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INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION!--Part 1 of "The Garden of Eden!" France, 16/4/81 DFO1169
1. PTL! HALLELUJAH! TYJ! WELL, HERE WE ARE! Hallelujah! Here we are under the palm trees, by the water, blue skies, sunshine--but where are you? Are you still up there in that cold Northern Hemisphere when you ought to be down South, here in the Southern Hemisphere with the rest of the Family? Where are you? I'm here, as you can see, under the palms, by the water, on this tropical isle!--But where are you?
2. DON'T YOU FEEL A LITTLE BIT LONESOME UP THERE, & cold, maybe a little forsaken because everybody else has obeyed the Lord & gone South our of the war zone? Everybody else has fled Southward into the Southern Hemisphere & as far from the North as they can get, not only out of the war zone, but even out of the radioactive fallout zone, or zone--it'll circle the Earth--but virtually all in the Northern Hemisphere.
3. EVEN IF YOU'RE IN THE CARIBBEAN, the bombs falling on America will cast their radioactive dust high into the stratosphere to be carried Northward, not Southward. So you're fairly safe in the islands of the Caribbean, Central America & South America, for the trade winds will carry that radioactive dust far Northward & across the North Atlantic & across into Europe after the big explosion when America is wiped out.
4. YOU SAY, "DON'T HAND ME THAT STUFF! YOU'RE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT AMERICA BEING WIPED OUT!" Well, I'm going to read it to you right out of the Bible, an exact accurate description of exactly how it's going to happen, how suddenly it's going to happen, in one hour the Bible says, within one day! You're going to be amazed at the Biblical description of the destruction of America, right here in the Bible, in this new book now that we're going to study: The Book of Revelation!
5. GIVE ME SOME MORE OF THAT BEAUTIFUL MUSIC HERE UNDER THE PALMS! I love to here that! I was going to sing you a little bit of song to that lovely tune that Bing Crosby made famous. I'm no Bing Crosby, but I know a few of the words, a few little strains. It's a beautiful beautiful song, and right away it makes me think of my Maria & all you other beautiful flowers, Sue & Sara & all the rest of you out here on the sands under the palms by the sea.
6. SAND, SUN, SURF, & WHO KNOWS, IF WE WAIT AROUND LONG ENOUGH WE MIGHT HAVE A LITTLE SEX TOO!--The famous 4 S's that ever vacationer is looking for!--Every immigrant to the South Seas! So where are you? Can we have some more of that music? Isn't that beautiful? That's South Sea Island music! Beautiful beautiful beautiful music! Can you hear it?
7. "SWEET LEILANI, HEAVENLY FLOWER!
Angels fashioned roses filled with dew.
And then they put them in a bower,
It was the start of you!
Sweet Leilani, heavenly flower,
Angels fashioned roses filled with dew.
And then they put them in a bower,
It was the start of you!"
8. YOU COULD BE ENJOYING ALL THIS WITH US, IF YOU WERE JUST HERE! You could be enjoying all this beautiful sand & sea & surf & sunshine, & maybe a little sex too, if you'd just join us down here under the palms by the sea in the beautiful South Seas of the Southern climes--where you belong! Where man really has always belonged.
9. GOD DIDN'T INTEND FOR YOU TO LIVE IN THOSE COLD FROZEN ICY SNOWY NORTHERN CLIMATES! It's not natural! You have to have those thick walls, well-insulated, well heavily-heated houses & heavy clothing & heavy boots & heavy fur hats & coats & all of that, it's not natural!
10. WHEN GOD FIRST MADE MAN, ADAM & EVE, HE PUT THEM IN A BEAUTIFUL TROPICAL GARDEN where it was so warm they didn't need any kind of clothing at all! Didn't even need shelter! There was no rain, no storms, no wind, no floods, just beautiful beautiful tropical-tree shelter! There was no rain, no storms, no wind, no floods, just a beautiful beautiful tropical paradise like this where you could pick your food off the trees, coconuts off these coconut trees, drink its delicious coconut milk free of charge, dig out that luscious almost candy-like meat, but good for you, not bad for you like candy! Good for your teeth, really requires some chewing! But oh, what delicious things you can make of that coconut meat! Not coconut candy, of course, but maybe with a little honey! Oh, that coconut cake & coconut pie & coconut nougats! Oh!
11. GIVE ME SOME MORE OF THAT MUSIC, I LIKE THAT MUSIC! We ought to have had a whole tape of good tropical island music tonight. That's my favourite kind of music! Just about my favourite, outside of, of course, MWM music & their love music. That's the best of all! And they have some of this kind of music too, because Jeremy Spencer plays it with his beautiful slide steel guitar which was invented by a man that I used to know, a dear old Hawaiian, Sol Hoopi of the Garden of Allah in Los Angeles.
12. IT WASN'T EXACTLY THE GARDEN OF ALLAH, BUT IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE. It looked a little bit like this, like a tropical island, all decorated inside with tropical plants & palm trees & even had sound effects of the surf rolling up the sand, it was really beautiful! He had a Hawaiian orchestra there & he played an instrument that he invented, the Hawaiian steel guitar, like the one you're hearing right now in the music, & that kind of music.
13. WHY AREN'T YOU HERE? WE MISS YOU! YOU NEED TO COME, THE SOONER THE BETTER! Get out of that awful war zone away from that horrible atomic fall-out & live down here in peace with the natives under the trees. You don't need hardly any clothing, no heat, very little shelter. you can even pick your food off the trees or fish it out of the waters. What more could you ask than that? Why would anybody want to live up in those cold frozen Northern wastes which are going to be an atomic waste after the war! Come on! Why don't you come on! X! I love you! X! I'd love to see you down here.
