I Will Heal Your Backslidings
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21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
Introduction
I will heal your backslidings
Backsliding is a old fashioned word, today we say someone left the ark of safety, is out of church, going through a rough time right now, needs to be closer to the fire, needs a refilling of the Holy Ghost.
There are three kinds of backsliders.
1. Those who have crossed the line and no longer want to be saved. (Rich Young Ruler)
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
I believe none of us are that way.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
The elect cannot cross that line. they are His.
2. Those who want to be saved and have confessed Christ but still desire the world. (Peter before Pentecost)
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Those who are saved and sealed, who hate sin but still sometimes fail because of the flesh. (Peter and Paul after Pentecost)
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
Paul had to deal with the same thing.
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
I have lived—I have lived many years in sin until I found the Lord. Please, Brother Branham…(See?)…I have sinned again and I’m not worthy to come before you in this holy place. Please tell me if I can be restored whole again.
99 Yes! You have not sinned, my friend, so far in God but what you could be restored. If you had sinned so far that you could not be restored, you’d never want to be restored. See? See? But as long as there is Something dealing with your heart, you’re still in line of restoration.
100 “Guilty of the least is guilty of the whole.” I have sinned many times, every day every one of us do things that we don’t want to do.
101 It’s in our heart…You don’t want to be that way or you wouldn’t ask this question. See? That’s itself a proof that God still is dealing with you. You’ve probably gotten nervous, probably Satan telling you that you can’t be restored. He’s lying, certainly, he is. Because, look, if there is a deep, calling, there’s got to be a Deep to respond to the call. If there’s a hunger for Something, that Something’s got to be somewhere or you would have no hunger for It. See?
102 As I’ve said lots of time. Before a fish had a fin on his back, there had to be a water first for him to swim in or he wouldn’t had any fin. Before there was a tree to grow in the earth, there had to be an earth first before there was a tree, because the earth had to be first for the tree to grow.
103 Now, before there can be a creation, there has to be a Creator to create the creation. See what I mean? Now, as long as you are wanting and hungering to get back to God, there’s a God somewhere calling to you, see, or you wouldn’t be hungering. There’s a Creator!
104 Now, if you…There is a place that you can cross where you can’t get back, but when that is you’re down there again in the same shape you was. It goes to show that you only fell from grace. Backsliding is not lost. I want somebody to tell me where backsliding is lost, and prove it to the Bible. Backslider is not lost, he’s just out of fellowship.
105 Israel backslid but they never lost their covenant, they lost their—their praises and joy.
106 David lost the joy of his salvation when he took Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, but he never lost his salvation. He never said, “Restore to me my salvation.” Said, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation.”
107 Oh, there’s so much of this legalism today, the “touch not, taste not.” You don’t do things legally.
108 I didn’t come to this church tonight legally. I feel tired, I—I—I’ve been nervous, I’m upset, I’m wondering about something that’s out before me, my heart’s burning, even as such as much till my heart’s fluttering. I got a cramp, pain, right at this minute, just shooting back and forth, up and down through here. Weak, nervous, trembly; catch a hold here and squeeze; got my toes squeezed up in my shoes. I felt anything but come down here. Why did I come, then? Because I love God. Live or die, I must stand here for Him. It’s not because I have to. He wouldn’t care about whether I did or not. I’d…If I’d die I’d go to Heaven, anyhow. But I’m coming because I love Him. You serve God because you love Him, not because you just got to do it. Because you love Him enough!
(Wives and husbands)
110 And you love the Lord with all your heart, you don’t have to worry about these things. If you make a mistake, you don’t sin willfully, you just done something wrong. See, you’ve slipped back. True, you was up here in fellowship, you’ve dropped back down in this muss down here again. 62-0527 - "Questions And Answers"
(Eagle in a cage)
119 Yes, yes, sister, brother, ever who wrote this, if you have fallen down here that don’t mean you’re lost. You’re just an eagle got into a pen, that’s all. You’re caged-up down here in sin again.
You don’t want to be there, that’s the reason you’re looking upward. There you are, “Oh, Brother Branham, I once lived up there, is there a way here?” Yes. 62-0527 - "Questions And Answers"
(Johnny Crow)
124 You may think you’re tied, too, brother, sister, that wrote this question. You may think the devil has got you tied down there, but he’s lying. There was one time a Man come to earth, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He untied you. Don’t you believe it; you don’t have to stay down there, no, sir, you’re free. That’s right. He died in your place to take away your sins. You just believe on Him, flop your wings and fly away with the rest of them. Don’t stay in that pit of the devil. No, sir. Now. Will you lay hands upon me and free from that?
