INTRODUCTION BY MR. COLEMAN
We certainly are happy to be here tonight to fellowship with the Lord I want to greet you one and all in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. And as you can see, we have our dear Brother Lawrie here with us tonight. It is a kind of blessed privilege for him to be here with us tonight and also to have fellowship. Brother Lawrie here arrived Monday, safe and sound. I picked him up at the international air port. The Lord just a sort of directed my foot steps and I bumped into him. God has a way of just doing that. And we just met, and then we had a password - a word: Amen! Because, he made a statement and I said: That is nothing but the word. And everything opened up then. So then, we have had a wonderful glorious time then since that meeting.
And I just feel by the heart myself because sister Coleman, and we have another visitor here with us, because Sister Sylvia Mayes is here, and we have been having a wonderful time because of fellowship. The things that Brother Lawrie has already told us, my head is swimming. Praise the Lord! And I know that he is going to be a tremendous blessing to us here. This I know. Because, no matter where he goes, he has been a tremendous blessing to God's people. And so therefore, tonight, Brother Lawrie has so much testimony to tell you. Life is so full of so many things. Signs, wonders, miracles, and all kind of things, there is this one fascinating story.
And so, we are really blessed here in America because Brother Lawrie, as the Lord has laid upon his heart, he has chosen this place to bring us an rather unusual testimony which he will now bring tonight. There is so much because he has to tell you how he got started. But this testimony has to do with - because America. In this testimony he wants to have time to lay all out and bring it to us just before he leaves. So we can certainly look forward to that. So we told him, 'Do not rush.' Because he has to go to Chicago and there have a meet with Brother Vayle Lee and Brother Larry Smith and Brother Avicola and his family out there, because he has an obligation there. So he will be with us, we believe, up to Sunday and perhaps as the Lord is leading, because he may leave on Monday or so and go up to Chicago and stop by Brother Scot, the Indian - the Indian Brother up in Buffalo on the way to Chicago.
However, New York is where he comes back to and from here he will leave to go on down to Trinidad and so forth. So now we are certainly happy tonight. By way of introduction to… Well, he will tell you himself. Because he has been the last four months over visiting with Brother - with Bro. Frank over in Germany and there he has been preaching the Word of God. And Brother Peary Green came at the end of this time there and he had fellowship with him over there; and Brother Peary Green, because he preached over there, so all three of them, they were together there. And it is quite unusual why he has to be in Germany and why he should be here. But I know that, because God has to bring it to him and he will bring it to you why he had to be over in Germany and also why he had to be here.
And if I want to say just as little as possible tonight it is because you want to hear from him tonight. So, therefore: Brother Lawrie, from India, Southern India - and his wife had to go back in Germany because she had to leave from England, and however, he is here and therefore let us continue to pray for his wife and family back there and the great work God has given him there. And that you may know, in 1960, I could say this to you tonight, he met Brother Branham, he was baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, back then, God gave him India. And God gave him a commission to go back to India and this he has fulfilled up to this time. So, he has met with God's prophet, for that part of it we will leave it for later because he has a tremendous testimony, because, concerning America and God's prophet and T. L. Osborn and Oral Roberts and all of these things.
So as the Lord will lay upon his heart, he will bring it here. This will only be spoken in this place here and we put it on tape and perhaps we can send it out to people - those who want to hear it. But God has hid it upon his heart to just bring that here so that it will be a tremendous blessing to us. But tonight, his own testimony is thrilling - blow by blow! It is amazing! Praise God! Brother Hunt and I, we are still reeling and rocking under the blows. But it is really thrilling my friends and I know that God has sent Brother Lawrie here, and we also heard him preach a little message over in Germany there, and he is a mightily anointed preacher. And so we thank God tonight that God has made it possible for Brother Lawrie to be here tonight, the Holy Spirit leading us to write to him last year, just by a letter, little bit by little bit and we came to know one another because by letter and now we can meet him right here in person because of the Spirit and so forth inside.
And so, we thank God tonight to have Brother Lawrie here. And all of our friends and visitors here, we know that God is going to pour out His blessings upon you tonight for he is a dear precious Brother and a God-called man and a mighty unusual servant of God. So, I will not take up any more time. To Brother Lawrie:
Brother Lawrie speaks:
…from far away India, and you all must have heard about India, with the five hundred million people and I really thank God for bringing me here. And we bring greetings from India. My wife was very eager to come here, and she was very sorry for not being able to come here. And she has reached India and hundreds of people met her, and she has gone back and I have come here. Life is a great battle and if there is no battle, the life will not be such a joyful thing. If there is no cloud, we cannot get a beautiful sunshine. So we thank God for all the clouds in our life and the Sun of Righteousness still shines in our heart. If you turn to Galations 6:14;
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
Praise be to the name of Jesus Christ. You all know the prophet's message, you have heard the tapes, learnt the books and you are really lucky people to have been so close in a country and hearing all these messages. We are far away, we have to get the crumbs which fall from your tables. And now and then we pick a little message and we all find out one great thing: That the prophet, Brother Branham, was still on the word and not out of the word. And since we are word people, we love the Lord's word and we test everything with the Lord's word. It was very easy for us to recognize Brother Branham and we could not take anything else which is out of the word. So, it was a battle in our lives to find out the truth. And in 1960, when I met Brother Branham, he told me only this: Brother Lawrie, I have no money to give you, but I got a little tape recorder - little record player, with thirty five records and you can take this and this will be a blessing to you.
