<TITLE>13. Par 40-43</TITLE>L-40 A few days ago, the student brothers here, was at my house, and you're beloved boy here, Brother Banks Wood and his wife lived now are neighbors to me... Looking at the lane of woods down about a hundred and fifty yards, coming up the lane, and turned into my gate, passing four other houses, was a opossum at ten o'clock in the day.
Now, hunter brother, you know opossums don't travel in daytime. They travel at night. It started in; I thought, "It may have rabies." So, I went out and took a yard rake lay over, and she growled at me. I--it had a broken leg. The dogs must have chewed it, or a car hit it; and it was all green flies and maggots in its ears, and it was in a terrible shape. I thought, "That's the reason it growled." Usually, they just fall over. But I happened to notice that she had nine little naked babies.
I said to Brother Leo, and Gene that's here somewhere; I said, "Boys, come here. The other day a woman in Jeffersonville, beautiful woman, gave birth to a baby, and went down, and wrapped it in a blanket, and smothered it to death, and taked it out on the bridge, and dropped it in the water." I said, "This opossum is more of a mother than that woman is." That's right. Oh, how low can human beings get?

L-41 And the opossum wouldn't stop for me. She made her way right to my steps and fell over. Mrs. Wood and Mr. Wood, who's here now, come up and looked. Mrs. Wood has had a lot of experience, and Mr. Wood, around sheep and things. Very lovely people. And Mrs. Wood said to me; she said, "Brother Branham, the only decent thing to do with it is kill it." Said, "It's still breathing, but," said, "it can't live. It's gangrene, and everything done set in it." Said, "It's dying. Kill it. And then just take the little ones and kill them." They were trying to nurse their mother. A opossum is the only animal besides a kangaroo that has a pocket it packs its little ones in. Said, "That's the only decent thing to do, is kill it. Then, after that mother dies, they'll nurse that curdled milk and die right away, cramping and everything." Said, "Just kill them."
I said, "I can't. I just can't."
She said, "Well, you're a hunter."
I said, "But, I'm not a killer." I said, "I--I kill only what I eat, and that's an edible animal. And I just can't kill it, somehow."
She said, "That's right, Brother Branham." She said, "But, don't let it suffer."
She was looking at it right, from the humane side. But there was Something in me said, "Don't kill it."

L-42 All day long people come and went. She never moved, laying there, and that leg sticking out like that, and them little ones still nursing at her. And I'd punch her with a stick, and she just couldn't get up.
And I, that night, we went out. They had taken me out, Brother Wood and them, to take a little ride. We was riding down the road, Brother Wood said, "See that little puppy?" And I went back to see it, and the poor little thing, somebody had dumped it out. It was all full of flees, and mange, and lice. Said, "Don't you think we ought to kill it?"
I said, "No, let's save it." And I took him, lice, flees, and mange, and all. Got him in my car, took him home, doctored him up. He wants to live. Sure, we all want to live, don't we?

L-43 So, that night when I come in about eleven o'clock, there laid the old opossum. Brother Wood said, "She will never move." Said, "If she'd move, now when it got dark if she was going to move." Said, "She will never come to."
I said, "I'm afraid she won't, either."
All night I couldn't get away from that opossum. It haunted me. The next morning, my little girl, very spiritual, nine years old, sees visions, very quiet, pious little girl, little Rebekah; she went with me to the porch to see where the opossum was. There laid the opossum, mother opossum, them little ones trying to nurse. I punched at it. It could just barely move yet. Couldn't open its eyes.


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