125 Sister dear or brother dear, sure, I’d lay hands on you, but that wouldn’t free you. What would free you, you’re…is to understand that you’re already free. You’re already untied. You don’t have to worry about being free, you’re already free! Jesus made you free. Be not again entangled in the yoke of bondage. You’re free as you can be. You don’t have to be tangled up. Laying my hands on you is just a tradition. We might do that. That, why, I could do that, but that still wouldn’t set you free until you accept what He done for you; that’s just me saying “Lord, I believe It.”
126 Well, you just lay your hands by faith upon Him, say, “Lord, I believe It,” up you come. That’s right, confess your sins. See, “He that hides his sins will not prosper, covers his sins. But he that will confess his sins…” There’s where you get freedom and justification, when you’re willing to say “I’m sinned, I’m wrong.” That’s what you said here:
I have fallen, I am sinned. I’m dead wrong! Is there a chance for me to be whole again?
127 Absolutely! The minute that you desire It, that shows that God dropped the Lifeline down to pick you up. Just rise up on His Lifeline of faith and prayer, move right on up into the rest of the eagles like that, go flopping away. That’s right. 62-0527 - "Questions And Answers"
Jeremiah uses the word “heal”, which means to cure, to treat by a Physician, also to mend broken pottery, or to restore an altar.
Backsliding is a symptom, not the cause.
When Jehovah promised Israel He would heal their backslidings, He was saying He would take away their desire to backslide. He did that by His death on the cross.
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: For mine anger is turned away from him.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
The Jews will be healed when they recognize their redeemer on the day of atonement.
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem For sin and for uncleanness.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Their desire to backslide will be healed.
If you still have a desire to go back, there is healing for you at the cross.
Bitter waters are made sweet by the cross.
What about those who are born again, and filled with the Holy Ghost, and yet they backslide?
178 Here, friends. If you ever was healed, if you live long enough you’re going to get sick again. But if you one time take that Token, you’ve had It forever. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the Day of your Redemption.”
Not to the next revival; you wasn’t sealed; you got emotionally worked up. “But you are dead, and your life is hid in God, through Christ, and you are sealed by the Holy Ghost.”
If you are once baptized into that Holy Spirit! Now, you can backslide, that is true. But you can’t get away from that Seal. You’re sealed into It. 64-0208 - "The Token"
When we get wounded or hurt in our bodies, there is a natural process of healing. Life itself heals the hurt.
When we get wounded in our spirit realm, through emotions, memory, conscience and so forth, there is a natural healing process in our spirit as well.
As Christians we backslide in this Spirit realm.
123 He watches you. He knows every thought that’s in your mind. He knows every action you make. He knows everything about you. That’s right.
124 You say, “But, I’ve backslid, Brother Branham.” That don’t make a bit of difference. He knows just exactly what you backslid over. He knows just exactly where you’re at. 57-0407E - "Then Jesus Came"
Cancer is a demon that found a weakness in your body, usually genetic, or it could be scarring from tobacco use, or something else. My dad had bladder cancer, but he didn’t inherit it, and he wasn’t a smoker. The doctor said it was probably caused by kidney stones.
Now, a cancer in the natural realms would be a scavenger, buzzard, eats dead things. A cancer comes from a bruise. A bruised cell, usually is where it’s comes from.
The cell is bruised. All mashed up. And that cau—it’s otherwise, the cell is backslidden. If something happens in there that fails to get the function of blood to it right. And through there Satan, the author of death, which God is the Author of Life, Satan, the author of death, puts a demon in there, called a devil, demon, called cancer.
Cancer is not its name. Medical science just give it a cancer. The word cancer come the word crab. And then, it means with legs and things that runs out. And like other diseases, they’re given medical terms.
Then that little cancer comes in there, first it is a spirit. Then it gets into a backslidden cell, or a bruised cell, or a cell that’s not operating right.
That’s what happens in the church. When he gets someone failing to operate with the church, someone failing, and pulling off, and getting indifferent, that’s a cancer in the church.
It’s a devil in that person. That’s right. And that causes the whole church to be sick over it. The best thing to do is to have a spiritual operation.
