Once Was Blind
July 1996
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Instead of focusing on how the Message is being spread in the world today, this month I would like to take you back in time almost 50 years, and share with you a testimony that was a blessing to me.
When Christians see the power of Jesus Christ manifested before their eyes in reality and power, they love to testify and share this knowledge with others, that they, also, might find faith in the Lord Jesus.
Brother Branham said,
“There's something about the Gospel, when we hear the good news, we like to tell others, don't we. Everybody gets saved wants to tell everybody else. Everybody gets healed wants to tell somebody else.”
50-0716 Believest Thou This?
And thus it was that day in August, 1947, when a young man set out to share his personal belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and His power to heal with people he knew in his locality.
Having seen so many miracles take place in another one of Brother Branham’s meetings only days earlier, he began inviting people to attend the forthcoming meetings Brother Branham was about to hold in his home city of Calgary, Alberta.
He came to the home of one French Canadian man who he knew was not a Christian. He rang the door bell, and when the owner answered, he invited him to the oncoming meetings in Calgary.
“I don’t believe in your God!” the man exclaimed with a bitter, hardened edge to his words.
Shocked at this abrupt reply, the Christian man asked why he would make such a statement.
“Come in and sit down. I want to show you something,” said the French Canadian man, leading the young man into his living room. He then excused himself, to return a few moments later leading a little girl into the room.
“This is why I don’t believe in your God!” exclaimed the girl’s father.
The young Christian man turned to look at the little girl. Her dark hair framed a delicate face with soft features and a timid smile that wind its way into any daddy’s heart. But where her eyes should have been, there was only empty sockets in the skin. The child had been born without eyes!
“Here, feel her face!” commanded her father. Hardly able to believe his own eyes, the young man gently touched the concave, smooth skin beneath her dark brows. The empty sockets were hard, just skin with bone behind it. “What do you think of your big God now?” asked her father, sarcastically.
Shocked but undaunted, the young man’s faith did not waiver. The miracles and wonders he had witnessed in Brother Branham’s meetings only days before were fresh on his mind.
“There is a man of God coming to Edmonton,” the young man said, enthusiastically. “Let me take her to the meetings to be prayed for. I really believe God can give her eyes.”
That was a bold statement to make, and even harder for the embittered father to accept. He hesitated, but then said, “Well, if she gets eyes, we will believe in your God.”
The evening meetings in Edmonton were held at the arena, and in those early days of Brother Branham’s ministry, the building was filled to capacity long before the service began. When the prayer line began, the little girl took her place in the long line that wound around the interior of the arena.
As each person walked before the prophet of God, we can only speculate as to what thoughts were in her little mind, or in that of her parents. A mother or father would doubtless cling to any shred of hope that might be presented to them. Was this Jesus Christ of Whom this man spoke really the Creator of the universe? Would that God create new eyes in these bare sockets? Could the prayers of this humble man really bring such a miracle to pass?
Finally it was her turn. With the Christian man only steps away on the platform, she was brought before the small man with thinning dark hair and kind eyes that seemed to be able to look into one’s very soul. But she could not see him, for she had no eyes with which to perceive his appearance. The moment he spoke to her, however, any fear she may have had must have vanished in the presence of a love that was purer and stronger than that even of her beloved mother.
Brother Branham prayed for her, but nothing happened. He prayed for her a second time. Again, nothing had changed about her appearance. The third time, however, the prophet of God laid his hands over her face, covering the bare, empty sockets. His prayer was simple, “Lord Jesus, just put Your eyes in her.” He held his hands for only a matter of seconds, maybe a minute over her eye sockets before he said, “There you are, dear!”
When he removed his hands from her face, there were eyes in what had been empty sockets!
He called the young Christian man by name and said, “Would you come over here put your fingers on her eyes.”
Obediently the young man stepped up and very, very gently touched the very dark brown, long lashed eyes of the child who, moments before, had stood only a few feet away from him with empty eye sockets! “Not only were there eyes in those sockets,” he said, “but they were French eyes!"
As the result of this miracle, both her mother and father repented of their sins and accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior!
Our young Christian brother is now an old man. He does not remember the name of the family or what happened to them other than that from that day they served the Lord.
Somewhere in Canada there likely is a middle-aged lady with exceptionally beautiful dark brown eyes. She may not remember too much about that August night almost a half century ago, but certainly she can say like the man in the 9th chapter of John, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
And He went right out, and there was a man that didn't even have eyeballs in his sockets. And He made some clay and plastered his eyes, told him, "Go wash in the pool Siloam." And, when he did, he come back seeing.
60-0626 The Unfailing Realities Of The Living God
Dear Christian friend:
What IF.....
We often wonder, what if this had not happened, or what if that had never taken place. As we ponder the testimony in this month’s Lifeline, we cannot help but wonder, “What if this young Christian man had not been willing to testify to this family?” Had that been the case, you would not have been reading this testimony today, the little girl would have never received new eyes, and her parents may not have ever accepted the Lord.
As Christians, we have a duty to tell others of what we have seen and heard. Brother Branham said, “Maybe you can’t cross the sea, but you can cross the street. Let’s do something. Let’s do something for the glory of God.”
Thank you so much for your contributions to Voice Of God Recordings, Inc. The ongoing work of distributing this Message in print and audio recordings in over two dozen languages would not be possible without the help of God's people.
Brother Joseph M. Branham
And I'll--I--I'll do my duty as a Christian; I'll testify.
61-0516A Jesus Christ The Same Yesterday, And Today, And Forever