Leonard Ravenhill addresses the pressing issues of tongues, demons, and the state of the Catholic Church, emphasizing the moral decay in society and the church's failure to uphold true holiness. He warns against the dangers of false teachings and the blending of worldly influences with the gospel, urging believers to seek genuine spiritual power rather than mere emotional experiences. Ravenhill highlights the need for a return to biblical truth and the importance of discernment in the face of deception, asserting that the church must prepare for trials rather than expect an easy escape. He calls for a revival of true faith and a commitment to God's will, reminding listeners that the church is called to be a pure and holy bride for Christ.

The following is a discussion by Reverend Leonard Ravenhill during a session at the Christ for the Nations Institute. He is discussing various questions concerning tongues, demons, and church life and activity, as requested by the students. Let me just read a scripture to you from the Second Epistle of Timothy, the third chapter. You probably know it, but let's remind ourselves of it anyhow. This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. Now this sounds like a headline from today's newspaper. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those of the good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures, plural, more than lovers of God. Right now at this hot moment in history, the kids have got the whole, believe it or not, the whole of the United States at gunpoint. And on the news, if you saw it, I heard it this morning, the kids blew the top off a famous library there at Harvard. And they have already declared that the government just about has admitted this is a state of emergency for the next two weeks. Nobody knows where the next outbreak will be. Canada, for the first time in our history, has troops on the street in peacetime. And everywhere this very word that we have read this morning is true. There's no way out. Jean-Paul Sartre, I suppose you could call him a type of existentialist in France, says that we're in an impasse and there's no way out. Others, of course, say history is, everything is breaking up. And I at least tried this. And right now at this hot moment in history, the kids have got the whole, believe it or not, the whole of the United States at gunpoint. And on the news, if you saw it, I heard it this morning, the kids blew the top off a famous library there at Harvard. And they have already declared that the government just about has admitted this is a state of emergency for the next two weeks. Nobody knows where the next outbreak will be. And I think it's a good thing. Leave the shafts of the plough and become a new prophet of God. As I say, we've had 20 years of the other multimillion dollar crusades. We've had the big shots from the sports world to embroider the platform. And we've just about exhausted every gimmick to get the crowd. And we've failed. You don't have to agree with that, but it's my conviction. And so God is going to find the answer, I'm sure of that. Jesus deserves something better than the church that bears his name right now. And he's going to get it. He's going to get a bride out of this adulterous, fooling, evangelism of the day. I don't know how we managed to do it, but somehow we've married Hollywood and holiness together. And a fellow can be a top-line nightclub entertainer today and get a night off and go sing at some great conference and be hailed almost as a new messiah. And it's a terrible day. And so we've tried to slant some things that has made us quite a few enemies. I can read an audience like reading a book. And I know there's quite a lot of people who've dropped off. They would have come if, again, we'd been swinging on the chandeliers and doing miracles every day. And I'm not against that, but I'm against it when we think this is the only answer. And when it pleases our flesh. Even things in the spirit can please our flesh an awful lot. We're such emotional beings, we're so constructed psychically, psychologically and so forth. But God is... I'm positive. And you know, I wouldn't care a hill of beans if this was the last meeting I ever addressed and the Lord gave me a little hut back in the trees and I could just write and pray for the next ten years if the Lord lets me live. Crowds don't interest me, people don't ask such. Just His will. And I don't for a minute think Mary went running up and down and said, I'm pregnant, I'm going to bring the Messiah to birth. She said nothing about it. Didn't even tell her husband. Well, the one that looked like her husband didn't even say a word to him. That must have been embarrassing. Not just because she was a woman, but... You know, sometimes we talk about power and think we have to display it every moment we get a chance. One thing you need if you have power, you need power not to use power. And she had power to keep her mouth shut. But we think power is just to speak in tongues or try to prophesy or do something. Nothing of the kind. Don't fool yourself. You know, every time you and I touch a meeting, it's either better or worse when we've done with it. Whether you try to prophesy, speak in tongues or pray. When you've touched that meeting, you've either lowered its temperature or increased it. And you know, you can always tell there's a kind of, uh, comes in the meeting, isn't there? There are two kinds of stillness. One is killing and the other is creating. And you can tell when there's a stillness that's killing. When the meeting's dying, dying, dying. You can tell when there's a stillness and God's brooding and you're almost feeling... What's going to come next? God's going to do something right here. The thing's going to explode like that. And, uh, so again, I don't believe for a minute Mary went running up and down and saying, Well, of course I'm going to tell you, Mary, and I wouldn't tell anyone else. But actually this child I'm bearing is the Messiah. He's the one that all the prophets spoke of. And, uh, you know, all the Old Testament, like a lot of roads coming together, all the Old Testament prophecies converge on a manger. And all the New Testament prophecies go out of that manger. He is the center. He's the sum and substance, the light and the life of everything. And, uh, I'm quite sure there are a lot of wise... A lot of foolish people in the church. They kind of turn you off. And the people that turn you on are usually the people that say the least. And I know now, I've mentioned to you about this one man that we know. I could give you a list of others. There's one man that hasn't been to bed for 25 years, that has prayed from 10 at night till 5 or 6 in the morning. And it wouldn't let you take his picture. It wouldn't let you write an article on him. Isn't concerned just one bit. He just lives for God. He, to me, is one of the people spiritually pregnant. Something's going to come to birth. And he's with a group of people who for 40 years have prayed for revival. And they're more thrilled now. Just two years ago, God told them to step up their praying and believe him for 1 billion souls. 1 billion souls in the next outbreak of revival. And they're not publishing little pamphlets and they're not trying to get money. In fact they run a group there with 3 big faith homes and never ask for an offering and never take one in a meeting. Not any meeting of any kind, never take an offering. And yet they run those 3 faith homes and last, no year before last, gave almost $20,000 to missions on top without ever asking for a dime. Now that's kind of naked faith. That's faith without hints, faith without begging. Just believing God. And I know that there's a, while you have an undercurrent of devilry in this country, no question about it in England too. They said this morning that some of these fellows that are in this hold up in Canada, these 23 fellows who are in jail, were trained. They know for a fact they were trained over in Jordan. And these others, it's part of an international conspiracy. Maybe you heard it. That Canada has agreed to accept what I call Soviet China. She's throwing over the Christian colony there in Taiwan and is accepting now the Peking government. Thinks this will make a readjustment. Of all things Italy's going to do this. I didn't think she would but I don't know all the answers to prophecy. But again I think that communism and even Catholicism will get married because they both want world dominion. But by the same token, while there's all this uneasiness and uncleanness and devil working deeply, remember there's the other stream. Now some folk are looking for a rapture to take them out of trouble. I got news for you, I believe the church will go through the tribulation. Now that's not popular. If you want to ease everybody and get your buck from them, you tell them you know, let me tell you this, I didn't intend to but I think the Lord wants me to tell you now. There's a man called Ed Miller in South America. Our boy Paul works with him. He is the man who was the John the Baptist to prepare the way for the revival they had there 10 years ago when they got 200,000 people a night. And after the meetings in a bullring, they had to send a truck round to pick up crutches and all the other things people had discarded during the meeting. And people, it sounds like Scotland, you know they always say, they have a joke in Scotland that two Volkswagens collided and 46 people were injured. Because they packed them so tightly. But they did say actually that in South America, people were packing 12 people into a cab and driving a thousand miles to get to those meetings. Now they, but Ed Miller told