14. WELL, I'M NOT GOING TO KISS YOU GOOD-BYE YET, BECAUSE WE HAVE SOME BIBLE TO STUDY! The passages in the Bible we are going to study tonight are some of the most thrilling in the entries Book! It's the grand finale, it's the last book in the Bible. The Book is called the Revelation, or in the Catholic Bible, the Apocalypse, depending on whether you prefer Latin or Greek.
15. REVELATION IS THE LATIN TERM, APOCALYPSE IS EXACTLY THE SAME WORD IN GREEK. Why they use different words, I don't know, but of course the New Testament from which this book comes, & with which it ends, was written in Greek originally, so that was the original Greek name of it. It's called the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, well, that's what it's called in the Protestant Bible. It's called the Apocalypse of Saint John in the Catholic Bible.
16. THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT ACTUALLY THE BOOK IS NEITHER ONE! It is a revelation, it's definitely an apocalypse, but it's not Saint John's apocalypse, nor his revelation, & I can prove it by reading you the first few lines of the text! In fact, the very first line of the first verse of the first chapter tells you whose revelation it really is!
17. HAVE YOU GOT YOUR BIBLES? THIS IS BIBLE CLASS! Where's your textbook? Better run get it fast, you should have had it here with you! I used to penalise my students who had to run back to their lockers to get their textbooks when they should have brought it to class in the first place, don't you think so? And we have to stall around until half the class gets back with their Bibles.
18. NEXT TIME BRING YOUR TEXTBOOK TO SCHOOL WITH YOU & have your class book here in the class with you when we begin! OK? And a nice red pen or green pen or purple pen--I don't care what colour you've got--so you make it nice & pretty colours, mark verses & things that you want to remember. OK? PTL! GBY!
19. JESUS BLESS US & BLESS THE READING OF THY WORD! Bless these Thy children & all the hearers, Lord, as we read this Thy sacred divine Word from Thy Own lips, Thyself. Make it a blessing. Help us to understand it, to be a warning to the people of what's coming very soon in this last great book of the Bible, this tremendous final revelation! TYJ! In Jesus' name, amen. PTL! OK? Now, you got your Bible? I hope you're back by this time from your tent or caravan or your locker or your bedroom or wherever you had it. Remember, next time bring it to class!
20. SO WHAT DOES IT SAY HERE IN THIS VERY FIRST LINE of the very first verse of the very first chapter of the very last book in the Bible? Whose revelation is it? "The Revelation of Jesus Christ!" There it is. Now who cooked up this other title, I don't know. It says "The Revelation of Saint John."
21. I REALISE THAT HE GAVE IT THROUGH DEAR OLD APOSTLE JOHN, who by this time was nearly 90 years of age. Think of that! Survived all those years from the early days of Jesus' ministry when he was just a young lad, a teenager about 16 years of age leaning on Jesus' bosom at the Last Supper, John the Beloved Disciple. He's called John the Beloved, John the Revelator, Saint John the Divine, John the Apostle, he's got quite a few different names, but not John the Baptist, remember! This is not John the Baptist at all.
22. JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS NOT ONE OF THE TWELVE DISCIPLES OF JESUS. He was a disciple & he was a follower & he baptised Jesus Himself, but John the baptised was His precursor, His predecessor, His herald, His introducer, the one who introduced Him to the public when Jesus was about to begin His ministry & gather His disciples.
23. JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS A GREAT PROPHET OF GOD WHO CAME IN FROM THE WILDERNESS to preach the truth of God & the soon-coming Kingdom of Christ, to preach "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Repent, for the King of Heaven is at hand!"--because Jesus was already alive & well & 30 years of age and about to begin His public ministry. (Luke 3:1-17)
24. WHEN JESUS CAME DOWN TO THE WATER, JOHN THE BAPTIST, HUMBLY AT JESUS' REQUEST, BAPTISED HIM according to the old Jewish custom of the Old Testament & the old Jewish traditions--not a requirement at all for today in the New Testament days. Now we are to be baptised with the Spirit of God, a much better, greater baptism than mere water baptism. But we've talked about that before.
25. NO, THIS WAS NOT JOHN THE BAPTIST. John the Baptist died soon afterwards in prison, beheaded at the hands of that cruel tyrant Herod, at the behest of a little teenage nude dancer, by the way. She pleased him so well that he said he'd give her anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. She asked her mother what she should ask for & her mother said, "Ask for the head of John the Baptist!"
26. THE KING COULDN'T TAKE BACK HIS PROMISE THEN, ALTHOUGH HE LIKED JOHN THE BAPTIST, he feared him & he didn't want to kill him, he felt bound & obligated by his word & his vow to keep his word & behead the dear Apostle John the Baptist. So he was killed during Jesus' ministry here on Earth.
27. BUT THIS JOHN, JOHN THE BELOVED, JOHN THE REVELATOR, John who had been the teenager during Jesus' ministry, is now about 90 years of age at the time of this glorious final Revelation of the Bible, his final glorious climactic triumphant years after he had served the Lord for nearly 90 years, think of it!
28. THEY HAD TRIED TO KILL HIM & MARTYR HIM, AS I TOLD YOU BEFORE. They even tried to boil him in oil but he wouldn't boil, because he wasn't done! He was too tough for the Roman Empire because God was too tough for them! When they tried to boil him, he wouldn't boil & they had to take him out of the oil perfectly whole, not a hair singed, not a bit of skin burned! What can you do with such a man?