So, I got the message in 1959 and I used to play these records over and over again and I knew what the message was and I have been preaching to the people for the last seven years; and the Lord blessed the ministry so much that one day alone we baptised thousand three hundred people after a big campaign. And the people were all baptised in the name of Jesus Christ and they are all going on strong with the Lord, depending on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you may be wondering how we came to this great truth. And also in India, it is a very difficult country and we have no great Bible schools and no teachers, but anyhow you will be thrilled to know how the blessed Holy Ghost is true to His people in any part of this world. And He taught us inch by inch, some things which you may not believe at all; but for us, God found it possible to teach us so many things by practical experience. So today we are glad that all what God taught us was really from the word of God.
I belong to an ancient Hindu family and my great grand father accepted Jesus Christ. And he was a one among a family of seven and he was sent out of the home. And the Lord blessed him mightily. And one day my father, when I was born, he said, 'Lawrie,' he used to call me Paul, and he said, 'You have been dedicated to God's work.' His idea was for me to join some Anglican denomination and become a priest of the order. But I grew up and when I came to the high school, something happened to me, because, I found Bible told something and people acted in different way. So when I came to college, I left Christianity and I thought this was a Western religion. And I became a terror to the people because I interfered with all the meetings - Christian meetings - and used to throw stones and hoot the people and attack every missionary who came from the Western countries.
And, I was such a famous football player and an athlete and a boxer, wrestler, jujitsu. So God miraculously gave me a good body and I was interested only in sports and nothing else. At this time, I was interested in the other religions of the country, so I studied the Puranas, Buddhism, the Quoran and all these things, and it never gave me peace. And while I was searching in all the Indian religions and studying all the religions, I thought, Gandhi was my idol. I thought he was my god. So I followed him and destroyed all the pictures of Jesus Christ and was only worshipping the Hindu gods and I wanted to serve the country and was ready to die for the country.
At this time in 1942, there was a terrible battle against the British Government and I was a leader for many colleges and was ready to shoot, kill, and then destroy buildings, and we were trained in that. At this time of the battle, many of my friends had to die because of the shooting. But God miraculously preserved me, and I had no peace. I thought India must be free. That was my only aim; and India was free. But this gave me no satisfaction. As I was under arrest warrant, I had to run to the Island called Ceylon. There I was, for three and a half years, studying the political books and then I thought Communism is the best for India. And I was preaching Communism and trying to tell every people, 'If you want salvation for India, everyone should become a Communist.' And I preached this so sincerely that people really were converted to that teaching.
So, as I was preaching this, I had one thing in my mind: - that I knew that there is a living God. My father taught me about God and I had three incidents in my life to prove that God was living. Because, one day I was going in a cycle and suddenly a car came to dash on me and an unseen hand pushed me down on the ground. I fell down flat on the ground and was trying to find out who pushed me and I was so angry and said, 'Who pushed me?' Then the car went and crashed. If that unseen hand had not pushed me, I would have been no more. So, that one thing was in my mind, that, some unseen power is there guiding the affairs of men.
And then one day, I was sleeping in the front room, there was a cobra ready to kill me; then my dad was sleeping in the back room. A rat bit his hand and he thought that the blood was coming. So he put on the light in my room and he found out the snake there and he killed it. But he could not understand what that rat bite was, because there was no bite, and no blood, and it was a miraculous thing. And my daddy said: 'You are something funny, because every time something mysterious happened to you even when you were a small boy, when you were on my lap, a Sinhalese man came to kill me and you, and suddenly he came in front of me and stopped and went away. So, that is something about you.' So, I was wondering what this is, because I was not a Christian at all.
So, I was studying all the religions and went into the YMCA library and started studying the history of all the churches. And there I found a book by Beverly Nichols, 'The fool has said in his heart that there is no God.' That clearly said that Jesus Christ is the Creator. So, that was a seed put in my heart. So, I could not take it in. So, when I was working in a big estate in Ceylon, a young boy came to me and said, 'Brother Lawrie, you need Jesus Christ.' When the word 'Jesus Christ' came out of his mouth, I put a slap on his face and blood started coming and I pushed the fellow out. But the boy, young boy, came again the next day and said, 'Brother Lawrie, you may beat me, but you need Jesus Christ.' So again I said - I could not beat the man; I caught him by the neck and gave him a kick and put him out. I said, 'Do not come! This is the last time!'