Now, but in this, this little cell backslid, and the cancer come in. The cancer, then it lays there. First it’s a—it’s a spirit. Then it forms a teeny little cell of it’s own. And this little cell becomes it’s first…I couldn’t call the big words for it, but the first form of life, is the cancer, painless. No one knows it’s happening.
And now, this little cell is born; it must feed. In order to feed, it has to feed on your bloodstream. Just like you fed on the bloodstream in the—when in the mother’s womb. You fed on the substance that she eat and so forth. So does this cancer feed on the substance of your body.
It’s one little cell. Then it grows; it’s begins to feed. Another cell breaks out; another cell breaks out; another cell breaks out, and after while, cell on cell, cell on cell, tumor, cataract, whatever it may be, grows bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, larger, spreading out, more cells, more cells. 54-0719A - "God's Provided Way Of Healing"
For years science said this wasn’t true, but now state:
From sciencedirect.com
This idea has already been forwarded by Alexander Haddow who suggested that “tumor production is a possible overhealing” (Haddow, 1972) and Harold Dvorak who stated that “tumors are wounds that do not heal” (Dvorak, 1986).
When God says “I’m going to heal your backslidings” he is saying, “I’m going to heal the wound that caused it”.
If the wound is not healed, the backsliding will continue.
He has to heal us.
When we attempt healing by psychology or self help or self determination, the devil gets into it.
You wouldn’t take a knife and try to remove a cancer yourself, why would you attempt to heal your own spirit?
We try so many home remedies, but there is a cure.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
In Second Kings 1 Ahaziah looked for answers from the gods of the Canaanites, but Jehovah was in the land. He was looking to the wrong source for healing.
How does He heal a cancer of the spirit?
First, you must recognize you need healing, and that He is your only hope.
Peter had to be rebuked by the Apostle Paul to his face, before he quit eating only with Jews.
The Word preached makes you realize “I’m not living right”.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Many times we’re sick, and we refuse to get help.
There is no shame in confessing your backslidden condition.
All right, the shepherd can’t afford to lose the sheep. That’s the reason, you backslider tonight, He’s still honking—haunt—hanging around your heart, trying to draw you back to the fold, because He once kissed you, and you kissed Him and told Him that you loved Him and raised your hands and praised Him, and you backslid and went out there, and got all butchered up and wounded up in your spirit. But He still holds around you all the time, “Come on back, wandering sheep. I just can’t afford to let you be lost.” Maybe the little sheep that He had to go way out on the mountain to find, all through the place, maybe you’re that sheep tonight, laying out there wounded somewhere. But the shepherd can’t afford to lose one sheep. 56-0403 - "Shepherd Of The Sheepfold"
Being wounded doesn’t make you backslid, but when the wound is not healed correctly, by the balm of Gilead, many times Satan enters in.
If your spirit realm is not healed, it will affect your interaction with the body of Christ.
If you remain that way, it will destroy you, yet your soul is saved.
241 And every man or woman, hallelujah, that’s ever born thoroughly of the Spirit of God, you may backslide. Yes, sir. When you go back out, you’ll be the most miserable person that you ever dreamed of in your life, till you return. And if you fail to do it, God will take your life off the earth. God promised to do it.
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
The strange story of Brother Ramsey
452 Now, if you commit sin here, you’re going to pay for it.
453 Just keep coming in my mind, I’ve just got to tell it. I’ve tried to quench it off, four or five times. I have to say it. How many remembers this brother, pastor, that used to be over here at the church of God? … He was a God-saved man.
454 Remember, if you don’t walk up to the correction, and you do something wrong as a Christian, God will warn you. And then if you don’t take the warning, He will just take you right off the earth. That’s what He done.
455 You remember, in the Bible? Look at that Corinthian church. He told them what they was, positionally, in Christ. But he warned them of what was going to happen. And they corrected themselves, got straightened out, with God.
456 And this little brother, he was a wonderful little brother, I believe, a God-saved man. And he got him a job down here at the…at Vorgang’s. If some of his people is setting here, I hope you don’t think that I…I don’t know you if you’re setting here. But, Ramsey, Brother Ramsey, how many remembers Brother Ramsey up here at the Church of God? Sure, you do, wonderful little man. And he used to come to my house and we’d talk together, and we’d set there and weep and hold one another’s hands; a real Christian.
