Branham Stories
A Very Present Help In Times Of Trouble – A Guide (Part Two)
I got one time where I thought that I was kind of a good woodsman, you know, hunted so much. I thought, "I'm just foolproof, nobody's going to... You couldn't lose me. My mom was a half Indian, and I loved that. Oh, my! You can't lose me in the woods, I know where I'm at."
And off my honeymoon, I kind of cheated a little bit on the wife, I told her, "You know, honey, it'd be a good thing for us to get married on October twenty-third." Course, that's when the Lord told me to do.
And I thought, "Now, for a little honeymoon, I saved up my money, and I'll take her over by Niagara Falls, and go over on the Adirondack and do a little hunting." See? So I took her and Billy, he was just a little bitty thing. And so I had to take her on a honeymoon, and it was on a hunting trip, too, you know. So--so I thought that'd be a good thing to do. And so I took her up, and the...
I wrote to Mr. Denton, the ranger. And we was going up on Hurricane Mountain. And I said, "Mr. Denton, I'm coming up, I want to hunt some bear with you this fall."
And he said, "Okay, Billy, come on up." So he said, "I'll be up there on a certain-certain date." Well, wife and I got there a day early, and Billy, and so the cabin was locked up. There was a little lean-to back up on the woods.
Where, Brother Fred Sothmann and I went not long ago and stood there. The Holy Spirit, I seen Him standing there, that yellow Light moving around in the bush, and Fred standing right there. He said, "Come aside, I want to speak to you. Tomorrow," said, "be careful, they set a trap for you." Said, "Be alert!" Is that right, Brother Fred? And I went and told hundreds of people that night, over in Vermont, I said "There's a trap set for me; I'm going to see it. I don't know where it's at." And the very next night, there it come, there it was. Said, "Here is the trap that's set." Yes, sir. But the Holy Spirit led me in what to do. And, oh, my, that was just right! Oh, many of you know what it was. I haven't time to tell it.
But standing there at that place that time, it just begin to turn cold that day. Mr. Denton was coming up the next day, I said, "You know, honey, it'd be nice if I got a--a big buck to take home." I said, "We did... I had to save these pennies, and we just got married." And I said, "We'd get our winter's meat if I'd get a little hunt today."
And she said, "Well, go ahead, Billy." Said, "Now, you remember, I never was in these woods," she said. She was about twenty-five miles up in the mountains, you know, and she said, "I don't know nothing about this." And she said, "So I'm..."
I said, "Well, now, you remember, it was two years ago I killed those three bear. That was right back over top of the mountain over there." And I said, "Now, I'll get a big buck and we'll get some bear," and I said, "we'll have our winter's meat in." Well, that sound pretty good, you know. (And we picked blackberries, and got our coal for that--for that winter; and so then Billy sold them, and Meda and I picked them of an evening after I got off of my patrol.) So then I--I said, "Well, I'm going to pick up my rifle, I'm going down here." I said, "There's a lot of deer in here, I'll find one." And I said, "You know," I said, "then I'll get him." And I said, "We'll... I'll be back in a little while."
She said, "Okay."
So, when I started off, it was kind of low. And any of you New Hampshire people, and up in there in the New England, knows what it means when that fog comes down, or anywhere else in the mountains, you don't know where you're at. That's all. You can't see your hand before you. So then I started down through a--a little chopping, like, come down, and went over across the ridge and come up. And I noticed a panther, you'd call it here in this part of the country. We call it, in the West, a cougar. They call it, up there, a mountain lion. It's all the same animal. It's a puma, really what it is. Same cat, about nine-foot long, weight about a hundred fifty, two hundred pounds. He crossed the road, and I slipped the gun real quick, not fast enough to get the shot at him.
Well, I slipped on up over the hill, chasing this cougar, watching the leaves where he had moved, you know. I could hear him. He had four feet. I knowed he wasn't a two-footed animal, his four feet. And I knowed he wasn't a deer, 'cause a deer stomps. And he would slip real easy, the cat, you know, like that. And a bear rolls his feet when he walks. And so I knew it must be a cougar. And he was behind a log and I didn't see him, till just got a glimpse of him, he was gone.
