<TITLE>05. Par 21-25</TITLE>L-21 "Oh," he said, "it would be on a--official paper. It would be sealed with his seal," and show forth all the ritual that it would have to be before he would receive it. And he couldn't persuade the man to receive it. And the next morning he was shot at sunrise. Well, after Abraham Lincoln's name being signed that he had pardoned the man, and now here he lays a corpse, then what?
So it was tried in federal courts. And here was the federal court's decision: A pardon is not a pardon unless it be received as a pardon. That's the way God's promise is. It is not a promise unto any persons that will not receive it as a promise. But every Word of God is a promise to those who believe that It is a promise. It's your mental attitude towards it. Whether it's a pardon or whether it's a promise for your healing. For His Words are eternal.

L-22 I wish I could think of the poet's or the artist's name that's on my mind now, several years ago who took upon himself to portray this passage of Scripture into a picture. And it took him just about a lifetime to paint this picture of Christ knocking at the heart of--the door at the heart.
And all famous pictures, before they can ever go into a hall of fame, they first have to pass through the critics. And I like that, because it is about like the church. Before the church can ever go into the great rapture, first it has to come through the critics. "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecutions." There is no excuses. There is none that's deferred. All have to pass through that line of persecution and criticism. But then if we can pass through that with such a life that the critics cannot point their finger to anything that's true, then the picture is ready then for the great hall of fame.

L-23 And this artist who painted the picture, when the critics was looking it over, they said, "Sir, your picture is wonderful. But there's just one thing about the picture that's wrong." He said, "You have Christ--is portrays all right, and the door is all right, but you don't have any lock on the door. So why would He be knocking on the door if there is no lock on the door?"
And the artist said, "I painted it thus because in this door the lock is on the inside. The one that's on the inside has to unlock the door so He can come in."
And that's true. Christ can knock, but you are the only one that can open the door. You can say, "Come in, Christ, I welcome You." Still He can't get in till you unlock the door, then You can come in.

L-24 What does anyone knock on another person's door for anyhow? It's to gain an entrance. You've got some business when someone [Brother Branham knocks--Ed.], they have something they want to talk over with you.
And those great knocks has come on great doors all down through the ages. What do you think would've took place in the days of Augustus Caesar, if he would have had the opportunity or something to go to a peasant's door, and knock on the door when he was the emperor of Rome? Would that not been a great honor for any Roman subject for Caesar Augustus to knock at their door?

L-25 Or what would it been when the great Napoleon, though feared by people... Standing at Waterloo not long ago in Belgium, I was reading his history when I looked upon the relics of the great battle. And he was so mean. And when the mothers went to put their little babies at bed at night, like mothers sometimes say, "The boogie man will get you if you don't be good." It was more fearful to say, "Napoleon will get you." He was so feared. He'd put people to death.
But how one of his subjects would've felt honored to have him knock at their door.


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