In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of spreading the gospel to the four corners of the earth. He emphasizes that the love of many will grow cold as the end times approach. The preacher warns against delaying one's submission to God, highlighting the danger of sudden death. He shares a story of a man who mocked God and Christianity, but tragically died in a car accident shortly after. The sermon serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the urgency of accepting salvation.

We're finally reading tonight in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as he saw, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, for ye know how that afterward, when he would inherit the blessing. He was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 16th, 17th verses, 12th chapter of Hebrews. Since this is my last service with you tonight, you'll permit me to take a moment of your time to thank you for letting me come again. I shall be eternally grateful to you that you've invited me back to your great church. I shall always appreciate that honor and privilege of being here with you and with your fine pastor. It's been a real blessing to be in a number of your homes and have fellowship with you. I'll have been here, and it's been a real strength to us and encouragement to us to come back and see your consecration and dedication in this church. Far and in between, scarcer ever year that we find churches like yours. So united together, so sweet-spirited, such a manifestation of love one for the other. It's a rare find in America today. Then for the dedication of your lives, not a lot of worldliness and carelessness in your lives, but dedicated. I see great future for your church, because of all these sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters that God has let come with you. Only God knows how much impact you're having on the lives of these boys and girls as they come and worship with you. That means there'll be a future to this church second to none. You have such wonderful families and such great spirit of love and unity. I'm grateful for the privilege of coming and seeing and observing what I think a church ought to be, and yours is what I think it ought to be. God bless you for it to keep it that way. I'm grateful for your pastor, and I know you are. He's so far above the average that it's unusual. And we just thank God for the dedication on his part, separation to the will of God. He's being used mightily all over this country. As I travel around this country from meeting to meeting, I hear so many good reports of your pastor where he's been. And I think it's so wonderful that you're willing to share him with others. You could be selfish and demand that he stay here with you. But you've got such a fine spirit and compassion for a lost world that you're willing to share him with others. And he's helping others, helping preachers and churches across this nation. And of course you have to do without him when he's here, but remember you're sharing him with others. And how God's using him, and it's you that's sharing, not just necessarily him. Because he's your pastor and you could require him to stay here, I'm conscious of that. But you want to share him with others, and you're sharing him with others. And he's having a tremendous influence across this country. On preachers and on churches. You're fortunate to have a preacher that everybody wants to hear. I'd hate to have a pastor nobody didn't want to hear. But other folks want to hear him. He's a very valuable man. I thank God for him and for his wife, who's so concerned and sympathetic right along with him. Praise God for them. And I shall always be grateful that I've had that privilege. Be good to him. He tells us in the book of Timothy, that a man of his ability, that preaches the word, stays in the book, and preaches the doctrine, is worthy of double pay. So don't get it in your head that you're paying him too much. You're not. You think it's too much, then double it. That's what the book said in the book of Timothy. It's worth double paying, it is. We start to realize sometimes and think great pastors like that, well he's getting too much. No, your doctor gets a lot more than that. Your banker gets a lot more than that. And a lot of other folks get a lot more than that. Your lawyers, your congressmen. A lot of people pay more than the preachers pay. And don't do as much good for your community as they're doing. And so don't ever get it in your head, well that's too much. You can't do too much for a man of God, like him. So you just keep on keeping on. Then I want to thank you personally, not only personally, but on behalf of Myrtle Baptist Church, and people from all over this nation for your contribution to our camp. That regular contribution that you send each month has kept us going at times when it would have been very difficult to keep on if your gift each month had not helped us. And the contribution your church makes each month to our camp is a tremendous blessing. And I don't know anywhere I'd say it if I wasn't even a member of Myrtle Baptist Church and I wasn't connected with the camp. Knowing what I know, I don't know a place on the face of the earth you can invest your dollar in missions and do more than just doing that. It's touching more preachers. The camp's iron is touching more pastors, more churches, and more homes than any other one place on the face of the earth can take. There's been almost 2,000 young preachers, serenity of preachers on the ground, and several thousand have been saved on the ground, saying nothing of the impact and the influence it has had and the encouragement it's been to preachers across the nation. And so I just want to thank you on behalf of Myrtle Baptist Church and myself and Camp Zion for your contribution through the years. There have been times when it was real difficult to meet the maintenance of the camp, and yet when your check had come and helped us tide it over. And I want you to know how grateful we are for that. And we shall be eternally grateful. And when you see the great ministry that the camp is performing, remember it's part of your performance, too, because of your giving. We could not do it without it. And I hope many of you can come to the camp. Our next one will be October 26 through 28. That's Monday after the fourth Sunday in October. Then the next one will be March 1982, 1982, which is next year in March, 15 through 18. That's Monday after the second Sunday in March. You get the date, just remember it's Monday after the second Sunday in March. And we have some great men of God there. We have preachers and laymen alike, and God's blessing and God's using men. And so you come and be with us and you'll meet Christians from all over the nation. The camp has grown until we can sleep 2,400 people. We can feed 2,250 at one setting, family style, in the dining hall. And we can seat as many as 3,000 in our tabernacle now. And it's a real blessing. See what God's doing. And I hope you can come and share in it with us this October. Or if you can't in October, be sure to be there in March of next year. And then the other one is in August. The first week of August. Young people and adults. So I just hope you come. It's for preachers and laymen and their wives and young people, anybody that can come. It's for everybody. So you come and be with us. Pray for me that God will extend the time of my life that I may be able to accomplish some things I want to accomplish for his glory before I leave out. You pray for it. I need your prayers. When you think of me, just ask God to extend the span of life that I might be able to do some things for him and his church that I want to do yet before I go from this country. And you just pray for me. Thank you for everything. God bless you is my earnest prayer. May we pray. Our Father tonight, I want to thank you for letting me come back to Beulah again. Lord, I love this place so much. It means so much to me. The people here are so genuine, so lovely, so fine. It always does something to me when I come back. God, I thank you for the renewed strength I've gotten by being here this time. Thank you for Brother Barber, this marvelous pastor you've given him. God, I pray that you'll keep him healthy and keep him alert to the things that surround him, that he may be able to lead this church to greater heights and great experiences. And now, Father, we pray that you'll keep the devil off of him. Keep a hedge about this church. Don't let the devil get into it anywhere. We pray, our Father, for the leadership of the church and each member of it. Oh God, how we pray that you'll get glory in your name out of each one of them. Now, Father, tonight we come praying you'll forgive our sins. Let there be nothing between us and you tonight. Dear God, take thy servant and loose his tongue