And I watched where he disturbed the leaves, you know, up over the top of the mountain, and down like this, and I wasn't watching that cloud coming all the time, you know, coming down the fog. I slipped down, went down through a great valley and went out into the Giants, following this cougar. I thought, "I'll catch him after a while." I'd see a place, and I'd run up on a high place, and look all around like that, and peep around, see if I could see him; listen real close, and get down, slip down again. You could hear the brush go crashing, way ahead of me, as going out. See, he was hitting the trees then so I couldn't trail him. See, he got smart, got up in the trees and jumping from tree to tree. Then he knowed I couldn't trail him there. Oh, I thought, "Oh, anyhow!"
And I started back up the canyon, and I whiffed a bear, an old male bear. I thought, "I'll get him now, boy, that's good!" I whiffed again, and I went a little farther, and I watched for all kinds of signs and everything. I couldn't see a thing; turned back down, and went back down the other side of the mountain. And then I begin to notice, getting a little foggy. And I'd whiff again, he was in the air somewhere. I said, "No. Now, what happened, the wind was coming this way, and I come... The bear whiff come from this down that way, and I've crossed around now and the wind's coming from this other direction. So I have to go back to where I smelled the bear the first time, and take it from there."
And on my road back, I looked across the canyon, I seen the bushes move. And when I did, something black moved. I thought, "There he is." I throwed a shell up in the gun, real quick, and stood still. And, when it did, it was a great big buck, great big one. I thought, "That's just what I was wanting, anyhow." Shot the buck.
I thought, "Well!" I never noticed it was kind of... Time I got him fixed up, looked... I cleaned off my hands and fixed my knife, put it back. And I thought, "Praise God! Thank You, Lord Jesus, You've give me my winter's meat. Praise be to God!" And I got my gun. I thought, "I'll go right back up the canyon here now." I said, "Look at here, boy, storm's coming. I better get out of here and get back over to Meda and them." I said, "I have to hurry."
Up the canyon I went, unbuttoned my big red coat, and I was running up the canyon like this, around. The first thing you know, I thought, "My, where did I turn off at?" Wind was already down, the trees lapping together. I thought, "Where did I turn off at?" I went around. I--I knowed I was going right straight to Hurricane Mountain. But I happened to stop, and I was sweating, I thought, "What's the matter here? I've been gone a half hour, or three quarters, and I can't find that place I turned off." I looked up, and there hung my deer. I was right at the same place. I thought, "Well, what did I do?"
Well, I took off again. I thought, "I'll make it this time, I just wasn't noticing." I watched every little move everywhere, watching. I kept searching, searching, searching. Them clouds coming, I know a snowstorm was on the road, fog hanging low, and then I begin to notice. I thought, "I'll go a little further," went on, on, on, on, on, on, on. And I thought, "Well, this is strange, look like I've seen this place before." And I looked, and there hung my deer. See?
You know what I was on? The Indians call it the "death walk." See, you're walking in a circle, round and around. Well, I thought I was too good a guide to ever be lost. See, nothing had to tell me in the woods, I knowed my way around. See?
And I started off again. I said, "I can't make this mistake." And I come back again.
I moved up the canyon a little piece, then it had done started blowing. Oh, my, snow everywhere! Almost towards dark. And I knew that Meda would die that night in the wilderness, she didn't know how to take care of herself. And Billy was just about four years old, three years old, just a little bitty thing. And I thought, "What will they do?" Well, I got up this far and I hit some moss bed, I thought, "I'm in a flat somewhere, and I can't see nothing, it's all foggy." I was going around now.
Ordinarily, I'd have found me a place and hold up, if I had somebody with me. I'd hold up and wait till the storm was over, a day or two, and come on out. Cut my piece of deer... over my back, and went in, eat, and forgot about it. But you can't do that, and your wife and baby laying up there in the woods, perishing. See?
So I begin to think, "What can I do?" So I went a little farther. And I thought, "Now, wait. When I crossed over that first valley, the wind was in my face, so I must have come this way. I've got to come this way." And I had wandered way down in the Giants, but I didn't know where I was at. I said, "Oh!" I begin to get nervous. And I thought, "Wait a minute, Bill, you're not lost," trying to bluff myself. You can't bluff it. No, no. That inner conscience tells you you're wrong.