And the next day after the job, I came to my house, there was a knock at the door. I opened, 'What is wrong with you?' 'You need Jesus, Mister Lawrie!' I said, 'What is this young fellow doing?' So I thought, he is a good fellow to be a Communist leader, so, I used to tell, 'Come on brother, we will have a talk over this.' So I took him under a tree and we both sat and I was telling the merits of Communism. And he told, 'Everything is alright brother, but Communism has no God!' Then I said, 'How to find out God?' Let us pray! I never cried when anybody died, I was a very hardhearted man, and these hands have assaulted missionaries, and such a dirty hand. At this time he started crying. So I said, 'Boy, why are you crying?' 'I am talking to my living God and he hears my prayers.' And then I said, 'Where is that living God?'
Then, I said a prayer, 'If there is a Creator, if there is a Lord, this is the last day, you must show yourself to me. If there is a Creator who created me, I want to see Him. Come before me!' At this time, I did not want to have Jesus Christ. And then, suddenly something happened to me: The whole area was filled with some power. Then I saw my sins going like a cinema film in front of me. I burst into tears. And then I saw the loving Jesus hanging on the cross and the power came right into my life and my sins were washed away and I had the peace of God in my life and my sickness went away. And when this came, Jesus said, 'My son, I died for you; what will you do for me?' Then immediately I got down, embraced this boy: 'Boy, you have won.' And immediately I went and tore all the communistic books and started preaching the next day, the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I started discussing like this, and then I wanted to get married. I wanted to be a Sanyasi not marrying. For five years, I was like that growing a beard and all. Because I was doing yogic exercises and all these things, I thought, I better do not marry. But one day, as I was sitting, the Lord showed me a vision about a girl, and whom I should marry. So I said, 'What is this? I did not want to marry and here is a picture of a girl!' So, my father said, 'Get married soon man, because you are a young man, you will have a lot of problems. So when I came into India, one of my friends took me to a certain house which came in my vision. So, I just walked straight into the house and I saw the girl sitting there.
So I told my mother, 'Mummy, I want to marry that girl.' I never knew her character. I never knew anything about how far she had studied, but I knew one thing: Because God showed that girl, she must be good; but she was unconverted. I knew this. Because God said, I went forward and got married and from the time of the marriage, we had to fight. She will go for cinema. I will go for prayer meetings. I said, 'Lord you showed me a vision and all these things, and it is a failure. Has the devil cheated me?' Actually I thought, 'The devil has cheated me.' So, when we were like this, we went to Ceylon; and in Ceylon we were living in a very nice way but she went for pictures, I went for prayer meetings.
And one day my eldest son got sick and the doctor said that he will die in about half an hour's time. So, my wife and I, for the first time, we knelt down together and said: 'Lord! If you will only save and give back the son's life, from that day onwards we will resign our jobs and go to India and preach the gospel.' And when we prayed and came to the hospital, this boy was sitting and the doctor said, 'A miracle has happened, this boy is healed!' So I said, 'How is that?' 'We cannot understand, but the fellow is healed; you can take him home.' So my wife said, 'What about resigning your job? You have promised.'
Then it was a difficult thing for us because: We promised God, He healed the boy, but it was very difficult to resign the job. But, somehow because of the promise, I resigned the job and one month afterwards from that day, my wife and I came back to India. I never had any knowledge about demons. So when we came in the train, in the middle of the night, a small girl possessed with an evil spirit wanted to kill the son who was healed. So, when I went to catch that child, small child, she had such a power of the devil, she nearly caught me and put me out of the window. So, I never knew a small girl will have such mighty power. Then when I said, 'In the name of Jesus,' she fell down. That is the first time I came to know that there is a mysterious demon power which can lift a man and throw him out of the window.'
I came back to India, left my wife and children at my father in law's house and went to work in a place. And there, it was a place - Vellore medical college hospital of the American lady doctor, doctor Ida B. Scudder. I never knew why God took me to a medical college hospital. He was teaching me for five years all the medical science. Because I was to have the healing ministry, I was able to go with all the big doctors and learn every disease, and all the operations and names of the disease so no one could challenge us in the medical science. So, five years, we were in the medical science and my wife was the dietician and she was preparing the food for five hundred patients every day with the assistance of six cooks and so many things.
We were living sumptuously. We had need of nothing because, all the needs were met by the hospital people and we were like kings. At this time, something told me. 'You have no power.' So, I was trying to pray, nothing happens. But where is the power of the Apostle's days? So, one day I was asking God: 'Where is the power, Lord? I am saved, I have got the peace but nothing happens. Am I in the correct way?' At this time, God sent a lame teacher and he told me, 'Go and pray for that man.' And he told me one day - came to my house and said, 'The Lord sent me to your house to pray that you may receive the filling of the Holy Ghost.' So I said, 'Alright.' As we prayed, in 1953, ten years after my salvation, the power of the Lord came into me in the midnight, and for six hours I was so immersed by the power. I was thrown off fifteen feet and the throat was simply broken out and for one month I could not speak properly.