and illuminate his mind and give us holy omission. Now, Father, we pray tonight you'll form, as it were, a vacuum over this place. Drive back every satanic, demonic force. Leave nothing but your power in this service. We pray that we may hear the cry of newborn babies at this altar tonight. We pray, Evelyn and Papa, that you'll honor this church by letting them sit in the delivery room and watch you birth children in your kingdom here tonight. Let conviction settle in every soul that's not right. We pray that you'll give them the courage to repent and submit to you while there's yet opportunity and privilege to do it. Help us, our Father, tonight, for Jesus' sake. Amen. The devil is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He never ceases. To seek as a roaring lion, vicious, hungry, thirsty lion. If tonight out in your yard there was a vicious wild lion roaring, you wouldn't dare go out there and play with him. You wouldn't dare open the door and invite him into your living quarters, would you? You say, no, preacher, you don't think we're that stupid, do you? Yet my friends, you're inviting one in and fooling with one that's more dangerous than a roaring lion. Satan. But Jesus said, don't be afraid of the one who's able to destroy both body and soul. I mean the body, but fear him who's able to destroy both body and soul, which is the devil. The lion could only tear your body apart and lick up your blood. But Satan can damn your soul and destroy your body too. And he's saying, you better be afraid of him. If there was a murderer loose in the community tonight going from house to house and killing people, you found this out in your yards, you wouldn't go out and fool with him, would you? You wouldn't invite him into the house where your family is, would you? No, we're not that stupid. Yet you'll invite one into your home that's a murderer of both the body and the soul. You'll invite him in with your family and fool with him, deceive him, doom him and damn him. If there was, you run into some rattlesnakes, you wouldn't gather them up and take them into your house, would you, and turn them loose with your family? No, preacher, we've got better sense than that, have you? The Word of God says that the devil is a serpent. And he carries with him poisonous venom that poisons the soul and the mind and the heart of human beings and destroys them. We should not allow him in our homes. He should not be welcomed in our lives or homes at any time. He's a roaring lion. He's a murderer. He's a serpent. And he should be demanded to stay outside. We should pray that God should keep a hedge about us and our family, unless he gets to us. So I say tonight, my friends, the only ambition and desire of the devil is to divide. He's in the wrecking business. He's in the destruction business. He never has been in the salvation business. He's always in the destructive business, debarring business, wretching, ruining. He has no other interest. He has no other concern. He has no other ambition other than to destroy your soul and to separate you from God and leave you doomed and damned forever in eternal hell. That's all the devil's interested in. All of his cohorts, all of his crew is working to that one point of trying to destroy you, get you away from God and get you into the devil's hell. Why would you fool with him? Why would you listen to him? When you know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you've got sense enough getting out of the rain by yourself, if you've got sense enough to stay out of a fire by yourself, you've got sense enough to leave the devil out of your life. And we need to recognize that tonight. He's far more dangerous than fires and snakes and lions and murderers because of the final analysis of what he does to a human being, after a soul. So my friends tonight, fight the devil away. He's ever after each one, and he's going about trying to destroy and defy. Now, the devil has different ways of destroying people. First of all, the devil gives you a bunch of excuses to keep you from becoming a Christian. Did you know tonight everybody that's gone to hell so far went to hell on some excuse? They didn't know their intention. Nobody intentionally went to hell. Nobody wanted to go to hell. The reason they went to hell, they had some excuse for not getting saved that day or that night, and the next thing you know, in hell. If I should go through this community tonight and ask every lost person, why are you not a Christian? They'd immediately give me some excuse. Those of you who sat here that's not saved, if we come to you tonight and ask you, you'd give me some excuse for not being a Christian. The devil fills you full of excuses, and as soon as you wear out one, he'll give you another. He's got a sack full of excuses. And everybody tonight, my friends that's not saved, has got some excuse for not being saved. And they use them. The devil's using you. He's using them on you. You don't intend to go to hell. You don't plan to go to hell. It's not your plan or purpose to go to hell, but you just keep on excusing yourself from today until another day. You've got some kind of excuse for not being saved, and the devil gave you those excuses. The Word of God said in Romans 1, 21, He said, The cause of the manifestation of the eternal Godhead in creation, that man will be without excuse in that day. My friends, God so created everything to declare the Godhead the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. For example, there's three joints in your fingers, three joints in your limbs, three parts to your body, flesh, blood, and bone, three parts to your eye, to your brain, three parts to the organs of your body. Everything about creation, the trees out there, heart, step, and work, whole creation, mineral life, plant life, animal life, everything God ever created declares God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit. So if you never hear or see a Bible, if you never hear a preacher, if you never hear a gospel song or see a church, God will send you to hell because you didn't see Him in creation. He's manifested Himself in creation, and He said, Because of that manifestation of the creation of the eternal Godhead, man will be without excuse. You see, my friends, God never accepts excuses. Do you remember there was a time when a man made a supper, sent his servants out to invite certain ones to the supper, and the one that were invited began with one consent to make excuses. One said, I'm married, I can't come. The other one said, I bought a yoke of oxen, and I must try them, I can't come. The other one said, I bought a piece of property, I must see about it, I can't come. The servant reported to the master. He said, Then go out in the highways and hedges and get whoever you can to come, because the supper's ready. We need folks to take the supper. They went out, and soon the table was filled. And then the master said, Those that were bidden and didn't come were not worthy. That's bad. But he said something worse. That is, Neither shall they ever eat of the supper. One said, I've got a wife, man, why can't he come? What's he saying? He's saying, My wife is more important to me than God. That's an insult to Christ. That time was his blood on the foot, and put your wife above him. That's an insult to the Holy Spirit. That's an insult to God who's created his Son to save your soul. Another said, I've borrowed your conscience, and you're saying to God and the Holy Spirit and to Jesus, My conscience is worth more to me than Jesus Christ. Another said, I bought a piece of property, I've got to look after it. You're putting that property in preference to Jesus Christ. You've properly put the Son of God. You've done despite of the Spirit of grace. You've insulted God. And God said, You're not worthy, and neither shall you ever eat of the supper. My friend, that excuse of his is going to damn you in hell. Get your wife in the way. Get your conscience in the way. Get your property in the way. It's a love of sin that's in your way. Rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior in preference to these other things is excuses. But everybody in hell went to hell with some kind of excuse like that. And so will you, if you don't watch it. As soon as you wear out one excuse, the devil will have others. That's one of the main ways he's got of sending people to hell is through excuses. And I never have understood, what in hell do you want in hell? Why do you want to go to hell? What is the end hell that you want? Why make excuses to not become a Christian and go to hell? What is the end that you want in hell? You shout, Oh, I want it. Okay. You're heading that way if you're making excuses. Devil's got you sewed up with excuses. Then he's got another way of getting people to go to hell. And that is, he's put some scarecrows around in our