Them little adolescent days
Them little adolescent days
Proverbs 19:18
Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
I feel sorry for fathers and mothers today, being a parent myself, and knowing one reason; I'm trying to get my children away from our city; we don't have any Christian schools there. And I want to get them somewhere where they'll be brought up in school, in a real fundamental school where they'll learn to love the Lord. The teaching that I can give them around home, yet they get out with that worldly crowd; the devil is a shrewd fellow, and he pushes that into them. If you keep them under the Spirit until they get old enough to receive the Holy Ghost and know what it's all about, then God will take care of the rest of it. But first they got them little adolescent days.
Now, every person thinks of their children. While they're under your—your wings you can watch them. But once out from under the wings, then the devil's got every little old Oscar he can out there to associate with your children that's infidelic, and mean, and devilish, and everything else. God help us. This juvenile delinquency here in New York, Chicago, and these big cities, what the papers is writing up, how they kill one another and everything… Little children, little boys and girls killing and murder, and shooting, and so forth like that. If those poor little kiddies only realized that that’s the devil, sure.
What brought on juvenile delinquency was parent delinquency, the parent failing to take care of the children. You remember a few years ago, when my boy was born; that has been about, I think he’s about nineteen now. I remember the doctor told my wife, said, “Just let that kid squall.” Said, “It ain’t going to hurt him. And if grandma comes along to pick him up,” said, “take her—keep her hands off of him.” Said, “He ought to be crib broke at six months old.” Now, you know better than that. Sounds like a talking of a witch doctor instead of a real doctor. And then you know what it hatched out? It hatched out a bunch of neurotics and a bunch of gangsters.
Listen. God gave you that baby to love. I don’t care how bad you spoil it; love it anyhow. That’s right. Love it. If you don’t love it now, it’ll grow up in a cold home and indifferent, and it’ll seek love somewhere, or something. It’ll make an out-light for somewhere. Mother, take that baby and give it fellowship and love now. Make it a part of you, which it is, and act like it, and hug it, and kiss it, and—and love it. Don’t be too cold with the things of the world.
God gave you that as a treasure; raise it right. Amen. Notice, that’s what’s the matter; we got away from the things of God. You get away from nature, and then you’re out of the will of God. Now, I want you to notice then, Job, thinking of his children, he said, “Now, peradventure, when they go out, they might sin.” So he offered the only preparation that he knowed about was a burnt sacrifice, the shedding of blood. And he shed the blood of a lamb for his children, making preparation, if they did sin. You see it? Job was mindful of his children to make a preparation for their sin. And mother and father, if we would quit spending money on our children learning tap dancing, and things like that, and some kind of “how to be a actor,” and put more time a pleading the Blood of Jesus up over them, and showing them love and fellowship, we’d get along better. The child would too. Teach your child. I believe if every parent would take their child and… The first, the parent come back to God, and take the beer out of the icebox, and take the cards off the table. “Oh,” you say, “it’s innocent.” You see what it hatches out. Brother, I wouldn’t let a card light on my ground. No, sir. It’s the devil’s thing. Keep them away from it. You say, “You’re old fashion, Brother Branham.” Well, it was an old fashion Gospel saved me. Amen. It’s old fashion salvation that makes me happy. It was old fashion Holy Ghost that healed me. It’s the same thing that’s going to take us home to glory, sure.
Teach your child. Looky here. Look what the world can do. Now, this is little clean things, I suppose. I ain’t got nothing to do with it. But looky here. Every kid in town could tell you who Davy Crockett was. My, my. It’s on his teaspoons, on his hat, on his tie, everywhere, David Crockett. The world taught the children, America by a fad taught all the children about David Crockett. They could tell you he was from Tennessee, when he was born, and all about it. He wore a coonskin cap, and killed a bear when he was three, and all these kind of fiction things. They know all about David Crockett. And you’re willing, and like to tell him about it. Well, if they could learn about David Crockett, and dress like David Crockett, and act like David Crockett, surely you could teach them about Jesus Christ, and they would act like Jesus Christ, and love Jesus Christ, as well as they could love David Crockett. Fellowship around the Bible.
Tell them Jesus loves them. David Crockett is true, but now killing the bear at three years old, I doubt that. A lot of those things, believe a lot of fiction, a lot of them stories are fiction. Here when I was a little boy I had such admiration for William Tell; he shot a apple off his boys head. When I got down there in Switzerland, there’s not a word of it true; it’s all fiction. That’s right. There was a William Tell true, but he never shot no apple off his boy’s head, no, no nothing about it. But it’s just fiction and—and stories that’s told. Let’s get the truth to the people. Let’s not fellowship with that; let’s fellowship with God, and with the Bible, and with the Holy Spirit. Make preparations for our children. And notice, when the trials finally come, and Job went through the testing… Oh I love it. Excuse me, I’m not emotional, but I just get to feeling good. I love it. Testing, God testing His children… Don’t you love it? Every trial in the testing, proving ground; this is a testing time, God testing His people, getting them ready. Before you buy a team of horses, you go out and test them, check them. Let them pull awhile; run them see if they’re wind broken, got lemons in their nose and so forth. Oh, you didn’t know you put lemons in the nose for a wind broken horse? Huh. You do. All right. About your automobile, doctor it up with ca—castor oils, and fine oils, in the motor’s real thick and take the knock out of it so that they can sell it. See? All these other things, testing.