And then when I went to the hospital, the hospital authorities said, 'Brother Lawrie, because you have received the Pentecostal power, you have no place in the hospital.' And there was a big battle. At this time, in 1953, suddenly the Lord met me in a mighty way, I was taken sick and my wife was still unconverted. We both were fighting, so that we thought a divorce is better. So she said, 'I am going to my daddy's house and I do not want you.' So, in that day, it was a terrible battle and we had to decide about our separation and suddenly I had to go to the hospital, sick. And the doctor said, 'Brother Lawrie, you have got diphtheria, you will not live tomorrow.' This came as a shock to me because I could not breathe; injections were given, my life was going - I know.
My wife came and saw me and said: 'Lord! You are making me a widow when I am young.' She went home, took all her jewellery and knelt down and said, 'Lord! If you want to heal my husband, you can heal him, otherwise you are making me a widow.' Suddenly the power of God fell on her, she was saved, she was filled with the Holy Ghost right there, and a voice was heard: 'Obey your husband, and your husband will be healed tonight.' And that night, my life came out of the body and my soul was sitting on the bed and my dead body was there and Jesus comes walking straight and sat with me. He said: 'My son, what did you promise four years ago?' 'Lord, I promised to serve you.' 'Are you serving me?' 'Yes! I am serving you in the hospital.' 'This is not the way I want you to serve me. I want you to leave everything, leave every job, and you and your wife completely follow me wherever I take you.'
Then I said, 'Lord! What about the money?' Then He laughed. You know, when you talk to Jesus, He is not like seen in the picture, He said: 'Do you not trust me? I am your Creator!' And I was wondering: All these days I had thought, He was one of the gods and there is a bigger God and all. So, when He said, 'I am your Creator,' it shook me. And as if we knew each other long ago, then He said, … There was a big vision of a train full of compartments, all kinds of people of all Nationality, dead people, sick people, drunkards, adulterers, murderers and there was a fearful man driving the big train into a big pit of fire. And He put His hand like this, on my shoulder, and said, 'My son, these are all the denominations. I am sending you to them to warn them. I will take you from place to place, from village to village, town to town and city to city and all over the world and I have blessed your hand like Moses' rod. And I will confirm you with all signs and wonders. Will you serve me?' Then He said, 'You should not ask anyone for any money and whatever you need, you just think, I will get you.'
He just vanished, I was healed, I was sitting and praising God. My wife walks in and said, 'Praise the Lord!' I said, 'What has happened to you?' The Lord has come into my heart, He wanted me to obey you. I am ready to do whatever you say.' So we knelt down and said, 'Jesus, from today onwards we will serve you.' And I straight went to the doctor and said, 'Sir, we are resigning from today.' 'Are you mad? You must have an operation in your head because you have some hallucination. So, better go to the brain doctor and get an operation. 'So I said, 'You will not understand, doctor.' So when we resigned, we shook hands with the doctor, that is the moment the Lord spoke to me from the heart and said: 'My Son, from today onwards, I am your Father, I am your everything. I will take care of you, be happy'.
So I started jumping that my God had spoken to me and he said, 'You are mad! You resigned your job and you are laughing!' So, my wife and I came home, and sold everything and started giving to the poor people. We just wanted to obey what God's word said. We did not know whether blessing or not, we believed the word and so when we read, 'Alright, we will sell everything.' And so we sold all. Then, we had some money in the bank. We had no money coming in. So, every day we were spending our own money and at last the money in the bank was enough only for one day's expenses. So, when money went away, we lost all the friends. Because, my dear friends, if you have money, if you have the world's goods, you will have lot of friends. If you have nothing in this world, you will not have one friend in this world. That is the experience what I got. So, we left the hospital and we went home to my daddy's place and my daddy came and said, 'Paul, you two get out of my house, I do not want to have you here.'
So, when my father jumped on me, I started crying and said, 'Oh! This is the world. So my wife and I, with the three children, we came to a house, I Fourteen days, we had no food. So, I started doubting God. I, thinking that I will go back to the job, I had destroyed all my certificates. So my wife said, 'Are you sure God spoke to you? We have nothing for fourteen days. People are starving.' At that moment, in a mysterious way, when we had nothing for fourteen days, I could see Jesus walking in the front room, back room, kitchen and all over. So, when I sleep very sorrowfully, He will come and do like this (some action shown) and say: 'Do not worry.' When I get up, He will vanish. I wished those days, you know, the whole day, night, I could see Him.