churches. You call them hypocrites. I call them scarecrows. Jesus added to the church daily such as was seen. And then the devil come along and put hypocrites in our churches. You know what the devil added? God didn't add the hypocrites to the church. Let me repeat it. God did not add hypocrites to the church. The devil put them in there. And what do you think the devil put them in there for? So you lost sense to look at them and go to hell. They're scarecrows. Scaring you away from trying to get saved. You say, Well, so many people in the church don't believe it. I'm afraid I can't believe it because I've seen a lot that didn't. I don't want to be in there with that bunch of hypocrites. Well, the devil knew you wouldn't. That's the reason he planted a bunch in there. Keeps you from being in there. And some of you, my friends tonight, hollering, I don't want to be in there with the hypocrites. Well, I want you to know one thing, you're done in there with them. They're the devil's youngest. And if you lost sense, you're one of the devil's youngest. Put you in a sack and shake you up. Couldn't tell which would fall out first. You're the hypocrite. I'm not going to tell you it's not hypocrites in the church. But I am going to tell you one thing, my friends. God didn't put them in there. The devil put them in there. And put them in there to keep you from getting saved. And you haven't got sense enough. So you only use your head for something besides a hat rack once in a while. And see what the devil's doing to you. He's got you with excuses. Now he's got you looking at the buggers in the church. A preacher. I remember going down a country road and all of a sudden, looked like a star turned loose right up in the middle of the sky. And whoosh, down across the sky. And somebody, someone of the party would say, would happen to see, Whoa, look, star, whoa, star falling. We'd all get excited about it and have a fit about a falling star. But nobody ever paid any attention to the million still up there. Ah, look at that falling star. Ah, look at that crooked beacon. Look at that crooked storm meter. Well, bless God, why don't you look at a bunch of them that haven't fell yet? Why do you want to get excited about a bunch of stinking falling stars or shooting meters? When God's got all kinds of examples of Christianity in you right in your face. Oh, my beloved. Don't let the devil deceive you like that. You say, well, preacher, I know some crooked preachers. Well, do you have anything on me? I know a bunch of them so crooked they'll have to screw the coffin on them one day. Now, so some deacons so crooked they'll have to screw their shirt on. But I'm not going to hell with that bunch of crooks. I'll trust that Jesus take care of all that. And I want you to know, my friends, I'd rather be in the church of a few crooks than to be in hell with all of them. And that's where you're going if you don't get saved. Then another one of the ways the devil has you is not only excusing the hypocrites. Another way he's got to get people to hell is telling you a bunch of lies. You know what he's saying? Well, you're as good as the rest of them. Well, I got news for you. You're good for nothing but hell if you hadn't been born again. Hadn't been washed in the blood of the Lamb. I don't care how good you are. All your rice is no more than filth and rags. And you do faithlessly in the sight of God. Regardless if you're self-righteous or not, make him hold his nose and gag. Nothing to your righteousness. There's non-righteous, no, not one, but God. And so I want you to know, my friends, tonight, regardless of how righteous you are and how clean you are, and so on, that don't keep you out of hell. Jesus saves and nobody else or nothing else saves. You need to know that tonight. All of your goodness and all your rights, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. None of one of us righteous, no, not one. Except you repent, ye shall likewise perish. We must face the truth of it tonight. The devil's telling you some lies. You don't need to get saved. You're good enough. That's a lie out of hell. Another one of the lies the devil tells you. Very popular lie. Oh, you can get saved when you get ready. You can get saved when you get ready. That's a lie out of hell. You cannot get saved when you get ready. You will get saved when God's ready. Jesus said, no man cometh unto me except the Father draw him. And the Spirit of God isn't drawn, and you can't get saved any more than a goat can. I want you to know it tonight. Listen to the Word of God. He said, my spirit shall not always strive with men. Seek ye the Lord while he be found. Call upon him while he's near. God said that means he can't always be found. That means he won't always be near. And that means his spirit will not always strive with him. God said if you should hear the voice of God, harden not your heart. Today he has to say his salvation. Now is accepted time. Seek him while you can find him. Call on him while he's near. Both not of tomorrow, because you don't know what tomorrow will bring forth. So I'm saying to you tonight, dear friends before God, I'm saying to you tonight, don't listen to those lies. You can't save any time you take an ocean tube. You get saved when God's ready. And you can't make God get ready. All you can do is plead for his mercy. So when God is pleading with you, that's the time for you to get your soul saved. He said summer's ended and the harvest has passed, and I'm not saved. Comes the time when the church's heart is warm, and they with compassion pray to you and plead with you. And the summer of revival is over. And then the winter hours of the church comes, and you're lost. You're not going to get saved. So when the Spirit is dealing with the church's warm heart, and summer's nigh, that's the time to get your soul saved. The devil's lying, saying any time will do. But I want you to remember one thing. God said now's the time. Today is today. Most not of them tomorrow. Because you don't know about tomorrow. Your life is like a paper. Here it is. Then it's gone. Listen, my brother, sister. One of the most fragile things, the most fragile thing on earth is the human life. The most fragile thing on earth is the human life. Gone. Gone. And can't be relived. Nothing goes as quick as a human life. Just one breath, and it's over. One breath. We're living in a marvelous age of science. Your blood goes bad, they got banks of blood now, and they can pump it out and put good blood, and you can keep going. Your eyes go bad, and they got eye banks, and they can take somebody's eyes out and put them in your head, and you can see as good as you, but the head better, maybe. They've got kidney banks. Your kidney goes bad. They can take it out, give you another, and you keep going. But listen to this preacher of mine. We haven't got any bad banks. They're rushing. You get one at a time. And you reach for the next one. And God decides to hold it. Where are you going to get another one? No breath banks, no breath tags, no spares. Just one breath. You're gone. Devil said you got plenty of time. God said, your life is like a vapor. There it is. Oh, how fragile life is. One breath, and you can't say, God have mercy on God's Savior. Done, gone. One breath, and God withholds the next, and there's no chance. So sudden. So, I want to talk to you briefly tonight about the four dangers of delaying your soul salvation. The devil's doing everything he can to get you to hell, people. And there's four grave dangers in delaying your soul salvation. Number one is sudden death. The foot of the wicked shall slide in due time, and the things that come upon him shall make haste. He that sought and reproved and hardened his neck shall be suddenly destroyed. And that without a remedy. My dear people tonight, God says 21 times in this book that lost people die suddenly. Name this what you believe, what you think. If you die without God, you're going to die a sudden death. I don't go away and say, I said everybody died suddenly and was lost. I did not say it. Sometimes things of God go suddenly. It's a good way to go if you're saved. But you can go away and say that I said, that God said 21 times in this book, that if you die without God, and you've hardened your neck against the truth, you shall die suddenly. And there won't be any remedy. The doctors can't help you. The hospitals, medical science won't do you any good. You're gone. God said, cut him down. Why let him come to the ground? You had your chance. But it comes to now, when my friends, God says, cut him down. Why let him come to the ground? Comes a time when God is through. When you as a doctor is a dead man. He's gone. And so I'm saying to you, my friend tonight. While there's yet time and opportunity, don't flirt with death. People die suddenly. They die without God. Or