HomeARC ML 1371
THE GREATEST OF THESE IS--LOVE!--Not Pride DFO 1371 1969
--From the Early Days of the Family at Camp Laurentide, Canada
1. IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE YOURSELF AS OTHERS SEE YOU! I had to listen to a very frank rundown on us for about 3 hours last night. But in order to get our cracks across, we had to listen to their cracks in return.
2. YOU KNOW SOMETIMES IN ORDER TO GET TO WITNESS, YOU HAVE TO BE WITNESSED UNTO BY THE DEVIL! In some cases you have to pay for preaching by listening to their tirades, but anyhow, TTL, we had an opportunity to deliver our souls, as the Lord had showed us, regarding this party; & I think perhaps it was his last chance, from the way things are going.
3. I HAD ONE OF THE MOST SUPERNATURAL EXPERIENCES I THINK I'VE EVER HAD, as I was looking deep into this party's eyes last night, asking God for the answer. You know why I sometimes wear dark glasses?--A combination of glare & your stare! Sometimes I can feel it & I have to kinda tone it down a little bit!--The way you look yells so loud I can't hear what you say!
4. WE HAD MUCH DISCUSSION & MUCH COMMENT BACK & FORTH; & he had all the condemnations & accusations, as the Devil usually does, all lined up--he had'm lined up as legally as a prosecuting attorney! We answered them one-by-one, knocked the props out from under each one; & he had to honestly confess that some of them were a good answer. Of course, he finally wound up with one thing--I think we pretty well answered almost every one of them, didn't we, Maria?--
5. HIS PRINCIPAL & MAJOR OBJECTION: "YOU DON'T FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST, YOU FOLLOW JEREMIAH! Your principal message is not the Love of Jesus, but the damnation, hell-fire & brimstone of Jeremiah!" "Well, I said, "We do give that a lot of emphasis. But if you'd hear the kids witnessing to individual poor lost souls in the park, you'd probably hear a lot more love of Jesus for salvation!"
6. LISTEN, I WANT TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW: IF SOME OF YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN MAKING THAT MISTAKE, & if some of those criticisms could possibly be well-justified & accurate, because I haven't been witnessing with you here in Montreal, if you're preaching hell-fire & damnation, & the judgments of Jeremiah upon poor lost souls that haven't even found Jesus yet,
7. REMEMBER, THOSE HORRIBLE CONDEMNATIONS BOTH OF JEREMIAH & OF JESUS WERE PRIMARILY UPON THOSE WHO KNEW BETTER, & WHO HAD THE LIGHT & HAD REJECTED IT! With the Jews of Paul's day, who should have known better, he could rip the hide off & rub the salt in! He just hewed'm in pieces with his tongue lashings!--Because they had the Word of God & they were supposed to know about God! They were the Church of his day,
8. AND YOU SEE HOW I BLOW IT, WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT CHURCHIANITY! This party was there that night, & he said, "If that's any sample of the way you are, I don't want any of it! It's nothing but violence & hell-fire & damnation! I didn't see any Love of Jesus," So, I confessed that I do tend to get a little bit violent when I think of the System from which I came, which, like the psalmist David, I believe I hate with a perfect hatred! (Ps.139:22.)--Because it is a lie & a delusion & a deceit, & is damning souls to hell when it ought to be saving them!
9. AND I, LIKE PAUL, WAS ONE OF THE PHARISEES OF THE PHARISEES & reared in that system & loved it!--Until I began to see through it! I used to love to get up & sing all those pretty little ditties & lead the singing, & it was all so pretty & nice! I'd sing my little soft-soap songs to lull'm to sleep & made'm weep! I loved Jesus, & I just loved to go to church, loved to hear those pretty sermons--it was just all so beautiful!
10. SO IT WAS QUITE A SHOCK TO ME WHEN I FOUND OUT THAT WASN'T IT! When I began to get older & dead serious, & had the responsibility of leading people myself, I searched the Scriptures & couldn't find anything to compare with Churchianity--except the False Church, Babylon the Whore, the Harlot, that God cursed a damned & is going to destroy!
11. SO I DO GET A LITTLE TURNED ON, as some of you have noticed, a little heated--even as the prophet says that he "went in the heat of his spirit"! (Ezk.3:14,) God turns the fire on, & brother it comes like a blast furnace sometimes! Anybody ever seen a blast furnace? Whew! It can melt iron, make steel! So maybe I do get a little violent, I don't know. I don't think any terms are bad enough for that False System that pretends to be the right one, & pretends to save, when it's damning more than it's saving!
