2 Sam 5:1-10 1 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2 Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. 6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. 10 And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him. 1 Chron 11:1-9 1 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. 2 And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel. 3 Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the LORD; and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel. 4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. 6 And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. 7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. 8 And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9 So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him.
TITLE: WHEN THE LAME AND THE BLIND RULE THE CITY SUBJECT: ITS YOUR DESTINY TO WAX GREATER AND GREATER FOR THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US BLIND.BARTIMAEUS 59-0408 E-5 You know, I think blindness is one of the cruelest things that we can think of, a person who cannot see the daylight. And if we can think of the natural blindness, how great that is, how much greater is the spiritual blindness to those who have good eyes and cannot see the promises of God. Josh 15:8 8 And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem: and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward: Josh 15:63-16:1 63 As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day. Isa 3:12 12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. Zeph 1:14-18 14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Matt 15:13-14 13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted,
shall be rooted up. 14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Isa 56:10-11 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. John 9:39-41 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. 2 Cor 4:3-4 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. John 12:39-40 39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. DEEP.CALLETH.TO.DEEP 54-0624 E-48 048 That's the same thing we have to do here. If an evil spirit... If there's unconfessed sin or something, or some out of the will of God, you could anoint them all night long, and cry, and scream and do all you wish to, that demon will stay right there. That's right. He has a right to. Well, that's what you have to watch. God has put a curse on somebody for something, then you come along and take it off, you get in trouble like Moses did. That's right. THREE.WITNESSES_ 51-0728 E-22 Here's what it is, the antichrist spirit is not the communistic spirit. The
antichrist spirit is a religious spirit. HOW.THE.ANGEL.CAME.TO.ME.AND.HIS.COMMISSION_ 55-0117 82-6 I said, "No, Brother Bosworth. No, sir. I'm not going to take it up." I said, "It don't do no good." I said, "Just causes fussing when we leave the platform." I said, "I'm holding a meeting now, and I don't want to get things all tore up like that." I said, "Just let him go ahead." I said, "That's all; he's just rattling." I said, "We've had them before, and it doesn't do any good to talk to them." I said, "They'll go right away, holding theirself." I said, "If they once receive the knowledge of the truth and then they won't receive it, the Bible said they've crossed the separating line and they'll never be forgiven in this world or the world to come. They call It the devil, and they can't help it. They're possessed with a religious spirit which is the devil." How many knows that's true, that a devil spirit is religious? Yes, sir, just as fundamental as they can be. And so then that didn't go very good when I said, "fundamental," but that's true. "Having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof." That's right. Signs and wonders is what vindicates God, always. And He said it would be in the last days the same thing. And notice. THE.SEAL.OF.THE.ANTICHRIST_ 55-0311 E-24 Borderline, halfway, watch that religious spirit. You say, "Brother Branham, do you mean to tell me that the antichrist spirit, will be a religious spirit?" Jesus said, "It'd be so close, like the real thing, till it would deceive the very elect, if possible." Matthew 24. That throws a little different light to it, doesn't it? It's a religious spirit, a spirit that can shout, a spirit that can dance in the spirit, a spirit that can cast out devils, a spirit that can do all kinds of miracles, and still not be borned of the Spirit of God. Jesus said, "In that day (Listen at this.) many will come to Me and say, 'Lord, have I not cast out devils in Your Name? In Your Name haven't I done many mighty works?' And I will confess unto them: depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I didn't even know you." A.GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE_ 58-0625 E-20 And the antichrist spirit is a religious spirit; don't forget that, dear people. And how blessed are your eyes that do see, and hear, and understand; for you cannot understand, unless God reveals it to you. For the whole church is built upon a spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. 2 SAMUEL 5:6-10 6 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. 7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. 8 And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the
Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. 10 And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him. DOOR.TO.THE.HEART 58-0302 E-43 A certain minister said to me, sometime ago, said, "If you'd be a--a servant of Christ and you have the Holy Ghost, strike me blind. Strike me blind." Said, "Paul struck a man blind; you strike me blind." I said, "Brother, I can't do what the devil's already done. You're blind now, and don't know it." "Oh," he said, "when the Bible speaks "blind," it means physical blind." I said, "Elisha struck the whole Syrian army blind, and said, 'Are you looking for Elisha?'" "They said, 'Yes.'" "Said, 'Well follow me, I'll show you where he's at.'" Gehazi was blind, standing there, and couldn't see the Angels of fire and the mountains on fire around that prophet, until God opened his eyes. Spiritual blindness is ten million times worse than physical blindness. If I have to go blind in my eyes or go blind in my spirit, God take my eyes, before my spirit. Let my eyes be open to see His glory. Anoint my eyes, O Lord, with Thy eyesalve. Don't let cold come in and set up an infection. And coldness, indifference, denominations, creeds, doctrines, and so forth, that's give you the pneumonia, and your eyes have been all mattered and swelled up, until now, God can show His glory. You can hear somebody enjoying it, "So-and-so got healed. Why can't I?" Just open your eyes to see His glory. He's here. Christ still lives. PROOF.OF.HIS.RESURRECTION 55-0410M 30 And then, people, through traditions, has blinded men from the great fundamental truths of the Scripture. Now, Jesus spoke the same thing when He was here on earth. He said, "Ye are blind leaders of the blind." He said, "If the blind leads the blind, won't they all fall in the ditch?" Now, pronouncing Christian or religious teachers blind... See, God has a way of revealing Himself to the people and making Himself known to the people, but many times tradition shuts off the people before God can get a chance to get into them to reveal Himself. See? You get it? See? Traditions, oh, what that is today. STRAIT.IS.THE.GATE 59-0301M 75 But I liken that generation to this one today when there is literally millions of
people that profess Christianity, and know no more about God than a Hottentot would know about an Egyptian knight. There's men and women today, literally millions of professing Christians that claim Christ, don't know the first principle of the power of His resurrection, and never tasted His goodness. They've never felt His power. Their eyes are blinded to the Truth. Said, "You are blind, leaders of the blind. Won't... If the blind leads the blind, won't they all fall in the ditch?" Rev 3:14-18 14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. SOULS.THAT.ARE.IN.PRISON.NOW 63-1110M 36-1 You remember my sermon on Jezebel religion not long ago? You remember Elisha coming down the road that morning to tell them that... I preached on that. See? And how I predicted then that the time would come when this Ecumenical Council would finally become the mark of the beast, because it would unite with the beast. It's doing it. In my age I've lived to see it. And hear the Protestants by the millions fall for it. Why? That's what they're looking for. They're blind. Jesus told those Pharisees, "You blind, leaders of the blind. If the blind leads the blind," He said, "won't they all fall in the ditch?" And that's where they fall. EVENTS.MADE.CLEAR.BY.PROPHECY 65-0801E 46 Therefore by listening to man's interpretation, they see the confirmation of God's Word fulfilled; they fail to see It. Because it's going on all the time, but because they listen... And Jesus said they're blind leaders. And if the blind leads the blind, what happens to them? Now, remember, the Bible predicted this ecclesiastical age of this Laodicean age was blind. They had Him outside the church. There's not another age, another church age that Jesus was on the outside. But the Laodicea church age, He was on the outside, trying to get back in, "I stand at the door and knock." He's supposed to be inside. But He said, "Because you say 'I'm rich, increased in goods, have need of nothing,' and don't know, don't know that you're blind, leading the blind, poor in
spirit, wretched, miserable, naked, and don't know it." What a con... If a man was naked on the street, miserable, blind, and knew he had sense enough and you could tell him he was naked, he'd try to do something about it. But when he shakes his head, and say, "I won't have it. Who are you to tell me what to do? I know where I'm standing." Now, if that ain't a pitiful shape, I don't know. And that's exactly what the God of this Bible said that the church would be in in this evil age right now, in the last church age where we're living. 2 Cor 10:3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1