they die in an unconscious coma. Sometimes they linger. But they're never conscious enough to become a Christian. You see, God varies so long. And then when God gets enough, whew, we're gone. And you're in eternity without God. There was a rich man that was very busy with his business. But all of a sudden, he woke up in hell, crying for water. Very busy man. Had no thought of dying. But in hell, he lifted his eyes and cried for water. To cool his tongue, because he's tormented in the flame. My friends, I want you to know, God said 21 times. You die without Him, you'll die a sudden death. And God's not going to lie 21 times, say Yohai. So you're going to perish. So don't go around and say, well, I'll just say it like it is. No, you won't. You'll die so sudden, you won't have time to get saved. God's done settled that. He's given you time after time after time. Song after song. Prayer after prayer. Witness after witness. Sermon after sermon. But after a while, God's got enough. He said, cut it down. Why let Him come for any longer? And it's over. Nobody can help you. You go to a place where there's no place of repentance. You go to a place where there's no mercy. You go to a place that's eternal and no escape in hell. I want you to realize, my friends, tonight is so quick to go. I was in another part of your state some few years back. Talked to a young man about his soul. Matter of fact, I spent some 30 minutes out of the corner of the tent trying to get him to become a Christian. Eighteen years of age is a picture of hell. He said, Mr. Ray, I'm 18 years of age. I'm an athlete. I'm husky and healthy. And I am going to wine and dine for a little while before I get serious. Walked out of the tent and got in his sport car and drove away. And drove around one of your mountains here in North Carolina. Up in the Valdez. And lost control and it plunged down the bluff. And hit a light post and snapped the post into the impact of the car. The part hanging on the floor swung through the windshield and punched his head off and punched into the back seat of the car. Twelve minutes ago I put this in. Said he had plenty of time to win and wine and dine and then get saved when he didn't have but a little while. Opened all of the old Tennessee house in the meeting. Man stood in the middle of the tent. Had his arm around the tent pole. Center pole of the tent. I prayed with him for about 20 minutes to become a Christian. He said, Mr. Ray, you're trying to push me around and cram religion down. But I don't appreciate it. I'll give you and the other pushers, understand, I'll get saved when I get ready. I don't appreciate you bothering me. And cursed and walked out. Got in his car. Got on 64 Highway. Drove down Crossenden Creek. Turned off the road and drove into his backyard. Back of his house and got out to start in the house. And it was a dark, grisly night. And an enemy of his stand out from the dark, hit him on the head with a piece of broke car spring and knocked his scalp plum off of his head. His brains fell out on the ground. The enemy stepped in his brains when he went to run to get in his car. Before we left, the lights turned off in the tent. The hearse went down and got his body. That said he had prayed time. Carried him back to the funeral home. But the devil had already carried him to hell. I want you to know it's a sudden destruction. I was out from south of Bible Arkansas. And we was having a service in South Milton. The church house wouldn't hold in the summertime. Didn't have no air conditioning. The church suggested we move out in the open. Put the seats out there and we'd have an open air service. Man came down 61 highway. It's now 55. You've ever been there? At that time it was the main dredge still is between Memphis and St. Louis. Man, his wife came down from Bible going south. Saw the big crowd and they stopped the car on the other side of the highway, 61 highway. And got out and came across and sat down on the back seat. A little bit. I was preaching. He got up and said to his wife, come on old lady, we ain't got time for religion. We can get that stuff in time. Walked out. Started back across 61 highway in a drunk drive on a Mercury Roadster. Came down through there making about 90 miles an hour. Sounded like a jet plane taking off. Just as he got in the middle of the road he hit both of them with that car. Knocked them about 35, 40 feet down the highway. Killed them instantly. Mr. Cobb from the funeral home said, Percy, they wasn't a whole bone left in either one of their bodies. They never knew what hit them. Just a minute and a half ago we got plenty of time. They didn't have it. Neither have you. Now you think about the wicked people that's died around here. They've died shuttling. Died without a chance. Caught off. God said don't boast about tomorrow. Tomorrow never gets you here. Folks went to hell waiting for tomorrow and so will you if you wait till then. Don't listen to whatever excuse. I can tell you many other experiences. My friend. One of the most recent experiences. I was in a town. Pretty well it's a new town and a young woman came to the altar one night and she's out of one of the wealthy homes of the city. Got on a conviction and came to the altar. Now talk to her about becoming a Christian. She set that whip on a conviction friendly. Finally she said, Mr. Ray, I'll be back day after tomorrow night. Said we're having a party tomorrow night and I'm to host the party and I'll be doing things I don't think the Lord would appreciate me doing if I was a Christian and I'll go ahead and attend to the party tomorrow night and then day after tomorrow night I'll come back and get saved. I said, what if you don't get back? Oh, I'll get back. I said you might not. No, we'll forget. She looked at me and said I'll be back in spite of hell and high water. Please, I'm coming back. I got up and walked out. Looked around and said I'll be back. Crying. Next night before I went into the pulpit the policeman came to the door in motion for me. And I stepped out with him. He said, are you Percere? I said I am. You're conductor of this meeting. I said I am. Said did a young lady, he described her perfectly, come to the front last night and asked you to pray with her and talk to her about God. I said she did. I said, what'd she tell you? She told me she'd be back day after tomorrow night and get saved. Said she'd never been saved. Said, well, Mr. Ray, she won't be back day after tomorrow night. I said, well, she said she would. Said I know she said she would, but she'll not be back. Said I hate to report it, but going to a party tonight, something happened to her car and it threw her out of the car and two big trailer trucks ran over and mashed her flat in the road. And said she's down at the morgue, what's left of her, trying to prepare for burial. She'll not be back. I said, well, she said. I said, I don't care what she said. I tell you she'll not be back. Now, I haven't come to discuss it with you. Her mother and daddy said you was the last person to talk to her about God. And all they want to know, can you give them any hope? Did she tell you she'd accept Christ? I said, no, she said she would not last night, but she'd be back day after tomorrow night and do it. Said, well, she won't be back, Mr. Ray. Goodbye. And she wasn't back. But tonight she's in hell, springing for water. So close, but lost. It isn't worth another night of partying. It isn't worth some person to go to hell. Sudden death comes to those who are without God. You say, God do a thing like that? Well, let me read you. Let me read you. Open the book of Thessalonian letters. Let me read it to you. Second chapter, 2 Thessalonians. With all deceivings and unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the truth, love of the truth, but they might be saved, that they might be saved. What was it now? They didn't want the truth and receive it and be saved. For this cause, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. What? Because they didn't want the truth, didn't want to give up the pleasures of unrighteousness, God give them over to strong delusions that they might believe a lie and be damned. Who did it? God did it. God did it. They didn't want the truth. They didn't want to believe the truth. So God just gives them strong delusions, let them believe a lie and go ahead and damn their souls. It's not the will of God that any man should perish. God willeth the death of no man. Hey, if you go to hell, you go to hell over God's will. If God had His way, He'd save everybody in North Carolina in the next five seconds. God willeth the death of no man. It's your will that sends you to hell, not God's will. Your will. Then, my friends, there's another danger in delay. You've seen a lot of folks lost and wicked and seen how they die in comas and suddenly a lot go further with that. Then