me himself, I talked with him for hours, he's a very wonderful man and he himself has matured very much since 10 years ago. See they got 200,000 people a night, that's an awful lot for about 20 nights. A man went down there, just led of God. He said Tommy Hicks, didn't know why he went, nobody knew him. He wasn't Oral Roberts for a big shot. But they did have a phase of revival. You know why it died? Because they had no mothers in Israel to nourish it. They had no mothers to train the people, no fathers to take care of them. And the thing petered out, you see. This fellow Miller came to my office and he said, I said, well it's nice to see you. I haven't seen you for two or three years. No, where have you been? He said, I've been in California. And he said, I met my cousin, haven't seen him for years. And when I got there, this is what he did. I remember he put his right hand up. He said, he lives in a huge mansion. And in front of it, spread there on the black top apron, were a number of little English foreign sports cars in all colors. And I looked at this and he said, my cousin just said, ride out. He said, you know, if you want to join our organization, we'd be very happy to have you. And you can have all this as well. But you're coming on the ground floor right now. And as I say, he didn't know anything about the spiritual background of Miller. He said, you know, we believe that shortly. Now here's a fellow talking again without any knowledge of the Bible. We believe that shortly a man is going to come and head up all the nations of the world. He's going to rule them. And when he comes, we're going to be part of his official kingdom on earth. And he said, you know, it's a good thing you came today. Because if you come tomorrow, I'd be away. Where are you going? He said, I'm going to Basel University in Switzerland to get another degree in the occult. He has a number now. In other words, he's going to study the spirit world. On my way, he said, I'm going to South America. There's a woman lives in the hills there. She has a crystal, not a crystal like the so-called prophetess Dixon has. Jean Dixon, who is obviously not a Christian. Because if she was, she'd be warning of the coming of the Lord. And she never mentions that at all. But it's not one of these plastic crystals. It's a piece of rock that was found in a mountain side. Somebody dug it out. And it's almost the shape of a human head. And he said, I'm going to consult this woman. Because she is the most sought individual in the world on this level. And this is what he said. He said, the people that seek her company most. Strangely enough, are rabbis from the Jewish church. And priests from the Roman Catholic church. And he told me this. That the Roman church had offered this woman a blank check for that crystal. Which she refused to take. But you see, in other words, he's saying that we believe in anti-Christ. He doesn't call him anti-Christ. The man is coming. Well, that's the only answer. You see, you get to a place where. Whether the Democrats or Republicans. They can't rule a nation. Or England, Labour, or Socialists. Or as we call them, Tories. And the only answer is a dictator who will rule them with a rod of iron. He'll clamp down on them. And that's what's going to come up. Before long, the Superman. Well, that was then the other thing he said. I met another brother I hadn't met for some years. And he said, Oh, hello. How are you? And he said, I'm fine. Where have you been? And he said, Well, I've been in the southern hemisphere there. And I stopped off in Taiwan. Formosa, as you might want to call it. And somebody said to me, You were a missionary in China so many years ago. And he said, Yes, I was. Well, he said, Down in this section of Taiwan. You know, these are all Chinese. There are a group of people. Weren't you in such a province? I don't know. Province is very much what one is. Hanon? Weren't you in that province? Well, there's a group of people from that province down there. So he sought them out with eagerness. And when he went in, he greeted them in his eloquent Chinese, which he'd known for more than 30 years. And they ignored him. And he greeted them again. And they just looked up and went on working. So he said, Now look, you've forgotten. Of course, I got a little fattened and bald. But I was your pastor for so long in China. And they didn't take any notice. And he said, Well, this isn't oriental courtesy. Aren't you so-and-so, you know? And he gave the name. Yeah, yeah. Isn't that so-and-so? Yeah. Well, I don't understand. I mean, I taught you in church, in your Bible school. One man busy ironing or something. And I looked up and just said two words that cut him to ribbons. False prophet. False prophet. Why? He said, I had a chart I used to teach you about all the cults and the modern cults in the world. False prophet. Why? And the man said a little angrily, Yes, you taught us all right. You not only had a chart about the cults, you had a chart of the world. You used to say, Look, there's Russia. And Russia's going to come over here and invade, or this way, and invade Red China. And do you know what they're going to do when they come? They're going to tear your Bibles and throw them to the birds. They're going to burn your churches down, rape your women, take your daughter and put her in one truck, take your son and put him in another truck, tear up your homes. Everything's going to be lost that you've built up for your life. Your home, your family. It's all going to be destroyed. But just before that, just before this great tribulation. Now you'll say it isn't a great tribulation because it isn't in America. But if you saw your wife torn out of your arms and your daughter screaming, going into a truck, and your son trying to get free there. And you saw your Bible torn up and blown to the wind and your church burned. I think the Lord would excuse you if you thought it was a great tribulation. What more could you have? But just before this comes, the Lord's going to take your little darlings. You know, He loves you so much. He wouldn't let a hair of your head perish. Boy, not only let some people's hair of their head. He didn't do a thing while tigers and lions tore them apart in the arena. You got to balance Scripture or we become cockeyed. You said that we were going to be taken away and China would be totally destroyed and all the ancient dynasty would perish and something new would come up and everything would be lost. But you would be just up there in heaven looking down and seeing the whole horrid mess. You're a false prophet. Everything happened that you said except one. We didn't escape tribulation. Well, why should China have it and not us? We've had far more luxury and blessing and privilege than they ever dreamed of. Why should the Christians in Russia this morning be in the mess that they're in? I happened to meet that fellow John Noble. The first week he came from Russia when he was released. And that must be nearly, I guess, 15, 20 years ago. The first week he came home I talked with him. And he told me about the conditions which are so horrifying there in those countries. What about the underground church in these other areas of the world? It's much healthier than it is here in America or in England. And I say that to say this. Again, you've got to watch. It doesn't matter how zealous a man is. Doesn't care what power he seems to have and how he foams at the mouth while he says it and how he shouts and how he thumps. You've got to take a common sense view. Read the Word of God and not prepare for the best but really prepare for the worst. Now what does the Scripture say? You see, we're always looking for a rapture that will take us up. Do you happen to remember a Scripture that says what? The angels came and what did they gather first? Oh the tares. Hmm that's another slam. See we sing no no it's not an easy road but most of us are looking for the easiest anyhow. And popular theology takes us down this road. We like to think we're going to escape. We like to think that we're God's little darlings. We like to think that we'll be up there in an armchair looking down while these things go on but somebody's going to meet the enemy head on anyhow. And God is looking for this group and if you want to become a candidate today well all I can say is you look out for something fierce and terrible. Not necessarily physically, openly but secretly in your own life. Again God may take you and shut you away and you'll have to leave the crowd and you'll have to do God's will. You'll have to do God's will for you and I'll have to do God's will for me. You see. And so what I've tried to do successfully or otherwise in the last three weeks is try and shed some of this thing that's only effervescent anyhow and bring us right down to get our feet on the book on the rock. And realize again that we're called not to get on an escalator or an elevator and press the button and say take me to glory. But another aspect of the Christian life is we're told to put on the whole armor of God and we're going to fight the good fight of faith. And we used to sing as children in England more stern will grow the conflict as nears our king's return. And the moral collapse in America in the last two years is frightening it's terrifying, it's unbelievable. Nobody's safe. Nobody knows where to go. Every airport is under severe guard this morning. All the public buildings. Put a new watch over the United Nations. Checking everybody that goes in here and goes in there. Man alive. Just a few kids have got a whole We were boasting. Johnson used to boast we're the mightiest, strongest, richest nation. But somehow we missed it. His