Oh, you--you try to say, "Oh, I'm saved, I go to church." Don't you worry, you wait till that deathbed comes, and you'll know it's different. Your conscience tells you. Something inside of you tells you you're wrong. See? You know if you'd die you couldn't meet a holy God. As we seen Him last night, even the holy Angels have to veil their face to stand before Him. How are you going to stand outside the Blood of Jesus Christ to veil you?
I thought, "Oh, I'll make it." I started on. And I found out I kept hearing Something. Then I got nervous. And I thought, "Now, if I do that, I'm going to go to pieces." That's usually what a lost man does, he goes to pieces in the woods. Then he'll take his gun, shoot himself; or fall over a ditch and break his leg, and there he lays, he'll die there. So I thought, "What am I going to do?" So I started walking on.
And I kept hearing Something saying, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble." I just kept walking on.
I thought, "Now, I know I'm getting a little bit off now, I'm hearing a voice talk to me." I kept going on. I went, "whew, whew, whew," whistling, you know. I thought, "Now, I'm not lost. You know where you're at, boy! What's the matter with you? You can't get lost. You're--you're too good a hunter, you can't get lost." Self-bragging, you know, making myself bluff myself through.
You can't bluff it. Way down here there's a little wheel turning, saying, "Boy, you're lost and you know you are. See, you're lost."
I kept moving on. "Oh, I'm not lost! I'll be all right. I'll find my way out." Things begin to look funny, winds close. Snow begin to flying, the little hominy snow, we call it "spitting down." I thought, "A wife and baby! I'm not..." I thought, "Oh, my!"
Directly I heard That again, said, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble." And I was a minister of the Gospel then, preaching right here at the tabernacle.
So I thought, "Well, what can I do?" I stopped, looked everywhere, and there was fog already down now. I... That was it. Nothing could be done then. I thought, "Oh, what can I do?" I thought, "Sir, I'm not fit to live, I've had too much self-confidence. I thought I was a hunter, but I'm not."
And, brother, I've always trusted Him. Shooting, I've got records up there. And a fisherman, I'm a poor one, but I've always trusted Him. Shots, I'm a poor shot, but He's let me make world records on it. See? Shoot deer, seven, eight hundred yard. Got a gun up there killed thirty-five head of game without missing a shot with it. Just read that anywhere, if you can. See? Not me, it's Him. I've trusted Him.
There I was, I thought, "What can I do? What can I do?"
I kept... That getting closer, closer, "I'm a very present Help in a time of trouble, a very present Help."
I thought, "Is that God talking to me?" I took off my hat. I had my patrol hat, red handkerchief wrapped around it. I laid it down. Took off my coat, it was moist. And I laid my coat down, set my gun up against the side of a tree. I said, "Heavenly Father, now I'm getting beyond myself, I'm hearing a voice speaking to me. Is that You?" I said, "Lord, I'm going to admit to You that I ain't no hunter. I ain't, I--I can't find my way around. You have to help me. I'm not fit to live, and doing the things that I've done, coming in here and thinking I knowed too much about it to ever get lost. I need You, Lord. My wife is a good woman. My baby, my little boy, his mother's gone on, and she's trying to be mother to him, and I've just married her. And here she is, a kid, there in the woods, they'll both die tonight. That wind, it'll turn down about ten below zero, and they won't know how to live. They'll die tonight. Don't let them die, God. Take me to them, so that I can see that they don't die. I'm lost! I'm lost, God! I--I can't find my way around. Won't You please help me? And forgive, me for my own self-centered way! I can't do nothing without You, You're my Guide. You help me, Lord."
I got up, and I said, "Amen." Picked up my handkerchief; my coat, picked it up; put my hat back on; picked up my gun. I said, "Now I'll fix myself in the very best way that I know how to go, the very best of my understanding; and I'll go straight one way, 'cause I'm walking around a circle somewhere, I don't know where. But I'll go the way You tell me, Lord God, my Guide."
I started walking this way. I said, "This is it, and I have to make myself believe it. I'm going this way. I'm going straight this way. I'm not going to vary, I'm going this way. I know I'm right. I'm going this way." If I'd have went that way, I'd headed off over in Canada. See?