12. BUT, AS I TOLD THIS PARTY, THAT'S ONLY ONE FACET OF OUR MINISTRY, I said, "You were there just for one night, you only heard the 23rd Chapter of Matthew, so to speak. There's a lot of other chapters in the book! If you'd been there Monday or Sunday night when I was talking to the Lord's own disciples that have forsaken all & are not in that thing, I was sweet as honey!" Amen?
13. BUT I HAVE GOT NO LOVE FOR THE FALSE SYSTEM, & I DON'T THINK YOU CAN EVER FIND THAT CHRIST HIMSELF MANIFESTED MUCH LOVE FOR THE SCRIBES, THE PHARISEES, THE HYPOCRITES! I don't recall ever that He had a single good word to say for them, except that they were the custodians of the Word. He says, "Do as they say, but not as they do!" (Mat.23:2,) But, He says, unless your righteousness exceeds theirs, you'll never make it! (Mat.5:20.)
14. HE NEVER HAD A COMPLIMENTARY WORD TO SAY ABOUT THEM!--NOTHING BUT CRITICISM & PRACTICALLY CURSES! And He never offered any hopes for their salvation! Now that's pretty rough, huh? Pretty condemnatory! He didn't go out there & lovey-dovey say, "Now you dear Scribes & Pharisees, I know you know better & I'm so sorry, & blah, blah, blah..." He just fsssht, fsssht, fsssht, just like that every time on those Scribes & Pharisees!
15. BUT WITH THE COMMON PEOPLE, THE WHORE, THE DRUNK, THE PUBLICAN, THE SINNER, HE WAS AS SWEET AS HONEY! Now what are you like out on McGill Campus? Are you blasting away at the Scribes & the Pharisees? Well, maybe there are some of them there. But what about all the poor ignorant kids that never had the Light, never had the Truth?--Do you manifest anything they want? Are you advertising anything they'd like to have?
16. ARE YOU REALLY SHOWING THE SWEET LOVE OF JESUS? And are you qualifying your remarks to let it be known who you're talking to when you're fsssht, fsssht, fsssht, cutting up the Scribes & the Pharisees, the false leaders & the hypocrites & the churchianity addicts?--Do you make a difference? Do you show them the difference? Do you use sweetness & love with the poor lost sinner, the publican, the drunk, the harlot?
17. MAYBE SOME OF HIS CRITICISMS WERE JUSTIFIED!: IF YOU JUST GO AROUND SCREAMING JEREMIAH ALL THE TIME & you never drool the sweet honey love of Jesus! Watch out if all you can do is condemn, & rant & rave! Now I will grant you, the Lord has made very clear that that is a major part of our ministry--because it is a neglected ministry! As I illustrated to him, the pendulum sometimes swings to the opposite extreme, & we are almost over-emphasizing that Truth! Because nobody else is preaching it, we have to almost over-preach it! Do you get the point? And I said,
18. "I WANT TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, IT WASN'T PREACHING THE SWEET HONEY LOVE OF JESUS THAT SHOOK UP SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA & got us plastered across the headlines of many a newspaper & a lot of magazines--& got us red-hot persecution too! It was blasting the false system & awakening the people! And a lot of people woke up! A lot of people saw it was the truth & a lot of people agreed! So that just happens to be a part of our ministry. But watch out that you don't do nothing but that, hum?
19. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU ACT MORE LIKE JEREMIAH THAN JESUS? Is it true that you manifest the violence & the hell & damnation of Jeremiah more than you do the sweet "Come unto Me, all ye that labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest"? "Take My yoke upon you, & learn of Me: for I am meek & lowly of heart: & ye shall have rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, & My burden is light." (Mat.11:28-30.) "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, O thou"--even speaking of the whole city & the populace--" that stonest the prophets that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thee," Jesus weeping over Jerusalem! "But ye would not!" (Mat.23:37.)
20. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU MANIFESTED THE WEEPING SIDE OF JEREMIAH? How much have you wept over them? How much have you read another book written by the same prophet, called Lamentations? How much does your message sound like that? Huh? Think it over!
