ALMOST HOME -------------Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - God answers prayer
 On another occasion all four hitchhikers wanted to get off at Calgary. I traveled two hundred (200) miles farther to Edmonton. When Sunday came, I went to church. Suddenly, a man about thirty (30) years old walked into the church and continued walking right up to the altar. He told the minister that he wanted to get saved from his sins and accept Jesus Christ. When he turned round, I saw that it was one of the hitchhikers that I had dropped off the day before at Calgary. He wanted to talk to me again. I said, "How on earth did you know that I was in here?” There were several Pentecostal churches in Edmonton.
He said: "God showed me that you were in this place."
This fellow had a little trouble with his speech. He said that he needed a job. I said, "This is fall, there are no jobs around. Men are being laid off now. There are about one thousand (1,000) men unemployed now."

Well, we prayed anyway. The next day he came to me with a big smile and said: "I got a job." God answers prayer.

That reminds me how God miraculously answered prayer for an old couple. I was traveling from Edmonton to Wisconsin. All at once two big shadows which looked like wings came in front of my car. They were waving and flapping – trying to stop or flag me down, it seemed. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. I wanted to make it to a Revival Center in Minneapolis by eight o'clock so I was in a hurry. But those two big cloud-like wings, or whatever they were, wouldn't give up and I had to stop. I was puzzled. What could that be or mean? Then I saw the map in the car is spread open and I saw that I was taking the wrong road. If I had continued I wouldn't have gotten to Minneapolis until ten or eleven p.m.

Well, at eight o'clock I arrived at the Revival Center. Something said to me: "Not here." I thought, "What's wrong with this? They have a good evangelist here." Puzzled, I left and after walking many blocks, I arrived in Skid Row. There were many missions in the neighborhood. I went from one to another, but every time, an inner voice said: "Not here."

When I arrived at a little Pentecostal mission, I felt that this was the place I was to enter, but I didn't like it. There were only about eight people there. At the mission they fed sandwiches and soup to the down and outers, and helped them spiritually, but I felt, "Why should I waste my time here on this night before Christmas?" But I could tell that this was where I was supposed to be, so I just sat and waited until the evening service was over.

I noticed an old couple sitting on the side, looked very sad and despondent. I asked a fellow near me to find out what the old couple was doing here. He said that they were the people who operated the mission. I said, "Take them this," and gave him a twenty dollar bill. When they saw the money their faces lit up and they came over to me and knelt down before me speaking in a heavenly language, and weeping, they said that they were without money to get sandwiches for the poor, and they were unable to get anything for Christmas – for themselves or anyone else. They had prayed all night the night before, asking God to send a man to help them. Then I wept with them. I felt so small! To think that the Great, Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth is so concerned about us personally, and is so mindful of us. I gave them another gift then so they would have enough for their needs over Christmas. The Bible says that God does things in strange and wonderful ways His wonders to perform.

God had already decided in the afternoon to use me so when He saw that I was starting on the wrong highway, He sent those two, big wing-like shadows to flag me down so I would stop. The somehow He caused the map in the car to be opened in order to get my attention so that I would know why I had been stopped. Finally, He led me all the way to this poor couple to answer their prayer.

Is not this amazing grace? And God is so real! If He was concerned about their physical needs, how much more for our spiritual needs, for which He shed His blood so we can live forever. Praise God, we can say with Job (Job 19:25,26) “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in my flesh I shall see God,” showing us that after this body we have now is turned back to dust, we will receive it back again. God's Word never fails! If He can give us this body which we now have, which the Bible says is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14), He can surely give it to us again as He promised.

The Bible says that when Abraham and Sarah were very old and stricken with age (Genesis 18:11) they were turned to youth again. Sarah was so beautiful that the king wanted to marry her.

Also, at the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah, and they recognized them – after Moses and Elijah had been gone from the earth for over 1,000 years.

Yes, the real life will soon be coming for the Christian. Do you know that Jesus had you and me in mind when He went to the cross and paid such a great price for our salvation? Even now in this life, He is concerned about us, and knows where we are right now.

