This sermon emphasizes the danger of becoming civilized and losing the fervor for evangelism, highlighting the arrogance and lack of correction in prominent preachers. It calls for a rediscovery of the value of the human soul, repentance, and the true process of becoming a Christian, contrasting quick conversions with the depth of transformation needed. The speaker urges a return to a deep, prostrate prayer life like that of historical figures who passionately interceded for their nations and souls.

The worst thing that ever happened to a preacher is he becomes civilized. It's worthless. Worthless. One thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, and I take a Leonard Ravenhill over 20 dead Calvinist, one thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, he was dangerous. He was dangerous. It's awesome when you think two men, five years ago, had the world at their feet. See how he got arrogant? Because God called him to evangelize the world in the first place. That's wrong. He said he'd nobody to go to. David Wilson went to him two years before that mess up. He went to PTO two years before and told them, and they wouldn't listen to him. It's no good saying they had no friends. They were so arrogant. They became alone to themselves. Nobody dared correct them. They wouldn't listen to counsel. They got on a crest, as they say in the world, they got on a roll. Swaggart's taking three million a week in. I hear they're still taking a million a week. But where's the power? The most horrible thing I know that happens in evangelism today, we don't value the human soul. When are we going to get serious about being serious about the most serious thing in the world, the birth of people at the altar? I watched the close of a service in Dallas a few weeks ago. At the end, about 15 people came in four minutes. They said a prayer and gone away. Well, my reaction to that, rather, was this. I can't get my car through a car wash in four minutes. Can they pass from death unto life? Can they put off the old man and put on the new man, as you Jews have figured? Can they get married to Christ in four minutes? Of course not. But you know what? Your friends may flatter you. But I'll tell you what. God never flatters anybody. He flattens you, but doesn't flatter us. You say, well, why doesn't he flatter us? Because it says in the 41st of Isaiah, Fear not thou worm Jacob. How do you like that? What about, I wrote to a guy this, as I said, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock this morning. Lo, he comes with clouds. When he comes, it's going to be terrible in his majesty. Nobody's going to jump on his knee or say, Papa, I've come to see you. Forget it. We're going to fall. I mean, if John fell at his feet as dead, and John used to lay his head on his bosom, what are you and I going to do? But we don't live in that realm. We don't live in the realm of the spirit. We live in the realm of reason. And we've reasoned, oh, God is a loving God. He doesn't send my judgment. He does, and he's going to do. I used to pick worms up when I was a boy and put them in my sister's hand. Put them in her bed once and sure got into trouble. You know, after that, when she got exasperated and angry with me, she'd say, You worm, that used to make me so mad. If you call me a butterfly, it'd be pretty. A worm? A worm has no eyes. I've never found eyes on a worm. I've never found legs on a worm. It has no hands. I can't find its legs. It's a picture of absolute nothingness. And yet God says that creature can go through a mountain and you're facing mountains of opposition. Become a worm. Discard all your ability. Throw away all your personality, so to speak. Plead your weakness because he turns it into strength. We need to rediscover the value of a human soul. Our people need to be taught what repentance is, what the atonement is, what forgiveness is, what pardon is, what justification is, what the witness of this... They don't know. They want to kneel down and live five minutes, pass from death to life, and become a full-blown Christian. It can't happen. Let me give you one classic from history. There's a book by a man by the name of Savonarola. I can't remember now for the life of me who wrote the book. I'm trying to think of the town. A town called Florence in Italy. You see a lot of fancy gold. They call it Florentine style. You see round mirrors, ladies' mirrors, and all this kind of stuff. It was a time of the Medices, one of the cruelest groups of aristocrats that ever ruled in Italy. And this precious monk one day had a revelation of Jesus dying on the cross. And he pledged he wouldn't move out of that city, which was governed by a corrupt priesthood. The whole nation as far as I'm concerned was just one seething mass of immorality and sin and shamelessness and drunken orgies and all the banquets like the Romans used to have. The papacy threatened him because he was so outspoken. The people loved him. He was outspoken. He put his finger on all the cancers in the nation. He named names. And he so prevailed with God he said, I will not let you go unless you bless my nation. And despite this canlessly corrupt court and all the other power that the devil had, his headquarters were from hell run in that town at that time. And he didn't care about the others. He went to the altar in the cathedral and he lay there for hours every day sobbing. Nobody could console him. They'd almost to force him to eat. They'd almost to force him to drink. He'd seen a vision of the lostness of men. He'd seen a vision of hell. He said if men can live in this corruption what's it going to be like in eternity forever and ever when they can't go to their palaces and their mansions and boast about their wealth and their jewels and all the rest of it. The devil has cheated them. They're caught in a trap. And he lay there before that altar day after. I read that this week. I'd read The Life of Stadner or it was a classic life and I can't remember who wrote it. But this was a new light I got on it. He said he went to that altar day by day and spent hours. He didn't care about people, tourists that came in or priests that came in or who came in. If the Pope came in he wouldn't move. And he would just lay there prostrate on his face groaning and weeping and crying. As Rachel cried give me children or I die. As John Knox when he was a famous man in Scotland cried give me Scotland or I die. And so Mary Queen of Scots said I would rather hear an army was marching on the town than hear that John Knox was praying. She was terrified of the prayers of one man, a queen. Dear God we don't shake thrones. I wonder what would happen if God could get half a dozen seven year olders in Tyler or even in Dallas. Oh you say that was early. Yes that was 1452 times have changed. Are you telling me sin has changed? Adultery then isn't adultery now the same as adultery then. Lying the same as the lying they had. Cheating, war, blood, rape. I'm sick to death of all the apologies people make as though God's broken down. As though Jesus still has to go to a cross or go somewhere and get the ultimate triumph over the devil. What we have to do is I hear people say Lord defeat the devil. He defeated him 2000 years ago. What we have to do is to learn how to enter into his triumph. And take some of these areas and go on record before the holy God. Don't lie for God's sake don't lie may strike you down. And say Lord I would rather die than see my generation go to hell. I'd rather fast a day or two days a week to see God's I'm going to pray for Tyler you pray for what you like. I want to see God raise a holy work there that people will come a hundred miles to see the mighty power of God and go out breathless. And no begging and whining to get people to an altar either. Most of the altar calls are to satisfy the preacher making feel he's done good. Well I don't have to satisfy anybody except God. I'm not going to try. I got saved at 14 I'm 84 almost 85. So I've been 70 years I've seen all kinds of tragedies in the church wars and rumors of wars. Popular men going popular and so forth. But keep looking up to Jesus and reading the word. And remembering these old paths that my daddy used to talk about and all the other looks like trivia.