great society became a grave society. JFK and RFK and MLK, Martin Luther King, all K's. All got destroyed. Instead of a great society graves, graves, graves. You know obviously there's no way out except God's way. Somebody's going to get the illumination and again God is going to find his men. He's always had a remnant. He still has them. They may be covered up but they're going to come forth. And I'm not sure we'll like them all. I say this and finish right here. I often think they might have had an argument in the upper room and said you know this isn't what Joel said. I mean obviously you read Joel. Joel doesn't say a thing about tongues of fire. About a rushing mighty wind. About the gift of tongues. Doesn't say anything about those things. I mean these are spurious. Why do we want to accept them? They didn't do that. They were so hungry. They so needed God. They so wanted God. I believe the only reason the Holy Ghost came was they fulfilled Joel 1.13 and 2.13 before they expected Joel 3.13. In other words they'd rent the hearts and not their garments. They'd wept between the altar and the doorpost. They cried to God in their bankruptcy. They were at the place now where they had nothing left. Ten days of stripping, stripping, stripping. Ten days of unclothing before they were clothed. Ten days of emptying before they were filled. Ten days of acknowledging their bankruptcy before the anointing came. We poured millions and millions and millions out in evangelism and we're worse off than ever. Not because of it but in spite of it. So I look for God to do a new thing. And He'll do it. Not because I so, but because He says so. He said we have the former rain and the latter rain. We have the former at Pentecost and we're going to have the latter rain. Nobody's going to get in on it. Nobody's going to build a movement on it. Now I don't care about fellows having visions. That's all right. But you can't make a doctrine out of a man's vision. So often a fellow has a vision then he goes off at a tangent wants to build his little kingdom. I know God gave it to me. I won't doubt He gave it to him but I'll seriously doubt He gave it to me. God's going to give me a vision He'll give me a vision not through him. He's not going to get my money or anything. Usually they want your money once they get a vision. Well let him go to the same God that gave him the vision and get all he needs. That's what he should do, isn't it? Amazing how many men get a vision but they want your money to fulfill their vision. Isn't that wonderful? I mean it's no good holding up a bank. There's a much easier way than that. Just become an evangelist. But oh wait till the great day when we have to answer which we're going to talk about tomorrow night. So I didn't intend to say all that but I think the Lord wanted me to share that with you so let's be careful, let's be sure we have our feet on the ground. Somebody said I don't care how high you jump as long as when you come down you walk straight. So let's see that we do that. All right let's if you want to ask questions I kept my genius behind me here so he can share it if I get stuck. Questions relative to what we've been talking about. Let me tell you right off I don't know what the middle toe on the left foot of Daniel's image is. I don't know so don't ask me that question. I don't know the Antichrist. I haven't met him. I don't know his wife or anybody. Right thank you. Yeah. Yeah quite a few people asked about that. Particularly as I say using this not by any gripe but for instance there are three types of tongues. There are tongues of men or maybe more tongues of men and of angels or there are tongues natural languages of men. Then there are tongues which are inspired by demon power. And there are tongues which are given by the Holy Ghost. There is a genuine gift of tongues I'll be honest with you I don't believe many people have it. And the third is something psychic or human. Now I know a man who went into a meeting where there is no more the gift of tongues than this desk has. And one of England's foremost Pentecostal preachers were there. And this fellow was in and he said what's this going on? And the fellow said oh this is the gift of tongues you see. He has the interpretation. And what they're saying is not earthly it's heavenly. So the man said oh. And when there was a pause he jumped up and he gabbled something like yakabura sararia karma nura barabara he went on like that and waited and this the most outstanding Pentecostal preacher or one of the three outstanding Pentecostal preachers in England interpreted it. Now another friend we have my dear Martha and I one of the most brilliant Bible scholars I know he has about two thousand books in Greek and Hebrew he's a spirit filled man he does research. And he was in a meeting on the west coast and he had a free night somebody said come to a meeting he went hadn't been in the meeting long when suddenly a woman now I don't know why but nearly always it's the women that yell out even though the scripture says they should be silent in the church too. And she yelled out and the pastor interpreted. At the end of the meeting the same thing happened and the pastor interpreted. Going out the pastor said oh hello nice to see you I notice you're a stranger here yeah enjoy the meeting and he said no. Well surely you usually say yes out of courtesy I mean if you didn't enjoy the meeting you enjoyed Miss Smith that gargled to music or something and there's something that you enjoyed in the meeting but he said no. Well what was wrong? At the beginning that woman oh yes you mean the lady that spoke in tongues oh she spoke in tongues. What kind of tongues? Oh not an earthly language it's a heavenly language. And what did you do? Oh I gave the interpretation. What about the end of the meeting? Oh well she did the same thing spoke in tongues and it was the same tongue you noticed he said I noticed that. Not a language of earth a language of heaven and I gave the interpretation. Is that alright? He said no. Well what's your problem? Well he said I don't know many languages I know English I know Hebrew I know Greek and I happen to know Latin and the woman gave a flawless message in Latin. Now you say it wasn't a language of earth it was of heaven and you're wrong there number one and you're supposed to be the leader of the church. Number two she was urging you to worship the Virgin Mary and give her honour because she's seated at the right hand of the Father and lives to make intercession. And what about the end of the meeting? She did the same thing. Now you see again it doesn't matter what you have Satan's going to try and abuse it. And therefore you've got to have what are the things we need most? Now I don't know all the answers I say I don't understand why you can have a congregation of people with maybe 500 people in the congregation all claiming the gift of tongues and only one person who has the gift of interpretation. So that as in an occasion one church I was in nobody interpreted and I said when all the interpreters away. Now would the Holy Ghost waste his own energy? Why don't we go on and seek the other gifts of the Spirit? 17 if you list them all. You see that's why more than once I've said and I've addressed many conferences of all kinds of Pentecostal meetings ministers many ministers meetings and challenged them that not one of them has a Pentecostal church. And they frown and say oh Ravenhill's coming up sour again. And I say no here it is look they went to church every day they broke bread every day they had a prayer meeting every day and so was rallied to the church. Now that's Pentecost. Got a church like that? Raise your hand. Nobody raised their hand. They had all the gifts of the Spirit operating. You got them in your church? Now there's only one church really in Dallas. And that's made up of the redeemed body of Christ. And I believe that in that one church really all the gifts must be operating. And it should be that there's somebody known here at Christ for the Nations who maybe has the gift of faith. And people will cross the city to come to this man and say look you have the gift of faith and here's a problem and I want you to believe God with me about it. And then somebody else over in another church as we call the churches which of course are only denominations has the gift of wisdom another man has the gift of knowledge. There's only one church in this city or any city. And in that body these gifts should be obvious they should be known nobody's going to strut. In fact the more you have the more you want to hide yourself. God hates pride. We don't think of this. We like to strut and show off and immediately we cancel the whole we sabotage our own praying often. So to answer the question brother to me that as a brother told me not long ago we met him in California maybe three months ago he'd just come from Indonesia and some people were having a celebration the as we'd say the heathen out there and one of them dancing around a fire suddenly came out with a torrent of pure English a great oration. Now you may say that's demon power or you can say it's psychic certainly wasn't the Holy Spirit because he conveyed no message. And if you don't convey a message as far as I'm concerned yours is psychic. You turn it on when you want it. Now I know that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet but that doesn't mean you play with it like a toy. You see. Boy you talk about sounding brass you've been in meetings of all kind in churches and banquets where somebody rattled off and you said to yourself if ever I heard sounding brass and tinkling cymbals that's it. You see they want to show off in front