This reminds me of another experience. In Chicago, I was watching a Christian film called “Black Gold.” In the film, I saw how the witchdoctor cut up the skins of some beautiful Black children. That night I kept seeing those scared, pretty, big eyes coming before me. I felt sick and couldn't stop crying. The Bible says in Hebrew 4:15. that Jesus Christ is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

About two A.M. the telephone rang. I was just about to say, “Wrong number,” because who would be able to find me in this hotel in Chicago – out of the hundreds of hotels in this big city? Then I heard a voice saying, “This is Brother Branham. God heard your cry. You can go to sleep now.” I fell asleep immediately. Now Hebrews 4:15 came alive to me again: “He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”

He will hear your cry if you ask Him right now to be merciful to you, a sinner. This will be the greatest decision that you will ever make in this life, if this very moment you invited Him into your life, you will enter from eternal death to eternal life. I want to see you all on the other side – where we can be together while the ages roll on. We'll be able to say to one another, “Praise God, we made it!” It is hard for some to humble themselves and repent. I wish that I could do it for you, but God has given each of us a free will.

When God heard my cry in that hotel room, He no doubt awakened Brother Branham, showed him the telephone number, and told him what to say to me. It was just like in the Bible where God told the Prophet Isaiah to ge tell King Hezekiah to put his house in order, for he was going to die, and not live (Isaiah 38:1). This prophet of the Lord, William Branham, is gone, but Jesus Christ is still here. He knows where you are, and who your are – He knows your very thoughts (Psalm 139:2). The Lord wants you to put your house in order before you die. Do not take your sins with your to your grave. I have seen two men do that; it was an awful sight.

One of these two men I saw die was a close friend of mine who lived in Fairbanks, Alaska. He also came from Switzerland, like myself. I tried to talk to him many times about the Bible, but he would have nothing to do with it. Then he got very sick. He couldn't sleep or eat and no doctor could help him/ Then he allowed me to pray for him. The next day he said, “You know, your prayer helped me. I slept all night and now I feel good.”

On Sunday, I was on my way to church and met him on the street. I said, “Why don't you come with me to church to give thanks that Jesus healed you?” Of course, he knew, or thought he knew, what that church was like, and he was not about to go there. He just laughed if off, and said, “No, no!” Two days later, we carried him to the hospital. He died that evening. I'll forget that stare and the fear in his face. Revelation 20:12-15 shows that everyone that is taking his sins along with him to the grave is to be judged according to his works. The scripture says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...” (Isaiah 1:18) WHAT A PROMISE!

I was rejoicing one night on my way home, when all at once I closed my eyes and took my hands off the steering wheel; the car was gong abut 50 to 60 miles an hour. I praised and thanked Him, with my hands raised toward Heaven, for taking me through the wilderness and so many difficult situations. Then I heard something say, “Look out, the car is going into the ditch.”

I said, “Then I praise Him in the ditch!” I guess I felt like the three Hebrews about to go into the fiery furnace or Daniel about to go in the lion's den 0 I didn't care what happened. After a while, I saw that the car was going along on the right side of the road at the same speed as before, I closed my eyes again, and really started to praise Him, still with my hands up. I guess the Lord must have been pleased to have me praise Him like that. The scripture says that he Lord dwells in the praises of His people; there sure was someone there!

A voice said again, “Look out, this time the car is going in the ditch.”

I said,”It came out the first time, it will come out again,” and so it did, and it drove along right where it was supposed to go. I don't know how long I went along until that voice said the same thing the third time.

I said, right out loud, “It came out twice, it will come out again.” I don';t know how many miles He let me praise Him like that. I didn't think many people would believe this testimony, but I wondered if Brother Branham would, knowing that the Lord shows him even the secrets of men's hearts. So I asked him what he thought about it. He said, “Certainly! It happened three times, didn't it? That's a confirmation.”

............to be continued  Chapter 5 - The Lord works in amazing ways.