there's another danger. That's mental sickness. You become mentally sick and you aren't sentient enough to trust God. My friends, we must accept Christ. He said, His men has received Him, for them gave He power to be the sons of God. But if you haven't got sentient enough to trust God, you're mentally sick, you won't trust God. All you've got to do is get mentally sick and you aren't sentient enough to trust God. You can't commit your soul to God because you ain't got sentient enough to. You say, well, Mr. Ray, there's no insanity now. Family tree. A lot of them in the hospital tonight wasn't any of theirs either. You see, there may be a tumor growing in your brain without fever or pain that'll push enough to leave you mentally sick in the morning. There may be a little nerve eating on your nervous system without fever or pain that'll eat a nerve that'll leave you mentally sick in the full morning. Just like you wake up with a headache or the toothache or the earache. Wake up with appendicitis or gallbladder trouble. Wake up sick at this time. You can wake up in the morning and be mentally sick and they'll have to haul you to an institution somewhere. Friend, while you're sane, while you're sensible and can commit your soul to Christ, that's the time to do it. Go put it off. While you're sane, while you're sensible, while you're intelligent, do it then. Another day may leave you mentally sick. You don't know when it's coming or how, but it can come. Then you won't have sense enough to trust God. And you'll go to hell because you won't have sense enough to trust Him. Then I call your attention to another middle danger. Romans chapter 1, verse 28. Romans 1, 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Then did they come filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, maliciousness, full of inmemorability, debate, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, voiceless, inventive, evil things, disobedient to their parents, and so on. Who knows the judgment of God today which commits such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have place in them that do them. What? Since they didn't like to think on God, since they didn't like to be bothered with the idea of the knowledge of God, you know the knowledge of God is looking at us and watching us, is a terrible thing to us, some people. And they'd rather God wouldn't bother them and let them alone. And he said, since they don't like to think on God, since they don't like to retain the knowledge of God in their mind, you don't want no God in your thinking. God reprobates the mind. And when God reprobates a human mind, there's more knowledge of God in there. It's gone. Have no more knowledge of God than a hog or a dog. You remember Jesus said, don't give that which is holy to the dogs. Cast not your pearls before swine. They'll clobber under feet and turn and wring you to pieces. What's he talking about? He's talking about human beings whose minds have been repenting. They're like dogs and like hogs as far as knowledge of God is concerned. They'll never have any more knowledge of God. There'll never be another time God has erased the knowledge, reprobated the mind, and they'll never believe in God again. Jesus said, don't give that which is holy unto the dogs. What he means, he don't mean you spend your time with people like that. You can't get them saved. They're past salvation. And then it's like cutting the main water line and cutting the sewer line and tying the sewage line into the main water line and putting more pressure on the sewage line. I'm going to push sewage into your drinking fountains and into your lavatories and sinks and so on. When God reprobates a human mind, it pushes all the pressure of sin, and human beings become the cesspools of sin. They become immoral and wicked and vulgar and filthy and nasty. And they enjoy it because there's no God to condemn them. There's no God to reprove them. And they enjoy living a life, a life that's filled being a sewage pit of sin for society. What a terrible thing. My friend, there it is. God reprobated their mind. God gave them over to strong delusions. That's what I believe in. I am damn their soul because there isn't more anything else. Now, when God reprobates your mind, he's through with you as a doctor, as a dead man. That means he's done. You will never be bothered with God again. Now, some of you don't like to think on this God stuff, sin and hell and heaven hereafter stuff. You want to snigger it off and shove it aside. Well, let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen, lads and lasses. You listen to this preacher tonight. If you still got a knowledge of God in your brain, you better get on your proud knee. And thank God he's still there. There's people all over this country now. I can go with you to the bigger towns and even the little ones as far as that goes. Go up to Greensboro, Asheville, Charlotte. Go down certain streets. I can point you out people you get up and talk to them about God. They laugh in your face. Who's God? I don't believe in God. Tell me where I can go to a good hot dance, I'll go there. Give me a good drink, I'll go there. But God, I don't believe in. And you can talk to them through daylight and they will have a bit more concern about God than they did when you started. We're at the meeting. Knowledge of God has been erased. And there'll never be another chance of thinking on God. And I want you to know tonight, if the spirit singing of a good song like they sing tonight, prayer of a good fervent prayer, good testimony, good sermon gets you convicted. What we mean by conviction, sometimes you get all jitter inside. Get upset, nervous, jitter. That's convicting of God's Holy Spirit. Trying to get you to let Jesus in. You've been there, every one of you that's old enough. You've been there. You know what I'm talking about. You just get all jitter and something working on you inside. It upsets you, it aggravates you. You get aggravated with it, upset with it, and it keeps bothering you. Does it still bother you? Does it still irritate you? If so, thank God. Because if you come to the point when you hear good singing and good prayers and good testimonies, and somebody comes and talks to you and your mom or daddy or companion, preaching you about becoming a Christian, if you can laugh at it and throw it off, shake your head like a goose, poke fun at it, you're gone. You're through. And I have friends on occasion. You know where the danger point is? Spirit of God being with you sometime. Working on you. You picture a little time of day. Shut up about God. It's God for dinner. It's God for service. God on the job of work. Oh, it's God this and God that and God this and God that. I'm sitting proud of this God stuff. Shut up about it. I don't want to hear no more about it. All of a sudden, the next time they talk to you about God, you'll be irritated or shook up. You say, who's God? I don't believe in God. And you won't. No matter. God's through. It's all over. And your life will begin to fill up with sin. And when you sin, it won't bother you. You'll enjoy it. Oh, my friend, listen to me. If it's still there, I'd run to God's altar. Get something done about it. And if it wasn't there, I'd be so scared. I'd go before the whole church and ask them to pray for me to come back on there. I would. I'd be afraid not to. Now, let me give you a concrete illustration. I was down in Tampa, Florida in Seminole Heights Baptist Church. Dr. Mathis Pastor. One night, they brought a young man to me and said, this young man wants to talk to you. I said, well, what's it about God? I said, okay, bring him in. After service, we sat down in some seats at Renton, kind of Amen Corner, First Baptist Church there. I mean, Seminole Heights Baptist Church. And his girlfriend, the other boy, and his girlfriend. We sat down there and I said, do you want to step aside and talk to me in private? He said, no, I don't care who he is. And I said, okay. I said, what's your problem there, buddy? Said, Mr. Ray. I can't find God in my thinking. I've been to all the pastors in town and they've been here for the last two years. And talked to all of them, but none of them seem to help me. They're just not into God anymore. And I had never heard of you before. And I heard of you and I think, well, I'll go talk to him and talk to all the rest of them, see what he can tell me. I said, well, I don't know if there's anything I can tell you, but I'll help you if I can. I said, what's your problem? He said, there just isn't any God in my thinking. I said, do you mind asking? He asked some questions. He didn't know himself. I said, when you was a little bitty boy, did you believe there's a God? Oh, yes. Said, all kids, you know, believe in God. I said, you told the truth, all of them. Now, when you was a little boy, did you ever in