<TITLE>05. Par 16-18</TITLE>L-16 And God never did have, any time, a group of men to run His Church. It's always been the Holy Spirit. That's His duty. That's what He's here for. That's what God's sent Him for. He will teach you. He will guide you into all Truth, and will show you things to come, and reveal these things: "Take these sayings of Mine and reveal them to you." Not the seminary, as good as they are; not the church, as good as it is; But the Holy Spirit, that's the Teacher.
And we've tried to adopt man to take the Holy Spirit's place. We've tried to adopt certain different offices in the church to take the offices of apostles, prophets, and so forth in the Church. But God set the gifts in the Church, and we've took men and made them gifts, instead of God's gifts. And that's what we're in today.
Now, Elijah was a great man, and his time had come for him to leave the earth. And he walked before the Lord. And the Lord had told him, "Go and anoint another man."

L-17 I love that. Don't you love that? God has never been without a witness. God has always had a witness since the world began. Sometimes it come down to one man. But God has always has someone He could lay His finger on and say, "This is My servant," in all ages.
Now, and when He seen He was going to take Elijah, Elijah the Tishbite went and found Elisha, plowing in the fields, and took off his robe, and threw it on him. And he knew he was called to be the prophet.
Then that show how a prophet should. He burnt every bridge, as we call it. He killed the ox, took the yokes and the plow, and--and made a sacrifice to the Lord, showing that all of his earthly doings were over. He was completely sold out to the Lord. That's the kind, way every man and woman that comes to Christ ought to completely sell out to sin, and everything behind them, cross the seperating line and look only to God from then on. What a difference it would be if men and women would do that.
Then to give Him his test... Do you believe in the testings and tryings, and trials of the Lord? Every son, without any exceptions, every son that cometh to God must first be tested, tried, child trained.

L-18 Do you remember how you got your training? I remember when I got mine. My daddy had a... He believed in the golden rule. And he had it, and it laid up over a door, and had all the ten commandments on it, a big long hickory stick, about this long, with a brush on the end of it.
I tell you, when them little Branham's done wrong, they knowed what the golden rule was. Pa got it from the...?... and said, "Come here, son." And he would say, "Now, tomorrow I'm really going to tend to you."
"Why don't you do it now, papa, get it over with?"
"Nope. I'll just wait till tomorrow."
After he'd get through eating his dinner, he's say, "Come here, Billy."
"Yes, sir, dad."
"Set down a minute." Get his knife out and go to whittling, "Now, you knew better than that, didn't you?" Oh, I wish he'd just whip me, get it over with. He'd say, "But you knew better than that, didn't you?"
"Yes, dad. I did."
"Ain't you ashamed of yourself to do that?"
"Yes, pop, I am."
"I've got to whip you for it."
He'd tell me all about it. I'd go on out to the field, get my little straw hat, and put it on, go out to the field scared to death. That night I'd think, "This is the night I'm going to get it." But, brother, don't worry, he never forgot it. I got it. And that was a good schooling.
If we had some more that would do like that today, we wouldn't have so much juvenile delinquency. You talk about a teaching this...?...


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