of the crowd show my gifts, show something I have always pushing self. You see. And so I say one of the greatest needs to me in the Church of God is today is that we have you know what people say you know I've got the gift of discernment I know lots of people on the save that have the gift of discernment there isn't a gift of discernment at least not in the Bible. There's a gift of discerning of spirits but that's very different from a gift of discernment. My wife has a sister who again is quite psychic she knows what's going to happen tomorrow she isn't saved but man she comes up with some fantastic stuff and knows things happening in other countries with relatives. I preached in a tent one afternoon in England and a fellow came in his hair was way down here and his shirt was open and he just sat there and listened and when I finished he said hello I said hello he said who was that man on the platform with you this afternoon oh I said that's our leader no no no no when the other gentleman left the platform and listened to you preach he said a man stood at the side of you he was tall had black hair parted down the centre a walrus moustache marvellous teeth a deep collar with his tie tucked underneath and a black coat and a waistcoat and a gold Albert as we say a gold chain strung across his tummy there and I hadn't met this man or said a word to him before and he said look when you were a boy you came in at your front door across the room was an old fashioned scroll sofa and this man's picture was hung above it and his name is William William William William he said William William Jackson I said no well it's William and it has son at the end I said that's right oh William Johnson I said right who was it I said my grandfather he said well he stood at the side of you for the whole afternoon when you preached as soon as you gave out your text he stood there and as soon as you finished you went now he told me where I lived he said that was up in Leeds 51 miles away from where we were I had never seen my grandpa in his life or mine but I knew the picture now he described the picture he described the house he gave me his name and everything and he'd never seen me before and I don't want to see him anymore anyhow but it doesn't alter the fact that he was correct in everything that he said you see which again I say you've got to try the spirits that's what the word of God says try the spirits and we've got to have a spirit of not just discerning things but again of discerning of spirits and this is why you have to live in a very sensitive attitude not touchy some people think they're sensitive when they're only touchy just like some people say oh you know I'm so burdened they're not really burdened they're just crushed with some problem but they have it's not a burden of the spirit and again we need to discern for ourselves as well as discern for the church of God of which we're a part well I hope that answers your question we went along right there are times when you could burst and you could do that I don't think there's anything wrong if you're in the country but don't put it over in the church if this relieves your spirit whether it's psychic or certainly not demonic you wouldn't do that or genuine gift of thanks go ahead if the Lord wants you to come in on a meeting but remember again the scripture now I've heard somebody start and they've let them go on a dozen the scripture limits it to two or three in any meeting and if you're going to be absurd if you want a meeting with tongues well go have tongues in the room but don't let the public in because the Bible says they'll think you're mad you see we want to do it our way not God's way if it draws the crowd and people get excited you can always get people know you know when the atmosphere goes up I've heard fellows say look now's the time to take the offering we were in a big conference with big name men over in Chicago Branham was one of them and I spoke in the same meeting and I spoke with some other men and at the end a fellow got up and he said what a marvellous meeting what a marvellous meeting and we're going to go home but do you know what we should do this is a lovely atmosphere to take another offering now why do you need an atmosphere to take an offering because he knew a little psychology he knew that everybody was stirred emotionally he knew everybody was there ready whether they could do it or not to give and we've got a lot of thieves evangelistic thieves you know you've got your rent in your pocket now you just put it in and believe God I've known people do that and one woman particularly near Washington when the fellow came to collect the rent she said I don't have it he said well you've been in this house more than 10 years and this is the first time well I can't explain why but I'll have it next week came to the second he said well you're better or I'll put you out of the house came to the second week and she hadn't got it and he said well I'll give you three days she came in panic to the pastor I was working with and said look the evangelist told me the other day if I put my rent he said first of all you've got a quarter in your pocket for the bus put it in the offering and walk home well he got his pretty pink Cadillac out and drove home and then the rent didn't come this pastor rightly went to the evangelist and said look if you don't give that woman her rent back I'll sue you I'll make a public case out of you or I'll circulate through this country and he did right to do it don't be caught I'm trying to warn you against all these folk that come along what did Paul say or Jesus say as soon as I get away there'll be foxes or wolves try to enter the flock and boy they come in such sheep skin sheep's clothing that you can hardly tell the one from the other unless you're careful this is why I think God's just about through with the whole works right now he's going to find some pure hearted men and brother when they come they'll be pretty fierce and they'll be pretty rough you think folk say to me you're rough but I'm not I'm not 10 degrees warm compared to them with 100 degrees when they come they won't fear anybody you see there's a little booklet out now Bredesen and the others have put out written a letter to the president saying we need a national day of prayer we certainly don't we've had them and they haven't done a single thing there's always one thing we're being asked to proceed real prayer and that is repentance and no president in the states is going to call the nation to repentance it'd take a prophet to do that and when he comes here as Tozer said he's inclined to be a little angry first of all with the church before ever with the world now this sounds a little depressing but there it is it's all I'm telling you the burden of my heart today so there's the answer yes do you want to answer that well I have a breathing no he doesn't well there are ways the spirit bears witness one is that again through the word of God that's why we must know thy word have I hid in my heart and I told you the other day it's not enough to have it in your noddle up here in your head you've got to get it down in your heart and it says in the 14th of John doesn't it he'll bring to your remembrance all the things that he has said unto you all the things now the other thing is if this thing is of God as far as I'm concerned my wife's more sensitive in this area than I am but you have an inward immediate what can you call it impression of your spirit that this is so or it isn't so you can't explain it there's a thousand things you can't explain in life but there's a deep settled peace and if not there's an uneasiness and you don't need to spout out what you think just then just sit still daughter or son and wait and before many days you'll see that thing unfold now the best thing you can do I think is keep a diary and in that day say look it was 10 o'clock in the morning that day when when I had this strange feeling record it and then when you say maybe a week ahead you know I knew this was going to happen so I said oh well of course everybody knows but look I'll show you in my diary here where I put this this impression of the spirit after all what did John Wesley say I think I made a recording somewhere here found it recently he says the witness of the spirit is an inward impression on the soul whereby the spirit of God witnesses to my spirit that I am a child of God that Jesus loved me and that all my sins are blotted out that I even I am reconciled to God but the first part it's an inward impression on the soul whereby the spirit of God witnesses to my spirit let me look here a minute in Acts Acts chapter 9 I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost you see the spirit doesn't merely bear witness that we're saved and bear witness that we're born again but he bears witness that the thing is so or it is not so if he's the spirit of truth and you have the spirit of truth to use a common parlance he rings a bell and somebody else may be standing on their head and clapping their feet and jingling bells that they've got and you say well I'm sorry it can move you but it doesn't move me I don't feel any witness with this thing now Paul says I can call the Holy Ghost to bear witness and you know that always gets to me I think man can I call the Holy Ghost to bear witness that that thing I said is really true when I preach and sometimes I spit some fiery things out true enough I have to and I will do but I never I try to make as a minimum any time I preach I try to at least spend two hours with God before I ever come on the platform otherwise I wouldn't feel easy now you may spend two minutes and do it I can't in the morning