29. THEY SAID, "BANISH HIM TO A DISTANT ISLAND WHERE HE CAN'T CAUSE ANY TROUBLE TO OUR GREAT ROMAN EMPIRE preaching this radical fanatical revolutionary dangerous doctrine of love! It could destroy the Roman Empire!"--And it did! That's exactly what it did! It finally reached Caesar's house himself & all of his house was converted but Caesar! Sad to say, he went crazy & tried to burn down the city of Rome & destroy all the Christians!
30. BUT THANK GOD MANY STILL SURVIVED & HAVE SURVIVED UP THROUGH THE CENTURIES! And John the Revelator, John the beloved, John the Apostle who wrote that beautiful Gospel of John where he talks about John the Baptist, his namesake--or maybe he was John the Baptist's namesake, maybe he was named after him--this John lived on to be 90 year of age, think of that, and clear up until about 107 A.D.!
31. SINCE THEY COULDN'T BOIL HIM, THEY EXILED HIM TO THE ISLE OF PATMOS, a beautiful island in the lovely Mediterranean just off the shores of Turkey. There he spent his days in solitude & prayer & meditation, Bible study, writing letters to the churches, trying to encourage them, until finally God began to give him this tremendous, gigantic, colossal, stupendous, supernatural, miraculous, marvellous, prophetic revelation from Jesus Christ Himself about the End Days, the Last Days, especially about the end of the World!
32. IT'S A PROPHECY WHICH ACTUALLY BEGINS WITH JOHN'S TIME, & RIGHT THROUGH OUR TIME, THROUGH THE ENDTIME TO THE VERY END! In fact, it goes right on through the tribulation, the Wrath of god, the Millennium and clear into Heaven itself! Praise God? Oh, what a thrilling book! It's a marvellous book! You'll love it! I think you're going to find it very fascinating, interesting, thrilling--& confusing, unless you understand it!--unless you understand how beautifully god organised this book.
33. I WAS A YOUNG PREACHER, & FOR MANY YEARS FROM THE TIME I WAS SAVED, really, I was saved so young I couldn't even remember when I didn't know the Lord, because my mother reared me to know the Lord. The Lord had prophesied that my name would be David & I would be filled with the Holy Ghost from my mother's womb, like John the Baptist. So I've always known the Lord, ever since I can remember.
34. ONCE WHEN I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, MY MOTHER ASKED ME TO GET UP & TESTIFY like others were testifying at this meeting: "Tell us about your two births, yours first birth & your second birth." As she was trying to get acquainted with a new congregation, she said, "Tell me when & where you were born the first time, & when & where you were born the second time, when you were born again."
35. EVERYBODY WAS TELLING ABOUT HOW, "WELL, I WAS BORN IN OSHKOSH SO MANY YEARS AGO, & then I got saved in Kansas City, so many years ago, & that's when I was born again!" And at five years of age I got up when it came my turn, & I just looked a little puzzled at my mother & the audience & I said, "I guess I must have been born twice at the same time, because I can't ever remember when I didn't know Jesus!" PTL!
36. THAT'S WONDERFUL THING IF YOUR CHILDREN CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHEN THEY DIDN'T KNOW JESUS, but they have known Him all their lives & they have been taught in the nurture & the admonition of the nurture & the admonition of the Lord & they've been trained up in the way they should go, because when they're old then they'll never depart therefrom. (Pr.22:6.) They don't have to wait till they're as old as I am either, just when they're a little older, they're not going to run away & depart, even when they're sub-teens or teen-agers.
37. OH, THEY MIGHT GET INTO A LITTLE SOMETHING HERE & THERE, NOW & THEN. Teenagers get a little rebellious & spunky & independent & a little wild sometimes, but they always come back to dear old Mom & Dad. And if you were a good Christian & taught'm right & trained them the way they should go, when they're older they'll not depart therefrom.
38. THEY MIGHT DEPART SOMETIMES IN-BETWEEN, BUT THEY'LL ALWAYS COME BACK because you taught them right & they know it's true & they'll never, forever, get away from it, thank God! So I knew the Lord ever since I could remember, & I couldn't remember when I didn't know the Lord.
39. WELL, DEAR JOHN THE APOSTLE, THE REVELATOR, THE BELOVED, HE KNEW THE LORD AT A VERY YOUNG AGE TOO. And when he finally got to this time on the Isle of Patmos, it was beginning to draw close to the time of his departure from this Earth & God was ready to give him the biggest job he'd ever done, to reveal to him the future of the World & the future of His Church, His Christians, His children, those who love Jesus.
40. SO THERE ON THAT ISOLATED ISLAND, FAR REMOVED FROM THE CROWDS & THE MULTITUDE, GOD GAVE ONE OF THE GREATEST REVELATIONS that has ever been given to man, that has circled the globe for nearly 2000 years & has given people warning for generations & given his children hope for hundreds & hundreds & hundreds of years, that some day it was all going to come to an end & some day they were going to see the glorious, wondrous beauties of that Heavenly City coming down from God our of Heaven to land on that Heavenly Earth, a New Earth & a New Heaven, & no more sea, think of that!
41. YOU THINK THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH ROOM FOR EVERYBODY? Well, you'll see, there'll be plenty! PTL! There won't even be any more sea! Today about 4/5 of the Earth's surface is covered by water, by seas, so when the seas are all dried up & the mountains are made low & the valleys even filled in we'll have a beautiful rolling landscape, Heaven on Earth, Heavenly flowers, trees, grass! I've seen it! I've been There!