457 One day I went into it down there, just come from overseas in a meeting, had my car checked up, Brother Ramsey said, “What can I do for you, Billy?”
458 I said, “Check her up, Brother Ramsey. Change the oil.”
459 “Okay,” he said, “fine, dandy.” Said, “You have a nice meeting?”
460 I said, “Oh, Brother Ramsey, it was wonderful.” I said, “I wish you could go with me sometime. Why don’t you go with me?”
He said, “I don’t serve the Lord no more, Billy.”
I looked around, I said, “What’d you say?”
461 He just kind of said, “I don’t serve Him no more,” walked away.
462 I thought, “Oh, he’s just going on.” I went on, went somewhere.
463 Come back and got in my car. I come up home, and I begin to think about that, “I don’t serve the Lord no more.”
464 The Lord put it on my heart to go back and ask him again. So, I said, “Meda, just hold the fort.”
465 And I got in, and got in my car and went back down, stopped again, went into Vorgang’s. I said, “Brother Ramsey, I want to ask you a question.”
Said, “All right, Billy, what is it?”
I said, “You said, a while ago, you don’t serve the Lord no more. You was just teasing me, wasn’t you?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Brother Ramsey, you—you don’t mean that.”
He said, “Yes.”
I said, “Don’t you love Him?”
He said, “If I loved Him, I’d serve Him, wouldn’t I, Billy?” walked away.
I thought. “Say, Brother Ramsey!”
Said, “I don’t want to talk no more about it.”
466 I went home, went in the room, shut the door. And, oh, you know how you feel real heavy, like you’d taken the cookies away from a baby or something, you know. I—I thought, “What? It can’t be. Surely something has happened to Brother Ramsey.”
467 And there’s a little colored boy, named Jimmy, he comes here to church. Got one leg, you know; he limps, kind of. I forget his name, works down there at Vorgang’s, runs a wrecker. He met me, and he said, “You know, Rev. Branham,” he said, “I don’t know about this here Dr. Ramsey around here.” He said, “I told him, the other day, said, ‘We all was scared to even open our mouth around here.’ Said, ‘You was a godly man.’ But,” said, “He took his preacher’s license and went over to the basket and tore them apart, and throwed them in the basket, said, ‘I don’t want nothing to do with it no more.’”
He said, “Hey, mister!” Said, “You oughtn’t to do that.”
He said, “Oh, Jim, I’m through serving the Lord.”
So he went on, said, “You don’t mean that.”
468 And said, “Then he told me, said he’s coming down to grind his valves, on Labor Day,” I believe it was. “And he said, ‘Now, I want you to come help me, Jim.’”
469 He said, “I’ll help you after I come from church, but first I is going to church.”
470 Said he went back down, “And Mr. Ramsey was grinding the valves on his car. He said, ‘Jimmy, slip over the river. The saloons is closed here. Slip over the river and get me a case of beer.’”
471 He said, “Mr. Ramsey, I has been guilty of many things, but never will I be guilty of getting a servant of the Lord a case of beer.” He said, “No, sir. I’ll never do that.”
472 And he said, “Well, go on. Get it, Jim.”
473 He said, “Mr. Ramsey, I grind your valves. But if you get any beer, you’ll go get it yourself.” He said, “I ain’t going to never get a servant of the Lord anything like that.”
474 So Ramsey jumped in Jimmy’s car, took over the river; come back, half teed up, with a case of beer, drinking it.
475 He started going down, and got sick. See? God couldn’t speak to him. I warned him, I done everything I could. Brother Smith went to him and warned him. Everybody tried to do everything they could for him. Still, he just shook his head. What happened? He took sick and died. That showed that he was a saved man. If God could not make him…bring him in obedience, He will have to take him out of the earth and bring him Home. That’s exactly what the Bible said. That’s what the Bible promises. If you won’t stand correction, you’ve got to come on Home.
476 So God cannot lose you after He’s saved you, but He can shorten your days here, and make you pay for every sin you’ve done. So, if you sin, you’re going to have to pay for what you’ve done. Just remember that.
477 Now, now the Lord be with you. I believe, tonight, that Brother Ramsey was saved. Absolutely, I believe it. But he just wouldn’t obey God, and when he wouldn’t obey God, God had to bring him Home.
57-0908E - "Hebrews, Chapter Six #2"