21. MAY THE LORD FORGIVE ME, I TAKE THE BLAME, IT'S MY FAULT--ALTHOUGH YOU'VE GOT THE BIBLE. If in order to shake you loose from the System & your addiction to it, & wake you up to its falsities, I have swung the pendulum sometimes too far & over-emphasized the violence of doom & destruction for that System. You see, I was reared in the Church & they over-emphasized the sweetness, the honey, the Light & the Love.
22. SOMETIMES I FORGET THAT SOME OF YOU WEREN'T REARED IN THE CHURCH, & YOU NEVER LEARNED THAT SWEETNESS, HONEY, LIGHT & LOVE! Most of what I've given you, or at least a lot of what I've given you, maybe has been blasting the system--to show you it's false & to help you have a message to shake others loose from it, get it? But have you ever seen me dealing with a lost soul?--Especially those that don't know any better, & I don't like to waste time on any other kind!
23. I THINK IF YOU WASTE YOUR TIME ON SOMEBODY THAT HAS THE TRUTH & HAS REJECTED IT, that is apostate, reprobate, anti-Christ, they are dogs & swine, & Jesus commanded you not to even waste time with them! (Mat. 7:6.) Don't give them any-thing at all!--Except a little bit like He did; Blasted them! But remember, that was only one Chapter really! (Mat. 23.)
24. OF COURSE, ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE GOSPELS YOU WILL FIND TIME & AGAIN A SLAM AT THE PHARISAICAL SYSTEM, the Jewish church of His day. But don't forget that was just for the Scribes & the Pharisees, the hypocrites, the false leaders, the false church people, those that ought to have known better! Boy, when I get in a church, I feel like blasting them!
25. BUT IF I WAS OUT IN THE PARK MINISTERING TO A BUNCH OF DRUG ADDICTS & HIPPIES & WHATNOT, AS I HAVE BEEN, I'D BE SWEET & LOVING! I might give them a little violence to warn'm, but I'd try to manifest the Love of Jesus. Now maybe a little violent message to show them that you too recognize that the system is rotten, corrupt, false, will kinda help get'm on your side, Show'm that you're not a part of it, & that's not what you're preaching--that's necessary.
26. IF WE'D PREACHED SYSTEM WHEN WE FIRST BEGAN THIS TYPE OF MINISTRY AT THE CLUB IN HUNTINGTON, WE WOULDN'T HAVE HAD ANY YOUNG PEOPLE or any hippies, except maybe a few little Systemites from some little churchy church!--That's about all Teen Challenge had, sad to say--except for a few converts they had. They couldn't reach the hippies, they couldn't reach the young people, so they gave up!
27. BUT MY KIDS WERE DOWN THERE NOT BLASTING THE SYSTEM SO MUCH TO THOSE YOUNG PEOPLE AS THEY WERE PREACHING THE LOVE OF JESUS! They did also blast the system to show that that wasn't what they were preaching. People have to know, not only what you're preaching, but what you're not preaching. Not only what you're preaching for, but it's important to know what you're preaching against! So as someone said last night, that it seemed like all your preaching is against something--it's all contention, it's all blasting, it's all criticism, it's all condemnation, all judgment!
28. OF COURSE, THIS IS TYPICAL OF THE DEVIL: REMEMBER, HE ALWAYS ACCUSES THE SAINTS & always exaggerates to you & to God what you're doing, & always takes it & twists it & makes it sound a lot worse than it really is. But we kept sweet & we tried to explain, & one-by-one we knocked out these excuses. But maybe that little lesson might help you, huh?
29. DON'T FORGET: GOD IS LOVE! "God is Love!" (1Jn.4:8.) He's also not mocked. (Gal.6:7.) He's also a consuming fire. (Heb.12:29.) But if God is anything, He is Love & Mercy, as well as justice! Right! So don't forget to preach the Love of Jesus!
30. NOW OF COURSE, THERE'S SOME PEOPLE THAT WANT TO GO AROUND PREACHING NOTHING BUT LOVE, & nothing but peace & pacifism & lovey-dovey, & "Oh, God wouldn't hurt a flea!" & Jesus never did anything violent.--They certainly haven't read the Bible!
31. WHEN I GAVE HIM THE FACT THAT JESUS BY FORCE & VIOLENCE CAST OUT THE MONEYCHANGERS, he had to answer!: The only logical answer was that a major part of Jesus' ministry wasn't going through the Temples breaking up the furniture & throwing the money on the floor, & beatin' up on the moneychangers & tossin'm out the door!--Which He did 3 times! But it's true, that wasn't His major ministry.