42. I'VE VISITED THE FUTURE & I'VE SEEN THE HEAVENLY CITY STANDING UPON THIS EARTH!--Beautiful, gorgeous, incomparable, almost indescribable, the most gorgeous sight you'll ever want to see! A beautiful pyramid-shaped City like the ancient Egyptian pyramids, only much more beautiful! We're going to tell you all about it in the last chapter here, about that Golden City like crystal gold, pyramid-shaped, 1500 miles wide! Think of it! And 1500 miles high!
43. JUST RECENTLY THE ASTRONAUTS & THE SPACE SHUTTLE & THE VARIOUS SPACE VEHICLES HAVE BEEN CIRCLING AROUND IN SPACE, satellites, or whatever they call them, but they only circle around a few hundred miles up. I think the space shuttle was circling around only about 150 miles up, but that was way out in space beyond the atmosphere, even out almost beyond the Earth's gravitational pull, or at least part of it, 150 miles.
44. THE HEAVENLY CITY'S GOING TO STAND TEN TIMES THAT HIGH, 1500 MILES! Not 150, but 1500 miles high, far our beyond our present atmosphere! I don't know whether God is going to air-condition it, or He's going to so air-condition the whole New Earth that the atmosphere & the air will extend that high, or whether He doesn't have to worry about the people still living on the surface of the Earth, because some're not saved, only the people living in the city are saved & have new supernatural miraculous resurrected bodies!
45. THE PEOPLE LIVING UP SO HIGH WITH SUPERNATURAL BODIES, THEY WON'T NEED OXYGEN! We won't need air anyway, we can live without it, because we'll be able to fly through space with the speed of thought.--Not the speed of light, but the speed of thought! And even to be able to be permitted to live on the surface of this globe in the New Earth in those day, you'll have some kind of a different body which will be able to live forever! Think of that!
46.WELL, NOW I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MY STORY! I'm starting with the last chapter of this book, instead of the first! But I just wanted to give you something to whet your appetite a little bit & give you a little sample of the goodies that are to come, so you'll want to read the whole book! You can go home tonight & read it if you want to, although I doubt if you'll understand it all.
47. I NEVER UNDERSTOOD IT WHEN I FIRST READ IT, & I've know many preachers & theological students & philosophers & theologians who have read it & who haven't understood it. Although I had known the Lord all my life & had studied God's Word all my life ever since I could remember, every time I studied the Book of Revelation I got so confused I didn't know what he was talking about.
48. OH, THERE ARE PARTS OF IT THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND VERY CLEARLY, & parts of it which you can certainly apply to yourself & have a message for you & me today & have had messages for His Church & all mankind for generations, for centuries, for 2000 years. But it takes a little bit of the divine guidance of the Lord to really sort this book out right & understand really, exactly what it's talking about. You really need the Holy Spirit. You need the guidance of the miraculous supernatural loving Holy Spirit of God to guide you aright through this thrilling but confusing book.
49. SO WHEN I BECAME A YOUNG PASTOR & I HAD A CONGREGATION OF MY OWN, I felt responsible as their shepherd for teaching my sheep. I'd been teaching them Bible prophecy, & the prophecies of Daniel seemed very clear to me. At that time I didn't know that that was because I had a special gift from the Lord & Daniel as my spiritual guide & Jeremiah too, too, to help me to know the number of the days & the years until the end--as I learned later in prophecy from the Lord through my own mother by the Holy Spirit, the same way John got this Revelation.
50. BUT WHEN I CAME TO THE BOOK OF REVELATION & WANTED TO TEACH THIS TO MY PEOPLE, I said, "Lord, I have heard so many interpretations of this book. I have read so many books on this book. I have heard so many different ways of explaining this book, that I don't know who to believe!
51. MY DADDY BELIEVED IT ONE WAY, MY MOTHER BELIEVED IT ANOTHER, and almost every preacher I ever heard preach on it, preached something different!" I think there are almost as many interpretations of the Book of Revelation as there are Christians! It's amazing! Everybody I ever met, some preacher would tell me what it meant, had some different explanation & some different interpretation.
52. SO FINALLY UP IN MY LITTLE MUD CHURCH IN ITS BELFRY TOWER, I climbed up the ladder one day & I knelt down by my little cot there in my study, between my cot & my desk, & I asked the Lord desperately, kneeling on those rough floor boards of that unfinished building:
53. "LORD, I'VE GOT TO TEACH MY PEOPLE THE TRUTH! I don't want to just teach'm something I heard from somebody else. I don't want to just teach'm somebody else's interpretation, & I've heard so many I don't know which one is right! Lord, I have got to know what is the right interpretation of this book!
54. "LORD JESUS, SHOW ME WHAT THIS BOOK MEANS! Please help me to understand it. Lord, I've got to lead my sheep in the right path & I don't want to lead them astray. Please show me how to teach them the Book of Revelation! You must have put it here for some reason!"
55. I'VE HEARD SOME PREACHERS SAY, "WELL, IT'S JUST AN ALLEGORY, it's just a kind of a parable, it wasn't meant for you to understand. It's sort of in mysterious poetic language & you're not really supposed to understand it. You can't understand it, don't try." I had some preachers tell me as a young man, "Don't try, you can't understand it. I've been preaching the Gospel for many years, I've been in the way for many years"--wish they'd get out of the way--"and I don't understand it!"