session I don't get as long an hour an hour and a half but at night in fact spend more than that usually try to get about three hours quiet with God before any meeting and I may I'm fallible still I know that but I take every precaution that I can take in my spirit lest I should be a blind man leading the blind you know that's what the scripture says the blind lead the blind and they both fall into the ditch all I can say about that is this that there is the Holy Ghost bears witness with my conscience if my conscience is clean again going to what Hebrews 9 and 10 somewhere there if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience you see it's not twisted anymore it's not seeking its own love seeketh not her own now I'm only seeking what God wants I'm seeking God's best I'm seeking it for God's glory he will bear witness with my spirit you may be the odd man out but I'll tell you before long you'll discover that God's always right and people are wrong and that impression that you cannot be fine again you don't have to strut it around and shout it out you just keep it in your heart and say well everybody says that but I just can't take it that's alright you see to our own master we stand or fall you're not going to make everybody toe the line on certain things to your own master you stand or fall and that's my consolation so there's a deep inward mysterious impression on my spirit this is so or this is not so I'm going to watch the man's life and I'm going to see if he has the fruits of the spirit gifts if they're not balanced with the fruit you see we've been hopping around on one leg so long you can join a church if you have gifts nobody ever asks you if you have the fruits do they? you get a new pastor you say what was your last Sunday school you don't say how much time do you spend in prayer? we appoint deacons in the church not because the spiritual and full of the Holy Ghost because of a lot of money and the prestige men in the environment you see so again we've got to do God's work in God's way with God's power and then we get God's blessing alright someone else raise their hand yes yeah well I often say it sounds facetious if the scripture said in Acts 1 8 you should receive tongues the Holy Ghost coming upon you that would solve all our problems but it doesn't say that it says you should receive power now there was a warning on the news the other day that here in Dallas there was some counterfeit twenty dollar bills being circulated now many many times every country in England we have the same they counterfeit pound notes and what not whatever there's a genuine currency you find that there's a duplication or at least there's a counterfeit but nobody has ever yet tried to establish how can I put it a competitive money order nobody said well now we have issued some other bills in this country which are as genuine and there's going to be two currencies in the country one run by the government one now nobody ever tried to do that now the Church of Rome has done this now there's a book there are two or three books you can get a book by it's in the Zondervan issue called the shadow of Rome now to me the Roman system this may seem strong but to me the Roman system is one antichrist system in the world for this reason again the spirit of God is a spirit of truth and if people have received the fullness of the spirit of truth immediately it's going to show them what's error you see here's a thing an analogy if you've been to a forest or not you know this is true that if you go in a forest the king of the forest usually is the lion there are other predatory animals which are equally as fierce now if everything's in order in the forest that line goes round at night and the first person first creature he can jump on he gets it for lunch doesn't matter how big it is it may be some of those huge kind of buffalo type animals they have in South America but the lion will jump on it and he'll destroy it and if it should escape that then maybe around the corner there's a jaguar or a leopard or something else and everything's everything lives on its nerves it's the we call it the law of the jungle surviving of the fittest but now you let that forest catch fire do you know what will happen all those animals will run down that path side by side the lion won't stop to take his lunch off the critter next to it they're all in peril of something greater than the lion and they all run together now we've come to this in society and because of this we're saying to everybody Catholics or anybody you come in with us you know let's all run together I mean it's all the same God and we're going to the same place the same heaven let's all get together we've got one big common enemy this great big monstrous thing that we this fire that's burning that we call communism so let's all get in together. Now Acts 4.12 says there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved that obliterates forever that Mary is co-redemptrix which the Church of Rome says she is now I have said this too that somebody didn't tell you I believe a Roman Catholic or a Spiritist can be born again and filled with the Holy Spirit but they won't stay in the system that they're in because the mass is called the sacrifice of the mass and there is no more sacrifice for sin that was done away once and forever Mary is not co-redemptrix there is no such thing scripturally as purgatory now in one of the full gospel magazines I don't know which there's a story there about some big shot theologian in Notre Dame where of course they did have some manifestation of these things and I intended yesterday I haven't done it but I'm going to do this because it comes in line with something I want to publish I'm going to write and ask him well I won't call him father so and so I'll just call no man father you see again they call a man father scripture says call no man father I will just say to him sir I understand that you've come into that a number of Catholics receive this baptism keep it from being personal number one is this consistent with the sacrifice of the mass is the sacrifice of the mass consistent with the finished work of Christ number two do you still pray through the Virgin Mary and the saint there's only one man ever prayed through a saint in the Bible do you know who it was well there's a story about a man called Diveys and one called Lazarus and when Diveys got to hell now he got to the wrong place he went at the wrong time he prayed to the wrong person and he got the wrong answer as far as he was concerned he said father Abraham he didn't come and father Abraham didn't make any move because he couldn't make any move now that man may have been as pious as any Jew that ever lived and he may have kept the commandments and paid his tithes and gone to every ceremony and every banquet pardon me I didn't mean that in the wrong way every feast that they had and yet he ends up in hell and in hell he prayed I say prayed from the wrong place he prayed at the wrong time he prayed to the wrong person he got the wrong answer there was no move made now that's the only case where they prayed through a saint and there was no answer now they have made Mary co-redemptrix who gives the papacy any power over the dead or to exalt you see the Virgin Mary called Jesus Lord she called him Lord now you can't run two systems if they're right we're dead wrong now the Roman church not only robs the living you see there's an old saying about I happen to come from Europe and there are many things you haven't seen in America you've never seen the Roman Catholic Church you say I've got nice neighbors they're not the Roman Catholic Church when the Church of Rome is in the minority she's a lamb when she's in equality she's a fox when she's in the majority she's a tiger now for your own edification sometimes slip over the border go down into New Mexico go down into Mexico now I haven't seen this but a traveler told me and I could take his word for it what's the capital city there Mexico City I suppose and there in the cathedral they have an oversized statue of Jesus hanging from the ceiling there on a cross at the other side of the cross Mary is crucified on the cross she's Coridentrix now this is what he told me I say I haven't seen it sometime I must go down and or I'll get somebody there to check on this for me now Mary is not Coridentrix the last outstanding thing that the Roman Church did was make her they talk about the assumption and boy what an assumption it is what they mean is the physical resurrection of Mary and she's at the right hand of the father now the Pope can't do that thirdly the Pope robs people it robs the living now you go in a Roman Catholic Church in South America what do they do why the poor people come wherever Rome goes there's poverty the best breeding ground for communism is Romanism you see when the pilgrims came over to this country what did they do they came in a boat and they brought the Bible and they brought the wives they brought the Bible and they unlocked it to our tongue when the priests went from Spain to South America they took a Bible locked up in the Latin tongue and they kept people ignorant and they oppressed them and they had no wives they used other men's wives that's quite common you'll hear people say I can tell you of cities where they say oh priest oh he's the bull what do you mean he's the bull well his father and saw me one person said he we are priests the women openly admit he's fathered 37 children in this in this village morality doesn't matter the Roman Church has about six buildings in the United States to rehabilitate drunken priests why well for one thing every time they take the mass which is