Just then I felt Something touch me on my shoulder, a hand, it felt like a man's hand, so quick that I turned around to look. There was nobody standing there. I thought, "What was that?" Here's the Bible laying before me. God, my Guide and Judge, is standing here. I just looked up. And right back this way, that fog just cleared back till I could see the tower on top of Hurricane Mountain. Going right straight away from it, the best of my hunting ability, I was going away from it, getting real late in the evening then. I turned real quick, directing myself like this. I took hold of my hat and raised up my hands, I said, "Guide me over, God, You're my Guide."
I started. I had to go right straight up bluffs and everything getting there, later and later. Then it got dark. Deers was jumping in front of me, and everything. I couldn't think of nothing but keeping myself one way, right up this mountain.
And I know if I could get to the tower, Mr. Denton and I... I helped put the line up that spring. We tacked the telephone wire from the Hurricane Mountain, all the way down about three and a half or four miles, right down to the camp. And it went right down a little trail, but, the snow on there, you couldn't tell the trail. See? And the wind blowing and everything, it was dark and blizzard and, going, you couldn't tell where you was at. Well, the only thing I knew to do, after it got dark, and I didn't know... I know I was going one way, and right up the mountain. Cause I was supposed to go up the mountain, and the tower set right at the top of the mountain, and I had about six miles to get to it. Just think, that fog clearing back, six miles, just one hole, till I could see it!
And then I--I'd pack my rifle in this hand, and hold this hand up, 'cause I had tacked the--the wire on the trees like that going down, the telephone wires to the cabin, so he could talk to his wife, and then call out from there, from the mountain. And I was going to help him take it down that fall. And I had my hand up like this, saying, "O God, let me touch that line." Walk, and my arm would get so sore, tired, I couldn't hardly hold it, and I'd have to let it down. And I'd change the gun and put it in that; step back a couple steps so I'd be sure not to miss it, then raise my hand up, start walking, walking. Getting late, dark, wind blowing. Oh, I'd grab a hold of a limb, I'd say, "That's it! No, that's not it." Oh, it give... Don't let it give an uncertain sound.
After while, when I just about ready to give up, my hand hit something. Oh, my! I had been found, when I was lost. I held to that wire. I dropped the rifle right down, took my hat off of my head, and I stood there. I said, "O God, what a feeling it is to be found, when you're lost." I said, "Right down to the end of this wire, I'll never turn it loose. I'll hold onto this wire. It'll guide me right straight to where all on this earth that's dear to me is laying, right down there. My wife and baby, frantically, not knowing where I am, not knowing how to make a fire, not knowing what to do, and winds blowing, and limbs popping and falling off of trees." I was daresn't to let go of that wire. I held that wire until it guided me right in to where all that was dear on earth was to me.
That was a horrible experience, and a great experience to find my way out, but that wasn't half of it. One day I was lost in sin. I went church after church, trying to find Something. I went to the Seventh-day Adventists, they told me, "Keep the Sabbath, quit eating meat." I went over to the Baptist church, first Baptist church, he said, "Just get up and tell them that you believe Jesus Christ the Son of God, and I'll baptize you, that's it." There wasn't nothing. But one day, out in a little coal shed, I held my hands up, I caught a hold of Something; or, may I say, Something got a hold of me. It was a Lifeline, the Guide. And He's led me safe this far, I ain't going to take my hand off of that Wire. I'm holding my hands to Him. Let creeds, the denominations do whatever they want to, I'm holding onto the Guide. For all that was ever on earth and all that's in Heaven, ever means precious to me, is at the end of this Line. He's brought me safely this far, I'll trust Him the rest the way. "When He the Holy Ghost is come, He will guide you and lead you into all..."
Friends, It's brought me where I am today. It's made me what I am. I can gladly introduce It to you. It's the only Guide that I know anything about, for here on earth or up There. He is my Guide when I go hunting. He's my Guide when I go fishing. He's my Guide when I talk to somebody. He's my Guide when I preach. He's my Guide when I sleep.
And when I come to die, He'll be standing at the river. He'll guide me across the way. "I'll fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they'll correct me and guide me across the river."
Let us pray"