God puts His children through the testing. I’m so happy for it. So He can show His love to you. Now, the testing, Job went on the test block for God. He hadn’t sinned; they said he had sinned, but he didn’t. Why did he know he hadn’t sinned? He knowed he’d come the only way there was to come, through the shed blood. He’d made a sacrifice; he confessed his sins upon the basis of the shed blood. He knowed he was justified in the sight of God no matter what anybody said. He knew he was just, because he was justified by his faith in God’s provided sacrifice. He believed it. All right. And when the testings come, it proved out to be true.
God took everything he had. He took His children, killed all them. Took all of his cattle, and sheep, camels, killed all of them. Done everything and broke his own body out, took his health. But he still loved the Lord. Because he had come God’s way and had made connections with God. And once you connect God through the shed Blood, you know that there’s something to it. You’re not taking theology; you’re taking what the Blood witnesses to you. There you are. And notice, God restored to him all that he lost; it doubled. He doubled his sheep; He double the camels. But you notice, He just give him seven children, just what he had. What children was that? It was the same children he’d lost. They were under the Blood. They were in glory waiting for him. That’s the way to have our children, isn’t it. That’s right. Give him back his children, sure, he’s with them, tonight and will be for evermore. Israel had the shed blood of the lamb, the only way. And the only place that Israel could worship was under the shed blood. All the sacrifices and everything was brought into one common place, and there on the brazen altar they burnt the bodies and sprinkled the blood. And God (Listen, here it is now.), God only met Israel under the shed blood.
The only meeting place, that God makes His people is under the shed blood, no other way. He won’t meet you in your denomination. He won’t, as good as it may be. He won’t meet you with your education, your theology, as good as it may be. He will only meet you under the shed Blood. The only place that God met Israel was under the shed blood. The only way He could talk to Adam and Eve, under the shed blood. The only way He could talk to Job, under the shed blood. And the only way… Notice. The people had to come to the place where the blood was shed. Get it? And the only way you’ll ever have that perfect fellowship with God is come to the place where the Blood was shed. Where is it? Christ is God’s meeting place. We meet together, and set together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And the Holy Spirit moves into the building when we’re under the Blood. How do we get in Christ Jesus? The first, the elements that came from His body is what we go into His body by.
There came from His body water, Blood, Spirit. Spirit is the thing that brings you in. The preparation of the Blood is what cleanses of the waters of separation, as the red heifer was burnt and made waters of separation. And every believer coming to the temple first stopped in the courts. Just a moment, stopped in the courts for the waters of separation was kept there, and they were sprinkled. The Waters of separation is the Word. The Word of God, the Waters of separation, through the washing of the water by the Word. You come and hear the Word, and the first thing It does, It separates you to move your thoughts from the evil to the good. Then the next thing they did after leaving the courts, they come toward the temple. On the temple in the wilderness, was seven strokes of blood that was took by the high priest’s finger at the dying of the heifer, and stroked across the door, showing that every believer coming to this fellowship must first recognize that a substitute died and prepared a way before him. Every man that cometh into this wonderful fellowship first must (“Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word.”)—then recognize the Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s welcome mat back home to fellowship. And he must recognize the Blood was shed for you; His Life was given here on earth that you might have fellowship. Then the Holy Spirit, as you come behind the veil into the curtains here, baptizes you, the water, Blood, Spirit. Baptizes you into the Body of Christ… Then… Here it is, brother, sister, listen closely now; we’re closing. That’s when you’ll never call them holy-roller no more.
No. Once get behind the curtain, that is, His flesh, let the Holy Spirit cleanse you by the Blood, bring you into Christ. Then you have fellowship. The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin at the door, now we have fellowship one with another. Think of it. A Methodist brother can shake my hand as a Baptist. And a Pentecostal, and a Nazarene, and a Pilgrim Holiness, Presbyterian, whatever we are, we can shake one another’s hands and have fellowship one with another, when the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Hope you see it. My time is passed. That’s why we’re here. God sent His Son, don’t you believe it? He gave His Son that we might live. The Son had to shed His Blood. He resurrected His body; His body and bones is in the Presence of God tonight. But His Blood still stains the earth.
William Branham