every hour on the hour usually from six in the morning till twelve you put out your tongue to the priest he puts a little way from it and then he drinks all the wine why because the scripture says drink ye all of it not drink ye all of it drink ye all of it so he drinks it all well if he's drinking every hour on the hour what do you want him to expect him to become and while it's it's funny but at the same time it's a serious thing and so they have and I don't know any Protestant places where we have to rehabilitate priests ministers I guess some of them need it but you see what is it I can't give you the maybe I can isn't it Matthew 1 27 that says thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins now Rome doesn't save people from their sins it saves them in it and they start again and they pay the next weekend you see now not only that do they rob the living they rob the dead because they pray and pay for masses and the scripture doesn't know a thing about it this is a great deception of the ages in my judgment the devil's master stroke and again I say you know nice people I don't dispute you know nice people do you know most of them don't know their own religion anyhow they don't know it's history I would make a guess that two of the most terrible concerns in America are on this continent today number one I would guarantee you that ninety nine percent of the men in the mafia are Catholics and I would guarantee that a hundred percent of these men who were formed this new rebellion a core of rebellion in Quebec are Catholics they not only get the blessing of the church you get financed by it in Northern Ireland where they've had trouble they found the storage and arsenal under the cathedral in Armagh when these people fellows were being chased at night they were hiding under the church now don't tell me that they stored all that stuff nobody knew about it they certainly didn't know about it you see so I say that a man can be saved and filled with the spirit but if Martin Luther had stayed in the church we wouldn't have had a reformation would we they won't stay there very long I'm absolutely sure of that I know this because my whole family that is my forebears were all Catholics my father was the only man that got saved out of it as a result of that we didn't get a dime out of the estate all the money went to the rest of the family my dad did not get one red cent out of it now I don't know whether that answers your question it answers it for me I believe that if these people are filled with the spirit before long they're going to separate from their church and they're going to find a place to worship and they can exercise all the gifts they need but they're not going to stay in a filthy system like that and try and bridge the two you just can't be done the scripture again insists on purity it says come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and this is where they take up their cross you see we've had Vatican Council one we've had Vatican Council two and both of those things where they drew preachers from the ends of the earth the Catholic church did not did not yield half of one percent of its doctrine in fact it didn't concede one point of its doctrine we're the stray brethren and have to come into it but Davis who has edited the most outstanding brilliant Catholic newspaper in England Davis he didn't claim to get saved or filled with the spirit he was the one who was personally blessed by the Pope and authorized to bring the straying brethren in and he worked on this for a couple of years or more before Vatican Council two and after he got through with the thing he dropped the whole thing and you know these words are I've got them I've got them I'm going to quote them in a book he says the Roman Catholic Church is the filthiest thing in the world it's corrupt from the center to circumference now he knows the papacy and the Pope as well as I know this this good brother here I know you better than that it's all the intrigue it's all again for world dominion it'll say peace peace with one hand and it will maneuver on the other hand and and get everything it can to destroy what it wants to destroy in order that it may get power so all I can say and if I'm the last man out if I if you burn me at the stake I'll still say it while I die you can't stay in a filthy system like that say you love the Lord Jesus say you're filled with the Holy Spirit and stay in a system which absolutely contradicts as I said the other day read Hebrews Hebrews flattens the Roman Catholic Church into the dust there is one God and one mediator between God and man not a priest not a confessional and they would have to repudiate all they have and if they did again they'd really have to take up the cross and there'd be some suffering there all right it's someone else yes not in my if a thing's full it's full and how a person can be filled with God and filled with the devil I wouldn't know it's a contradiction in terms and in any case if the whole area of my being is Holy Spirit controlled I don't believe that an evil spirit can come in now I think they can be temporarily deceived but that's a difference that that's difference being possessed you can have an impression and suffer maybe a delusion for a little while but that doesn't mean yet that you're necessarily invaded by a spirit as I say some fellows every meeting they have we we were in a meeting Martha and I and a very brilliant man one of the outstanding research scientists in the atomic system of America he's there he's a spirit filled man and and he was called away from the table and a supper time and his his wife had called him she's 350 miles away and she said did two women come to the conference this afternoon right after lunch they came in at the door one had a bright blue dress and he said yes he said watch it she's full of the devil well you know before the week was out just about everybody the woman came I dreaded her coming as soon as she came in you know it's kind of oh you've got a demon or something oh you've got a demon or something she had us all demon possessed before the meeting was out now I don't go for that stuff once you're more demon conscious then you are Christ conscious or even the devil if you're more devil conscious you're in trouble absolute trouble now these two people did get together afterwards they'd split from one of the historic churches they have a marvelous open they invited Martha and I come and live with us for two years we'll take care of you and do teaching everything we'll treat you like kings and whatnot fine they were very very nice they're gathering 75 to 80 people every Sunday morning in their home and as we left Martha said well nice to see you and we'll be seeing you again and he said well you may I don't know whether you will and I said well why not now he had claimed he had every gift of the spirit and he claimed his wife had every gift of the spirit and his last words to us was that he had when he was leaving well you may not see us because we've just about agreed to get a divorce we're incompatible now how can two man and wife be filled with the Holy Ghost and be incompatible if one is filled with the spirit I can understand it but two and I said look you better forget all about teaching other people and all about the gifts what about elevating some of the fruit love joy peace long suffering gentleness meekness temperance oh what a lot of wonderful things now I don't believe you can be filled with the spirit and filled with the demon you can be tricked for a little while I say maybe under temporary delusion but all you have to do if that thing comes is quit everything and pray and demand deliverance as I said the other day if we prayed at the beginning of the day lots of us won't be praying over mistakes and problems at the end of the day if we took the covering of the blood every day and remember when Satan comes don't you be smart and say what I read in the magazine I've got news for you he doesn't read them but you could be as smart as Jesus every time Satan came to Jesus what did he do what did he say it is what it is written chew that one over Satan it's written it's written see yes but look at this I'm not looking at that it is written there's not a circumstance you come into between here and the pearly gates but what there isn't an answer here in the book somewhere it is written it is written it is written now watch him in this scripture oh sure it's written and then he tried it didn't he he says well you know Lord you could jump down for catch the people by magic I mean you do anything if you show off jump off a steeple hit the ground nothing because it's written he shall give his angels the charge concerning thee oh no it isn't he shall give his angels charge concerning thee what to what no no to what right but he wasn't going in his way he's going in the devil's way if he did what the devil asked and he wouldn't have the protection see we assume too much Martha and I were in a meeting earlier this year where the church was crushed it was a wealthy church a big church we had a tremendous time we had hundreds of people every night but the church was under a blanket of sorrow do you know why because earlier this year they have a few rich people there who either have their own planes or they join planes and a young man said to another fellow you haven't been round the mountains here this was in Oregon in Portland no oh man we've got these beautiful snow capped mountains there's no better sight in the world let let you want to come up in my plane he said I'd love it they got to the airport gassed the plane up went to get a manifesto or whatever they get there and the fellow said not