56. SO I SAID, "LORD, HOW CAN I BE EXPECTED TO UNDERSTAND IT? Some of these theologians who know the Bible better than I do don't even understand it. But Lord, I've got to know because I've got to feed my sheep, which You commanded me to do, & I've got to be able to tell them the truth & what's right about this book!"
57. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE LORD TOLD ME? He didn't start telling me about what all these different beasts & symbols & almost crazy things that you read in here mean, He didn't start explaining all these mysteries & telling me what every little detail meant & every little word & every little verse. You know what He said? He said, "My son, sit down & read it as though you have never read it before, & just read it straight through & I will show you!"
58. I THOUGHT, "BUT LORD, I'VE READ IT LOTS OF TIMES & with the Bible in one hand & somebody's book in the other, looking back & forth & trying to see what every little verse & every word meant, & I've read it through lots of times!" He said, "You've never read it straight through without stopping! Just sit down & read this book straight through non-stop, & I will show you. I will show you what it means, I'll reveal it to you!"
59. SO I SAT DOWN RIGHT THEN & THERE & I THINK I SPENT A WHOLE AFTERNOON. I was preparing a day or two before Sunday what I was going to preach, another sermon on Bible Prophecy about the Book of Revelation, I'd already announced it & advertised it, & here I didn't understand it myself! But I sat down & I read it straight through non-stop that afternoon.
60. IT'S POSSIBLE, IT'S ONLY GOT 22 CHAPTERS, IT'S NOT TOO LONG! The only reason it takes some people so long, they get so bogged down in things they get so bogged down in things they don't understand that they stop there & try to figure it out & then they lose the whole meaning, they don't get the over--all grasp of the whole book.
61.BUT I WAS SORT OF LIKE A BIRD FLYING OVERHEAD VIEWING THE SCENERY FROM A LOFTY HEIGHT, viewing the scenery below from a vantage point far above, & I was watching the landscape passing rapidly beneath me as I read. And it was so clear, it was so beautiful!--the sights, the sounds, the scenes were so clear to me I wondered why I'd never seen it so clearly before!
62. THE CHAPTERS JUST FELL RIGHT IN PLACE SO BEAUTIFULLY, & the continuity, the narrative, the chronological sequence, the beautiful harmony & beauty of it all became so clear as I read, that I was astounded, I was amazed, I was astonished that I had never understood before!
63. I THOUGHT, "WHY DIDN'T I SEE THAT BEFORE? Oh, look at that over there, I never noticed that before! Oh, look at that over yonder, I never understood that before! Why look at that gorgeous thing out there, ah, that's what it means!" I just flew along rapidly over the scenery like a bird. You know what I was doing? You know what God was giving me?
64. HE WAS GIVING ME A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION! And do you know what the theologians call that? You know, they can't use ordinary English because that wouldn't sound educated. After all, what do you need to go to college for if you don't learn a whole bunch of big words that nobody else understands & you can pull'm on all those ignoramuses & show how smart you are & educated plum out of their understanding! You won't be able to show off your college education unless you know a lot of big words they don't understand!
65. AND THAT'S WHAT MOST PREACHERS HAVE DONE, THEY HAVE EDUCATED THEMSELVES RIGHT OUT OF THEIR AVERAGE CONGREGATION'S UNDERSTANDING until they preach way over their heads! Like the church that my mother went to when she was going to that atheistic unbelieving so called Bible college, Texas Christian University--I'm not afraid to name it--where they destroyed what little child-like faith she had.
66. THEY SAID, "OH, IT'S JUST A MYTH, AN ALLEGORY, A LEGEND! Well, that wasn't for the Gentiles, & that was only for the Prophets & that was only for the Jews, & well, that's just a parable & it doesn't mean what it say!" And by the time they got through with the Bible & she finished her course, she took her mother's Bible like this & she slammed it shut like that & she looked at it scornfully & said, "Well, I'm through with you!" & she threw it in the bottom of her truck as she packed to leave college.
67. SHE SAID, "I FELT LIKE THE POOR OLD ELDER OF THE CHURCH WHERE THE MODERNISTIC PREACHER HAD BEEN PREACHING for some years. As the preacher got ready to leave for another pastorate & his congregation were out at the train bidding him a fond farewell, his little sheep out there--most of them stray sheep because he'd led them astray as an unbelieving, modernistic, literally atheistic preacher."
68. DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE LOTS OF PREACHERS LIKE THAT? Did you know there are preachers who stand & take this Bible in the pulpit every Sunday morning & they preach from it & they don't believe a word of it!
69.THEY PREACH ABOUT JESUS & THEY DON'T BELIEVE HE'S THE SON OF GOD OR THE SAVIOUR, just a great teacher great rabbi, great philosopher, marvellous teacher of great truths teaching a marvellous system of ethics, very good, but not supernatural, not the Virgin-born Son of Mary, not the Son of God, not the God-man, not God in the flesh, not the Saviour just a man. That's the way many many preachers preach Him today, for as far as they're concerned, God is dead.
70. WELL, I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING, THAT REMINDS ME OF THE FELLOW IN GERMANY who wrote on the wall after the destruction of his faith & his loss of faith in the Bible & God & so on in college, when he was through, he wrote on the wall the word: "God is dead!" And then he signed it with the signature of the man who had made that statement: Nietzsche.--A great philosopher, by the way, & so-called psychologist upon whose teachings modern psychology & psychiatry is based, who himself went insane & demon-possessed!