32. I'VE BEEN CAST OUT OF A FEW TEMPLES BY THE TEMPLE GUARDS & the High Priests; but that's one time when Jesus went in & tossed out the temple guards! I'd like to have seen that!
33. (OH BOY, MAYBE WE'LL SEE FILMS OF IT UP AT THE FEAST OR SOMETHING!) I wouldn't be a bit surprised. Not films, God won't have to do it that way, He can just flash you a vision of it! "Oh, you'd like to see how that happened, well there it is. Want to see how Stephen died? There it is, that's the way he died." I think that would be wonderful seeing all that history the way it happened! Wouldn't that be beautiful! PTL!
34. BACK AT HUNTINGTON BEACH, REMEMBER LITTLE JUNIOR, 3 YEARS OLD, HAD A DREAM ABOUT GRANDMA, & HE SAYS, "I SAW GRANDMA, & JESUS WAS SHOWING HER TV!" Grandma was dead, she was with Jesus. Jesus was showing her pictures! How about that!
35. I BELIEVE SHE CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW. I BELIEVE SHE PRAYS FOR ME. Oh, now you sound like a Catholic; Prayers of the saints, Well, it's Scriptural! The saints under the altar were praying. This is actually departed saints there in Revelation the 6th Chapter, under the altar praying. It speaks of the prayers of the saints like sweet perfume & so on. (Rev.5:8.)
36. IN FACT, I'VE HAD DEPARTED LOVED ONES APPEAR TO ME, believe it or not. Now watch out, don't say that therefore spiritualism is all okay. It's often dealing with demons, devils, familiar spirits! Sometimes they're just imitating that departed loved one who is often in the flames of hell & cannot come back! Even as Abraham said, there's a great gulf fixed. (Lk.16:26.) Some are in confinement, let me tell you!
37. BUT THERE'S EVERY EVIDENCE IN BOTH THE SCRIPTURE & IN MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE & THE TESTIMONY OF MANY OTHERS that not only the angels of God, but also the departed saints of God, who are like angels, have been used as emissaries, messengers, & appeared to those on Earth to bring a message, or give God's will or show them something. Look at the 12th Chapter of Hebrews:
38. "SEEING THEREFORE WE ARE ENCOMPASSED ABOUT WITH SO GREAT A COULD OF WITNESSES!" Now what witnesses was he talking about? What had he just finished describing in the 11th Chapter? God's Hall of Fame! In the original there was no chapter division. Immediately after having listed God's great Hall of Fame & many of the great saints already gone to be with the Lord, he says: "Seeing therefore we are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses!" (Almost crying:) Hallelujah! That ought to thrill your hearts to know that they're watching, & they're cheerin' for you & rootin' for & prayin' for you!
39. (TONGUES:) INTERCESSORS, PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS! HALLELUJAH! TYL! So maybe the Catholic Church had a little point there. Now of course, like a lot of things, they carried it a little too far sometimes, praying to Saints instead of Jesus!
40. SO, WHAT'S A GOOD WAY OF TRYING THE SPIRITS? "Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ came in the flesh." (1Jn.4:2.) Is that the only way? Well, if you have discernment, of course, that makes it real simple. That bring us back down to the subject again. We finally got done with all this & agreed to disagree, & about all that we have in common, as he said,
41. "THE ONLY THING WE HAVE IN COMMON IS THAT WE BOTH BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST!" Well, I didn't want to argue any more or I would have told him according to our way of thinking you don't believe in Jesus Christ. Don't let him kid you! The witness that I have in the Spirit is that he does not believe in Him for salvation!
42. THE WORD "BELIEVE" IN YOUR NEW TESTAMENT COMES FROM A GREEK WORD "PISTEUO" WHICH MEANS "I DRINK IN." You have received Jesus Christ personally into your own mind & heart & body!--That's what believe really means!--The believe of the New Testament, not easy believism of a mere mental assent!
43. I CAN HAVE THAT MUCH IN COMMON WITH ALMOST ANY DEVIL: WE BOTH BELIEVE IN JESUS! Huhm? (Ja.2:19.) And that's about all that we had in common with that devil last night!--And I'm not talking about the man, I feel sorry for the poor man!