your childish way pray to God and felt like God answered your prayers, even though they were childish? He said, sure. Said, all kids have those emotional experiences, Mr. Ray. They pray and believe there's a God and believe that He answers all kids. I said, all of them. Said, you did? That's right. And let me tell you this, they all do. You never seen an atheist and an infidel among the little ones, and never will. God puts them here with that knowledge. And thank God it's in me and you when we got here. And we kept it in there when we got saved, hallelujah. But, I said, one other question now, friend. Said, okay. I said, did you ever go out and watch the sun sink behind the horizon? And a glow of gold or red break over the sky, and this thing like something grabs you in the chest and said, come on, there's a greater country beyond. Why, said preacher, all kids have those spaces? Yes, I felt that. I said, then there was a time when you believed there's a God and you prayed to Him and felt like He heard you, and then you felt the tug of another world when you looked at the setting of the sun. Oh yeah, all kids have those emotional experiences, preacher, all of them do. I said, okay, all of them? Yes. Then you had it, yes. One more question, pal, and I'm through. What is it? I said, when did you quit? He snapped back and said, quit what? Quit believing there's a God? Quit feeling the tug of another world in your chest? When did you quit? He looked down a daze and sweat popped out on his forehead. His chin quivered. He said, Persia Ray, nobody's ever asked me that question before. I said, that's maybe so, but I have and I want an answer. He sat there a little bit, said, I haven't even thought of it. I said, maybe not, but we've thought of it. Now, come on, let's get an answer. He said, come, think about it like this. I went to the State University of Florida and had one of the men that had the highest IQ of intelligence of any man in the state of Florida was one of the professors. And when we'd go in his classroom, he'd say to us, hang your God in your soul, Jesus in hell and heaven on the doorknob. Don't drag that 40-year-old superstition in here with you. You're an intelligent human being. Then he'd make fun of God and Jesus and hell and heaven. He'd upset some students and he'd laugh about it. Said, I found out he's doing it for sport. I took sides with him so I'd be popular and maybe get a good grade out of it. And said, he gave me some of Bob English Olsen, Tom Payne's books on infidelity and I read them. And I got to where I could argue as good as he could. Said, he wouldn't do it often, but about once a quarter he'd do it. And said, this particular day was his biggest class. We all got in. He said, now boys and girls, close your book. When I'm going to start the lesson today, I want to talk to you about this 40-year-old superstition a bunch of you got stowed away in here. This stuff of Jesus and hell and heaven and hereafter and human soul. Bunch of superstitious stuff. And said, he began to make fun of God and Christianity. Some of the young people got to chewing their fingernails, it hurt them so bad. And some of them got to crying. Finally a bunch of them got and said, we won't listen to it today. And got up and walked out. Said, Mr. Ray, there was a row of girls, a whole row of them right behind me. They got up all together and put their hands up like this. Said, Professor, we ain't going to defy you. There is a Jesus. He's in our hearts. We've been saved. We've been pricked by him. He's real. And said, I jumped up, shook my fist in their face, turned around, looked at them and shook my fist and gritted my teeth and made as ugly a face as I could make. And I cursed and I said, there is no blanketed, blanketed, blanketed God. And said, when I popped my heel and said that, Mr. Ray, something happened in my mind. And it's never been to God since. Said, you ever put on a tight cap and pull it off and feel your muscles and skin relax from the tight binding of a cap? Said, it seemed like something was jerked over my brain between my skull and the brain. And from then till now, there's been no God. Those two girls fell on my knees and the boy and myself and we cried and thanked God to have us shown him to midnight. He walked out of the Seminole Church and walked down Seminole Street, stood down on the street corner and stomped and cursed the hell that he met that professor, but it's too late. Now you listen to me, my friends, you can do the same thing. Spirit of God dealing with you, your mama, your wife, your husband, somebody been crying and pleading you about becoming a Christian. And you can't all get the preacher and the singer or something. You get all jittery inside and you don't want to fool with it. You pitch your little back. Shut up about it. I don't want to hear that stuff. I don't mean it. Shut your mouth about God. I'm sick and tired of this. And while you're doing it, something will crack in your mind and next time they talk to you about God, you'll laugh at them. It'll be so funny. You just giggle it. You won't have any more knowledge of God than a hog or a dog. Does it still, does it still, I repeat, like it did a moment ago, does it still convict you and get you jittery inside when you hear a good song or good prayer, good testimony or somebody witnessing to you? Then thank God you still got a chance. But if you can laugh at it, goodbye. Danger one, sudden death. Danger two, it may not crack up, but worst of all, a reprobated mind. Of course, there's never any hope. Then when that mind reprobates you, you're gone forever. Number three, quickly, Jesus is coming. Hallelujah. You say, well, I've heard that all my life. First of all, I thank God I have. I'm so glad I've heard it. I don't know how to behave myself sometimes. He's coming. And this great and many great ladies and gentlemen, lads and lasses, you know why? He said there'll be wars and rumors of war. The end isn't yet. Kingdoms shall rise against kingdom. The end isn't yet. Earthquake in many places. The end isn't yet. Famines and the end isn't yet. And then he said man's hearts will begin to fail him. The end isn't yet. But then this gospel shall be preached unto the four ends of the earth. And it's been preached there. Some way television, radio, or preachers, or missionaries, every nation has gotten the message. He said then when that happens, the love of many will wax cold because iniquity is about him. And said when you see the bud putting forth on the tree, you know summer's nigh just around the corner. And when you see this, you know my coming's nigh. The love of many will wax cold because iniquity abounds. You've never seen so much love waxing cold going on. Now your churches, except I've already told you, you ought to, everyone ought to go to have a thanksgiving meeting every day for the kind of church God's give you. Going to a lot of churches, you can't get enough to sing a song in the middle of the week in a revival meeting. Sunday night, many of the churches are comfortably filled because what's there can lay down on the pews and stretch out and up bump each other. Nobody going anymore. Preachers are quitting. So much bickering and strife and confusion and folks fighting the preacher until a lot of their nerves and their family's nerves won't take it. And my friends, hundreds and thousands of preachers are quitting the ministry and getting secular work. They just can't stand all the bickering and fussing and fighting and pressures. Pastors tell me about a young preacher tonight had called him on no fee, knew of anywhere he'd go, didn't run off from his church. Good boy, what got run off? Did you know the average pastor doesn't stay for about a year and a half now? Not because they don't want to, but because they're all out of there running along, bickering and fussing and fighting among themselves. Jesus said that had happened. But when it happened, not to get bothered. It just meant he's about here. Thank God I don't care nothing about rolling my carcass down the aisle in a casket. Came over here and started putting a hole and throwing dirt on me. I'd rather miss the whole mess. So Jesus is about to come. I'm all excited about it. Well, that's what he said. When you see this, look up, by your redemption draws nigh. Hallelujah. One of these mornings you're going to wake up. You're going to look over in the bed and that Christian wife's gone. Her gown's there and her clothes she pulled off that night. She's there again. Vice versa, you women. They'll say, going to look over and your Christian husband's gone. There's his pajamas, night's clothes he pulled off the night before. He's gone. You jump up the windows and the door's still locked. Going to look over and their little children, who haven't come to age of accountability. There's their little clothes lying there. Their little pajamas and gowns, clothes they pulled off the night before. They're gone. Some of you young people are going to look, mom and daddy's gone. There's their pajamas and their clothes, but mom and daddy's gone. Vice versa, some parents are going to get up and their Christian sons and daughters are gone. They're going to run out the door and call up the medical neighbor. Anything happen down at your house last night? In the night? Yeah. Some of the family's missing. Left their gowns and their clothes and they're here, but they're gone. Called out, yes, what a curious thing. They run and turn on the television media, news media. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. Greyhound, Trayway and other bus companies reported men and passengers, some of the drivers suddenly disappeared. Buses have wrecked and many people have been killed. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. The fast trains out of New York and Chicago and Los Angeles reported that some of the crew and part of the passengers suddenly disappeared. The trains have wrecked on and lying on twisted steel. Many people have died. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Charlotte, Atlanta reported traffic jams that couldn't be undone because a lot of drivers left buses and left trucks and left automobiles in such a wreckage and jam. They can't get them unjammed. Traffic jam that can't be unjammed. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. Many of the factories closed down because a lot of the employees suddenly left out. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. The hospitals all over the country reported a lot of their patients disappeared and some of the doctors and nurses disappeared suddenly. Special news bulletin this morning at two o'clock. The funeral homes reported that a lot of corpse jumped out of the casket, left the cold behind. They're not to be found. Jesus has come. That's what's happened. He's done come and we've done gone. How quick is he coming? In a twink of an eye. You won't have time to say God save us. God have mercy done come and got us and left you. Sudden coming of Jesus is a dangerous, treacherous, daring thing to do. If you didn't care to get saved, friend, it's later than you think. You better not wait. And in the rain grew sudden coming, sudden death, reprobated mind, mental sickness. Last but not least, my spirit shall always strive with men. When the spirit of God quit striving, it's over. Let me read you a passage or two. My friends, my help you. Sixth chapter, Hebrews, the fourth verse. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, have tasted the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Taste the good word of God of the powers of the world to come. If they shall fall away, to renew them again under repentance, seeing that crucified are themselves a son of God, afresh, and put into an open shame. What is it? It's impossible for those who've been so enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they could just taste the heavenly gift, just taste the good word of God, just taste of the powers of the world to come. Notice it said what? Taste. A lot of difference in tasting and drinking or eating. Jesus had he that eateth, he that drinketh. But this is talking about tasting. So convicted and moved on by the Holy Ghost of God, you can just taste the good word of God, taste of the powers of the world to come, taste, taste of the heavenly gift. If you shall fall away from that experience, it's impossible to renew you again under what? Repentance, not salvation. You've not been saved because you've crucified the son of God afresh, and put into an open shame. Don't be so profane as he shall. Who for one marshal of me, sold his birthright. And you know how but after he spent the rest of his life seeking a place of repentance carefully with tears, never thanked. Cain put his pride before Jesus to shed blood. God made him a fugitive, a cast out, cast a vagabond, sent him to hell. And he cried and shed tears, but it didn't affect God. My friend, when God gets through with you and shed all the tears you want to, and have everybody on the face of the earth to cry and pray for you, it's no good. God's through, God's done, God's given you. Time for you to move from the spirit of God's dealing with you. I don't sell your chance for some lesser sin. Give you two or three illustrations, I'm told. I was up in Kentucky, church about 1600 in attendance in the meeting. Went a week, not a move. Chairman Deacon got up and said, Brother Paxton, Brother Ray, we've gone a week, not a move. We need to send confession tomorrow. And I called the order. And I'll be here in the morning. Anybody else want to come confess sins to each other to God? Y'all meet me. They was in the church all day coming and going, confessing sins to one another to God. That night at 815, this Chairman Deacon got up and said, Brother Ray, we're clean with God now and with each other. Preach to us. And I got up and preached 45 minutes, gave the incantation, 104 people got saved. The power of God had shrunk into that church. You could see the smoke of God in this place out there. People had never been emotional, stand up waving their hands and tears running off my chest. You could see God all over. Many young people came. Like Middleways, this standard young lady, Oren Hall, beautiful. She'd won a bathing beauty contest. She's a nightclub entertainer. And she's a dancing master. Her father left from the outside, went over and talked to her. She shoved him away. Some young people went down there and she laughed at him, said, go on, get your God if you want to. I'm going to have a fun yet in the nightclubs and the dances. Then a mother left. Who was I got a little woman left the front and went back down there. She was second seat from the front. She got in the other day. I can see that girl now. She said, Mama, don't come back here crying, slobbering on me like a dying cat. Her mother continued to ward and she stepped up in between the two and said, Mama, you come back here crying, slobbering on me and embarrass me in front of this big crowd. I'll never put my foot back in another dirty, dirty church house. Get back your seat and behave yourself. My mother came back, fell on her knees. I couldn't take it. I went after her. Before I got to her, she figured she wouldn't shove me away like she had the others. She ran to the door. When she got the door, she's on the Holy Ghost of God held just like somebody would hold. She backed up and ran at that door the second time. And when she get in the door, she'd stall, couldn't go. She backed up a third time. When she ran at the door, she slapped her hands on the face of the outside door and pulled herself through just like somebody trying to push her back. But when her feet touched the walk in front of the church, she fell on her face on the walk and began to scream like nobody ever heard and hope I never hear nobody else scream like that. I rushed out to see what was going on. There she lay. Doctor got the pastor right behind me. We looked and back came the people. Naturally, they wondered what it was too. I said, Doctor, slip your hands under and let's lay over here on the lawn. They'll trample her. We laid her over on the lawn. Soon the church was empty and people said, what's the matter? What's wrong? What's happened? I said, I don't know. So tell me, preacher. Preacher, you'll find out. I got down there by the side of her, right down on the grass. And I said, young lady, what's wrong? What's wrong? Said, God left me when I pulled through the door. God left me, preacher. I've damned my soul. He'll never be back, he told me. Went to screaming again. People broke down. Went to crying out loud. Fell on the knees. Some of them pussied on the grass like she was. We prayed for her till midnight. They picked up and carried her home as limber as that handkerchief. Beaten closed. No hope. Eleven months later, I was up in that area and through curiosity, I'll just be honest about it, I was curious to know what had happened. I drove out to the home out in the country. When I drove up to the front yard in front of the house, she'd come out on the porch. Her beauty's gone. She looks like a skeleton now with skin stretched over it. Her lips bleeding. Her fingers end up bleeding before she'd chewed the nails off to the quick. And she'd chew her lips and chew on her fingernails and cut them. I said, young lady, do you know who I am? Yes, yes. You, preacher, ain't preaching when God left me. Said, preacher, he's still gone. The ashes in the stove where mama cooks my food, it just tastes as good as the food mama cooks. I'm still going to hell, Mr. Ray. By that time, I was on the porch. She said, I thought, sure, if I leave God out, I could entertain the nightclub and I was wanting to win another baby