<TITLE>19. Par 84-88</TITLE>L-84 God once lived in man, then sin drove Him away. And then God killed His own Son, and then let God come back and live in His people again. Yes, sir. It's a paradox. It's a strange thing how that He does it. The church... God chose His church to be a paradox. How that He took, instead of the polished scholars, and making that a church, the theologians, He took a bunch of ignorant, unlearned fishermen. And He give the keys to the Kingdom not to Caiaphas, the high priest, learned. What did He do? He gave it to the ignorant fishermen. Not a man who knowed all the ins-and-outs, He gave it to a man that had prostrated himself before Him and knowed Him. Now, you know, not to know His Book is Life; but to know Him is Life. And the keys was given to Peter. Paradox, that He'd do that, instead of Caiaphas, the smartest man in the--in the religious realm. He gave it to Peter.

L-85 Now, you believe in paradox? An old druggist told me not long ago; he said, "Brother Branham, one day during the time of the depression," said, "son and I were setting in the drugstore." And said, "Oh, it was hard." And said, "A--a woman come in that was to be mother. She had a prescription to be filled." And said, "My son went up to wait on her, her and her husband." And said, "When he looked at the prescription," he said... She said, 'I don't have the money to pay for this.' And he said, 'Right over there is the place where your... The county will--will get it for you.'"
And said, "Her and her husband turned gently to go out, to see if the county would fill the prescription." Said, "Something struck me. 'Don't let that mother...' Said, 'She ain't hardly able to stand on her feet, let alone have to stand in that line there for hours to get that prescription filled.'"
Said, "Son, go call her, bring her back."

L-86 Said, "He went and called her, and brought her back." Said, "I went back there and filled the prescription with the very best drugs that I knowed that I had in the store." And said, "I walked it up, took it in my hand, and laid it in the hands of that woman." He said, "Brother Branham..." We was setting drinking a malt together, the old druggist, a real man of God. He said, "You know what?" He said, "You may think I'm crazy when I say this," but said, "when I laid that in her hand, I looked. It was Jesus standing there. I had put it in Jesus' hand." Yes. A paradox.

L-87 The great St. Martin, he was a heathen--his father was. He wanted to serve God. There was a law in France at that time that if the father was a military man, the son had to serve till he was of age. Listen close. And when they drafted him in the army, he had a servant. And of course, every soldier had a servant. And instead of the servant shining his boots, he shined the servant's boots. He was a great man. He loved God.
What taken place? One night, cold winter night, the winds blowing, people freezing to death that hard winter, when he passed through the gate, there laid a old bum laying there, saying, "Please, somebody help me. Somebody help me. Somebody..." And people who could've helped him passed him on by.

L-88 Martin had give everything he had away. And he looked... The soldiers wore a cape, a coat. He needed a coat. He'd freeze himself. So he took his coat off, took his sword and split it half in two, wrapped the bum up in part of it; he took the rest. The people laughed at him. "What a funny looking soldier, with a half of a cape on."
But that night in the barracks, he woke up. And when he looked, there stood Jesus wrapped in that piece of garment. There stood Angels all around Him, and He said to the Angels, "You know who wrapped Me in this?" Said, "Martin wrapped me in this." Then Martin knew what Jesus meant when He said, "Insomuch as you do unto the least of my little ones, you have done it unto me." When he wrapped that old bum, he wrapped Jesus up, for Jesus was in that old bum. So we don't know who we're passing by. It was a paradox. I believe in them with all my heart.


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