44. GOD SENT US THERE IN COMPASSION & IN LOVE, TO TRY TO SHOW HIM REAL LOVE, God showed us, & he confessed by his confession of the past, something happened all through his childhood which hurt him, & finally caused him really to break 7 years ago. He has a sad background, he's a man to be sorry for.
45. GOD HAVE ME THE VERSE OF SCRIPTURE: "BEWARE LEST ANY LITTLE ROOT OF BITTERNESS" (Heb.12:15.)--He allowed a root of bitterness to grow, because of this background that he had as a child. And there was such hardness, although he preached peace & he spoke love, I got the Scripture for him; "They speak peace, but war is in their hearts!" (Ps.55:21.) And though he spoke love, hate was in his eyes. I'm sorry for him, I wept over him when God first showed me what was wrong with him: A man hurt by someone else became embittered, disillusioned, disappointed & hardened!
46. YOU KNOW TRIALS CAN EITHER MELT YOU OR HARDEN YOU! Watch out they don't harden you & make you bitter & hateful! This is when you harden your heart against God in pride. But if you let it humble you & melt you & become nothing, you'll be a lot happier, you'll find the Love of Jesus. But if you in pride, harden & say with "Invictus"--"I am the Captain of my fate, I am the Master of my soul! My head is bloody but unbowed!" That poor boy's head is so bloodied I want to (weeps) cry every time I think about it. But he still holds it stiff & unbowed! That's sad!
47. THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC PICTURES IN ALL HUMAN LIFE: THE PICTURE OF THE MAN WHO SAYS, "I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY FATE, the Master of my soul, my head is bloody but unbowed!" (Cries:) Oh the tears! The tears! He almost wept when he said, "He's promised to wipe away the tears, Oh, the tears! That's the worst of it all!: The tears!"
48. HE'S HURT, HE'S DISAPPOINTED, HE'S DISILLUSIONED; BUT THE WORST OF ALL, HE LET IT EMBITTER HIM & HARDEN HIM, INSTEAD OF SOFTEN HIM! If the clay is soft & malleable it can be molded into a beautiful vessel. But if it hardens & becomes brittle, it can only break & become crushed in the hands of the potter, "He that falleth upon this stone"--the Rock Christ Jesus--"shall be broken: But upon whomsoever this Rock shall fall shall be crushed, ground to powder!" (Jer. 18:6.) You have fallen upon this stone & been broken, thank God!
49. GOD ONLY USES BROKEN PEOPLE, BROKEN LIVES, BROKEN HEARTS, BECAUSE ONLY A BROKEN HEART GIVES YOU LOVE & COMPASSION FOR OTHERS! Only a broken life can help you sympathize with others. Only brokenness can give you humility. May God forbid that you should have self-righteousness!
50. JEREMIAH DIDN'T PREACH WITH A SELF-RIGHTEOUS HOLIER-THAN-THOU PHARISAICAL ATTITUDE! Watch out that you don't fall into the same trap as the Pharisees did, & become more like them than Jesus! There is a Scripture: My Prophet shall neither cry nor strive in the street"--a prophecy of Jesus, Matthew 12:19. On the other hand, there were prophets who did cry & strive in the streets!
51. BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE LIKE JESUS, WATCH OUT THAT YOU DON'T SOUND MORE LIKE THE SCRIBES & THE PHARISEES WHO LIKED TO STAND ON THE STREETCORNERS & CRY & PRAY! Watch out! Jesus went about His ministry very quietly, believe it or not. Let me tell you!
52. IF YOU SHOW A REAL LOVE FOR PEOPLE YOU WON'T HAVE A HARD TIME WINNING FRIENDS with real love, winning the lost who need love! When we went down & showed love to the most despised, rejected & discriminated class of people in the world today, the hippies, they responded with love. Love begets love! Amen! "And the greatest of these is Love!" (1Cor.13:13.) Above all the gifts outlined in 1Cor.13, Love was above all, greater than any gift--because God is Love!
53. IF THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ANYTHING, IT IS A BAPTISM OF LOVE! It doesn't matter "whether you speak with the tongues of men & of angels, & have not love, you'd become as sounding brass & a tinkling cymbal." 1Cor.13. "Though you understand all mysteries & all prophecies & have faith to remove mountains..." (1Cor.13:2.)