beauty contest and be popular all over the state and maybe the United States. But since God left me, preacher, I can't stand people. I've been to dance. I've been to nightclubs. I've not been to beaches since. I'm just horrified. Just waiting to die without God. Then she turned around and grabbed me by the shoulder and likely shook me to death and said, get out of here. Go all over America and tell them I'm aware not to wait. It'll be too late. She shoved me off from the porch and I drove away, crying, broken, but I couldn't help her. A few months later, she died a horrible death. Right now, we're the Kentucky Lake stands just out of Gibbersville, Kentucky and Paducah, Kentucky. I was in a Grace Harbor meeting. Several had been saved. One night, a fine young man, about 18 years of age, came to the altar. Spirit of God was on him until he's shaking like he had a chill. Tears running off his cheek. His teeth even shattered like he's having a chill. I read the scripture. I prayed with him, explained how to be saved. Read some more scriptures and prayed again. I looked up and I said, CD, do you understand how to be saved? He said, yes, sir. I said, then will you not just give up and let the Lord save you, commit your soul to Jesus, accept him as your Savior tonight? Come on, old pal. I insisted. I said, he's over at one side. And I said, won't you, sir? Please do. Come on. Come on, do the right thing. Let Christ come in and take you. He jumped up and run to the edge of the harbor. I can see him now. He's got his shoulder. Oh, the devil. I don't want no God in me tonight. And when he said that, all of a sudden it looked like somebody hit him in the face with an ice pack or something. He stood there in the daze and then he broke running through the woods. Come back, God. I didn't mean it. Oh, God, come back. I didn't mean it. But God didn't come back. They caught him a mile and a half from there and brought him home. God didn't come back. Three months later, C.D. died, tied on his bed with one H.C. grass rope, crying, come back, God. Come back, God. But God didn't come. Ripper made his money. God's spirit slept. And I'll be back. I was in Seaside, California, in a meeting. City Auditorium. First night. Had a good service. Some got saved. The second night I was there. Paragod was there. And a lot of folk getting saved. Back about middle ways. There's a young woman, prettiest I ever looked at anywhere. Diamond earring. Diamond inner ear. Covered her finger. Diamond breastplate. Shirt, clothing. And her personal appearance was beautiful. She's standing back there holding back tears on her nobler cheeks. I went back there. I said, Lady, won't you come? We had an extra song. One song, two songs, prayer, three songs and a prayer, four songs and a prayer, fifth song. I stepped back. I said, Little Lady, won't you come on? She's standing there, trimmed and holding up her seat. I said, Please come. She started towards the aisle. I said, Oh, thank God. That's right. Come on. You're doing right. Come on. She got to the aisle and then she stopped. She moved back to the position she's in. And I can see her tonight. She's stepping herself like a soldier. Attention. Shook her head. Her emotions calmed. Her tears left. And I turned and said to the pastor, it's over tonight. You're dismissed. Next night she wasn't there. I worked for her. Next night she slept in on the back. Looked like a corpse. Next night she came about halfway down and still looked worse. No effect when the invitation went on. Next night she came to the door and I was sitting like I've been sitting here. She walked up and said, Pastor Ray, do you know who I am? I looked and I said, Yes. The young lady from right back there. She was tonight. Said, You're right. Said, Mr. Ray, I'm fixing to tell you something that's going to embarrass you to death and really keep you. I said, Do you want to go to the office? Said, No, I want the whole congregation to hear. Well, I had no idea what she was fixing to say. I was afraid to tell her to say it. I said, Okay, go ahead. Said, Pastor Ray, I've damned my soul hanging on a brass hat army officer. I leaped to my feet. I said, You said what? She said, I've damned my soul hanging on a brass hat army officer. I'm going to hell without any hope. Her mother had run down the aisle and grabbed her and shook her and said, Don't say that, honey. Said, I'd rather go out the side door and walk out in the ocean till I drown myself than to hear my daughter say that. She said, Don't drown yourself. Well, I said it and it's so. I said, What do you mean? She said, Mr. Ray, I'm dating a brass hat army officer. He's got a wife and a couple of little girls, but he likes me too. He furnished me the Cadillac convertible I'm driving. He furnished me all this silk dressing I've been wearing, all this jewelry. He bought it. Said, He's not a little private. He's high up, brass hat man. Got his own plane with his own pilots. In time, I want to go where he can go. Expense of the government. He's flown me to pass France and wine and dine and dance. He's flown me to this place and that place. All the big, rich places. He furnishes that Cadillac convertible, all expenses. And I like him and he likes me. He said, Mr. Ray, when I got to the isle that night, something said, If you get Jesus, you're going to have to let him go. It's not right to be with him. He said, I stepped back to my seat and I didn't say it out loud, but I said it with all my being. I'll give him up. I'll go to hell with him before I let him go. I said, God left me. Mr. Ray, God's a million miles from me. I'm going to hell with him. Hands went up all over the congregation. I said, all right, what is it? They said, don't preach. Let us pray for the girl. I said, amen. They filled the altars. They filled the aisles. Tears went off and people were seethingly agonized with God till four o'clock in the morning. She got up in the midst and said, God's a million miles and I'm going to hell with him. Goodbye, y'all. Walked out. I came back to Mississippi. Shook up. A few months rolled by and one day my phone rang. He said, this is Long Disney. I said, this is Persia Ray. He said, this is Andy, one of the pastors out there. I said, yes, Andy. Said, I'll call you about the girl. And he went to Boohoo. And I said, oh, I hope she got a chance. He said, no, she's dead. He said, Persia, I've just come from the hospital. They strapped on the bed with three leather straps. She broke them in a raging convulsion. They called four men as big as you, arglers, off the floors of the hospital. One got on each wrist and one on each ankle to hold her in the bed. She screamed, I'm going to hell. And then they'd try to hold her and she'd lift them off the floor and shake them like a dog shaking a rag. Mr. Ray, it's the awfulest thing I've ever seen. I saw the doctors give her all the morphine and open her veins and take and it didn't calm her. He said, then in one great convulsion, she chewed her tongue until it fell out the side of her mouth. And the pill was soaked in blood and the blood all over her. Word spread out of her mouth and she spit it out. And with one great scream, I'm going to hell with that brash hat man. She died and said, Persia, the awfulest look you've ever seen on a human face was on hers. My friend, don't be so foolish to sell your wonderful chance with God tonight. For some mess of sin like that, they didn't want it. When God closes the books on you and reprobates that mind, it won't be any good to you then. I'd rather give it up now than let God have my soul forever. Will you do it? Will you come to Jesus tonight and let him save you? Don't hang on to some martial sin. Let him in. Let him in. Let him save you. Last experience I had was a young lady. I'll not go in detail about it. But the young lady in the state, your state, came to the altar. She's hanging on to an evening gown and a dance at the junior senior high school prom dance the next night. She put Christ off to wear a gown and let a boy hold her and dance under the bright lights one more time. God left her that night. If she's not dead, she's over here, less than 250 miles from you tonight, walking the country road, rearing her hands. I've got a gown, but God's gone. I've got a gown, but God's gone. If God leaves you tonight, what will you have left? A gown or a rash hat, officer? I wouldn't do it. If I was you, I'd get in this altar and let God save me. And if I hadn't been saved and nothing wasn't working on me, I'd come down here tonight and get this whole church to pray for me that I might feel something. So I'm calling God. We're going to sing now. While we sing, if you're here without God, I don't care if you're New York, Chicago, Asheville or where, if you're here tonight without God, I'd get in this altar and get saved. What shall we sing, brother? One night. Let us pray.