So, when this was going on, we did not feel like eating, we were very happy; but that night I had to decide whether to go for a job or not. So, in the middle of the night, as I was kneeling down and praying to God: 'Lord what should I do? I am going to the job if you do not tell me something today! So, my wife was sick, children are starving - bones! All the bones are visible. And I am kneeling down and then suddenly a voice broke out and my son was singing: Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails, heaven and earth shall pass away but Jesus never fails. And here is the wonderful thing: He never knew a word of English. He is talking in English and he sings this; a three and a half year old child sings like a man of forty five years. So, when I saw, it was a small child and out of his mouth the voice is coming like a forty five years man, I said: This cannot be my son. I woke up my wife and said hear this. So she said, 'That is God!'
So, like God spoke to Moses in the pillar of fire. He spoke through my son and that was the pillar of fire for us. Early morning we got up and we woke up my son and said, 'Sonny, sing that song again.' 'Mummy, I never know English, you ask me to sing an English song! And I never sang that song. You are waking me up, please allow me to sleep.' 'So, we got up in the morning my wife took a bag and said, I'm going to the market.' I said, 'Where is the money?' 'Jesus never fails!' So, as she was going on the road, a lady came running: 'Sister, in the kitchen I heard a voice: Take the money and give it to Brother Lawrie's wife immediately.' So she came and thrust the money. She went to the market, for the whole money she bought all the market stuff and came. So I told my wife, 'Can you not keep something for tomorrow?' 'Jesus never fails!' So from that day till today, it is a marvelous thing!
So, when this thing happened - and that morning, that was the first miracle in our life. As we were sitting in the home, a woman passed away. Her husband came running to us and said, 'Brother Lawrie, will you please come and pray for my wife?' 'What happened to your wife,' I said. 'She is dead!' 'Then you should bury her.' 'No, no! I want you to come and pray. What kind of prayer? Do you want to have a funeral service? No, No, I want you to pray. God will hear your prayers.' So my wife and I were laughing to ourselves: 'Can this happen?' 'So I went and sat near the bed and started keeping the hands and said: 'Lord! Lord! Lord!' She got up. When she got up, that was the wedding day for the daughter and that was a joy we could not contain ourselves; we came running home thinking. 'If God is doing like this, it is something wonderful! Then the next day, there was a paralytic man in bed for three years. So we went to that house. So I said, 'According to the word will you believe, that if I pour oil on you and pray, that the Lord will raise you up?' He said, 'Yes.' So we applied oil there and prayed and the fellow just got up.
So the word of God is true; never a word has been at fault. So when this thing happened, people started coming in crowds. So, what happened was: We did not know what to do. The whole house was full. And all our needs were coming to our house. We never went. If God is with you, if God is for you, you need not put a road and go to other people's houses; the world will put a road and come to your house. That is why, if you have the light of God in you, you can shine and the other people will enjoy your light. So, from there the Lord blessed us and what happened was, He started teaching us little by little. And, at this time, the Lord took us to so many places for meetings and all the denomination churches were open to us and we were preaching to five thousand, ten thousand like that.
At this time we had to deal with so many demon power, so the Lord took me to a forty day fast. And while I was fasting for forty days, the Lord revealed so many things. I will be telling that to you on Sunday - from that day till how the Lord brought us to America and how I met brother Branham. My dear friends, in these days, when we had no money in the hand, we started finding that God spoke the word and it happened. When God spoke, things rotated. When God spoke, things moved. So you cannot be stationary when God speaks. In the same way, when we left everything and started living on the word of God, the Lord started moving us. So we could not say in a place and the meetings were going on and we found everywhere miracles started happening. Nobody taught us any,… We never went to a Bible school, the miracles started happening and we could not understand because…. I started reading the Bible gradually. The Lord was teaching us.
Then, when we came into this faith life, then we found out, from village to village, all our needs were met and everything what we commanded, the Lord gave us. Without asking anybody, the Lord started giving us. So we found out that if we are hanging on God - we are depending on God for our needs and make Him our arm and our life, we found out that God will do everything for us without our doing it. When these things started happening, we knew, our ministry was developing more and more and we had a greater burden for India. But I never had any experience with the denominations and I started going to every denomination. So when I went to a denomination, the Lord punished me seriously. So, one day, I wanted to join the Assemblies of God; I wanted to join some little groups like this. So I thought, that was the order of the day. So, when I got God in my life, instead of looking to God, I wanted to join some denomination and God severely punished me and so I got injured every time.
When I went to Assemblies of God, I got a severe injury in my hand and I said, 'Lord! I will not go.' And the next day, I wanted to join some other church. At this time, I was carrying my son in the car, the car-door opened and my son fell right on the ground and he got a head crash. And when I took him in the hand, he was a dead boy. This is a testimony which all the Southern India people know. When I took him in the hand, he had no life. All the blood coming from the ear and it was all like a pulp and he had no sense and he was gone. Then when I kept him in my hand and said, 'Lord'! I am sorry! I will never join a denomination. Now you have taken the life of my son!' Then the voice of God came: 'When Euthycus fell from the third storey, Paul went and woke him up; his life came into him. So, if you trust me, your son's life will come again.'