54. DID YOU EVER KNOW ANYBODY THAT HAD THE FAITH TO REMOVE A MOUNTAIN? MY MOTHER DID! SHE REMOVED ONE! A Hindu Temple called the Temple of the Golden Lotus stood on a beautiful cliff just on the south side of Laguna Beach many years ago, when I was a young man about 20. One of our converts in San Diego told us about the licentious practices & the evil ceremonies that went on inside--just like of course, all of the temples of the heathen religions. Most of your ancient oriental temples were not much better than whorehouses, some of them even worse.
55. SHE WAS SO INCENSED ABOUT HOW THEY WERE DECEIVING & DELUDING YOUNG PEOPLE & suckin'm into that hell-hole!--Though, typical of the temples of this World, it was beautiful on the outside! A high barbed wire fence was around it, it was a huge big building that had one gigantic open golden lotus on the main dome, with 4 closed lotus buds surrounding it. Those lotuses were gold leaf or plated or something. They said that you could see it for miles at sea when the sun shone on it. Beautiful! We drove past it, & she says, "I want to drive in there." So I drove in, & we parked & got out. She said, "I want to walk around & look at this thing."
56. SHE SAID, "GOD CURSE THIS PLACE! CURSE THIS BUILDING & CURSE THAT WHICH GOES ON THEREIN, that is destroying the lives & minds of people, as well as their bodies, Curse it Lord! You said, Lord"--& she claimed that Scripture--"`If you had the faith, even as a grain of mustard seed,' a little tiny bit of faith, `you could say to this mountain, Be thou removed & cast into the midst of the sea, & shall not doubt, it shall be done!' (Mat.21:21.)
57. "LORD, YOU CAST THIS THING INTO THE OCEAN!" It was on a nice big solid rock cliff. She said it several times, but it still didn't fall in. So, anyhow, we left. We picked up the newspaper the next morning, & there was a picture of it!:
58. IT HAD FALLEN IN THE OCEAN! THE CLIFF HAD COLLAPSED & the whole thing had slid right down, it was half in the sea! The building was on an angle about like this & half under water! I guess the Lord left enough of it sticking out just to show what He had done!
59. EVEN IF YOU HAVE FAITH LIKE THAT, "IF YOU DON'T HAVE LOVE, YOU'RE NOTHING!" (1Cor.13:2.) I'm trying to say to you the things I would like to say to you if I never see you again: Have Love! "And above all have fervent love one toward another!" (1Pet.4:8,) "Love one another!" (Jn.15:12,) In Jesus' last message to His disciples at the Last Supper, before He was arrested, taken to jail, beaten & killed, what did He tell'm? He talked about Love, that Love was the most important thing! (See John 13:1-17,)
60. "ABOVE ALL THY GETTING, GET LOVE." (Prov.4:7) Wisdom is Love, did you know that? Because God is Wisdom, but He's also Love, "Love one another!" "Have fervent love one toward another," (Jn.15:12 & 1Pet.4:8.) What is the greatest commandment?--To love God! What's the next greatest? To love thy neighbour as thyself! He said that's like unto the first one (Mat.22:37-39.)--To love your neighbour is to love God!
61. "AND THOUGH YOU HAVE A GREAT SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE"--you are so sacrificial, you want to serve God, you have forsaken all to follow Jesus--"& have not love, it profiteth you nothing!" (1Cor.13:3) If you did it in vain glory, self glory, to brag about it, & you didn't do it because you love lost souls & want to see'm won to Christ, it profits you nothing!
63. IF YOU DIDN'T DO IT BECAUSE YOU LOVE JESUS, IT PROFITS YOU NOTHING! I don't care how much you left behind, like Ananias & Sapphira, if you're forsaking all for some selfish reason, well then drop dead! (See Ac.5:1-11.) I say that to shock you! That's why they dropped dead--because they would have been a worse example & a worse testimony & a stumbling-block to the whole church if they hadn't! If you have forsaken all for some selfish reason, instead of for the Love of Jesus, you might as well drop dead!
64. THE LORD GAVE ME REAL LOVE WITH THIS MAN, & GREAT COMPASSION & GREAT HEARTACHE FOR HIM--because he's a broken man in some ways. In some ways he's broken; but in spirit, sad to say, he is not broken! God has not been able to break his spirit! (Because he was possessed with an evil spirit--pride!)