71. YOU WANT TO GET YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL TROUBLES CURED? You think you can go to a psychiatrist who studied Nietzsche & Freud & some of those nuts? Let me tell you, they were nuttier than a fruitcake! They're nuttier than you! How do you expect, the nut you are, to get any help from these other nuts, through this nutty psychiatrist you're going to?!
72. WELL, THIS GUY GOT SO FED UP WITH IT ALL HE APPARENTLY BELIEVED NIETZSCHE'S DEMONIC ATHEISTIC TEACHINGS & wrote on the wall: "God is dead!--Nietzsche." But some dear believer came along & wrote on the wall above it: "Nietzsche is dead!--God." Well, that's the fact! But some of those preachers are preaching a dead gospel of a dead Christ & a dead God & a dead religion that cannot save you!
73. MY MOTHER TOOK THE BIBLE, THREW IT IN THE BOTTOM OF HER TRUNK AND SAID, "I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" She said, "I was like that elder who was bidding the preacher goodbye," the Modernistic preacher that he'd studied under for years, & he had a nice little package all wrapped up as a parting gift for the departing preacher. He handed it rather solemnly to the preacher & the preacher took it & eagerly started unwrapping it.
74. HE SAID, "OH MY, MY LEADING ELDER OF MY CHURCH ALL THESE YEARS, he's such a faithful student and listener! What kind of a gift could you have given me? It must be something very special!" And he unwrapped it, & you know what he found inside? He found nothing in the World but just the covers of the old Bible he'd been using, just the bare leather covers, nothing else, not a thing inside, nothing, not a page! The preacher looked at it shocked & said, "What is this? What do you mean by this, elder!"
75. HE SAID, "WELL, PREACHER, YOU KNOW WHEN I SAT IN YOUR SERMONS & BIBLES CLASSES & so on, every time you said this was a myth & this was a legend & this was an allegory & this was just a tale, this was only a parable, this wasn't for you, this was for the Gentiles, this was for the Jew, this was for the Apostles, this was for the past, this is for the future, this does not really mean what it says, this is just poetry, I tore that out! I figured if it wasn't for me, why should I keep it? And I tore out everything related to it.
76. "EVERYTHING YOU SAID WAS A MYTH I TORE THAT OUT, I tore all the legends out, & all the things you said were allegories & parables, & if it was for the Jews I tore that out because I'm not a Jew. And I kept tearing everything out that you said wasn't for today & it wasn't for me, so I tore it out, & I tore out everything relating to it.
77. "BY THE TIME YOU GOT THROUGH, PREACHER, THIS WAS ALL I HAD LEFT, & I thought you might just as well have these too, the covers, all the rest is gone, you destroyed it, & my faith in it--that's all I've got left, just the covers."
78. THAT'S ABOUT ALL SOME OF YOU PEOPLE HAVE LEFT AFTER THE CHURCH GOT THROUGH WITH YOU! Maybe as a child you had a little faith & you believed in God & Jesus about the same way you believed in Santa Claus, but when you got a little older they told you there was no Santa Claus, therefore you figured there wasn't any Jesus either or God either, of course, since there wasn't any Santa Claus, & therefore you didn't believe in anything any more!
79. SO YOU JUST TOSSED YOUR BIBLE AWAY, COVER & ALL, & YOU STOPPED GOING TO CHURCH. Why go to church if there's no God & no Jesus & no Bible, can't believe it, why bother?--And I don't blame you! I mean, if that's the kind of a church you went to where they don't believe in Jesus as the Son of God & as the Saviour & real salvation & where they don't really believe in this marvellous Word of God, I don't blame you for throwing it away if that's all the faith you had in it & all they taught you.
80. I'LL TELL YOU, I'LL TRY TO TEACH YOU A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN THAT! Look how I've got mine marked up here, because I busily keep studying it all the time. I've been through so many Bibles, I've worn so many Bibles out, I think this must be about my fifth or sixth Bible, & one of them I got it rebound three different times till finally it was such a mess--I've still got it but it's just all in pieces, I can't even use it in public any more because it falls apart. And this one's falling apart. I've got pages here that come right out & fall apart & I've got pages all taped up with Scotch tape as you can see here, because I've just about worn it out. Because I believe it!--I read it!
81. I DIDN'T TEAR IT OUT, I WORE IT OUT FROM USE! Because I know it's the Word of God, because I know it works & that's the best proof you've got. Just try it, it works! That's the best proof of the inspiration of the Bible. That's the best proof that this is the miraculous supernatural Word of God Himself, to try it! Why don't you give it a chance? You've tried everything else, why not try God? Why not try the Bible? You read everything else.
82. WE TALK TO PEOPLE TIME & TIME AGAIN WHO'VE BEEN ALL THE WAY THROUGH COLLEGE & university and they've read hundreds & hundreds of books & huge tomes & textbooks & theological books & all kinds of books but have never even cracked the Bible, never even read the Bible! Can you imagine?--The most marvellous book in the whole World!
83. THE MOST WONDERFUL, SUPERNATURAL, MIRACULOUS, AMAZING MARVELLOUS BOOK IN THE WHOLE WORLD which can tell you the answers to everything!--Where we came from, how we got here, why we're here & how to survive while you're here & how to be happy while here, how to have love & happiness now & forever!
84. --HOW TO LEAVE HERE TOO & KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING & to know that you're going to be happy forever with God & His son Jesus Christ in Heavenly place! Not far off in the stratosphere or Outer Space someplace, but right here on Earth! A New Earth, that's true, a remade renovated Earth, the old surface all burned away and purified and all that pollution completely swept away, a newly-created Earth sort of like the first one in the days of the Garden of Eden--beautiful, perfect, pure, Heavenly & with a new beautiful Heavenly City!