So, when we prayed, he opened his eyes but the head was so bad; he was still unconscious and still he had to sense. So we took him to that night's mass prayer meeting and my wife was keeping him in the lap and we forgot to go to a doctor. He had a big swelling. She kept the boy in the lap and I told my wife. 'Every ten minutes, or five minutes, you keep your hand and pray in the name of Jesus while I am preaching.' So, as I was preaching, I was watching this boy, suddenly after ten minutes his eyes will be brighter - gradually. So, when the last prayer meeting was over, when the mass prayer was given, she kept both the hands and said: 'Jesus! Heal now!' When the mass prayer was over, he just jumped from the seat and came running to the pulpit and said, 'Daddy, I am alright'.
So, I came down from the pulpit, I saw his head: Not a scratch, nothing. All the bones were joined properly and there was no pain and I could do like this and nothing happened. I said, 'What is this!' I saw a miracle! When the miracle happened in my own life, then I knew : God lives. If it would have happened in some other family, I will not believe it; but when it happened in my own family… And that boy, in that mass prayer, he was not only healed, he was saved and he had a vision of Christ and he was filled with the Holy Ghost. And that is the boy - today he is playing piano accordion in our campaigns and he has progressed marvelously; and the boy at such a small age, he was filled with the Holy Ghost. So my friends, God is wonderful!
Then when we came against the demonic power; we did not know the power of the demon. One day, there was a big magician and a witch doctor. He was so fearful that nobody will go and talk to him; His moustache was so big, his eyes were so big and to anybody he talks to, he was so fearful looking. And this man - somebody told: Because my ministry was becoming very powerful, his business will go down, so he sent the devil on us one day. Many people do not know the power of the demon. The demon has got power, but our God has got almighty power. So, what happened was: in the night when I went to preach, as I was going in the main road, my brother, myself and the Anglican pastor, the demon came on us like an electric express train! Booom,...' like that.
So, when the demon was passing like an air, I was lifted from the ground three feet and this Spirit of God in me went and attacked the demon seven times. On the seven time, this demon went and attacked the magician, he fell down on the ground and his head was down and the legs were up. And then he was screaming on the road and the whole village came hearing his screaming and he started shouting: 'Jesus save me! Jesus save me!' The power came and struck him and he went and prayed. He was delivered of the demon and from that day, he cut all his moustache, beard everything and now he is a preacher of the gospel. And from that day we knew that Jesus Christ is living.
So, my dear friends, we found out Christ like this. And when Christ started moving in our lives, we surrendered our whole lives in the hands of God and He started planning our lives. And we used to wait at the home: Suddenly, the call will come, the Lord will shake the place. So, we were known in all the churches, but we never knew that God had a great plan throughout the world and that He was going to bring us throughout the world mysteriously, and to meet this great man of God - Brother Branham. And that is why - we want to give it on Sunday probably, if the Lord willing, how when I came to America alone without any money in my hand… When I started from home I had only fifty cents in my hand. And with this fifty cents I traveled throughout the world, never asked a man for any money, but, whenever, I needed any money, the money came to my place and God gave the money.
So, today I believed that God lives. And if you look to anyone - however it may be, we love many people; God has been responsible for bringing us to this truth through many people, but let God be glorified. Because we loved God, because God wanted to bring us to Him. He made all these people possible to us. So, that is why, even in India, we know that you have great burden for us; you pray for us. We thank God for that. And the Lord has been blessing us mightily. And one thing, we could not advertise in the American papers, but on the last day, you will see that thousands of people are brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ without any advertisements. You know, you can advertise and show a big crowd. But the seed of God may not be advertised because the Lord will bring that on the last day. Then you will find that you have got so many brothers and sisters in India in answer to your prayers. So, praise be to God.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ still has power over demon power. That is why, if you come to Jesus Christ,… You can talk so many things. You know, the children playing and talking a doll and saying, 'This doll is wonderful, that is white colour, this is red colour.' Sometimes I used to think: American people and some other people are like children. You know, we are coming from India. We never had such a blessing like you. You have tape recorders. In India, you will not find one tape recorder for so many million people. Here, every home has a tape recorder, you got your tape, you hear the message of the prophet, you saw him, you ate with him. But many people today, they are playing like children. But today, if you know, that same God who lived in Brother Branham's heart, who lives in you, who lives in people's heart of India… And many people never knew Brother Branham, had never seen him, but still they are true to the word of God and we believe that on the last day they also will be the real seed of God.
So friends, we are really grateful to God for you all. And I can tell so many things which happened in our lives because, in that jungle land, in that area which is full of poverty, we found out that God is true to His word. And today we can prove that not one word has been untrue. One day I had a heart attack because I did not pray properly, I was just slacking God. So, when I went and prayed for somebody, I got a severe heart attack; I was taken home unconscious. For three days I was blind. So, the doctor said, 'Your blood pressure is two hundred, you should stop preaching and for one month or two months you should not get out of your bed.' And the next day, there is a big meeting and they put: Brother Lawrie will be the speaker. But I am unconscious here. Then the doctor said, 'What do you want to do? Do you want to take medicine?' I said, 'Let us trust God.'