today what do you mean not today no weather for a light plane man it's freezing up there the wings lice up you'll have trouble that plane will be so heavy she can't get over the mountains twelve nearly fourteen feet high you've got problems don't go oh the Lord will take care of us we don't have to worry about that I mean we've already prayed and we're going he said don't go the last thing they heard from that man after he'd been up there that the wings had got so heavy the thing was and they were screaming hysterically they were going down I can't see anything there isn't a hole in the clouds when I was diving we were going to die they haven't found a trace of that plane from that day to this they figured it went down in one of those big lakes up in the mountains there and didn't leave a trace they got this news round the church what are we going to do the fellow said I know what I'm going to do anybody volunteer to go with me and go search for them we'll go tomorrow yeah we'll pray for your brother. So they went. And they did the same thing. And the church lost two of its outstanding men spiritually and supporters and everything. You see they assume so much. Now yeah I was in a plane that got hit with the tail end, the tail of the plane got hit with a tail end of a hurricane. Brother Weed just did everything. I didn't enjoy it. My wife would have just sat there and said bring me a cup of tea. I was holding the plane together. We were going up down sideways shooting this way. And then the wings you know those big heavy mortars the wings just flat like that. And I thought thanks. If you do that once again they'll come. They couldn't stand the strain. I mean they're literally flat like that and came up. And then we went sideways through a hole. Well I think we came out. I think I'm here this morning. But you know I believe the only reason we survived was we were in God's will being there. Now these other people assumed and they perished. And the next group said well of course like you know that was the devil got in on them that they want. But two more perished and the church I say staggered under the Lord they don't understand it. He'll keep thee in all thy ways. Because you'll find out this morning this is the way walking in it. And while you go there if there were as many as Luther said. What did he say he'd go to a certain place. If there are as many devils on the roof as there are tiles. As many devils there are numbers of tiles on the roof. Sure. If you're right in his will that's fine. But let's not presume on it. I don't believe a man can be filled with the Spirit and filled with an evil. Because the Lord said to Israel I'll take away what? I'll give you a heart of flesh no? He said I'll take a stony heart out of your flesh. And I'll put a new heart within you and I'll put my Spirit within you. And I believe if you're holy totally yielded. Now if you backslidden and got into a bad state I think Satan can come and make some kind of invasion. Not Satan but a demon could come and and put you maybe into a temporary bondage unless you breathe the blood and get out of it. But I don't believe while we're living in the Spirit Satan can get in. If we're filled with God we're not going to have this oppression and power of demons. Okay. Yes. No sir. I don't know. I don't have a timetable. Yes. No I don't. I don't know the order. I've never and I don't find anybody that's ever figured it out all correctly or just what every moves going to be. Some do and you'll find 50 godly men stand behind him. You get another book and you'll find 50 godly men stand behind him. Yeah yeah yeah thank you dear. You know yeah this is an amazing thing. There is you must know a group of people called the Plymouth Brethren in which of course they don't they don't allow ladies to do anything. Either lead songs or speak or anything. Must keep in total silence and subjection. Now it's a strange thing that this theory about the rapture it was considered a cult. They that what we call the you know people say I believe the Lord could come before the day. Well he couldn't. I'm absolutely sure of that. First of all because this gospel must be preached to all nations. And people say well we're covering the earth with TV. Some people don't have money to buy a second loincloth never mind a TV. That's that's an alibi. 1834 a woman stood up in a meeting in England. There you got a woman again. The Bible talks about a lot of old wives tales you know. It's amazing how many of these things are born of women isn't it. Spiritism was revived in America by two women the Fox sisters. What's the other thing? Christian science and Mary Baker Eddy. Seventh-day Adventist by Mrs. White. You have a whole bunch of old wives tales you got to watch it. Now this woman stood up in this meeting in England and purported to have had some kind of revelation. And she there gave forth the theory of what we call the rapture. And strange enough these people who deny women every right to speak in a church swallowed the thing hook line and sinker. Do you know why people want a rapture brother in my judgment? Number two even a lot of Christians are afraid to die. And number one we're afraid of persecution. And wouldn't the rapture be an easy way out of it all? Let others burn at the stake and do it. But us? Why we're the best breed of Christians the Lord ever had. Never had anything as spotless and wonderful as we are. And he isn't gonna let a hair of our hair, we're gonna be taken away. Oh no I don't think so. I believe again we're going to come into conflict the end of the ages. And as I said the other day I think right now everything that can be shaken is being shaken to prove that we belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Maybe as one of our good brethren has said I quoted this to you before. The church began with what? The shepherd and the sheep. I think it's going to end with a shepherd and the sheep. I think that by God's gonna bypass organizations. And they don't you know you'll be surprised that organizations don't like me to say that. And church denominations I think is going to bypass this all. I'm not saying the new revival wouldn't touch them but it'll be like the scripture says. There'll be new wine and old bottles they'll bust at the seams and it's gonna run all over the place. And then in my judgment this is gonna be the reaping, the final reaping just before the Lord comes. Someone else my half hour plus has gone and you haven't said a word. Can't get a word in. All right about five more minutes anybody else. Right no hands raised. Let me tell you one thing. I want to tell you this. What's tomorrow? Oh tomorrow's oh we have one morning. No I'll take something else. I've got something else to share with you which will be the last morning meeting. But just this thing. I was thinking about the if you want to look at it for a minute. Just the first of Thessalonians there. 1 Thessalonians 5 23 a lovely verse. The very God of peace sanctify you holy. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Now this is what it says. This is the entire man they talk about these days. Preserve you what? Cleanse you. The very God of peace sanctify you holy. Now now now this is this is a trouble with English phonetically. If I said to you holy you think I was saying h-o-l-y. It isn't saying that it's w-h-o-l-l-y. Because you see the word sanctify is holy. It's a synonym for holiness. So it doesn't say the very God of peace holy you holy. It's sanctify you holy your spirit and your soul and your body. Now go back to chapter 1 and see what kind of a person a church is praying for. Verse 2 we give thanks God always making mention of you in our prayers. Now verse 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith. So they had a faith that worked. Verse 4 knowing your election of God. Verse 5 our gospel came unto you not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. Verse 6 ye were followers of us and of the Lord. Verse 7 ye ran samples to all. He could hold them up and say you see the redeeming work of God and now the Holy Ghost has come. These are samples you know like a traveler shows his samples. And then he says in verse 8 from you sounded the Word of God. And later in the same verse in every place your faith Godward is spread abroad. They were a missionary hearted church. And then number 7 they turned from the TV set from idols to serve the Living God. And verse 10 and they waited for his Son from heaven. Now now you've got eight outstanding features there and yet those people who are missionary hearted and praying and had turned from idols. He is praying that they may be sanctified holy. Now sanctification is a crisis and a process. Nobody here is saved. Not one of us. Don't care how many gifts you have and you're filled with the Spirit. You're not saved yet you're in the process of being saved. When it says in 1 John 1 night the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth. The Greek there is the blood of Jesus Christ continues to cleanse. You know when we were a boy when we were boys we used to take a rock bigger than this as big as a coconut nearly and we'd throw it in a certain stream. Do you know why? Because as it fell in the stream with pure water you could see the thing sinking but you could see the flow of water going over it and washing all the dirt off. And you know whenever that rock stayed down in that stream with a clean stream going over it, it wouldn't get any pollution. No air can get to it. It's covered by the continuous flow of the stream. Now if you and I stay in obedience unto God under the blood we'll be kept cleansed. But that doesn't mean that there's no room for growth in grace. Now