to use them, the only chairs we had. And we could buy one of these chairs that you let back in the back, like a... I forget what kind of an easy-rest chair. And it cost seventeen dollars, and you could pay three dollars down and a dollar a week. And we got one. And oh, when I'd come in... I'd work all day and preach till midnight around the streets and wherever I could preach.

^52-2 She told me up there; she said, "You remember that chair, Bill?"

^52-3 And just then I come to; it was dark in the room. I looked around, and I felt her arm around me. I said, "Hope, are you here in the room?"

^52-5 Billy and I went to the grave here sometime ago, packing a little flower for his mother and sister, just on an Easter morning, and we stopped. The little fellow started crying; he said, "Daddy, my mommy's down there."

^53-1 O Lord, many times, Lord, I'm sure people don't understand, when they think these things come easy. But there's a great day coming when Jesus shall come and all these sorrows will be wiped away. I pray, heavenly Father, that You'll help us to be prepared.

^53-4 While we have our heads bowed, I wonder in this great, huge auditorium this afternoon, how many of you say "Brother Branham, I want to meet my loved ones too. I--I--I've got some loved ones just across the river yonder?" Maybe you made a promise that you'd meet them, maybe when you told mother good-bye up there at the grave that day, may when you told little sister good-bye, or dad, or some of them at the grave, promised you'd meet them, and you--you've never made that preparation yet. Don't you think it's a good time now to do it?

^53-6 How many of you would like to raise up now and walk up here for prayer, say, "I want to meet my loved ones?" Raise up out of the audience and come down here. Will you do it? If somebody has never made that preparation yet. God bless you, sir. I see an aged colored man coming out, others coming. Move yourself, you in the balconies up there, just move right out into the aisle. Or stand up, you who wants to be remembered in a word of prayer just now. That's it. Stand right up to your feet. That's good. Stand up, everywhere, you who'd say, "I've got a father over yonder; I've got a mother or a loved one over yonder. I want to go see them. I want to meet them in peace." Will you raise up, just stand up to your feet, anywhere in the audience. Stand up to your feet, say, "I want to accept."

^54-1 God bless you, lady. God bless you back there. And bless you up there. Lord bless you here, sir. That's right. Up in the balcony, the Lord bless you. All around, everywhere, stand up to your feet now to have a word of prayer, while the Holy Spirit is here and moving upon our hearts to--to--to break up.

^54-3 O Lord, Who brought again Jesus for the--from the dead, to justify all of us by faith, believing. I pray, Lord, that these who are standing now to their feet to accept Thee, I pray that forgiveness will be to them. And, O Lord, I pray that they will accept You as their Saviour and King and Lover. And maybe they got a mama or a papa or somebody just across the sea. There's one thing sure; they got a Saviour. May they be forgiven of their sins and all their iniquity blotted out, that their souls may be washed in the Blood of the Lamb, and they live in peace from hereafter.

^54-5 God bless you. I'm sure the workers see where you're standing, and they will be right with you in a few minutes.