And the people there, they said, 'Brother Lawrie, you need not preach but actually, you come and sleep in our home where the meeting is happening so that the people will know that Brother Lawrie is here.' So they took me in the car. On the way I was healed. And when I came to the meeting grounds, I was able to preach and baptise about fifty people that day. And the doctor was thinking that she was going to get a telegram that Brother Lawrie has passed away. Because no telegram was received, she took the bus and came to our place and saw me preaching. She said, 'Brother Lawrie, I must test your blood pressure.' It was normal. And immediately, this doctor lady resigned the job and said, 'I do not believe in medicine any more.' And she is now one of our workers who is helping us. She was a Government doctor in charge of a Government hospital; that very day she resigned and said, 'If this could happen, a two hundred blood pressure could go in one day, what is the use of all this medicine? I will trust God.'
And then I took the Bible and you know what the Bible said? In Psalms, in one Psalm it says: Your heart shall live forever. When the seed of God is put in a heart, our heart will live forever. So my friends, there are so many things which you have in our lives. You have a lot of things in your life. You can say,…Everyone can testify to God's mercy and God's greatness. But in India, it is a difficult country because there many people cannot read, cannot write. And those of you who know to read and write, you know English. But, it is a terribly opposing place, because, whenever you have a big meeting, you will find the opposition still there. So, what we have to do: Whenever we go to preach the gospel, we knew that our lives are in danger. Because we do not know at what moment what will happen.
So one day, I was preaching in the Bhilai steel plant which was controlled by the Russians. So when I was preaching, one of the Russian engineer's secretary got saved. So, they were very angry. So, when they were very angry, after the meeting, I got into the train and came. I never knew that some people arranged a man to kill me in the train. So, when I came in the train, there was an American by the name Doctor Miller, his wife and his daughter, and another man was booked for the compartment - four people. And by mistake, another compartment was also booked: Doctor Miller, Mrs. Miller, daughter and Bro. Lawrie. So, I had one compartment. But Dr. Miller had two compartments. So, when I came to the station, Doctor Miller got into the compartment of the other man - Major Mukkundan. So, I was alone in my compartment.
This man, with a big knife, got into the compartment and was on the top bed and I was sleeping very nicely. He locked the three doors and one door he kept open so that he can kill me and put my body out and get away. But God's mercy, when I was sleeping there without any fear, this man was getting ready with the knife. Very hefty man. The daughter of Mrs. Miller cried and the mother woke up and said, 'Why daughter you are crying?' Mummy, I am afraid of Major Mukkundan's moustache and he is so fearful; so I cannot sleep.' So, Major Mukkundan, that military man said, 'Daughter, if you are afraid of me, I will go to some other compartment.' So he got out at the next station, slowly came to my compartment, saying that the guard told him that that compartment was free. And this man never walks fast and watches things to save other people. So, when he came into the compartment, he saw the knife and the man looking at me. So, when he turned the other side to keep something, he slipped into the compartment and just hid under the bed.
So he was watching this man. When he came to stab me, he pounced like a tiger and he caught his hand and both were rolling on the ground and a big noise was heard, so I got up and saw these two people are rolling on the ground. So the train stopped and the guard and the ticket examiner and all these people came and then what he told: This man was about to be killed by that man, I am a military man and I wanted to safeguard the life of my countrymen and so I caught him. The he was taken by the police and Major Mukkundan asked me, 'Who are you, Sir?' I said, 'I am brother Lawrie.' 'Oh! You are that famous Evangelist?' 'Yes! I have been preaching the gospel.' 'God has His hand on you. If I had not come, you would have been no more!' So my friends, God is wonderful, even for a simple thing.
So, that is all in the Word. He said: I will guard you, I will protect you, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So, Word never became so real to us unless it came by experience. Then when we were starting a healing meeting in another locality, I was preaching in a big church. In that church a man rushed into the meeting and I was preaching in the pulpit. Those days I was allowed to preach in the Anglican churches. So, when he came near the pulpit, he said, 'You know who I am? I am Lucifer come to assault you. I will teach you a lesson so that hereafter you will never preach.' He was a very big fellow and he was taking his hand like this, and I was afraid and I never had this experience before. So I thought, 'He may let go a blow,' and so I was trying preaching like this, (some actions of self defence shown.) so that if he lets go a blow, it will come on my hand. But I never knew that God is so powerful and so He has to teach us.