85. THAT'S WHERE WE'RE GOING, & WE WON'T HAVE VERY FAR TO GO BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE RIGHT HERE! Are you going to Heaven? I used to get little tracts on the street from church people saying, "Are you going to Heaven?" Finally after studying this book that we're going to study here together I told my class one day, "You know I used to get these classes, 'Where will you spend Eternity?'" And I'd ask especially my new students, "Where will you spend Eternity?"
86. OF COURSE MOST OF THEM WERE ALREADY SAVED, CHURCH PEOPLE, and they would be very proud of themselves & in their self-righteous sanctimonious sanctified way they'd say, "Oh, well I'm going to spend eternity in Heaven, of course!" I'd say, "Well, Brother, I'm sorry for you, you might get awful lonesome up There, because I'm going to spend it right here!" "What?!"
87. I HAD ONE FELLOW GET UP AND STOMP OUT OF MY CLASS FURIOUSLY ONE DAY when I told him that after I die & Jesus comes & at the very end, the final days of the New Heaven & New Earth, I said, "I'm not going to Heaven, I'm going to spend Eternity right here on the New Earth in the New Heaven!" PG!
88. BECAUSE JOHN SAW THAT HEAVENLY HOLY CITY COMING DOWN FROM GOD, OUT OF HEAVEN, right down here to this Earth, so that he said, "God is going to dwell with man!" He doesn't say man is going to go up & dwell with Him, but God is going to dwell with man!
89. OH, WE GO UP TO HEAVEN FOR A LITTLE WHILE IF WE DIE NOW, we go up to be with the Lord in Heavenly places, but I have found out in my recent spiritual trips that we don't all go to Heaven then either!--An awful lot of us stay right here in a heavenly sphere in another dimension right here on this Earth, only in the Spirit World, & stay here & help others, as many helpers are helping us right now.
90. I'VE GOT A LOT OF SPIRIT HELPERS, A LOT OF DEPARTED SAINTS AND ANGELS HELPING ME DO THIS JOB to teach you & lead you & instruct you in the truth of God's Word, those who have gone on before. They didn't all go off & forsake me & go off & leave me & go to Heaven to some far away place in outer space, they haven't even gone as far as the space shuttle & the astronauts! They're right here! Hallelujah! PYJ! Hallelujah!
91. (TONGUES:) TYJ! "GLORY TO GOD & JESUS THE MESSIAH WHO HAS REVEALED HIMSELF UNTO THY FATHER!" TYL! Well, PTL! I guess the Lord wanted to give you a little sample of a heavenly language by my spirit helper Abrahim who's just praising the Lord through me in his own Gypsy language, Romani.
92. YOU SAY, "THAT GUY REALLY IS NUTTY! He's nuttier than a fruitcake, & it's not even Christmas! What does he expect me to believe, that he talks to spirits & ghosts & they talk to him, & not only that but through him, through his mouth?!" Well, stick with me awhile & you'll see!
93. ANYHOW, WE'VE GOT LOTS OF SPIRITUAL HELPERS HELPING US, THANK GOD! Thank God they didn't all take off for Heaven someplace where they'd just float around on a cloud playing a harp & being no good for anything except to make a little music. We've got lots of music right here, who needs'm? We've got MWM, PG! Music with Meaning! We have our own music!
94. I THINK WE PROBABLY MAKE AS HEAVENLY MUSIC AS SOME OF THE ANGELS! We've got lots of music, & I'm sure some of those musical angels & departed saints & great musicians are helping our musicians right now in making those beautiful radio programs & video programs & all that beautiful music! TYJ! But they have to stick around a little bit to help us.
95. WELL, YOU'RE GOING TO FIND OUT IN THIS BOOK, THE BOOK OF REVELATION THAT WE'RE STUDYING, THAT JOHN HAD HELP JUST LIKE THAT TOO. Angels who came & talked to him, Jesus came & talked to him, former saints of God came & talked to him, former prophets of God came & talked to him, those who had departed from this life into the Spirit World hobnobbed with John right there on the Isle of Patmos, came down & talked to him & told him all these things that we're going to find in this book.
96. IT'S IN THE BIBLE! WHY LOOK AT ME LIKE I'M NUTTY? If you don't believe the Bible, you're nutty!--'Cause it's true! Every word it ever said is true & has come true, & every prophecy it ever uttered has been fulfilled except the ones that are yet to come, & they'll be fulfilled just as surely as the ones that have been fulfilled in the past!--God's predictions of the future through this Apostle John, the great Revelator! It was really Jesus that showed it to him.
97. HE'S TELLING US ABOUT THE FUTURE, he's telling in this book from the beginning to the end about the immediate future right up to the very far distant future in the very End Time.--Clear on up, as I said, through the Antichrist reign, Tribulation, Wrath of God, Millennium & the New Heaven & the New Earth, the whole works! And you're going to learn that from this Book of Revelation if you stick with me! PTL?
98. SO I FLEW OVER REVELATION AND THROUGH REVELATION LIKE A BIRD, just with the ease of a seagull floating above, floating on God's divine currents of His Spirit and viewing the scenery below enrapt, enthralled in a rapture beyond description as God opened this book to be & I flew above it & got a bird's eye view of the whole book, just as clear as anything I've ever read. It seemed it was even more clear, think of that!--And you're going to get it too, if you'll stick with me!