65. UNLESS GOD IS ABLE TO BREAK YOUR SPIRIT, YOU CAN NEVER BE USEFUL TO THE LORD! If you have a proud & a haughty spirit, a selfish spirit, a spirit which is unyielding & unbending & unsurrendered, you can never be used by the Lord! But he apparently had a crushing experience 7 years ago; & he forsook all, his education & his father & his income, & became like a hippie & nearly staved to death in order to be true to his convictions. That's more than most Christians have done! The World is doing it for other reasons, why not the Church?
66. I LOOKED DEEP INTO HIS EYES; & IN FACT, HE TRIED TO HYPNOTISE ME! But no one has ever been able to hypnotize me yet, because I have the Holy Spirit, & the Holy Spirit will not bend or yield or submit itself to any other spirit! Only somebody that yields their own spirit, either to that of a stronger spirit of some stronger man or devil, can be hypnotized. In such a hypnotic trance, you can not only be dominated by the spirit of the hypnotist, you can be dominated by other spirits too, who may come in at that time & take over! So watch out for hypnotism!--It can bring on demon-possession!
67. NOW MAYBE THE MAN DIDN'T KNOW IT, BUT THE DEMON KNEW HE WAS TRYING TO HYPNOTISE ME! And it was powerful! But the Spirit of God glared back--not with a mad glare, but almost amused, but in love, that this devil thought he was going to be able to hypnotize me! But if you're weak & new & not very strong in the Word or the Spirit, you'd better stay away, because it's a big Devil & a powerful one! I'm not talking about the man now, don't misunderstand me.
68. GOD HAS COMPASSION & LOVE FOR THE MAN, BUT I HATE THAT DEMON! I shook hands with the man in parting, trying to show compassion, love, The poor deceived & deluded man, incidentally, believes that Buddha is the Eastern Representative of God, while Jesus is the Western Representative!--Ha!
69. ANY MAN WHO SAYS THAT THERE'S ANY OTHER WAY TO GOD BUT JESUS IS NOT SAVED! He is not born again, he does not have the Spirit of God! He says that Buddha is another way to God.--That is a lie! That is a lying spirit!--No matter how many good things Buddha taught, & he had many good sayings.
70. THE DEVIL HAS TO TEACH A LOT OF GOOD OR PEOPLE WOULDN'T SWALLOW THE LIES! He has to wrap up his bitter pill in a sugarcoating that will damn your soul! It tastes good, but it gives you indigestion!--In fact, it's pure poison & it will kill you to Hell! If you think you're going to get to God through Buddha, you're going to land right where Buddha is today--in Hell! Because if he didn't know Jesus & believe in Jesus Christ, that's where he is! Of course, he was born before Christ; but if he didn't know even the God that the Jews preached, which manifested Christ in advance, if he didn't have the true faith, he's still not going to be saved, & he's not going to be in the Heavenly City. Maybe there's going to be a lot of Buddhists outside, I don't know. It's a kind of a nice peaceful religion they say. But what the Lord told me about it last night was: "They speak peace, but war is in their hearts!" (Ps.55:21.) (In fact, they're experts at martial arts!)
71. THERE WAS NO PEACE IN HIS EYES, THERE WAS VERY LITTLE LOVE IN HIS EYES. There was hardness & darkness. Still I didn't understand exactly what it was. Now often when God in discernment gives me something, He tells me in words, or I get a flash or a picture, or it's a mental communication or whatever, it tells me what the problem is or what their trouble is.
72. THE LORD GAVE ME THE SCRIPTURE THAT BITTERNESS HAD CAUSED IT, BUT I STILL HADN'T QUITE PINNED IT DOWN. So, I finally grasped his hand & was looking close & deep into his eyes, & I said to him, "Well, I still see a little love there." While I was saying these words, I was praying like a house on fire, asking God: "What is it Lord? What is this spirit, Lord?" And the Lord commanded the spirit to confess its name! Is this Scriptural? Yes! "What is thy name?" (Mk.5:9 & Lk.8:30.)
73. IMMEDIATELY, WHEN I COMMANDED TO KNOW THE NAME OF THIS SPIRIT, THE MAN'S MOUTH DROPPED OPEN & SAID, "IT'S PRIDE!" Just like that! Had no connection with what I was saying or what he was saying at all! But a direct answer to a direct question to God! I was really commanding God to tell me. I said, "Lord, I have to know what's the matter with this guy!" And the man's mouth dropped open & said, "It's Pride!"