your spirit he says that you're related that that's you. Nobody's ever seen you. You are a spirit you live in a house of clay. You you can you can people can see your body lying there and you may have gone to glory or somewhere else. You're not in it. You have a spirit. You are a spirit. You have a soul with emotions and will and all the rest of it. So your spirit can be sanctified and your emotions and all that area can be sanctified and your body can be sanctified. All your bodily appetites can be made pure. Now he's going to keep us blameless unto the coming of the Lord and faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Now what what will be the final gift of God to you? Or shall we say what what is the full maturity of your redemption? Hmm? You've already got your spirit and your soul put right. What about what what's the other part of you? A glorified body. One of the great intellectuals of England in the past 25 years, a man who very lately came to know the Lord, was a man by the name of C.S. Lewis. He was a professor of English at Magdalen College Oxford. I went to hear him preach once and he was tremendously profound. I couldn't follow him all the way. And there were hundreds of ministers in that congregation. They called the preachers where the colours backwards were in England. You can usually identify them and the Pentecostals do that as well as the Presbyterians. And I just scanned that audience. They were listening breathlessly to this giant of a man explaining. Do you know what he began with? As a matter of fact I didn't think that he was C.S. Lewis. He was sitting on a chair there and he came up to the podium. This tall man with a big oval face and red cheeks. And he just held on to the desk like this and he said, I believe in the resurrection of the body. And he stopped and looked and the intonation was, if you don't you're a fool. I believe in the resurrection of the body. He talked about the indestructibility of matter and so forth and then he said this. And he was considered about the greatest intellectual we have but this is what he said. He said, I have a friend and he lives in a gorgeous mansion in a park. He has a beautiful daughter and she gets everything she wants. And the last thing she wanted her last birthday was a little pony and daddy bought her a pony. And when she'd had a few months of training they had a groomsman because his wife and he rode horses too and they had stacks of money. And the groomsman took the little girl out and taught her to ride but she soon got independent and said, I don't want the groomsman. And daddy said, all right dear look, you can go just to the gates, just to the gates of our estate no further. After a while he said, all right that's a little short, you can go through the gates down to the big oak tree, never passed it because not many yards down there's a busy road and if you go down there your pony might panic and you might get killed and what would daddy do? She obeyed her daddy until one lovely spring morning. The birds were singing, you know ought to be in England now that April's here and under the hedges the beautiful flowers were there and everything was perfect. And she was counting along on her pony and she just got past the giant. Daddy said never go and she wheeled the horse round as she did. There's a big chestnut riding horse looking over the hedge. And she looked at that beautiful horse and she looked at her pony and she shook her head and thought no, this isn't a horse, this is a pony. And she threw the reins over a stump of the tree and she walked up to this beautiful horse and she began to pat it and he was very friendly and he enjoyed it and she began to talk and he talked back to her you know. So she said and she got her arms round his neck and said I'd like you, I don't like that pony. I'd like, I'll get my daddy to buy you for me. And she said the horse pawed the ground and shook and it neighed and then it ran away and it cantered round the field and she watched the smooth rhythm of the horse and then it came back right where she was and it scratched again and the more she talked the more friendly the horse got and oh she thought this was wonderful. Daddy was looking out of his library window as she came up the avenue not riding the pony with the reins in her hands and he thought now there's something wrong and he rushed down he said now darling what happened did the pony kick you? No daddy. Did he throw you? No. Did he bite you? No, no. Well you were happy when you went out. I don't want a pony anymore. Don't want a pony anymore? Well what do you want? Down the road there's a beautiful, beautiful horse. It's so tall, it's back is higher than my pony's head. It's a beautiful horse and I talked to him and I said I'd like to have you and he said I'd like to come with you and he cantered round the field and he said you know you've never ridden a horse yet that thing. Forget it. You get on my back I'll show you what it's like to ride a horse. Man you'll feel the rhythm you'll enjoy riding. Don't want my pony anymore. Her daddy said look I'll have no problem buying that horse. You buy it for me? I'll buy it for you when you improve five different things in your riding. First your posture is not good. You don't dismount or mount very elegantly. Thirdly you hold your riding crop wrong and he went through the five faults. Now he said you just improve on all those and if you improve by Christmas I'll buy you that very horse or one like it. Oh Danny how wonderful. I can't live. Oh I'm gonna hurry up and get all these improvements. I must have that horse. C.S. Lewis said to that brilliant congregation, now he'd got away from all his profound philosophy and theology. He said you know what? And here is one of the greatest intellects we had. He said you know I find myself so crammed up in my brain. I can't get expression as I want and sometimes like the little girl looked over the hedge and saw the horse. Sometimes I look over the boundary line of time into eternity and I see my glorified body and I see my unlimited brain and I see myself without any physical handicaps. And I say Lord you promised it to me. I want a body like unto your glorious body. And he says now son, now son I'd have no problem giving it to you. The Lord already, my son already purchased that. That's the last final payment you're going to get. But you see in your spiritual life you've got to correct this and this and this and this and this and when you correct it, as soon as you get them corrected I'll bring you over the border and I'm going to give you a body like unto his glorious body. You know this book won't have one mystery in it when we get into eternity. We're going to sit down with Abraham and I. That's going to be quite a feast there. And we're going to share that glory there and then we're going to have revealed to us the mysteries of the ages. A lady said to me the other day on this very campus what I have long long agreed with. We haven't even begun to fathom this book. We just go back around about six truths and we hit them on the head every blessed banquet we go to and nearly every time we go to church and all as long as we do that and somebody speaks in tongues we are so happy. When are you going to quit playing in the marketplace? When are you going to expect, stop expecting somebody to play a tin whistle? Did you ever hear anybody play the moonlight Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or anything classy on the tin whistle? I'm not saying tongues isn't a tin whistle I'm saying the attitude that we have in many things we just want a tin whistle to be played so we can have our little dance. And the Lord says you know if you'd really grow up there are revelations in here and mysteries that have been hid from the beginning of the ages but they're going to be. Remember again Daniel's vision seal it up it's not for this day. Seal it up. The revelation of John seal not the vision. These things written 2,000 years ago must shortly come to pass. You know we need some spiritual discoverers in the realms of grace. Again I'm not going to because some big shot has a revelation. You can't build a doctrine on his private scripture let him have it it's for him but it's not for me brother. He's not getting an ounce of my energy he's not getting a cent of my money. I believe that shortly very shortly something's going to break oh not in the way we think it is. Not by us asking the president to do something. God's going to get through. Jesus is worthy of something better that calls itself by his name today and he's going to get it. And you know what a lot of our big shot preachers will be on the sidelines watching the prophets. That this morning maybe a driving buses or cleaning a manure heap on a farm or living in a back alley somewhere in the ghetto. He's got them. He had them when Jesus came. He had them in the upper room. He's had them at every stage in history. And I think I think this is most exciting. There's a stillness a strange stillness now. See again as I've said and this other person has said we've got all the equipment we've got TV we've got radio but we haven't a man on TV or radio today that has a voice. We haven't a man with a prophetic message in my judgment not one. You may not like it I'm not here to tickle your ears as I say these are days of itching ears but I'm not here to scratch them. I don't care whether you like it or not this is my considered judgment. This is what I give my life for. God is going to do a new wonderful marvelous thing. So let's not be disobedient to the heavenly vision. Whatever he says to you do it. Thanking you again our Father for this privilege this morning in Jesus name. Amen.