99. GOD WILLING, IN THE NEXT LESSON I'M GOING TO TRY TO SORT OF SUMMARISE IT FOR YOU, Give you a little so-called theological term, synopsis. A synopsis means a bird's eye view. I'm going to give you this bird's eye view of the book or Revelation that God gave me. Is that fair enough?
100. WOULD YOU LIKE TO FLY THROUGH THE BOOK OF REVELATION LIKE I DID THAT AFTERNOON? Well, we might not fly quite as fast, because now that I understand it & now that God's got it all sorted out, we can fly a wee bit slower & a little closer to the ground where you can see things better. But I'll give you a fast flight over it first of all--like the space shuttle made that fast circuit over California & then came in for a landing.
101. I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A FAST FLIGHT ACROSS THROUGH THE WHOLE BOOK OF REVELATION FIRST, sort it all out for you, in three marvellous parts composed of seven chapters each, each one on a separate part of history, marvellous, wonderful! It'll be so simple you'll wonder why you never saw it before! But it's only simple because God showed it to me, that's all.
102. SO MAY THE LORD HELP YOU AND HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THIS WONDERFUL WORD OF GOD! PG? (Sings:)
"How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled!"
103. JESUS HELP THEM, THESE WHO ARE SINCERE & HUNGRY SHEEP who know Thy voice & hear it & they follow Thee, help them to understand it. Help them to read this book, help them to understand its words, help them, Lord. Open their minds & their hearts & their understanding.
104. FILL THEM WITH THY HOLY SPIRIT THAT YOU MIGHT SPEAK UNTO THEM THESE WORLDS OF LIFE so they can know whereof they speak, & know not only what's happening now but also the future, & know things that will help them in their everyday life to be happy, to be joyous, to be healthy & to lead a happy, fruitful life for you in helping others & sharing Your love with the whole World, in Jesus' name we ask for Thy glory. Amen! TYJ!
105. DO YOU WANT THAT KIND OF HAPPINESS? You just have to take Jesus into your heart. (Sings:)
"Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus."
Are you singing it & praying it with me?
"Come in today, come in to stay.
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus!"
That's all you have to do is ask Him in. He'll forgive all your sins, take them all away, & give you such love & peace & happiness as you've never had before, & understanding of His precious Word as well.--And make you love everybody! Praise God! TYJ!
106. WE USED TO SING THIS OLD SONG:
"I'M GOING TO LOVE EVERYBODY,
Makes me love everybody,
Makes me love everybody,
And it's good enough for me!
It's that old-time religion!
It's that old-time religion,
It's that old-time religion!
And it's good enough for me!
It was good for my mother,
It was good for my father,
It was good for my father and mother,
And it's good enough for me!"
PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! And if you take Jesus in your heart, you'll find it's good enough for you! He's all you need.
107. (SINGS:)
"HE'S ALL I NEED,
HE'S ALL I NEED!
JESUS IS ALL I NEED!
He's wonderful!
He's marvellous!
Jesus is all you need!"
PTL! TYJ! I hope you take Him in your heart, 'cause He'll meet every need, satisfy every longing. He's everything & all that you need, if you'll just let Him in. Then you'll understand this Word with me, & you'll want to share it with everybody & tell the whole World about Jesus & His love. TYJ! (Sings:)
"Makes you love everybody,
Makes you love everybody,
And it's good enough for you!"
Praise God?
108. DID YOU TAKE HIM? I HOPE YOU DID! And if you did, or even if you didn't come back to the next class, next lesson, & maybe you'll do it next time. At least I know you'll find it fascinating & interesting, because even if you don't know Jesus, you're going to know the future just by studying this book! PG?
109. YOU SAY, "WELL, I DON'T NECESSARILY WANT TO KNOW JESUS OR GOD, They kinda scare me, & I'm not quite ready to give up my sins yet, but I kinda would like to know about the future, what is going to happen, And I sorta do believe maybe the Bible might be true, a lot of things it did say were going to happen, did happen, so I'll be back next time. I'll see if it's so!"
110. OK, YOU COME BACK, & I PROMISE YOU, IF YOU KEEP LISTENING, God's Word promises that if you want to know the truth you'll find it! He filleth the hungry soul! He that hungereth & thirsteth after righteousness shall be filled! (Mt.5:6.) So if you really want to know, He'll tell you. Praise God? TYJ! Hallelujah! GBY! See you next time, next class, bye-bye!
111. MEET YOU OUT HERE RIGHT UNDER THE PALM TREES! Right here on the sand by the surf! Hallelujah? GBY! I hope so! If you'll hurry up and head South & come down here with me, in Jesus' name. Amen. PTL? Come on! Hallelujah! Listen to that music--listen! That beautiful music--listen! Isn't that pretty? Beautiful, beautiful
"Sweet Leilani, heavenly flower,
Angels fashioned roses filled with dew.
And then they placed them in a bower,
It was the start of you!
Sweet Leilani, heavenly flower.
Heaven fashioned roses filled with dew.
And then God placed them in a bower,
It was the start of you!"
112. THAT'S WHAT GOD INTENDED FOR YOU TO BE LIKE, LIKE A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER, like beautiful music, like Heaven on Earth, like Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden! That's what the Lord intended for things to be like, & that's the way they're going to be again! Hallelujah! TYJ!--If you'll just come back again & listen! Amen? You'll have Heaven on Earth & Heaven in your heart, & Heaven forever! Praise God? Bye-bye! GBY! ILY! I'll see you next time, on the beach! PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