So my wife looked at that man and she started crying. The assemblies of God missionary who was there started to slowly get up and go away because I was in a terrible predicament. At this time, while I was wondering whether I can catch the man and protect me, a voice was heard: 'Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.' That word is true. So, when I heard that voice, I said 'If you are with me always, you must be here now. So Lord! Take care of my life.' When I said that, I could see a bright light shine from the right side and hit at the man and he was right on the ground and not only on the ground, he started screaming, because I could see some unseen figure beating him with the cane. So he was saying, 'Oh! Hmm! Oooh!...' like that.
So, when this was going on, for nearly five minutes, this man was screaming and was looking at my right side. I did not know who was in my right side. So, instead of looking at me, he was looking at my right side and said, 'Please do not do anything to me! Please do not do anything to me!' So I said, 'Who is that, standing on the right side?' I saw my master Jesus standing there. 'Lo! I am with you even unto the end of the world.' That is true. I can tell so many incidents in my life. So my friends! If you can only believe everything in the Bible, the whole word of the Bible, the Bible lives in you, and not only lives in you, it produces fruit in your life. So in these last days, the devil is a deceiver; he not only deceives the other people, he deceives the people of God by giving so many things and deviating from the Word.
My dear friends we all know in India that Brother Branham is dear to us. We thank God for that Brother. And I never had an opportunity, but when I went there one day, among five hundred people, I just waked in. Because many big people are there to see him, I was in a corner and he said, 'Brother Lawrie come.' I said, 'What is wrong with this man? He told my name! Did any one tell him?' I was asking. He said, 'Before you came he would know it.' Then I was confessing my sins, thinking that he will tell everything what I did. You know I was so afraid. So he said: 'Come on!' He took me into the room, put me into the room, for one hour he talked with me and said, 'Brother Lawrie, you go back to India. God is going to give the whole India into your hands; God is going to stir the country.' So I laughed and said, 'That will never happen, Brother Branham, all these people have told so many things, nothing has happened.' 'No! God has brought you here, now you go back with a special power.'
At this time, I was about to come and he said, 'Brother, take a photograph of myself and Brother Lawrie.' He told me to take a photograph, and we both were there, and you might have seen it. So at this time, I took baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday in 1960. It is seven years and I am back again in your country. But what happened seven years ago, and how the Lord took me to different people and different churches and different big personalities, at last brought me to this simple man and gave me the Truth.
And we went into India and I was preaching to hundred thousand people and it was twenty three major campaigns that shook the country. And today, we have hundreds and hundreds of people in different areas having groups and fellowships in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not an organised group, but everybody goes on worshipping the Lord. And today there is thirty five records where - the message given to India. So, you can understand how blessed and lucky you are to have all the messages. So we thought you will be much more powerful than what the Indians are, hearing all the messages. But, when I came here to the West, I found out they are still children. They are worried about photographs and this and that but they have left the Word. Come back to the Word! Be on the Word and you will find God will be with you!
However it is, God is still not an unjust God. If you are on the Word, even if a poor man from some country is living on the Word, He lives in Him. So if God is like an unjust God, specially to be in America, I think that God - is something wrong - God. But our Jesus Christ, he has no partiality, no caste distinction, no colour distinction, but those who love Him, those who love Him with all their heart, all their mind, and all their soul and all their body, those people are precious in His sight. So today, we come to you, not with a new news, or not with something to teach you. I have not come with a teaching mentality to you because you know better than I about all Brother Branham's messages. So, I cannot teach anything more than that. In fact, I could learn from you. That is the main reason- to pick up the crumbs, of tapes and whatever it is. I can have, and take it to India for the blessings of the people of India. But while coming here, I want to tell what God did to our life. May God bless you.
EXHORTATION BY BROTHER COLEMAN:
God is a God of signs, wonders and also miracles. What you see here in America, the intellectual America, where the people have to say: Prove God to me, and, if God does this here, and this is that, and so forth. Therefore we find that God just cannot move here in America no more. That is why she is finished now.So we certainly thank God tonight for Bro. Lawrie, because to be with us tonight, and bring us these…. Because, it was tremendous, we cannot find words for it. And see, he knows God. No matter what anybody says, he knows that he has met a living God. And now you see friends, what we say to you. Because, America here, they have the tape recorders, they have the books, they have the messages, they have everything else, and still you have to keep telling the people. 'You got to believe the word of God.' These people here, they believe the word of God.
For we heard some of these stories that he told you about these Hindus over there. Because even Bro. Branham told you that when you go over to India and Africa, you got to know what you are talking about. And therefore the hour has come now for us to know what we are talking about. And it is good to know that God has given us the word of God. So we are certainly happy tonight and the most blessed people.
Let us turn to Page 216 in our song books. 'They come from the East and West.' And we can really say tonight, that we have somebody here from the East. Praise our God! We have here somebody from the West.
I really enjoyed that testimony. Can the church say 'Amen'? - Amen! Praise God! Well, you are in store for a tremendous testimony about America. It is really something. That is all what I can say. And we know that we also are going to enjoy the word of God coming from Bro. Lawrie; for God has given him His word.
(The congregation sing the song: They come from the East and West.)