74. THEN HE KINDA LAUGHED EMBARRASSED, & he says, "Huh, that's really something!" He was so shocked by what he had said! I said, "What did you say?" he said, "I said, `That's really something!'" I said, "I mean what did you say just before that?" You see, for a moment he was really flabbergasted & he was almost human, & he smiled--He's got a beautiful smile!
75. FOR A MOMENT HE WAS A MAN; BUT THEN CAME BACK THAT HARDNESS AGAIN, & he said, "I said nothing!" I turned to the rest of them, & said, "Didn't you hear him say, `It's Pride'?" And they said, "Yes!" Josh & Maria & I heard him say, "It's Pride" just as clear as a bell! And then he denied saying it. But he was astonished by what was said.
76. "IT'S PRIDE!" WHAT'S HIS PROBLEM?--THAT'S THE ANSWER! That's what has caused him all his trouble, that's why he's the way he is, that's why he became bitter instead of yielding & becoming broken & soft through the trial--Pride!
77. HIS OWN MOUTH CONFESSED IT, A PROUD SPIRIT WITHIN HIM CONFESSED IT! So, I tried then to use that confession to show him something; I said, "Well, I heard you say, "It's a Pride!' Did you know that's true really?" And I tried to make it general, I said,
78. "THIS IS A PROBLEM WE ALL HAVE REALLY, IS PRIDE. This is one of our temptations, all of us!"--Right! What's the 3-fold appeal of the World? "Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, & the pride of life!"--1John 2:16. What caused the fall of Satan? Pride! Since pride caused the fall of Satan, therefore apparently, it's the root of all evil!
79. IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF ALL EVIL!--PRIDE! How many times pride gets in your way! How many times pride influences you! Don't just blame it on him!--How much pride have you got?
80. HOW MUCH DOES PRIDE CAUSE US TROUBLE? When we're asked to do a duty or when we're asked to switch teams, or when we're asked to scrub the floor or do the dishes, how much pride have you got? Huh? Are you too good to clean the toilet? If you use it, why shouldn't you clean it! Are you too good to cook a meal, too proud? You eat it! Too good, too proud to wash dishes?--You dirty'm!
81. PRIDE IS A HORRIBLE THING, IT CAN DAMN YOU TO HELL!--A terrible thing! That's one big thing that causes Christians trouble! Pride! GHU! So, I was going to let you out early, I'm sorry. I'm just a night owl & always have been. But I can't sand to stay up all night & get up in the morning too. I told Josh if he didn't give you the morning off, I was going to quit teaching nights.
82. THIS IS NOT JUST A BOOT CAMP TO SEE HOW MUCH PHYSICAL ENDURANCE YOU'VE GOT! We're not planning to send you to some kind of a war of strength! But it is a boot camp to find out how much spiritual strength you have, & to give you more strength! As I used to say, in my tests I wasn't trying to see if I could flunk you & wash you out, I was trying to help you succeed. I try to make you pass, that's my job!--Not flunk you!
83. ANOTHER AREA OF ONE OF THE GREATEST TEMPTATIONS OF CHRISTIANS IS DISOBEDIENCE! We went to a great deal of trouble & sacrifice to send 2 carloads to Miami by the specific direction of God, in specific numbers, according to a specific battle plan to attack a specific target, to win a specific victory, to conquer a specific piece of property for God. (Eve, Faith, Ho, Stephen & others.)
84. BUT JUST TO GIVE YOU A SAMPLE THAT EVEN THE BEST CAN FAIL & DISOBEY BY LEANING TO THEIR OWN UNDERSTANDING, instead of following God's orders & the orders of leadership, they flunked! I think it's a classic example to you, & it ought to shake you up & scare you--well, I don't know about half to death, but maybe all the way to obedience!--That if the cream of the crop, some of our top personnel, can pull such a boner & so grossly disobey the orders they were given, as to completely muck the whole job & lose the entire victory, then it certainly ought to be a warning to you, that you can do the same if you don't look out! Right? Praise You Jesus! TYL!
85. SO DON'T THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, BELOVED! YOU NEED LOVE!--AND NOT PRIDE! Love is humble! Love is humility!--And humility is the absolute opposite of pride! You cannot be proud & have real Love!--You can't have real love & be proud!--Which have you? Pride is the spirit of the Devil!--Love is the Spirit of God!--Which spirit do you have?--You can't have both!--You're either God's or the Devil's!--Which are you?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
